It makes sense that a music school would be among the first to take the gig economy seriously enough to teach a course on how to do it well. After all, the word “gig” was applied to music and artistic jobs long before it was applied to general work.
Writing for Fast Company, reporter Shalene Gupta says that Boston’s Berklee College of Music, offers “The General Business Gig,” a course dedicated to teaching musicians how to survive in the gig economy. “The course covers everything from the type of music people want to hear at gigs, to how to budget and purchase equipment, to charging customers. It first ran in 2016 and is application-only.”
Jes Perry, a professor at Berklee who serves as interim assistant chair for the professional music department, says that learning the business of being a musician is almost as important as mastering the skills. “We try to prepare our students for this reality and how to negotiate effectively so that they can, in fact, make a living doing what they love, whether it’s playing cover songs or their own original music.”
I’ve been following and writing about The Gig Economy since 2010, and I’ve been a gig worker since the early 2000’s. working up to three part-time gigs along with my full-time job. Everything I learned about being a successful gig worker I had to teach myself, including reading The 4-hour Workweek Tim Ferris’ must read book from 2007, which got me started. I spent years as an independent contractor, teaching university courses, writing columns for local papers, and freelancing for clients until I retired from full time work in 2020. I now write from home part-time for a few select clients, and I’ve never been happier.
In 2016, linguist Geoff Nunberg chose “gig” as his word of the year and on NPR’s Fresh Air examined how the word “gig” has evolved since its origins in the 20th century. The term “Gig” goes back more than a century as musicians’ slang for a date or engagement. But it eventually took on the opposite meaning; the word didn’t have any particular glamour until the 1950s, when the hipsters and the Beats adapted it to mean any job you took to keep body and soul together while your real life was elsewhere.
I think gig has come full-term, since most gig workers I know consider that work to be more satisfying, more interesting, and often more lucrative than their traditional jobs. In fact 39% of U.S. workers have worked gigs during their careers. It’s time we get serious about educating them on how to do it well.
When I speak about the Gig Economy, I often talk about how musicians get it right. When the gig is over, they don’t spend time agonizing. If they’re good, they already have another gig lined up. They are constantly focused on the present (doing a good job) and the future (lining up the next job.) In contrast, workers tend to think of their employment as a human right, separate and somehow unrelated to issues the owners face, like profitability, changing markets and changing technology. When stores close or jobs end, workers are often caught flat-footed; they don’t realize that they’re responsible for their next gig.
Here’s how musicians (and of course other artists) get it right – and how workers could re-imagine their careers.
- Artists know they must be original to stand out. Yes, you can make a decent living covering other people’s songs. There are even people who make a living pretending to be a super star, but no one remembers their name after the show. In order to become a star, you’ll need to do your own writing, and create a style that’s remarkable. If your work isn’t recognizable as yours, an employer can hire anyone (usually at a lower price) to take your place.
- Artists know they’re only as good as their last gig. Money invested in entertainment is a luxury; we usually give an artist just one chance to connect with us before we move on to another form of entertainment. There’s no phoning in a gig; you must perform – and wow the crowd – or the venue has no choice but to book someone else.
- Artists are always working toward the next gig. They know that they must improve their skills, add new songs to their repertoire, and follow what’s hot and what people are listening to. They’re in charge of marketing themselves (unless they have an agent) and must always be selling themselves to the next venue. They know that they alone are responsible for their job security.
I have heard that the great seventies duo Loggins and Messina got their start because they were available to fill in for a band that didn’t show up for a gig. They rocked the house and caught the attention of a promoter who happened to be in the audience. Proving once and for all that there are no small gigs, only small performances. Make sure you rock your next gig.
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