Brand New Topic

[John Musselwhite]

At 05:16 PM 2/7/2001 -0500, Howard wrote:

>Got a call from someone saying that he was an agent. (the entertainment

Someone not generally considered to be among the higher life forms.

>kind). He said that a local large country club needed to have their piano
>regulated. I've been in their restaurant a few times as a customer so I know
>that the piano is not a good quality instrument. He said that he recommended
>me and that I should kick back to him 20%.  I started for my computer to

The agent's probably under pressure from his musicians to do something 
about it and this probably isn't the only club in this situation that his 
people play in. He should be made aware that if you do your job right you 
will actually be saving him time and a certain amount of aggravation since 
he won't have to deal with musician's complaints and in some cases, their 
refusal to play certain places because of the piano. His happy musicians 
may also play better and as word got around it may attract new talent to 
his stable as well as new venues and of course, more income.

So technically speaking you're not only providing a service to the club 
owner, you're providing a service to the agent, especially if you have to 
deal with a poor instrument under difficult conditions. Having a technician 
he can trust to be there and do good work for his stable should be worth 
more to him than a few bucks in kickbacks. In fact, it should be worth 
enough for him to give YOU a kickback!

A good agent might recognize this, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

>Perhaps a newbie who needs work might have accepted this offer, but I could
>not see this leach benefiting from my work. Besides, I thought agents worked
>on 10%.  Any opinions?

I think 10% is just a minimum. We are not performers though, we 
are  technicians that performers *require* to do their work well. Most of 
us have a private clientele and clubs are often more of a hassle than they 
are enjoyable and profitable work. We don't need agents, they need us.

We are in a unique position. Pianists usually can't tune or regulate their 
instruments and are forced to play on whatever is available. Far too often 
the agent and club owners will suffer through endless complaints from 
musicians (and sometimes patrons) who may not be in any mood to play, which 
ultimately reflects badly on the club, the musicians and the agents.

Keeping all this in mind I might be tempted to accept the original 
"kickback" of 20% for the initial regulation *if* the agent agreed to pay 
me 5% of what the player makes every week to keep the piano in tune 
afterwards. Club owners may even accept a slight increase in the 
performer's fee if it became the agent's responsibility and they didn't 
have to be bothered with the piano all the time. Musicians would be happy 
because their agent is looking out for them even if it's costing them a 
little. Agents would be happy because a source of irritation has been 
removed and indeed, their egos may get a little extra stroking. Piano 
technicians would be happy because it's regular weekly work and patrons 
would be happy because their evening experience is enhanced. Everyone would 
be happy and everything would be right with the world!

I might be tempted, but then I'd remember that I would have to deal with 
and trust an *agent*, and the temptation to help create all that happiness 
would immediately go away.

                         John
John Musselwhite, RPT    -     Calgary, Alberta Canada
http://www.musselwhite.com  http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary
email: john@musselwhite.com    http://www.mp3.com/fatbottom