Coffee, Tea and Music.

The Waving Cat blog was brought to my attention the other day. In this blog Peter Bihr brings up an interesting topic:

"We prefer to know if our coffee & food was produced organically and if the farmers got their fair share, so we buy products that carry a Fair Trade certificate. But what about our music? Ever so often music labels are criticized for ripping off their contracted artists. Well, let’s see if that’s true. Let’s give an incentive for labels to pay their artists well and treat them fairly.

Could a Fair Trade Music label or certificate be the solution?

What is Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalised producers and workers – especially in the South. Fair Trade organisations (backed by consumers) are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade.

Why not use this definition for Fair Trade Music, too:

Fair Trade Music is a music production and trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in music production and trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better music production and trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, music producers and workers – especially in Major Labels. Fair Music Trade organisations (backed by consumers) are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional music production and trade."

One thing that really got my wheels turning was the "(backed by consumers)" line. It's true. Most of the Fair Trade movement in food is fueled by consumer demand. Everything is. Hybrid cars become popular and suddenly everybody makes one. Gluten is "bad" and suddenly even my Safeway is offering gluten-free pasta. Why can't we get people behind treating musicians fairly?

I think (and I've said this before) people just don't know. I was talking to my neighbor the other night out on the sidewalk and the subject of a show they'd recently seen came up. My neighbor is in her late 50's and has seen many a live music show during her 30 years or so in Portland. She mentioned that she thought the cover at the door ($5) was pretty low and she couldn't imagine how the band got by on $5 a patron. Haha. She was shocked when I told her that usually that's split up between lighting, sound, security...and then the band.

Fans want to support the bands, but they think that it's already being done. It's easy to think that when you see a show with a high door cover. But what about when there's no cover at all - which is common with the classical shows I've played? The audience thinks that the group is paid by the venue.

The musicians already know this to be true and they've accepted it. Maybe by letting fans know how crappy the system is here we can get some steam behind changing the culture.