Big Jim, I'm a-comin' to visit soon as my tip jar fills up. I'll buy *your* beer, but not them 9.9 million other guys'.

I think the key to y'all's payableness over the pond is the agents. If all the booking is done through the agents, the agents will make sure the musicians get paid so *they* can get paid. Every gig I've ever had through an agent has paid well.

And the U.S., I'd agree, is the pits for paying musicians. Working bands are paid today what they were getting 30 years ago. Compare the price of *anything* to what it was 30 years ago, and it's clear why most of us now have day jobs. It's no longer possible to support a family on what a musician makes. (There are some notable exceptions--some of them members of JPF. But I think they're a minority.)

Here in southern Oregon, the songwriters' association has started a practice that may turn into a tradition. Club charges a gate fee, that is split between the musician/band and the venue. Venue sells food and drinks; musician/band sells CDs and merchandise. Depending on the size of the venue, it may work out well for both sides. A number of members of the songwriters' association have been charging the same way when they do solo gigs, and the venues are paying it. It is not a great deal, but it is substantially better than being paid nothing--which is what was happening before.

The songwriters' association is growing in membership; we don't completely control the market (yet), but are working on it.

Joe

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