How much is fair to pay live musicians in Kansas City?
The going rate varies significantly – it’s based on who you are, where you’re playing and who you’re playing with. Kansas City is the country’s only UNESCO-recognized “City of Music,” but local musicians say it needs to do more to support them and the arts economy.
Pay has become a major topic of discussion. And now, a task force of musicians is working to review and create recommendations to Kansas City about how to implement a citywide music strategy adopted by City Council last year.
One of the task force’s goals is to identify how to pay musicians who perform at city-owned facilities or at events that use public money.
Eddie Moore, a jazz pianist in Kansas City and lecturer at the University of Kansas who teaches about the business of music, says the answers aren’t so clear-cut.
“This isn't as democratic of a process as I think we're trying to make it,” Moore said. “Every artist shouldn’t get paid the same thing. Every brand isn't equal.”
Moore says a solution could be establishing all city-supported gigs as union-scale work. That would obligate them to pay the rates negotiated by the Kansas City Federation of Musicians.
Shaun Crowley, founder of Manor Records, a nonprofit record label in Kansas City, says creating a city registry of venues also be a way to establish a baseline pay for musicians.
“Creating a minimum for venues that do sign up to be on this registry, minimum pay per hour per musician, at least we have a bottom line,” Crowley said. “Therefore we're at least getting paid, no matter what, we're never getting zero. And I think that's a good place to start.”
- Eddie Moore, Kansas City musician and lecturer on the business of music at the University of Kansas
- Shaun Crowley, founder, Manor Records
