GETTING PAID

[David Ice]

Hi Jessica,

Have you asked the regular harpist how soon the checks come out?

[janelle-lake]

I got stiffed.

[Jerusha Amado]

Dave,

You’re such a sweetheart to help out your fellow colleagues in that way!

[janet-king]

Your contractor “friend” owes you money.

[barbara-brundage]

What Janet said!

[carl-swanson]

I agree entirely with Janet too. The contractor took the responsibility of getting the money. He then contracted each of the musicians. So whether or not he gets the money from the Pole, he owes everybody the money he promised. If you know the other musicians who were in this too, you should all put up a solid front and tell the contractor that if he doesn’t pay up, he’ll never contract anyther job again. You should then take legal action against him, not the Pole, and also inform the Musicians Union. He’s no friend if he does this to the musicians he contracts.

[carl-swanson]

In light of a private email I just got, I’d like to add one more thing. If a harpist sub-contracts out a wedding to another harpist, the the harpist who subcontracted it out is responsible for the entire transaction.

For example, the harpist who actually plays the wedding will get an agreed amount from the harpist who sub-contracted it out, not from the bride. If the bride decides to ask the harpist playing the job to go into overtime, then it is the job of the harpist who originally contracted the job to collect the overtime fee from the bride and to pay that additional money to the harpist who played the job. It is the obligation of the harpist contracting the job to have an overtime clause in the contract, so the bride knows up front how much overtime will cost. In any event, the harpist who contracted the job originally owes the harpist who played the job all of the money due, including overtime. It is no concern of the harpist who played the job whether or not the harpist who contracted the job was able to collect the overtime fee.

[janet-king]

OK, so…

[diane-michaels]

I advise my clients that overtime on a ceremony is at the discression of the musician (who wants a harp being wheeled out during their vows, or a recessional sans music?), but overtime for any reception is at the discression of the client.

[alishia-joubert]

Was this studio in Evanston?

[Liesl Hagan]

Hi, David –

Your post about surveying the harp community about their rates is very
helpful! We are thinking of doing something similar in Atlanta. I’m
pretty new to the area and to the professional harp world in general,
so fair and appropriate pricing is often on my mind – and as I get to
know other local harpists, I see that they often have similar concerns.
I’m the incoming president of our AHS chapter, and the other officers
and I are in the process of putting a web survey together on this and
other topics to help us plan for the year’s events. We were wondering
if you’d be willing to let us see a copy of the survey that you use in
Phoenix as a reference.

Thanks again for your thoughts!

Liesl Hagan

[David Ice]

Hi Liesl,

I’ve looked around and I can’t find the questionaire, but it was along the lines of

1 hour gig

[Liesl Hagan]

Thanks so much, David!

Liesl Hagan

[onita-sanders]

This past year, I have discovered that my contract does not cover enough areas to MY benefit.

1. Clients who cancel on you after the non-refundable deposit has been paid but yet have paid you in full.

[amy-walts]

Surveys are always a cool idea, but of course people worry about anonymity to keep things objective and honest. A survey of this sort went out in my area a few years ago and it was pointed out that things like handwriting and postmarks are enough to give the identity of the respondent. Using a website like Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) is awesome for this kind of thing. You can set up a (free!) online survey that each musician can complete, and not even have to worry about mailing anything back in. SurveyMonkey will interpret anonymous and confidential reponses and report response statistics back in any number of formats for you. It’s definitely worth checking out. I have used it before in the past to conduct follow-up “customer satisfaction” questionnaires and it’s worked very nicely. Worth checking out for anyone thinking about doing a survey.

[Author]

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