The musician’s tip jar: Is it a blessing or a curse?

Fortunately or unfortunately, the musician’s tip jar has become an additional prop you can fully expect to see.|

When you step through the doorway of a local live music venue, you look around to find the right seat. You observe the usual selection of microphones, guitars and amps scattered on the stage or stage area. Fortunately or unfortunately, the musician’s tip jar has become an additional prop you can fully expect to see. It’s hard to imagine that there was a time the tip jar was only used by solo lounge piano players who functioned as a kind of human juke box. Customers paid for their favorite songs to be performed, and paid by the song. In addition, they were paid quite well by the club owner, making the tip jar a second viable source of income for the night’s work. The other use for tip jars, of course, has always been for the street musician who depends on the donations of passers-by for his next meal.

Here in the 21st century, the tip jar has become accepted as a legitimate form of payment for bands. The jar is displayed in front of the stage, the lead singer announces its presence between the songs and the jar is sometimes carried from table to table to insure more donations/offerings.

Opinions vary as to whether the tip jar has a legitimate place in a profitable nightclub context.

Tip jar … reasons for:

1. The tip jar provides another much needed source of income for the players. It is a common fallacy that the musicians are well compensated for their time and professionalism by the club owners. The common rate of pay for nightclub musicians has actually decreased alarmingly and exponentially over the past 30 to 40 years.

2. Most local club owners allow customers entry without a cover charge. This makes the evening’s entertainment more financially practical for you, the patron, in an already pricey world.

3. A tip jar provides a means for the music lover to show his or her personal appreciation for the live talent they’ve enjoyed.

Since the advent of DUI checkpoints across the U.S., giant bar tabs for the blue-collar income-level patron have greatly diminished. Friday night inebriated driving has become the exception instead of the rule.

No nightlife participant wants to risk jail, lawyers’ fees, insurance hikes, potential loss of driver’s license or even jail time just for a night of drinking. Restaurant and bar owners no longer see the great profits in liquor sales they enjoyed in previous generations; and it was those profits that previously paid bands (sometimes as big as 10 pieces) a realistic wage for their music.

Tip jar … reasons against:

1. Nightclub and bar patrons, more often than not, feel put upon (their privacy having been disturbed) when a tip jar is thrust in their face, right at their table.

2. Club owners feel empowered to pay musicians less than a fare wage by offering the band the “opportunity” to “pass the hat.” In doing so, they ignore the “you get what you pay for” adage and often feature less-than-professional musicians, which always has a negative effect on any venue’s money-making capacity.

4. When patrons see a tip jar being used, the musician is seen as a beggar instead of a professional. You hear people say, “They do it for the love, not for the money.”

As true as that quote may be, I believe nightclub live music experience would be enriched tenfold if patrons were assured they would be treated to true professionals being paid a decent fee to make their joyful noise.

As a random opinion sampling, I asked Katherine Zentner, 26, her take on the tip jar debate. As a frequent live music fan, she observed, “People don’t really tip the bands as much as they should. A cover charge would work better to increase the players’ revenue.”

I’m not sure if that’s the only solution. But as Petaluma makes its bid to become a San Francisco Bay Area destination point for tourism, it might be a good idea to understand how the professional musician, being paid as a professional, can be harnessed to increase the city’s nightlife profit potential.

(Sheldon Bermont is a longtime Petaluma musician. He can be reached by email at smb@sbermont writer.com)

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