So how can a musician pay the bills when he or she can’t work?
Not every musician (or band) has the ability to sell their music in recorded format. The “big name” bands can make a decent paycheck when they play live, or tour, or when they sell their music in the form of CDs or vinyl (FYI: the amount of revenues from streaming music is so miniscule that most musicians don’t even see it; even the bigger names in the city don’t see much revenue from streaming). Livestreams have helped during the pandemic, as fans can leave tips and donate directly to the musicians. But the fact is, when musicians who depend on live performances can’t play, they justcan’t make any money.
With no clear path in sight on when live music in New Orleans will be able to resume, many musicians are getting into bad financial shape. Some of them receive unemployment (if they had a job that could produce an unemployment check). But the most current Federal relief package is not progressing. What will full-time musicians do? Take a job? How will that affect New Orleans music?
If you’re a “lesser-known” musician in New Orleans, the only option may be to look at other ways to make money. Musicians who depend on playing live in the city’s clubs and venues, at private events, or festivals are getting desperate. When I say lesser-known, that probably comprises about 90 percent of local gigging musicians.
Chance Bushman wants to help change that.
“With musicians not being able to make money by playing live, it should be possible for musicians to be able to get a steady paycheck by monetizing their livestreams,” he said. “We have to do something to keep our musicians alive financially. Much of the money that comes in through regular livestreaming doesn’t go directly to the musicians, and we need to change that.”
If Bushman’s name sounds familiar, you may know him as one of the organizers of the Swing Dance Festival. He’s also regularly seen performing and dancing around town. Bushman is a professional dancer, teacher, event organizer and talent booker. You may have seen him perform with bands like Meschiya Lake & The Little Big Horns, Tuba Skinny, Sophie Lee, Sarah Quintana, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and many more.
Bushman has created a new company called Musicians Owned Streaming Services, Inc. (MOSSI). The idea is to create a cooperative that’s owned by the musicians themselves, thus reducing the overhead of a regular company; the musicians will be able to control and post their own streaming through their own livestream service. Currently, there is a GoFundMe for the effort and a livestream every night from Café Istanbul at 7 p.m. that is attempting to raise money and awareness to get the service off the ground at FEENDO.net’s Facebook page (Feendo is from a Danny Barker song—“Chocko Mo Feendo Hay.” Bushman says he’s already gotten the interest of many local musicians, who are keen on the idea of owning their own revenues from livestreaming.
“We could really get it off the ground if we had commitments from one of the more well-known local bands like, say Tank & The Bangas, or Big Freedia or the Soul Rebels. We could really make an impact if they’d jump on board,” he said. MOSSI has already obtained an SBA loan for the start-up and has acquired the equipment to do the livestreaming, which could include live videos produced by the MOSSI team, or pre-recorded videos as well.
“We hope to have our site up by October 1,” said saxophonist Dominick Grillo (Frenchmen Street All-Stars, Kings James & the Special Men, and many more), one of the musicians who is involved with the MOSSI co-op and FEENDO.net website.
