The total attendance at French Quarter Fest was just announced on Tuesday, and the numbers were phenomenal: approximately 512,000 people in one weekend. This Festival is growing exponentially; the Quarter was incredibly crowded this past weekend. It’s going to be a banner year for the French Quarter Festival, and rightly so. It brings people so many people to the city, and it’s a wonderful event, no doubt about it.

But there’s a problem brewing amongst local musicians vis a vis the French Quarter Festival. FQF was started as an event that brought people back to the Quarter, not as a music festival. But that’s certainly what it’s evolved into. It’s an event that locals and visitors flock to because of the music. The vendors at French Quarter Festival certainly do very well, as do the food and beverage, and merchandise sales. All of this goes to support FQFI operations year-round, and the other events they produce: Christmas New Orleans Style, and Satchmo Summerfest.

When the Festival started, the musicians who participated were primarily jazz musicians, the vast majority of whom belonged to the Musicians’ Union, which of course has financial minimum standards of pay for their membership. The French Quarter Festival has a contract with the Union that guarantees that union members who play get a certain wage.

However, it’s a fact that most musicians in the city do not belong to the union. As the FQF became more focused on music, the French Quarter Festival tried to find a way to showcase musicians who weren’t union members, but knew they needed to be paid. So to honor their union contract obligations, FQF set up a system where non-union bands were “sponsored” by businesses, not paid directly by FQF itself. In other words, a non-union band would negotiate a form of payment from a local business, and the business would pay the band directly. Because the FQF staff was small and not equipped to acquire sponsors for hundreds of bands and musicians, the standard policy has been that bands have to acquire their own sponsors.

French Quarter Festivals, Inc. is not a big money-maker, like the Jazz Fest, and for one simple and obvious reason: FQF is free. There’s no ticket charge. Closing off the French Quarter to so that tickets could be sold is impossible. I seriously doubt that after almost 30 years of being a free festival that FQF attendees would be amenable to paying a ticket price anyway.

So here’s the problem: there’s grumbling in the music community about the fact that the musicians—who are arguably the big draw for FQF—have to scramble to get a sponsor so that they’ll be paid. And I agree: musicians need to be paid. Why should they have to struggle to find a sponsor to be paid for this gig?

So how does French Quarter Festival solve this?

It’s not feasible to force all musicians to join the local union, although some of them would probably be better off, as the union does offer a lot of benefits.

The musicians and bands also need to realize that French Quarter Festival is run by a very small staff, a working board, and hundreds of volunteers.

My solution would be to solicit one large sponsor specifically to pay for the music. I’ve proffered this idea in my Mojo Mouth column; I think the city of New Orleans needs to step up to the plate to help pay the musicians. Obviously, the city profits from French Quarter Festival in a big way in terms of visitation and tax generation. Why shouldn’t the city kick in some money for this festival?

Another suggestion: most of the businesses that now sponsor bands are small, or medium-sized. Currently, when a business sponsors a band, the amount paid to a band is not tax deductible because it’s paid directly to the band. If a sponsor could give sponsorship monies directly to French Quarter Festivals, Inc., which is a 501 (c) (3) organization, the sponsor could potentially be able to write off at least a portion of the money as a donation to a charitable entity. That in itself would certainly encourage more sponsors to come forth to sponsor bands.

And another: this year, the French Quarter Festival instituted a “Fest Family” membership that includes special benefits for members who contribute to the organizations. Wouldn’t it also be appropriate to see if a Fest Family member wants to sponsor a band? Not only does this provide money for the bands to be paid; it also gives the member the feeling that they are involved and are contributing directly to the success of the event.

So, to sum up: bands who play French Quarter Festival need to be paid; French Quarter Festival needs to find a way to pay the bands; the city needs to cough up some money to help the festival remain free and to pay its musicians, who are the reason why most people go to French Quarter Fest.

On another related subject, FQF must find a way to get musicians parking and easier access to the stages. I saw so many musicians lugging the instruments and equipment on foot down the street. Perhaps there should be a “band wrangler” who takes care of the needs of the bands, which should also include a free shuttle service for the bands. This is something that the Festival used to offer, but it’s gone by the wayside since Katrina. It needs to be reinstated.

The French Quarter Festival has become one of the city’s greatest events. It needs to come to terms with making sure that the musicians who make it such a great festival are appreciated and paid.