strathspey@strathspey.org:27830

Nancy Lorimer

Re: Protocol/ethis for hiring/un-hiring a band...

Oct. 9, 2001, 6:40 p.m. (Message 27830, in reply to message 27818)

I usually lurk on this list, but I feel very strongly about this.

A band can be booked tentatively for an occasion with an agreement on both 
sides to confirm or withdraw by a certain date. In such a case, it would be 
okay to unbook them in favor of another group as long as it is by that 
date. Otherwise, unhiring a band in favor of one with greater name 
recognition  seems to me to be demeaning and unethical. Legal 
considerations aside (a booking is a contract), such an action is unlikely 
to benefit a dance group in the long run. The unhired group will likely 
think twice about booking with the organization again after being treated 
in such a manner. It is also quite possible that the chosen group, on 
learning they have been put in the awkward position of putting other 
musicians out of a job, will also be more cautious in future. To place it 
all in another perspective--if a dance group booked a band for a weekend 
workshop and the band then cancelled in favor of a gig that was 
better-paying, would the group book them again?

I admit all my own experience playing as a freelance musician was not in 
this country and in classical music, where a group carrying out such a 
change would still have to pay me the full fee. But a colleague with 
freelance experience here immediately said that if such a thing happened to 
him, he would not work with that group again if he had understood the 
booking to be a confirmed one. SCD musicians may work more informally, and 
may be quite accommodating in schedule changes, etc., but there is still 
the matter of basic respect for your musicians (and fellow SCD enthusiasts) 
who are an important part of the SCD community.

Nancy Lorimer
Mountain View, CA