Young musicians face many obstacles on road to success
John Senn introduced club member Dan Plunkett (left above), who was accompanied by Steve Kostyk (right above), in speaking about the music industry and the difficulty young musicians face to trying to get their careers off the ground.
Dan, long involved in music from his early days in Kingston, turned to promoting a number of years ago after retiring from his paying career. He has specialized in trying to help young musicians but admitted most face a difficult time if they don’t have solid financial backing even before they get started.
Dan related an incident from his early days in music in Kingston were touring musicians were required to hire local backup. Dan was designated to fill in for one group and ended up, as he said, being paid not to play.
He said muscians are often taken advantage of by club managers or owners who try to renege on contracts. Dan said that, especially in his early years, he on occasion used his own money to make sure his musicians were not short-changed.
Dan also pointed out that some musicians hurt their own cause by unprofessional conduct by such things as drinking on stage or even by the names they select for their groups.
Steve Kostyk, who’s career includes playing backup with Walter Ostanek, said that there are 90,000 members in the Canadian Federation of Musicians across Canada and they are still learn-ing to work together to help each other. If they are to be successful they have to agree not to work for less than their agreed upon scale fees.
He said the music industry has changed over the years and musicians have to deal with costs similar to other independent businesses.
Dan and Steve finished off their presentation by performing a couple of songs.
The speaker at the February meeting will be Judith Fraser from Dementia Friends Canada, an Alzheimer Society and Government of Canada initiative.