Tip, Tip, Tip the Band! How to Ethically Navigate Music-Based Tourist Sites

Lydia Warren, Ph.D. Candidate, Tourism RESET Research Fellow

Music-based tourism is a popular and growing trend that attracts millions of people and generates millions of dollars annually. Perhaps you have traveled to cities known for their music history and contemporary music scenes, like Memphis, New Orleans, Nashville, and Austin. Maybe you have driven the Crooked Road in Virginia to hear old time music at tiny holes in the wall and large cultural centers, or traversed the Mississippi Blues Trail in search of juke joints and rural festivals. If you have, you probably spent hundreds or thousands of dollars on flights, rental cars, gas, and accommodations, and countless hours researching the best venues, bars, and events. Once at your destination, you probably spent more money on food, drinks, and souvenirs.

You are there for the music, but do you know how much the musicians are paid at the venues you visit?

Say you go to Nashville to hear country music at the honky tonks on world famous Broadway. You pay for a flight, a hotel, and an Uber downtown. You dance to the music of ten different bands at eight different venues. You buy a round of drinks for your friends, pay for dinner, and leave with a t-shirt from the bar you like best. Live music is the reason you are in Nashville, but, so far, none of the hundreds or thousands of dollars you have spent has gone to musicians. While music-based tourism is a huge draw, the majority of the money people spend traveling to and at music tourism destinations goes to hotel chains, airlines, restaurants and bars, not to musicians.

While each locale and venue is different, many musicians are not paid a living wage by venues (or, in many cases, any wage). Very few musicians in tourist areas are salaried, and many musicians depend on tourists’ tips to pay rent, buy food, and replace guitar strings and drum sticks. Musicians may even have to pay full price to park in the tourist area where they work.

You may wonder why musicians are not always guaranteed decent money in music-based tourism areas, or why musicians accept low-pay gigs and no-pay gigs in tourist areas. Musicians are usually independent contractors, and venues have no legal obligation to pay musicians a set or minimum fee. Since there are always other musicians willing to replace those who complain about pay, musicians have a difficult time collectively bargaining. Some musicians view their gigs in Nashville’s honky tonks and Beale Street’s blues bars as stepping stones to greater industry opportunities, or simply a privilege, given the historical significance of the areas.

I will sidestep the tension one can explore here between the fact that some venues in music-based tourism areas require live music to be viable, yet they shortchange live musicians—the main attraction. Instead, I wish to focus on what we, as tourists, can do to support musicians.

1.    Come with cash and tip the musicians! Money that you put into a tip bucket or into the hands of musicians goes to the musicians (whereas a cover charge may or may not go to the musicians). This is the most direct and effective way to compensate musicians and support their music. If you request songs and musicians play them, or if you have the privilege of sitting in with the band, tip as generously as you can.

2.    Buy merchandise from the musicians at the venue. Buying CDs, t-shirts, and whatever else musicians have available at venues means you are directly compensating the musicians. Streaming the music of the bands you enjoy in a tourist area, watching them on YouTube, and buying their music online when you get home provides a minuscule amount of money, or no money at all. Additionally, many artists in tourists areas do not have their music available online. Buy what you can in person.

3.    Musicians benefit from your publicity! If you post photos and videos of musicians, tag the musicians on social media. Tell your friends what bands you enjoyed, like the musicians’ Facebook pages, and follow the Instagram accounts of the musicians you saw. Go to the Trip Adviser and Facebook pages of the venues where you saw the musicians you enjoyed and leave positive reviews about your experience— and name the musicians! This lets venue management know how important the musicians are.  (Also, be respectful if a musician asks you to take down a video on social media. They may consider it a bad performance, or it may be an unreleased song they do not yet want out.)

4.    Talk to the musicians you enjoy and compliment their performance. While some musicians protect their set break time (and others do not have breaks at all), many musicians love talking about their experiences and influences between sets and after gigs.

There are also some things be mindful of in music tourism areas. While many musicians appreciate the rounds of drinks tourists love to buy, drinks do not pay the rent. Most musicians prefer cash to alcohol, and some do not drink at all. Consider this if you want your tip to be impactful. Additionally, do not be aggressive with song requests. Musicians generally accommodate any reasonable cover song request when possible. If you request a song and the musicians do not play it, you can ask the fee for the song. Otherwise, assume the band does not know it or cannot perform it at the moment. (In other words, reel in your drunk friend who is screaming “Uptown Funk” at the band. Maybe the band played it before you got there, or maybe the singer cannot hit the high notes tonight.)

Overall, musicians in tourist areas work hard to ensure that folks have a fun vacation, trip, or night. They often rely on tourists’ cash tips to maintain their musical equipment, park, and to pay rent. Give what you can if you enjoy the music, even if you can only afford to write a great review online.