New Orleans musicians are one beat closer to receiving a guaranteed base wage when they perform at city-backed events. 

The New Orleans City Council’s Economic Development Committee, on Wednesday (July 17), unanimously voted to send an ordinance that sets a base hourly pay for musicians to the full city council, where it is expected to pass. 

If passed, the law would guarantee that musicians performing at city functions would be paid at least $200 per hour — with a one-hour minimum — or $2,000 per performance for bands with 10 members or more. The ordinance covers vocalists, people playing instruments, DJs and conductors, but does not include “non-musical accompaniment,” such as dancers, sound technicians and managers. 

New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, is world-renowned for its homegrown musical talent. And music is one of the major draws for the millions of tourists who visit the city each year. But working musicians in the city often struggle to make ends meet. Councilmember Helena Moreno said the measure will give at least some of those musicians a more predictable, and fairer, source of income.

“One of the things that is incredibly important is ensuring that we have increased wages within the city of New Orleans, that we are able to ensure that we’re lifting up our culture bearers and those who are a crucial part of our city,” Moreno, who introduced the ordinance last month, said on Wednesday. 

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City agencies such as the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission and the New Orleans Aviation Board — which runs Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport — frequently hire local musical acts for major events or ongoing live music programs. But there is wide variation in pay for those performances, according to a presentation by Lisa Alexis, director of the city’s Office of Cultural Economy. 

The airport, named after the city’s most famous musician, currently pays individual musicians $175 for three-hour performances, which works out to roughly $58 per hour. NORD, on the other hand, pays musicians an average of $150 per hour. 

Drummer Danovan Calhoun Bettis is the director of engagement of the Music and Cultural Coalition of New Orleans, which partnered with Moreno to conduct research into musicians’ pay. Bettis, who said he has been booked for airport gigs in the past, thinks the new proposed rate is fair and respects musicians’ craft and time. 

“If I can show up at a gig and know that I leave with $600 – that’s livable for me,” Bettis said in an interview Wednesday. “That’s a wage. Now I have the time to devote to life.”

In a presentation to the committee, Bettis said the average rate of pay for musicians in New Orleans in 2020 was $125 per performance, regardless of length of time, compared to $100 per performance in 1980. 

“When adjusted for inflation this shows gigs are paying less than half as much as they were 35 years ago,” Bettis said during the presentation. 

According to the presentation, musicians spend roughly half of their incomes on rent and earn between $24,000 and $28,000 per year. 

Bettis, who has performed in New Orleans since childhood and leads the band Bettis + Third Degree, said early-career musicians playing at private venues in the city often work for tips or extremely low per-show rates for years before they can begin to earn higher pay. He said without a proper pay structure, the city risks losing its musicians to places where they can earn more. 

“If we can’t go home to lights and food, eventually we won’t want to provide the entertainment anymore,” he said. “Or we’ll just leave. And the goal is to keep the culture here.”

Councilmember JP Morrell suggested adding language into the ordinance before it is presented to the full council to ensure that departments will comply with the new proposed pay rates.  

”I think it’s going to be necessary to amend the ordinance to say, ‘We’re gonna make departments affirm either monthly or quarterly that they’re actually following the ordinance,’” Morrell said.  

To propose a base wage for musicians, Moreno looked to the city of Austin, Texas, which recently passed a similar ordinance guaranteeing musicians a minimum rate of $200 per hour  for public performance contracts. Moreno said although $200 is the base, the city would have the option to pay higher rates. She said the aim of the ordinance is to set an example for the private sector. 

“Let us in the city governments set the tone for what the rest of the city should be doing,” Moreno said. 

Alexis said she hopes the new rates across city departments will give musicians greater bargaining power with private bookings.

“By setting the standard, hopefully no one will negotiate under that value,” Alexis said. “And our artists will not have to think that they need to accept an opportunity to be employed for a lower value.”

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