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Author Topic: Venting on Musicians  (Read 1498 times)

Offline ccrossley

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Venting on Musicians
« on: December 08, 2005, 10:14:29 PM »
Ok People,

I'm what you call a late bloomer - I starting playing the Organ @ 30 because it was always something I've been intrigued with and I wanted a hobby to grow old with. Now I'm 33, with a few more chord progressions in my arsenal :) and I'm getting a chance to play around with some real talented musicians who are much younger than I am.

BUT the following are some things that I have problems with and need to vent about....

1) If playing music for your church is your full time profession, do you have HEALTH INSURANCE? If you have children and no insurance, then you really need a whoopin.

1a) You can get a job at Mcdonalds on the days that you dont play at church just for the benefits.

2) What are you doing for a rainy day? I dont see many churches providing a 401K for their employees :)

What about a Roth IRA's, savings bond, CD's, Mutual funds, Life Insurance?

See it bothers me when I see these cats that play me happy and have no "oil in their lamps."

Sorry all, had to get that off my chest - just got out of a practice session with some heavy hitters and gave them a good talking too today.

C4

 



 :wink:
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Offline musicboyrod

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Venting on Musicians
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2005, 11:12:06 PM »
Good Point.
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Offline Bryant_CCTX2005

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Venting on Musicians
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2005, 06:51:02 AM »
I have to say I was guilty of that at one point. Sometimes we get so caught up with the money and things that we don't think about the future. Its easy to do that being a professional musician or a full time church musician. One thing I am doing is going to school for music so I can teach and get the benefits while still doing something that I love do. But everyone doesn't see it that way....we get so happy just playing that we don't really think about some other important things.
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Offline ccrossley

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Venting on Musicians
« Reply #3 on: December 12, 2005, 02:25:06 AM »
Thats great to hear bro -- Nothing better than hearing about productive brothas .

Now do me a favor tell every col', phat, raw, tight, ridiculous, etc or whatever you refer to your good players in your area to get some INSURANCE (while I get some better chord progressions
 :lol: )
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Offline Jmanley1116

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Venting on Musicians
« Reply #4 on: December 12, 2005, 07:13:10 AM »
I hear you man.  I know a few cats who were musicians that passed away.  No insurance or anything and the burden of getting their final things together fell on the backs of others.  Being a pro musician is a life's dream for some people, but "bennys" aren't included in most situations and that is bad.
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Offline key-wiz

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Venting on Musicians
« Reply #5 on: December 12, 2005, 09:09:36 AM »
Quote from: Jmanley1116
I hear you man.  I know a few cats who were musicians that passed away.  No insurance or anything and the burden of getting their final things together fell on the backs of others.  Being a pro musician is a life's dream for some people, but "bennys" aren't included in most situations and that is bad.


 :idea: Ohhhhhhhh So True :idea:
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Abracadabra!!!! "Key-Wiz" The Magic Of Music

Offline diverse379

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Venting on Musicians
« Reply #6 on: December 12, 2005, 02:04:30 PM »
this is a very important topic some of the larger churches offer benefits

the musicians union offers a helath plan which is supposed to be prety good you pay your union dues and you are elegible to participate in their plan

assurant health offers medical and dental for about 45 a month pretty reasonable

and there is always medicaid as a last resort

whether you opt for a day job or not you need to provide for the future or God forbid you cant play anymore for some reason

If you can get into real estate

or start an ebay store or whatever you need to do to keep your self musically available

I have a masters in education but i do not teach i gave up my day job and started playing in a church for a 125 a week i could barely make ends meet now i make much more and still need to make some moves to prepare for retirement

Trust in God always but use wisdom in making provisons

maybe we should post what we know about other health plans for the safety of our fellow musicians  

like i have a tooth that is loose from a sparring match a couple of years ago i need a dentist badly and funds are a little tight right now

a lot of plans dont include dental i think i will check out the assurant helath thing
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To be or not to be that is the question you anwer when you pray practice and read your word

Offline Freddy229

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Venting on Musicians
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2005, 10:34:41 AM »
Down here in TX Ameriplan is a pretty good benefits package. It has: dental, vision, and prescription benefits. What it is is a discount program, you pay a discounted rate for those services. Its not the best, but anything is better than nothing at all.

As for churches not having insurance... :roll:
When you think about it, what are they paying YOU out of? For that matter, what are they paying the Pastor out of, if he gets paid? Some churches can afford to pay a full-time scale they just don't have benefits. Some churches pay 'not enough' and require you to be there 'full-time' or else they'll find someone else.  Most churches can' t pay what we need as men(heads of households) anyway, so it should be SUPPLEMENTAL income to begin with. I struggle trying to remain available but church wasn't cuttin' it so I had to get a job and miss some 50-100 dollar nights. Its all about the big picture!
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