JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Yet Another Tip Jar Question

I am a solo performer and will often put out ye olde tip jar, when it's cool with the venue/host. Right now it says "TIPS" and underneath it says "(Thank you!)"

Would it be a bad idea to put "AKA Grocery Money" on it, instead of "Thank You"? It's true - I do put my gig money toward groceries. I'm wondering if people would be more likely to tip if they saw that, or if there's some reason that it is a bad idea.

If you want to get tips, you have to get people to notice the tip jar or at least be aware of it. I would not be bashful about adding the grocery money line or whatever you want. I know one guy who uses a gasoline jug as a tip jar and calls it gas money.

A friend of mine is a fantastic musician who gigs about three nights a week. On her nights off from gigging, she works as a bartender. She earns twice as much from tips as a bartender. Because people have been trained to to tip waitresses and bartenders - but they don't automatically think of tipping a musician......they assume we are getting well paid (lol).

So it is up to you to get noticed.

I used to get paid tips for song requests. I brought about 15 fake books to my gigs so I could cover any requests I didn't know.

John

I would try

TIPS
(DRUG MONEY)


would get ya a laugh and a smile and probaly a bigger tip.......you wanna keep the theme of entertainment going in a gig
so to illicit laughter and a smile would be better-I would think-than harping on poor little old me starving artist....

well anyway just an idea

Tom

Actually,
It has been suggested that you put some "Seed Money" in the Tip Jar when you set it up. People will see the money already in there and will be more inticed to Tip. BUT, don't tell Big Jim, he's still living in caves!

Better use a tip basket then Richard. They may give you fruit and veggies for a tip.

John

Hi Riohard:

Colin brought up a sad but true thought... that the general public does not have a clue how tough things are for performers these days... and how they don't tip well.

For a little levity, your tip jar message might say, "Bailout Reimbursement Fund."

Hope things are going well for you.

Best,

Dave

Colin is absolutely right. Get as creative as you can without being too obnoxious. I like to remind people that "I know TIPS is SPIT spelled backwards, but please try to keep it straight." It draws their attention to the bucket (basket, hat, whatever....)
I always like to put some money in there for starters, as well. Not so much that people think you don't need more, but enough to remind them what the container is for. This is especially important if it's clear, like a glass jar or a beer pitcher.

Offer to play a special song for them. Make a joke about the tips, "Tipping is not just a river in China." And then of course my favorite. Start playing some horrible sounding song. (My Favorite is "Feelings" done by Bob Dylan) then say "Five dollars started this. Ten Dollars will stop it."

That one always makes them crazy.

My actual biggest ways to get tips is to make up songs on the spot about them. It is pretty easy actually, watch them as they sit around and talk or other things they are with like being with some hot girl. Sharpen's your writing skills and will increase your abilities to think on your feet. And it is pretty funny. Every once in a while you get a bit of an idea that actually works in a real song.

MAB

Dylan did a song called Feelings? News to me. I know the one done by Morris Albert.

BTW, Morris Albert lost 88% of his royalties for copyright infringement. Now, that's a blow, that song, believe it or not has been HUGELY successful. Recorded dozens of times, even by Sinatra.

I have done what MAB described for a while. I got a big metal flowerpot at a thrift store, spray-painted it a Really Obnoxious Orange, and put a sign on it proclaiming "Tipping Is Not A City in China." And I don't have to say a word. The Ugly Orange Bucket calls attention to itself just fine, thank you. Yes, seed money--a buck or two--in the bucket is a good idea, but I regularly forget (or don't have any). That doesn't seem to matter that much. I keep the Ugly Orange Bucket in the back of the truck so it goes to every gig.

Joe

Duke,

No. I do vocal impressions. I do "Feelings" terribly as if Bob Dylan, who ties Kris Kristofferson for the "worst voice in humanity" doing "Feelings." By the time you get to "Feeeeeelllllliinnnnnnggggssss woh woh woh, feeellinnngggssss woh woh woh...." The tens and twenty dollar bills come flying out faster than you have ever seen. You can pretty much replace your CD sales for a week doing that. LOL! But it does take talent. You have to be able to sing both flat and sharp with equal dexterity at the same time.

Dylan is a great tip getter.

MAB

Tipping mut be an American thing.....apart from street buskers, and Edinburgh has its fair share of them......Performers over here in clubs bars and theatres etc get paid for their work and the punters would never dream of tipping......I have never used a tip jar or asked for extra contributions from the audience.....but I've had a few drinks bought and refused many to stay sober. On the other hand most acts sell Cds or other types of merchandise at breaks and after the performance.....some make more from cd sales than they do from appearance money. It is worth considering.

Tip jars for musicians is extremely common in the USA. I already do the trick about seeding the tip jar (I learned that trick from this forum) and my tip jar is a big plastic jar that you can see through, so people can see what's inside. Some people recommend seeding the tip jar with ones and bigger bills, but similar to waht Joe Wrabek said, I often don't HAVE any larger bills.

I do have the concern about coming across as "Poor old little old me" if I put grocery money on the tip jar, but I like the idea of putting SOMETHING on it. I can't put "drug money" as funny as that is, because I work in public education. "Gas Money" is not a bad idea.

And I do need to get back into the mode of pushing my own CD's at gigs. I've gotten away from that but it's definitely another income source.

I put "Bob's Pension Fund" on mine. Unfortunately it's not a joke.
I also use Kurts method of throwing the first dollar in to remind people it's there.

Richard,

Of course you can use "Drug funds". just make your drugs Cealis, Viagra, Propacia, blood pressure medicine, hemmroid medicine, etc.

Tipping actually goes back a long way. When Kings and Potentates employed court jesters, jugglers and Minstrels, they were often paid in food, which is why the practice of throwing vegetables at acts that "bombed." It used to be that they were pelted with food as a way of payment.

In America, buskers and street serenaders were always paid in tips. It was not until the 20's that musicians were actually paid in money. In theory, the bar tenders and waitresses (and musicians are paid low salaries and make up the balance by tips.) great personalities and repore with the audience, great tips.

And Jim, that is interesting you talk about buskers and others not using tip jars. I work with a LOT of people from all over Europe, England and Scotland included and they always tell me that is the ONLY way they have ever been paid.

I guess it depends on your track record.

MAB

Well,
There was a Personnalman in the Navy. He had a jar on his desk, Donations for the Children of Isreal. His name was Isreal.

I would say, the way the economy is going, people may start paying with a chicken. The more things change the more they stay the same.

You got it wrong..... I said that only buskers and street performers play for tips or collections....anyone I know who works the Scottish or English pub/club circuit get paid well and do not have tip jars it is considered a no no as punters more often than not already have paid admission to see the act. On the other hand in Edinburgh you cannot go anywhere in the city especially at festival time without seeing someone busking for tips. Some make great money. upwards of £100 per hour. Check out this very recent story from our local paper.....
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/Saskias-on-song-to-the.6818926.jp
Do not know the girl and have never heard of her till the story but she must be good......Another interesting point is that ALL buskers must have a buskers's permit issued by the local authority. It is a criminal offence to busk without one.

Of course "gas money" would be an apt one too.

Jim,

You always come on here telling me how wrong I am. I am not the one who says any of this stuff. I work with people from the UK, From Scotland, from Ireland, I have had artists with record deals, publishers, people from that world that tell ME what I say here.

The reason I know this is because for years many people have talked about trying to get me to come over there. But they say that you have to come over one time to set things up because no one gets paid. They don't have a booking agency or central clearning house that books anything.

Now maybe they are wrong. Could be. But there have been dozens and dozens over many years that have said the same things. So you might be one of the few getting paid. You might be the one who is wrong. I have heard one thing from you, and many other things from many other people that say the exact opposite of what you say.

So as usual we dissagree. I don't plan on making the trip. It is simply information passed on to me by other people who have been there and what they go through. I would tend to belive that you have been doing it a long time and have earned a different wage and different respect level that many people who may have come in over the past few years.

Like everything, it is a different world for people starting out now than it was 10-15-20 years ago. The truth is probably somewhere in between. There are people of your stature that have established a career over many years. There are others who have come through in the past 10 or so years that have a totally different environment than you have.

The majority of people I deal with, leave their home countries or cities because they have run out of options where they live. That is why Nashville has as many newcomers as we do.

MAB

Marc I was just correcting an inaccuracy from someone who obviously has given you wrong info.
There is a multi tier system like probably anywhere else.....BUT a paid gig is a paid gig....Most people here do paid gigs without tip jars and the only folk who make tips or rely on them are open air buskers who hang about the city centres..OKAY some folk may busk and do paid gigs as well BUT I have never heard of anyone who works in pubs and clubs putting up a tip jar....it just does not happen.
Just for info I work through several agents who have the large corporate gigs, clubs, holiday centres, hotels and larger pubs virtually sewn up so most acts have to use them to work these establishments. There are a ton of small pubs and a few small clubs who do not use agents and they employ acts usually through word of mouth. I sometimes work that way and also get work from people who I have known for years who book me privately. But none of those gigs works a tip system. Some top acts will hire a theatre or large hall sell tickets and put on a show themselves but again no tip jar. Now I do not know who gives you this info but you can tell them from me that they have it all wrong. I work Scotland and the North of England and have done for years and tips have never happened. Remember I do not live in Nashville and your rules do not apply here. We are not a closed shop and people WILL get work if they are good enough.
Sadly things are not as good as they used to be and I am working places I would never have years ago.....many reasons for that but there is some work if you are good enough. I just had an agent on the phone only yesterday and he filled up most of my DIARY for the next few months......not enough to make as good a living as I used to but its..... OK.

Maybe on feelings but I always thought Paul Williams (Rainy Days And Mondays, other songs too) was pretty dang bad and they used to introduce him "a great singer." I didn't understand life back then and I thought they actually believed what they said.

I agree with Big Jim (I think). If I'm getting paid, I won't put out the Ugly Orange Bucket. Only exception I've made is when we played the Manzanita Farmer's Market a week ago; we were being paid, but the organizers put out a tipjar and told the audience it was for the band. It wasn't attention-getting, so at the first break I went out to the truck and got the Ugly Orange Bucket and people started throwing money in it. But normally I wouldn't have the bucket out if I was getting paid.

Joe

On the subject of busking..... I saw a guy busking in Edinburgh during the festival...he was a pretty good violinist and he had no bucket or other receptacle for money...he had instead a small notice on a stand with a couple of CD covers pinned to it "If you like what you hear buy a CD"....there was a girl I assume his wife or partner selling the Cd's from a suitcase full of them....and a queue waiting to buy them. I spoke to him after buying a CD......seemingly a while back he had a large run of Cd's made which he could not sell and this was his way of getting rid of them. He had sold so many he had to order more Cd's.
I still have the Cd with his eclectic mix of pop, rock, jazz, country, blues and classical music adapted for the violin. His version of Voodoo Chile using an electric violin with fx and a wah wah pedal is amazing.