Picasso's Napkin
A musician should respect their craft and their work as an artist. They should also be able to see the value of their own work and be paid accordingly.
Photo by Oriol Pascual on Unsplash
Picasso is sitting in a Paris café when a fan approaches the artist and asks that he make a quick sketch on a paper napkin. Picasso acquiesces, draws his dove, and promptly hands it back to his admirer and asks for a rather large sum of money.
The fan is flummoxed. "How can you ask for so much. It took you a minute to draw this." To which Picasso replies, "No, it took me 40 years."
At my age and level of experience as a musician in New York City, I've become more at ease with requests for specific fees for my services. I'm not hesitant at all. I will walk away when I feel I'm not earning the proper amount.
I was asked to participate in an online music project in March of 2020. The performers were asked to perform for free. The reason was to show unity. The project was an attempt to bring joy during the pandemic. It seemed cool at first, but the truth is, we weren't getting paid.
Soon after completing the first project, I was asked by the same group to be in another one. I was skeptical. Why? No payment was forthcoming. I hesitantly did the first, but I stopped giving away my services for free for any subsequent projects.
When all of this happened, it seemed as if I was the only musician asking to be paid. It was odd.
After thinking it through and talking it over with people I was close to, I became convinced I was making the right decision with my demand to get paid moving forward. I had enough of being generous. I reminded everyone I worked with that I'm a professional musician. That means I get compensated for what I do—especially when my efforts are being used in a massive promotion. Someone was going to benefit from its use; why not me?
After some back and forth behind the scenes, there was a decision not to use me for the second project. Another musician took my place.
Holding out was worth it in the long run because the video made little difference, and the unity didn't amount to much. Most people forgot about the project, and I worked with the same group of people in a paying position many months later.
Remember this concept when negotiating for a salary, asking for a fee for a product or service, or just knowing your worth in general. It's one of the many keys to success. Getting turned down and possibly walking away during a negotiation may be difficult, but when you know your worth, you can live with your choice.
Guy Raz's podcast, How I Built This, is an excellent recounting of how hard people work to achieve their goals and why we pay for their products and services. Raz interviews successful entrepreneurs about their history. He highlights the early missteps that nearly derailed their business but are unseen or forgotten by the public. The podcast shows the long, unglamorous path most successful people follow.
The overnight success myth persists because it's easier to ascribe success to luck or timing. People don't usually pay attention to undying determination and thousands of hours of hard work to be at the top of their field.
People must value the work, time, and skills they bring to the table. They should demand that others respect it enough to pay for it. Suppose you have spent years developing your skills and hours to produce a quality product or service. In that case, that time and effort should be appropriately compensated for you to continue practicing your profession.
Picasso's napkin is poignant because it speaks of experience and ease. It resonates with all creative people. The years of creating, experimenting, refining, and working with various people in different locations come at a steep price. These experiences lead to proficiency and ease. It may appear simple, but it takes years of experience to make things look easy.
The parable often illustrates the notion that true value is subjective and not always immediately apparent. It demonstrates the concept of "perceived value" in the art world, which is the idea that the value of a piece of art is not determined by its intrinsic qualities but by how much someone is willing to pay for it. This can be seen in the way that prices for artworks can fluctuate wildly depending on market conditions, the reputation of the artist, and other factors that have nothing to do with the artwork itself.
The story is also used to illustrate the idea that the value of something is not fixed but can change depending on the context. For example, a napkin that is just used to wipe your mouth is worth very little, but if a famous artist signs it like Picasso, it can become precious.
The story also highlights the role of scarcity in determining value. A signed Picasso napkin is rare, making it more valuable. This idea applies to many fields, like real estate, stocks, and many other areas where the value is determined by demand and supply.
To be able to create a masterpiece in five minutes might have taken 50 years. It took me 40 years to get where I am. I demand to get paid for what I do, just like an attorney representing you in a court of law. Yes, we all might do a pro-bono gig here or there, but the art we create as musicians is just as valuable as any other product or service. Like any other professional, musicians deserve to be compensated fairly for their skills, experience, and talent.
Clayton Craddock hosts the Broadway Drumming 101 Podcast and has held the drum chair in several hit broadway and off-broadway musicals, including Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill and Ain’t Too Proud. He has been a sub drummer on Motown, The Color Purple, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Spongebob Squarepants-The Musical, Evita, Cats, Avenue Q, and The Big Apple Circus. The next project he’s working on is The Hippest Trip – The Soul Train Musical.
Clayton has performed on various TV shows, including Good Morning America, The Colbert Report, The View, The Jimmy Fallon Show, The CBS Early Show, the Today Show, and the 2010 and 2019 TONY Awards at Radio City. He’s shared the stage with legends such as The Stylistics, Denise Williams, Chuck Berry, and Ben E. King and was in the Netflix DWYCK episode of Luke Cage with the Delfonics and the HBO version of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.
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Wise words to start my day with, thank you Clayton! I'd share more of my thoughts here but would need to charge for it ; ~ )