Task - highlight/summarise the main points of the article, for example,

by underlining or highlighting relevant text and making notes in the

margins.

Pete Moser – Community Music

Pete Moser is currently Artistic Musical Director at More Music in Morecambe,

but has spent most of his life working as a freelance musician. Here he talks
about self-promotion, pitching for new work and having the confidence to
charge what you’re worth.

Pete’s musical career started out in theatre land, after landing a job as a stage
manager through a friend that worked in the business. His first freelance
contract; a four-week stint at Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland, soon led to
two other opportunities with opera companies in London and Edinburgh.
The opportunities of new work continued through colleagues and contacts,
and Pete became more involved with music, firstly as a performer and
technician before becoming a musical director at Welfare State International.
The notion of one job opportunity leading to another has very much been a
working reality:

“If you work in one place and you do good work, you make contacts with
people and it leads onto other work. It seems to be the way a lot of freelance
work happens,” says Pete.

Although the unpredictable nature of freelance work can often be its appeal,
the down side of lots of short-term contracts and one-off sessions can be the
financial impact. “When I was in the midst of my freelance career,” says Pete,
“30-40% of my work was with ongoing work that I was trying to repeat, and
the rest was one-off things or more short-term projects.”

So how do you deal with dry spells of work that crop up as a freelancer? “I
search out work,” Pete explains, “and I’ve done quite a lot of setting up my
own projects. Even if there isn’t work coming in directly from other places, I
tend to go out to places with an idea. Particularly with schools – offering a
specific idea to them.”

Pete has developed long-standing relationships with schools on a number of

occasions. One instance saw a one-off music session lead to a regular singing
workshop. That in turn led to a larger-scale opera project the following year,
which meant hiring in extra musicians and resources, all of which generated
more freelance work.

Admittedly a “self-promoter”, Pete points out another up side to seeking out

freelance work: “If you pitch for work, then you can dictate the terms a little
bit. Whereas if you’re always just responding to what comes in, you’re purely
responding to what other people are asking of you.”
Dictating the terms, invariably involves negotiating rates and Pete is quick to
point out that there are no hard and fast rules. “Different people have
different attitudes towards the rates that you charge,” he says. “Schools are
used to paying music service rates which are often £30 per hour. So, if a
school asks you to do a days work, they would be expecting to pay £150-£200
for a days work. If the school only want you to do an hours session - that’s
when it starts getting difficult. Do you then say “well actually that’s my whole
morning gone”, or would you just charge your £30?”

There are always conditions that impact on rates. If there’s an opportunity to

set up a new working relationship with a school or youth group, then
lowering daily rates can be worthwhile. Travel and equipment usage also
need to be factored into costs, which could increase rates considerably if the
session involves travelling the length of the country with a huge P.A. “If
you’re running a workshop where you have to bring along £4000 of
equipment, then charge £40 for the use of your equipment,” advises Pete. It’s
a significant amount of equipment that you have to maintain and you’re also
using your time to set everything up.”

So what’s the most important thing to keep doing as a freelancer?

“Networking is vital,” says Pete. “Keep in touch with people and always make
sure they remember you for a particular reason – your unique selling point if
you like.”

And as for the downsides of freelancing? “I think one of the dangers of

freelancing is the number of one-off jobs you have to do,” he says. But there’s
no danger of it being enough of an issue to make him think about taking up a
routine day job. “I would find it really difficult to be working in a nine to five
situation where I was in a regular routine – it just wouldn’t suit me. I like the
change, I like the mad cycle of work and how sometimes it’s very busy and
sometimes it’s quite calm. I like the sense of change that comes through that –
the opportunity to choose the way you work, and to be in control. I really
relish that.”