Stop working for free?

At the Louder Than Words Festival in Manchester last weekend, writer and journalist Barney Hoskyns discussed his new book about Woodstock, the town, not the Festival. He also told us about his Facebook campaign, Stop Working for Free. He introduced me to the concept of algorithmic hypercapitalism. I have been thinking about his Stop Working for Free campaign all week. This time last year, the first Louder Than Words Festival gave me opportunities to write about music and share my words on line. Melanie Smith, founder of Mudkiss and amazing photographer, asked me to write some reviews with her. The first went up on Mudkiss and since then I have published them through Louder Than War and Penny Black Music. When I look back on the past year I am overwhelmed by the opportunities I have had, and it's thanks to people like Mel and John Robb and John Clarkson that I have been able to do it. All this is done for free, in the same way that the online magazines are produced with hard work and no financial rewards. I have been on the guest list for most of my concert reviews and have been sent CDs to listen to, so I'm not out of pocket. It seems that we are living in times that value celebrity rather than creativity. This is hard on those who have managed to earn their living through their creativity and interests up till now. Creativity has often benefitted from collaboration and cooperation, sharing and caring among practitioners and friends. It can't all be about fees and invoices. I see the same issues in the heritage, museums and archives sectors. This is the area where I am looking for paid work, but volunteering is the trend. Of course volunteering has a value beyond the financial. It can bring many benefits to the individual and the organisations involved. I used to be a complementary therapist, and there were always debates on whether you should make money from ill health. Therapists deserve to make a living, and to cover the costs of their training courses. One way round the issue was to have a sliding scale of charges. You could also make a conscious choice to do something for free. In the past I have been part of local economic trading schemes (LETS) and have occasionally swapped treatments for paintings and pots. I was once a part of a workers cooperative, still a successful business over forty years on. We were trying to change the way we worked together, the business model and the way we were rewarded for our work. I have friends who work as freelancers and writers. Some have earned a reasonable living from their creative work, but like Barney Hoskyns, their working lives are now less secure. Big organisations are taking advantage of a culture of interns, of people who can do something for nothing for the sake of enhancing their CV in their own struggle for paid work. It can be a cynical experience. Over the years I have chosen to do what I am interested in as a volunteer, whilst doing a variety of day jobs to earn a living, some more relevant to my interests than others.I have helped run events, an arts festival and a youth theatre. I have been a school governor, a tour guide and even been on radio and TV to promote causes I care about. Paid work, creativity and interests all came together for me last year when I was a National Archive trainee. I am disappointed that I can't find paid work in that field, but I am enjoying volunteer opportunities to keep my spirits high. Those of us who use social media are all helping market, promote and advertise events and people we find interesting free of charge too! There's an issue around value and price in the creative world. Favours among equals, or giving someone a head start by encouragement and involvement, are all valuable ways of working together, priceless lucky breaks and connections. If it's freely given, and if you don't feel taken advantage of, then it works. Perhaps it's time to seize back value and forget price.