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Coyot_In_The_House

Yeah you know what I'm talking about.....Singers who make off with the majority of the Drum cut? You know singers who dole out a few bucks to the boys at the end of the weekend and pocket the rest? Obviously its not right, so whats your take on it? Have you ever been rooked? Don't get personal just stay general....Lets talk about it.....

Oh the stories I can share.....Oh and I will....... as soon as the ball gets rolling....Ta ta 4 now.....

kiyaanii mom

I have heard guys talking about the different ways they split drum money.... And certain lead singers are known to shafting their crew. That's why they always have different guys singing. Who wants to stay with a no good guy.....

chazziff

number one way of telling if a lead singer is shafting his singers .... all his original singers are singing with other groups and hes got a bunch of rookies who dont know any different on the CD jackets now LOL and they jus happy to be singing with ***insert drum name here *** LOL

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native.nation

lol... sure does happen....

timmy tiger

Yeah, I've heard a few stories too.

One guy told me that he was singing on a drum and the wife of the drum keeper came to him and told him that he wasn't gonna get paid for being on the drum at pow wow's until he had been on the drum for 3 months. I don't know if that's normal, but it sure didn't sound right to me and I asked some of my family who have drums and they had never heard of that either.

Drumhopper1

Personally, as serving as head singer at several powwows, I pay my singers but always take in to consideration those who have helped above and beyond the rest. Especially those who have travelled a good distance to "help me out" at the drum. Those are my boys that I will take care of as best as I can without shorting the rest of the crew. Most of the times the funds come from my own pocket. Just how I was taught to conduct myself as Drum Chief.

kneegrow_native

I have heard of singers telling their new singers that they need to put in time before they get paid also. I think it is an excuse for a lead singer to make off with more pay for him and some of his boys.

But, what about the singers that refuse to be down with a group until they are up for a big pay day? I have heard of this happening. A singer wouldn't accept invites from a drum group, but when they had a big host job the dude jumped on. The lead singer decided not to pay him.

The coolest thing as far as drum pay happened to me at a pow-wow a few years ago. It was a weekend pow-wow and I was only able to make it to one session to drum with my buddy's grandpa. I had to bail for the weekend at the end of the session and did not expect drum pay, but when the old man found out that I was leaving he went ahead and gave me money out of his own pocket. Now I thought that was classy.

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It is so sad that a family can torn apart by something as simple as a wild pack of dogs.

legalstraight

I have seen the new guy not get paid pretty frequent, particularly if he is a rookie I think it is just fine.

But you wanna avoid the problem then have a closed drum. Simple easy, you bring your boys, you have it arranged how you split it, no fuss no muss.

One idea I have heard from a few places is that the drum should get a share- whether it is saving up for a p.a., or just paying for sticks, lozenges, smoke, and so on.

luvstraightdancrs

I don't sing but my kids do and they have been given the short end of the drumstick as well. But you know, they learned who to sing with and who not to sing with. They don't do it for the money, they do it because they have love it. But still, if you are going to pay one, then pay them all. Unless they are drummers, you know the ones that sit out there and beat the drum, looking for some cash, but don't sing.....

There are a couple of singers around here that are famous for it but they are a big name group so a lot of the young ones want to sing with them. Some drummers too. Just be mindful of who you sing with.

four_rings

Yea ive dealt with this b4 as well...sucks when you travel along way to help someone out and they stiff you...ive had tis happen so many times that i plan for it now,. i usally bring enough cash to get me home as well so that way at the end of the powwow i ant struggling to get back..i remember one time this group i was singing with paid there moms propane and water bill with drum split b4 they paid the singers..and the messed up part was they didnt ask any of the singers b4 or even mention it to anyone..they just went and did it..now if they talked to us b4 we woulda been fine with it or even jumped in with someone else cause there was 2 of them that came on a limited funds and didnt have enough to get home...after they took out that money out all we got was like 20 bucks apeice...so i ended up giving those guyz my split and half of my winnings from the dancing to get them home..you can bet we never sang with them again..man i got so many stories i could go on forever

sookout sh'nob

I was just down at Mankato and sat with ol' Gus from Red Lake. He bought me two coffees while we waited four hours for rotation and our two songs, which I figured was pretty dang good pay
Ingee-geekaj, mii dush nimeegwechiwayndam iniw kaapeenan

On the flip side, I was at a powwow in Prairie Island (they had the sweetest winter tradish powwows back then) and this guys singers were no where to be seen, so he asked my buddy and I to help him out. a couple sessions later these clowns show up and we've been havin a good time all weekend and really enjoying ourselves swapping songs and whatnot... his singers show up last session and he pays them all nothing and my buddy and I walked away with a couple hundred a piece.

I used to run a youth drum and I'd give em $20 a day to spend at the powwow and then make sure to feed the hell out of them at meal time all weekend long - take em to the restraunt every night too... which mostly kept em from wandering the grounds at night too. The rest of the cash went towards the next trip - I was on the clock, so I didn't need to get drum pay

Man, those were some good times...I think the BBQ and road snacks kept em quiet...lol.

Coyot_In_The_House

I'm inferring the "Singer" who pulls weak on the drum pay....The singer who has a good group of experienced singers sitting there all weekend shining and come Sun or Mon they ration out the pay weak at best. It does catch up with you.....A good take on this was to see a very well known singer standing in an arbor chock full of drums. As he stood there with his chair, stick, and recorder it was evident nobody wanted him to crew up with them....there was 30 something drums easy.....The old man just sat there and said; "boys don't ever get to that point...thats pitiful..." Just had to either shake your head or feel sorry for him? On a good note though my experiences have been good.....My bros are righteous when it comes to the split and that includes guys hopping in or regulars.....Basically your gonna "recruit" singers who are gonna sing right....So thats cut and dry when the cash is divided up.....

Sure there are instances when a singer will hold back on the cash...such as....a group travelling weekend to weekend trying to make it.....Food Lodging and so on....Although my experience in regards to this has been good as well....You look out for the boys simple.....

Thanks for replying....

50cal

Guys I used to sing with, i would give them an even cut and without telling them, I wouldn't take a cut....I would give it all to them....I even had guys tell me they should get more because of this and that and I looked at them like they lost their minds, some of them started saying all types of shyt, so I just stepped back from it and let it be....afterwards though, i just went and formed my own crew, ah well........what can you do........

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...And shephards we shall be. For thee my lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from thy hand. That our feet may swiftly carry out thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to thee. And teeming with souls shall it ever be. E Nomini Patri, E Fili, E Spiritu Sancti.

badmaninc

I have had pretty good experiences. I was given a share by the keeper and he took a share from his son and another dancer who placed. Told them that cause we only got a small amount he was going to divide it up with the rest of the singers. The rest of us got paid and I gave some back to the drum and thanked him for letting me sit with them for the weekend. I have been with some crews where everybody got stiffed. We got paid $10.00 each for the weekend. After they charged us $5.00 per stick to register. So we made $5.00 for the weekend. We figured we each made a quarter per song. We had fun though, but it was funny. We started calling the keeper the juke box.

timmy tiger

Yeah, I kind of agree with Kneegrownative on the one that I stated above, at least for that drum anyway, not all of them. There's another reason, when my son was about 15 years old, we were at a pow wow and my son was asked to sit on that same drum for the day or weekend, I can't remember if it was both days or just one, but my son had never been on a drum before nor since. He was paid for that time, he got half what our friend got and we were very pleased and surprised that they even considered him for that. However, there was a difference too. The weekend that my son was on it, the old man was in town and there for the pow wow, the other times he wasn't. So that might be the difference too. But at least with this one drum that was the way that it worked.

billyjoejimbob

When I saw this thread I thought it was about Fat Singers!!! But then I wondered why it wasnt in the SOUTHERN SINGING area!!! aye!!!

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There are 2 types of people in the world...
Really stupid people who think they are smart
and
Really smart people who think they are smart.

Coyot_In_The_House

I like to put stuff out there most folks talk about in small circles.....Its something thats ongoing an probably will continue to be that way....Another pet peeve is a group contracted to host and they show up with the "C" team? 1 or 2 team players and the rest are "hired hands". I can only imagine what the payout is for them? Not that I'm obsessesing about $$$ but without it your not gonna get to far....

Hialeah Florida in da 90's....Remember that 1!

kneegrow_native

The local pow-wow committee where I live at asked for a certain big name drum group to host the pow-wow a couple of years ago. I strongly advised the committee to have the tribal attorney (it is a tribal pow-wow) to draw up the contract to stipulate pay based on the drum bringing their actual singers. My concerns fell on deaf ears and they paid $5000 for that drum to bring 4 or 5 guys and pick up 8 locals.

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It is so sad that a family can torn apart by something as simple as a wild pack of dogs.

ac_miss

Yep yep.....it happens!

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Bead All You Can Bead

50cal

which one in the 90's???.....I was there for the the first one....LOL!!!....dont' remember if any drums picked up locals but it was probably another year....ah well

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...And shephards we shall be. For thee my lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from thy hand. That our feet may swiftly carry out thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to thee. And teeming with souls shall it ever be. E Nomini Patri, E Fili, E Spiritu Sancti.