I really don’t like when salaried individuals with benefits who work for large companies ask me to work for free. For obvious reasons. This happens at least once a year, because people do not always value creative work or the artists who do it. I’d tell any freelancer to never work for free and never work for “exposure.”
That being said. I just did some free work and it was awesome. A new friend, artist, musician, and fellow full-time freelancer Max reached out asking how much I would charge to make a poster for his concert. I thought about it, felt like it was something I really wanted to do and had energy for, and felt like I wouldn't enjoy charging another artist who I wanted to support.
I offered to do it for free, and said if he wanted to trade me a song we could do that too. He’s working on a song for a new video of mine. I. Can’t. Wait.
Again, I wholeheartedly believe in not working for free when it’s for a company who can afford to pay you as they pay their other employees. But …
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