Come on. Let's all shoot ourselves while we're at it. Free may or may not be an opportunity to show your stuff, but it's certainly an opportunity to reduce its perceived and real value.
An agency person offering me a nearly free (they offered to pay the singers but not me) demo said, "We know you guys have to do this, and there's no way we're not going to take advantage of it, because we know we can. You know it, too. And we know it's not fair, but that's the way it is."
The value of your work is clearly going down the toilet. It's free until proven otherwise.
So I've begun to do is call agency creatives and producers on it. I try to do it diplomatically, but I feel a need to say it's wrong.
This may not be a good idea. It may make them never call me again. But heck, if I'm working for free, I haven't lost much if they don't.
In the interest of fairness and preserving one's sanity, it's time that we ask ourselves why we got into the business.
If the answer is, "I got into the commercial music business to kiss a lot of behind so I can have a glimmer of a chance to make a lot of money," keep doing what you're doing. If you have a different answer, such as, "I got into the business to make music for picture, and it would be great to be fairly compensated for my work," then it's time to speak out calmly and forthrightly and tell producers and creatives what you think, and more importantly, why.
I'm not saying don't do what you think you have to do; that's a personal choice and requires you to evaluate the opportunity vs the likelihood that you'll waste your time. I am asking you to think about the consequences of keeping your mouths shut and going along to get along.
I'm over "free." If I'm going to work for free, I'm not going to be directed by people who do not have my interests at heart; I'm going to do my own music. Maybe it'll have licensing value, maybe not. And that's fine. I'll wait for the paying gigs. I may have a long wait, but there it is.
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