Jerry Navarro of the MuzikMafia on Negotiating Your Rate (Episode 142)

Make Music Your Business.

Bassist, producer and composer Jerry Navarro has shared the stage with artists from Kid Rock and Bon Jovi to Keith Urban, Dave Matthews and George Clinton. In 2002 he became a core member of the MuzikMafia, the Nashville collective founded by Big Kenny and John Rich of Big & Rich, playing bass in its "Pit Boss" band.

In Episode 142 of The Career Musician, Nomad reconnects with his old friend from the late 90s Nashville scene, where they played everything but country: jazz, R&B, Latin and funk. What follows is one of the most practical conversations on the show about how to negotiate your rate as a musician, why you bring every tool to every gig, and what happens when artists take charge of their own business.

Bring your tools to every gig

Nomad remembers it clearly: whether the gig paid $50 or $500, Jerry always brought the same rig, a killer Fender electric and his upright. For Jerry, it was job security. In Nashville, you never knew when a producer or artist was checking you out for a session or a gig that needed doubles.

"If you're going to be serious about being a musician, bring your tools to the gig, all the time."

Jerry Navarro, 8:08

His system is a science: a wheel on the upright so it rests on his shoulder, the electric on his back, a small amp in the other hand. One of his old upright teachers made the wheel an actual lesson. Bass players, Nomad says: don't stop schlepping it. People notice. That is Energy from the ETHOS code, every single time.

If you didn't ask, that's on you

Jerry's advice for every hired musician: don't be mad at the bandmate who negotiated a higher rate. Talk to the bandleader, say what you want, and be ready to hear no. You will probably get a lot of no's before you get the yes. But if the budget was there and you didn't ask, shame on you.

Nomad shares an old music business tale (he isn't sure it's true): two players on a famous artist's band compared pay and found one made far more than the other. When the lower-paid player asked why, the answer was simply, "Because he asked me for it." Nomad also adds that you shouldn't discuss your salary with bandmates in the first place.

"You're really not negotiating until you are willing to walk away."

Nomad, 22:10

That is Savvy, and it is the heart of The Biz pillar. Get excited about a gig, sure. But if it doesn't meet your criteria, you are just getting by.

If you're going to be a musician, be one

Jerry grew up in Oxnard, California, learning jazz through Latin jazz and gigging as a teenager. A teacher told him to finish his studies somewhere new, meet new people and start a new network, and pointed him to Belmont University in Nashville. A friend who had moved there called and told him it was happening. So he went to learn.

"The more styles of music you know, the more gigs you're going to get. Read bass clef, read tenor clef, read numbers, look at a lyric sheet and come up with chords. If you're going to be a musician, be one."

Jerry Navarro, 19:44

Nashville at the time was a place to get your head knocked inside and out by great players who still had time to hang. Jerry never stopped learning: off the road with a country act, he would head straight to jazz school.

The MuzikMafia model

Here is how Jerry explains it. A few artists who had already had major label deals got disenchanted with the business and banded together to do it their way. Jerry's band was the "Pit Boss," one band providing music for 12 different artists, which meant hundreds of songs. When the roster grew, they didn't hire more bands. They just learned more songs.

That is where changing keys on the fly came in. A singer in a dry climate might need the key lowered that night. Players who couldn't keep up were flown home, sometimes within the hour, and replaced by someone from Nashville who had it together. Reliability beats virtuosity, at the highest stakes.

And the artists took care of the band. Jerry describes a retainer so the players kept their calendars clear, pay for rehearsals and shows on top of that, a bus the organization owned, and street teams packing venues before social media. He says the organization grew to around $28 million a year before any record deal, and that the band had 401(k)s and insurance. It felt like a real career for years. After the label era began, he says, pay dropped to a standard per-gig rate.

Create your own gig

Today Jerry is in Indiana, recreating the parts of that experience he loved. He uses the same core players, because heartfelt music is a vibe thing and everyone in the room has to be cool. He develops artists the old-school way: lessons first, recording only when they are ready, even if some of them get mad. His wife runs a holistic side next door focused on vocal health.

His reasoning is honest. After doing so much, there isn't a gig anyone can offer that meets his criteria. So he creates his own, records in Nashville every other week, and recommends other players freely. He shares the love, and they call him back. He takes inspiration from engineer Tom Dowd, who saw tape and digital as different art forms, each right for different music.

Success, Broadway and saying yes

On success, Jerry points to Nashville's Lower Broadway, where players working cover sets in shifts can earn a lot in tips, enough that some of them won't take road gigs anymore. If that is your dream, you have reached it. He tried it. It wasn't for him.

His last advice comes from his early days, setting up rigs and finishing sets for busy players, and even working as a stagehand for Victor Wooten. Say yes to everything. Do it with a grateful heart. And if you don't like something, speak up, nicely. He learned the hard way that speaking up nastily gets your butt handed to you. That is low maintenance / no drama.

The takeaway

Bring every tool. Ask for what you are worth and be willing to walk away. Learn every style. And when the industry won't give you the gig you want, build it. To get started on the business side, grab the free Get the Gig guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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