Aled The Ashtray

Despite being a non-smoker, I own an ashtray that’s made from a piece of granite from the old London Bridge. And it’s just like Aled Jones.
No, I don’t mean that Ex Boy Soprano and TV’s “Cash In The Attic” Presenter Aled Jones has carved out a career as an object without any practical use; that he’s a crumbling fragment of his past and he’s living off his former glory. I wouldn’t do a thing like that. Uh huh. No way. Tsk.
I should explain.

Gillett’s Gobs Of Advice: 4b, More On Money

It’s interesting to report that of all my recent Gobs, the one that provoked the largest response from fellow old pros was the one on money. Some of them, prompted by their own experiences, felt that there were more gobbets of information that I should be sharing. I’m not remotely surprised by this. I was once at a post-concert dinner in Amsterdam where the salaried administrators were all talking about music and the working musicians (including two top composers) were talking about the best place to exchange their fees into pounds. (It used to be the Bank of Abu Dhabi near Hyde Park Corner but anti money-laundering laws came in and the bank hurriedly closed; not surprising as you could walk in with a thick envelope of foreign cash, but without any ID, and quite simply change it into pounds, and at brilliant rates. Now, if it’s cash it’s Marks and Spencer for me. Much less exotic.)

Gillett’s Gobs Of Advice: 4, Money

 

It’s time to talk about money. But let’s not get our knickers in twist about whether or not we should. We should. We are professionals after all. This is how we earn a living and anyone who does it because they think it’s a lark, and that a fee is some kind of fun bonus, will probably end up on the scrap head faster than a soprano can flutter her eyelashes (albeit in vain) at a casting director.
When I was young no-one told me about tax. When you sing abroad, with very very few exceptions, you will have tax deducted from your gross fee at source. The only places that don’t, off the top of my head, are the Netherlands and Monaco, though don’t ask me why. The tax rate varies wildly from nation to nation. Last time I was there, Italy and Spain took 25%. That’s about the going rate you should expect, and as I said in Gob 1, they will usually take it off your airfare too.