Editor’s note: Have something on your mind? “Community Voices” is the place to let Milwaukee hear what you have to say. To be considered, we need your name, email address and phone number for verification. Please email your submissions to [email protected]. (Photo by Wes Tank of TankThink) Kennita Hickman is a cultural and music writer, entrepreneur and health enthusiast. I knowingly and graciously accepted a contract that required me to work for free. Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing! And it’s because I’m Black.
I know that sounds wild. Maybe even salacious. Bait-clicky. But it’s not.
In fact, throughout my 21-year career in writing for magazines (local to international), working in radio and managing artists — most of that work was for free. Quick rundown of who I am. I wrote my first nationally published article at 15; contributed articles to magazines in Milwaukee, Canada, Germany and stateside; and I worked in radio, including some voiceover work. Most folks know me for artist management of hip-hop and rock artists here in Milwaukee. I’ve been around. And yet I knowingly and graciously accepted a contract that required me to work for free. In this case, I was asked to create semi-exclusive content for a media company. I was elated for the opportunity. The media company had seen my work before, so it felt like we were building a relationship around building content.
I did ask about being paid. Several times, actually. I used words like “licensing” and “distribution” — language a media company would understand. I was told explicitly there was no money in the budget for me. None. And that I’d shoulder the financial burden of creating this content. I was also going to have to find advertisers and sponsors – and potentially share the profit with the media organization. So I shouldered the cost of everything. Initially to create written content, I spent maybe $250 or so for each package, including materials, photographer, but not my time. Then we switched to video. I went from paying $250 a piece to $2,500 for each video — again, not including my time. I created six published pieces in total — three printed and three video pieces. This doesn’t include additional photoshoots to accompany each piece and a teaser video. From the analytics I’ve seen, all of them have performed well for the media company. I’m not an anomaly, nor is this situation. Free work is often offered to folks of color and poor people under the guise “This will be an exposure opportunity for you.” Let me tell you — I can count, on one hand, how many folks have booked me for another gig or became a client as a result of me working for free.