...and got what they paid for.

This explains most of the situations you'll find. Many parishes expect more than what they pay for and for some reason the pastors in those situations do not understand why they can't have it. I have my theories as to why and they revolve around the fact that for so long, there has always been somebody willing to do the job for whatever is being offered (even if nothing is being offered, i.e. for free), and the pastors in question either do not know that they are getting poor(er) quality, or they don't care (we still have music at Mass, don't we?). Our organists (keyboardists, really, and worse we call them accompanists) get $75/service as a stipend, and their only duties are to show up and play on Sundays. They are expected to practice on their own, which most keyboardists will do anyway, as there really is no "faking it" (or at least it's much more obvious when keyboardists are faking, as opposed to cantors, who I have seen arriving at Mass not even knowing what the entrance hymn is, and even improvisation isn't really true improv: it's prepared ahead of time). They are both decent players, but neither of them is professionally trained. The third person is me, and I'm the DM also. I get a part time salary for the DM position, and no stipend for organist duties (supposedly, it's included in my job as DM). The pastor tells me it's "...mostly for financial reasons," i.e. somebody on the financial council said something to the effect of, "...why isn't that new music director playing? What are we paying him for? This is getting expensive."

Here's a quick recap:

1. Our "organists" (I'm really the only organist) get $75/service as a stipend.
2. They are expected to practice and prepare themselves for Mass, and then show up and play.
3. All choral rehearsal duties are mine as the DM.

This sums up the real problem we're facing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsqJFIJ5lLs

The range in my area (I've played both regularly and fill-in at six different churches in the last year; currently have one regular parish on Saturday and another regular one on Sunday) goes from $50/Mass to $100/Mass. One of the six parishes (not one of my current regular ones) just boosted its pay to $65/Mass (from $60). They treated it as a big deal, FWIW.

For the one that pays $100/Mass, the musician is expected to play everything well, show up on time (30-45 minutes ahead, depending on whether the choir is there), and dress professionally -- or what we all strive to do anyway.

This is helpful. Disheartening, but helpful.

I'm lucky in some ways in that I have a pastor who is musical enough to tell the difference between good and bad, and who can tell our current person is not up to the task (as above, he's a keyboardist who does his best on the organ - no pedals. Very nice guy, just not an organist). I think Fr. knows he's got caviar taste on a sardine budget, and what we did before wasn't sufficient. I'm hoping maaaaybe we can approach a salmon budget and find some caviar willing to bite in exchange for use of our awesome organ.

And I'll consider putting wearing clothes in the contract.

Sometimes I think there are some amongst us who could pull off the playing inebriated without drawing too much attention to themselves and do just as well as if they were sober. Maybe not raging drunk, but tipsy, definitely.

Then again, my years in Charlottesville taught me there are some folks whose faculties are sharper when lubricated by alcohol. They tend to be messy, personally.

The entire college pastime known as beer pong depends on just that premise.

Workshops and conventions are fine, if you can afford it or the church will pay for it. Many churches don't pay and the organist salaries are so low they can't afford it. I have said that in my place when I retire, they will either pay for the level of music they want, or they will get the level of music they pay for - much more likely to happen.

I only work as a substitute on the east coast, but the lowest I've ever played was $75/Mass--and if I were offered that rate by another church I would haggle.