[Dixielandjazz] Pay Scales

Sun Apr 8 10:46:47 PDT 2007

Well that's the problem in a nut shell.  There really needs to be two unions 
or a union that looks at the part timers, club musician and Jazzer as 
serious parts of the profession.  Ignore them and they will go away.

It looks to me like the union caters to the Show and Symphony musician. 
Behind the scenes those musicians would drop the union in a flash if there 
was something else better.  The union does almost nothing for the weekender.

The unions have been very slow to embrace new technology.  Back in the 60's 
I was hassled because I carried an amp to play my horn through.  They wanted 
me to have a sound engineer.  They treated a portable, basic guitar amp the 
same as a multi speaker system at the ball park.  To them there was no 
difference.

On the good side when I open my local newsletter there aren't pages of this 
guy bringing that guy up on charges or complaints by musicians against 
leaders etc. as there was in the 60's, 70's and 80's.  They have at least 
quit tearing themselves apart in that regard.  You could get fined for 
almost anything then. (Like wearing the wrong tie)  They have dropped the 
more absurd rules.

The rules were in place to raise the professionalism of the musicians but 
what happened was it was used as a club over the head of individual 
musicians.

I remember a row that almost came to blows between two union reps and a 
friend of mine who played organ, accordion, trumpet, guitar, sax, sang and 
used an electric drum machine.  He had a great one man band thing going but 
the union didn't like him playing all those instruments (doubling rules) but 
worst of all he had a drum machine.  Before that night they had forced him 
to hire a drummer.  Ralph and the union parted ways that night.

So the union has always been slow to embrace new technologies and new ways 
of doing business.

One of the biggest problems as I see it is the lack of participation by 
weekend musicians in the union.  Myself included.  Unions like all 
organizations deal with the people that are in their face and not the silent 
majority.

Yes there is a lot of self serving stuff that goes on but if you can 
overlook that you can make it work for you.  I think the strongest thing 
that a union can offer (to the part time musician) is the opportunity to 
network and meet other musicians.

The union has always treated music like a trade where you work for x number 
of hours and get x pay.  In a way there isn't anything wrong with this but 
that makes us all employees.

One of the current bones of contention is the employer, employee, 
subcontractor status of the members.  How can a contractor (employer with 
all the employer credentials like tax obligations and numbers) be a union 
member?  What about sub contractors who work for you occasionally?  Is a 
musician always an employee?

Most of us fit under the guidelines set by the government as sub contractors 
which doesn't jell with hourly wages.  The bad thing about hourly wages is 
that almost nothing is tax deductible on schedule "A" unless you have a lot 
of other things to deduct where as if you are a (sub)contractor your 
mileage, business cards, instruments and even pencils and paper are 
deductible.  Yes you pay 15% SS tax but you actually pay that anyway so it's 
not worth worrying about except as an employee you pay it on all wages and 
as a (sub)contractor you pay it after all deductions.  Big Difference!!!  An 
example is an employee works for hourly wages and gets overtime but a 
sub-contractor works by the job.  Not much of a difference unless the 
contractor abuses the musician by playing past the agreed to time.  The 
worst time I ever had with this was a leader took cash ( several hindered 
dollars) for an hour overtime but didn't give the band any.  Feet where is 
that door!!!  He said I agreed to work till the job was done (true) but I 
didn't agree to more hours than was originally stated for the job.  So even 
that relationship can become sticky.

I went into my local about 6 or 7 years ago and discussed this with them and 
told them that I wasn't about to treat people who played for me as employees 
and if they wanted to force the issue, my card was instantly available to 
turn in.  The secretary told me that my books are my business and the 
governments and not theirs.  I ask for a 1099 from anyone that I play with 
rather than a W2.  One guy I work for has a subcontractor agreement that 
sets out this relationship.

This is completely different in a Symphony or show environment  where people 
want a regular pay check and all the books are taken care of.

So there are several different things going on here and the Union tries, 
usually unsuccessfully, to serve all masters.  Since the weekender is not 
likely to pay work dues and his clients are varied and move around a lot 
they just dismiss the part time musician and the part time musician is 
leaving the unions in droves to the point that only show bands, some club 
bands and  the symphony are unionized.  Too bad.

So if you join the union don't have unrealistic ideas as to what they are 
going to do for you and understand that success in a union environment is up 
to you too.  It's kind of like the guy that walks into a crowded room and 
just stands there and eventually leaves.  Then gripes the next day that no 
one would talk to him.
Good Luck
Larry
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike" <mike at railroadstjazzwest.com>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 3:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Pay Scales

> Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis wrote:
>> I am still a union member but you need to think about it.  Most of the 
>> people I work with have been union members at one time or another and are 
>> pretty disillusioned with it.
>
> I know a lot of musicians in my area are not Union and many became that 
> way because they really didn't see the Union working for them.
>> If I had to depend on the Union I would be out of business but it's 
>> really not fair to put that all on them.  Unions have been in the decline 
>> for a lot of years.  It is a good place to network with other musicians 
>> and may be worth the dues just for that.
>> Larry
>
> We've all seen what the digital age has done with the music industry. It 
> remains to be seen if Union can actually keep up and remain a force to be 
> reckoned with. I'd like to see Unions last but as you've said Unions have 
> been in a slow decline for many years and they are nearly nonexistant in 
> some cities. Where I live, there are very few Union gigs;mostly symphony 
> work and theatre productions.
>
>
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