Flamadiddle28
Junior Member
I'm just curious as to what the musicians union is, and what are the benefits of being a part of it? Also could I join since I'm only 16? Any help is appreciated, Thanks!
Unions stick up for the little guy. Without that musos would be back to slavery.
One of the benefits is being re-paid for re-use and new use. For example, when home videos began selling commercially, union work was rewarded with additional payments for "new" use.
There are also residual payments that the union keeps track of. If you do a TV show, and it airs again, you get paid again, typically at a lower rate, but still "mailbox money" as it's known.
I just got 15 new use checks for tracks I played on that were used in Behind The Music! They were definitely not expected, but certainly nice to receive! Had I not been a union member, I still would have been paid when I first recorded the tracks, but that would have been the end of it.
Bermuda
Yes, if you're working "union shop" gigs (like TV shows) it's essential to be involved. For the local club scene, it's not going to serve your purposes but to have a professional affiliation is a good thing.
Protip- IF you find yourself on a union gig, even if you don't sing, request a mic because it pays more due to the fact you are drumming and "singing".
close....with collective bargaining, (generally) both sides delegate bargaining power to a few hands, and both the union membership and the employer would abide by the contract. hehIt's a collective bargaining organization. Basically it represents a group of members (the musicians) and negotiates that they get paid a fair rate for the hours worked. It can also help provide the musicians with health care benefits and retirement benefits. It can also help musicians find jobs through employers who agree to the union rules (meaning, potential employers would abide by the rules stated by the union as to what they should pay the musician). This is what most unions are at the most basic level.
As Bermuda stated residuals are what keeps you going after you've been working for 20+ years and you've started to semi-retire or slow down. It's great to get union checks in the mail for past work.
It's achieved absolutely nothing and is absolutely toothless.
Ironically, like all 'good' Unions here, the Musicians Union most definitely ensure they get paid of course.
Much of that comes from the lack of solidarity among its members. Let's be honest, if many players over the decades hadn't agreed to work for less, we wouldn't be getting the same pay now as in the '70s. There wouldn't be free gigs and pay-to-play at the club level. But, I'm not sure being able to enforce union scale is even realistic anymore, and frankly, "scale" is not that great.
And of course that's why the unions are up in arms about their members doing non-union dates... the union doesn't get their cut from those!
But, there are certain situations where it is essential and mandatory that you be in the union, and for the players with consistent work (such as TV, symphonies and live theater,) it's a good thing.
Bermuda
Much of that comes from the lack of solidarity among its members. Let's be honest, if many players over the decades hadn't agreed to work for less, we wouldn't be getting the same pay now as in the '70s. There wouldn't be free gigs and pay-to-play at the club level. But, I'm not sure being able to enforce union scale is even realistic anymore, and frankly, "scale" is not that great.
When pay-to-play took over the Sunset strip, where was the Union? When Metallica sued Napster over file sharing, where was the Union? Why was BAM, then Musicians Contact Service and then Craigslist allowed to be the de-facto ways for bands and musicians to look for on another instead of through Union message boards?
IMHO, the Union just failed to ever keep up with the times.
Although the AFM could have jumped in, they had no jurisdiction, and the effort would have been regarded - rightly so - as very self-serving.
Which again is my point. Gigs don't demand their involvement, because they have nothing to offer the gigging musicians.Unfortunately for the union, most gigs don't demand their involvement. .
But how can they have a grip on venues and players when they don't make the effort?until such time when they have a grip on venues and players again
Gigs don't demand their involvement, because they have nothing to offer the gigging musicians....
They've made it pretty clear, unless you're in a symphony or doing TV work, they have no use for musicians, and thus, most musicians have no use for the Union.