The Value of A Recording
One of our main goals as a union is to improve the working conditions, economic compensation, and benefits for musicians, regardless of whether the work is a live engagement or a recording. The union defines minimally acceptable wages, benefits, and working conditions for all kinds of work. These guidelines are in the form of Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) and in scales and conditions set by the local. If a union contract is signed by an employer, this means they have agreed to meet these conditions.
Since this is not a perfect world, all of us have been offered non-union work. Part of being a professional musician and a union member is knowing your value and trying to keep this value as high as possible, even when working in the absence of a union agreement. Familiarity with union scales is one of the best ways of knowing your value.
Because of some crucial differences between live work and Electronic Media (including Records/CD’s, Film, TV, Radio, Commercials, Internet, etc.) things take on a greater urgency when your musical service becomes part of a permanent recording.
When you participate in a recording, the employer can profit from using that recording FOREVER. Union agreements take this important fact into account. This is why scale for a recording is higher than scale for a live gig. And while scale wages for a session are considered reasonable, AFM agreements with employers also offer additional financial benefits that compensate musicians over the life of the recording. This is why musicians like to record under union agreements; they know they’re getting scale wages, pension, health, and also potential extra money in the future.
So what happens when you’re offered to record without an AFM agreement?
Recently, a famous artist recorded in our jurisdiction. The musicians told him they were union members and worked under AFM agreements. After much discussion, it became clear that this artist was probably not going to sign an AFM agreement. The musicians ended up calculating what correct scale would have been, and adding to that the cost of pension and health benefits; we can call this total the Session Fees. The musicians took this total amount of Session Fees and doubled it, and that was what they charged the artist for their work.
Since there was no AFM agreement, the musicians knew that any additional revenue streams such as Special Payments Fund royalties and New Use payments would be unavailable to them. Therefore, they realized they had to get all the money they could upfront.
When you get called to do a recording, keep in mind that the employer will be able to make money off of your recording forever. If it’s a union recording, you’ll be taken care of. If it’s not, you need to make sure you’re getting MUCH MORE than union scale, because that’s all the money you’ll ever receive for that session.