Casual Committee Report, March 2008

American Federation of Musicians Local 655

Casual Club Date Committee

Funding Proposal 2/22/08 (continued to 4/18/08)

The Casual Club Date Committee (CCDC) of AFM Local 655 proposes the following initiatives in an effort to

(1) Increase local membership and

(2) Place more union members under contract.

These proposals are targeted to begin in April/ May 2008.

  1. Complete and maintain a Database of Casual Club Date Venues within the jurisdiction of Local 655. This would involve approximately 20 hrs per week for Internet Research and Data entry, contacting 655 members who have played the venue, contacting Venues by phone and email, and meeting with a representative of the Venue if possible. A “referral list” is not enough. This must be a serious effort to establish a current knowledge and ongoing relationship with the major club date venues who hire union musicians. We cannot represent musician Labor to club Management without a business relationship of respect. The committee suggests that a two person team would be suitable to begin this very important process.

  2. In order to establish a business relationship with the major club date venues in Local 655 jurisdiction, the CCDC suggests that AFM 655 union representatives meet with representatives from the major club date venues which are significant South Florida employers of union musicians. The choice of which club venues to contact would be based on their current business status and receptivity to working with the union.

CCDC representatives would suggest to the Venues that they establish a “Union Night’ concert series, once a week for a period of 1-3 months. On this night, union bands would be paid scale wages under union contract. This could be accomplished by co-sponsorship from the AFM International funds for Casual Club Date activities, Local 655 funds for Casual Club Date activities and south Florida corporate sponsorship (Heineken, Target, etc.) to pay for advertising and publicity for the series (not musicians’ wages!). In return, the venue would agree to work under a union contract for the 3 month series of Union Band Nights (paying scale wages).

  1. The CCDC also recommends that an office support system be maintained at the Local 655 Union Hall, to be known as the Club Date Assistance Program. The union hall currently has a fax machine, computer network, internet access, web site and webmaster, wide format printer and everything necessary for a member musician to create a promo kit. A club date Promo Kit should include a Headshot, 1 sheet bio, Audio CD, Video clip, poster and internet presence. Computer and Graphics software services should also be available. The Club Date Assistance program would mean that any member musician could have access to all the tools needed to get a gig. The Club Database (if current and detailed) could tell that member musician which venues would be appropriate to contact. The CCDC feels that this program model is essential to helping members go from the union hall to a paying union gig and should be funded generously.

The CCDC proposes that these initiatives be realized with funding available to the Local 655 Board of Directors through AFM International funds for Casual Club Date activities, MPF co-funding and Local 655 funds for Casual Club Date activities.

The CCDC feels that significant funding of approximately $10,000 for these initiatives is appropriate because:

  1. Virtually no funding has been approved for Casual Club Date Musician activities in several years. Local 655 has provided casual club date musicians with discounted Instrument Insurance, Liability Insurance, Website Hosting and, recently, a large format printer. We receive approximately 15-20 calls a year for gigs and we refer the caller to 3 names and numbers of appropriate musicians. The Performance Fund has been drastically reduced and provides little remuneration for club date musicians. We have made every effort to “keep up” on the rapidly changing club scene but need funding to build relationships of mutual respect. We have done just about all we can do without funding which is targeted directly to building a relationship with Club Venue Management. Club Date Musicians make up an important part of our Local. Future avenues for membership growth are limited in Local 655 and increasing numbers of casual club date musicians are one of our “bright light opportunities”.

  2. The number of Casual Club Date Musicians is significantly larger than Classical or Recording musicians in South Florida. To ignore this potential revenue source, new membership and additional contract work, seems unwise and unresponsive.

  3. The ability of the CCDC to implement these measures depends on funding to pay for co-sponsorship advertising and publicity, travel, meetings, printed and media resource materials, internet research and office support.

ABOVE ALL, we wish to emphasize the need to establish effective relations with the South Florida community that supports and labors in the Local Live Music industry. This can only be accomplished with a major outreach effort to the Live Music Venues, the musicians who make up our fraternal membership, the potential new dues-paying members and the audience who supports our industry.

Submitted to AFM Local 655 Board of Directors for The Casual Club Date Committee by:

Jake Luger ____________________________________________________