A few months ago, a close girlfriend of mine was offered a
potentially career-changing opening slot for a major label artist in the GTA.
Ambitious and actively seeking her “big break” like most serious indie talents,
her and her band accepted the gig without hesitation…much to her later dismay.
Days before the “big gig”, the show’s promoter, realizing
the band’s talent (and therefore also the potential cash-grab of the
situation), contacted my girlfriend and began making extremely unreasonable
demands on the act, including but not limited to a substantial cut of their
merchandise sales, in order for them to remain a part of the show. Regretfully,
but sticking to their guns (something for which I commend them), they had to
pull out last minute; of course, their fans demanded an explanation…here’s
where things become of personal interest to all of you:
When my girlfriend attempted to publicly disclose EXACTLY
what had occurred (no more, no less) between her and the promoter of said
event, the promoter began to aggressively message her and her band insisting
that she had committed the crime of slander and that she was to remove
ALL-related postings immediately, otherwise he would slap a lawsuit on their
ass, thereby blacklisting them from ever having another equally potentially
career-changing opportunity in the future.
This, sadly my
friends is NOT the first NOR will it be the last of these sorts of situations
because as soon as you start talking legal “mumbo-jumbo” with artistic-types,
well it pretty much scares the shit out of most of us; accordingly, we’ll
comply.
The aforementioned TRUE story highlights the centrality of
two essentials one needs to wrap their mind around if he/she truly wishes to
pursue “professional musicianship”:
1) The
importance of paper documentation for EVERYTHING
2) The
ongoing need for unionism
Let’s start with number one. In the world of business,
irrespective of the industry in which you’re engaged, an agreement between
parties has little to no likelihood of holding up should a situation merit
legal intervention, unless it is in some kind of hardcopy format which reflects
the agreed upon terms, affected timeline, and signatures of the involved
individuals along with those of an objective witness. Now, I’m NOT saying
you’ve gotta become a candidate for law school in order to rock out with the
world’s finest, but you DO need to learn a thing or two about contract reading
AND contract writing.
Many an artist, including one of my personal favs Aerosmith,
has lost ownership over their own material (and accordingly have to PAY
royalties in order to perform certain songs live) from being naïve and not
crossing their t’s and dotting their i’s properly. Likewise, many an artist
(myself included in my early days) has been granted so-called “amazing”
performance opportunities with supposedly lucrative pay only to promote their
asses off, show up with shitloads of fan in tote, do their thing, and have the
promoter “mysteriously” take off in the middle of their set with all of the
door cover charge cash stuffed in his/her pant pockets.
While the art of writing loophole-free contracts can be
developed and improved upon over time (of course through trial and error), I am
a firm believer that certain things should be left up to those who specialize
in a given field. Without a solid foundation of not only the politics and business
side of the music industry, but as well all of the legislation that could be
potentially involved in a given matter, you likely will miss something. Lucky
for you, back in the mid-1800s as the world was becoming increasingly
industrialized, factory work prevailed, and instances of worker exploitation and maltreatment, not to mention a lack thereof of any
safety or health protocols (all in the name of advancing profits) abounded,
workers came together to form what would later develop into trade unions.
Not merely reserved for your parents and grandparents, or
those involved in construction, plumbing and the like, professional
entertainers of all sorts (from musicians to actors to even foley artists) have
at their disposal their VERY OWN UNIONS which seek to serve the needs and
protect the interests of their membership. Among one of the MANY perks that the
American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (our local
affiliate being The London Musicians’ Association), the AFM for short, offers
its membership is access to court approved touring contracts, free legal
council AND emergency financial support should a “unfair treatment” scenario
arise.
Considering that regular annual membership dues are nominal
in comparison to hiring a personal entertainment attorney, becoming an AFM-er,
if you’re ready to take your gig on the road, is really in your best interest
and is something I’m not only recommending to you, but also strongly suggested
to my friend (the one whose story I opened this piece with) after hearing of
her all-too-common sad tale.
The thing is, however, that unions are only able to maintain
collective bargaining power and effectiveness in the marketplace if they
continue to maintain/generate membership. Sadly, the young aspiring musician
demographic, while growing, continues to rank low in terms of representation
among AFM-ers. I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell don’t want to even conceive
of how much worse this industry could potentially get without the existence of
our union (read as: it’s already cutthroat!). In other words, here’s a lesson
in protecting your ass and your future: join the AFM.
_________________________________________________________________
Other benefits of AFM membership include its pension program,
booking referral service, specialized insurance options, and immigrations assistance
in regard to touring foreign markets. For more information, check out the AFM’s
official website at www.afm.org or the
official website of our London
chapter at www.londonmusicians.com
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