Squeezed by the Limited Pressing
It's lunchtime at the studio...when players, producers, and engineers working in the various studios congregate in the comfortable lobby/common room to chew the fat...literally and figuratively. Today someone has sent a runner for Thai food and people are sampling various exotic treats and bringing one another up to speed on their respective projects. I'm wearing a funny hat at these gatherings...artist/producer of my own projects, sideman on various other folks' albums, and inveterate organizer for and promoter of the AFM. Of the three studio rooms that have emptied their occupants in the lunchroom, ours is the only union session. There's a bluegrass album in final mix-down in Studio B, and the singer/songwriter in "C" has horn overdubs going on. Some of the musicians doing the other sessions are union, most are not. When I ask about the status of the projects I get the typical enthusiasm mixed with anxiousness: "the music sounds great, but we're slipping over budget and we don't know where the money is going to come from." No one is wasting time, there's just not much money fronted for their projects. Some also have conflicts about not being union sessions.
A producer pointed out, "I think scale is absolutely fair. I try to come close when the budget is there, but, when you add all the other payments above scale, I almost never have that kind of money."
The artist added, "My record company has given me more money than they ever have before and still I'm scrimping the whole time...worrying when we have to re-do tracks, watching the clock every minute. I hate it. The alternatives seem to be hire non-union or don't record. What am I supposed to do?"
Confessed a drummer, "I'd love to join the Union, but most of the calls I get are from small-budget sessions and they couldn't afford to hire me then. I'd feel hypocritical signing onto the Union knowing full well I'm gonna break the rules and take these non-union gigs just to keep my kids fed.".
There are, by some estimates, 10,000 record albums released each year. Only a handful of these are on "major" labels. Many are privately produced and distributed, but a large and growing number are released by small and medium-sized independent record labels. These labels have created a clientele that is a vibrant and growing part of our North American music community.
An "independent release" used to mean that the album was a test-market experiment whose ultimate goal was a shot at a major label contract. 2,000-5,000 units pressed and released in concentrated areas hoping to build up a regional following that would catch the ears and eyes of larger players. Lots of people tried it and few made the grade.
What's changed with the emergence of the independent record industry is that people are not necessarily looking at this process as a stepping-stone to the majors. It has become a final home for many musicians and, realistically speaking, for most types of music. Little reggae, world beat, folk, bluegrass, rap, hip-hop, or new age music makes its way to major label distribution. Classical, jazz, and blues get only cursory representation. Even the pop, rock, and country music that's released is only a fraction of what's recorded by lesser-known or fading stars. The independent labels step in at that point and provide an outlet for "less-commercial" music.
"Less commercial", of course, means lower budgets. And few independent labels offer more than $10-15,000 to even their best sellers. "It's a matter of economic reality," one independent label executive told me, "In the stores we have to battle for shelf space with the big boys and we just don't have the perks to compete. So we're starting off at a real disadvantage in the marketplace. We don't have the money for radio-trackers and even publicists are a treat only a few of the indies can afford. The industry, large or small, has a rule of thumb: $1 per anticipated unit sold for a production budget. And for most of the independent industry, a 15,000 seller is a great success. We'll record those folks till the cows come home!"
The AFM's Limited Pressing arrangement covers recordings of less than 5,000 manufactured units. Once you got over the 5,000 units pressing, you are covered by the general Recording Contract and the financial picture changes radically.
Current scale is $256.13 per 3 hour session, double scale for the leader. Add approximately 28% (for pension payment and payroll taxes), plus $13.50 per service per day and you've got a bill of over $1,350 per session for a three person band. Add any additional players, studio and tape costs, cartage, rehearsal time, and a realistic estimate of 2-3 sessions per day times the number of days required to record your album and the $10,000 doesn't seem like a whole lot of money...and you haven't even begun to mix the album down. And, like the folks in the studio lunchroom just the other day, the place people cut themselves some slack is in musician costs.
This doesn't mean musicians aren't being paid. It means they're either being paid less than scale or they're being paid scale without filing (and, hence, not paying pension, payroll, and Health & Welfare payments). But it does mean that musicians aren't being protected by a union contract, that they aren't eligible for payments from the Special Fund should the album they worked on "take off", they aren't getting pension contributions, and the Locals are shut out of the picture.
Many producers and artists...and even record companies...recognize the inequity of this situation and wish they could hire union players (above board) and pay a decent, union wage. But they, too, plead "economic reality." The closest that many come is hiring one union player...a synthesizer player...and sequence all the parts. This doesn't go any further in complying with the Recording Contract, though it does hire one union musician...but at the expense of how many more?
What is the answer to this dilemma? First, we must take a hard look at our history. The union missed the boat when Rock and Roll first burst upon the scene and we spent years playing catch-up. With the growing predominance of one-night stands, the Union had to adjust its contracting process. When national touring became commonplace it had to adjust its filing process. When it became apparent that many musicians rarely played within the bounds of their geographic local, it recognized the need to update its thinking about jurisdiction. When DJ's and taped music started to assault the workplaces of live musicians we had to take a stand and begin educating the public about supporting live music. When the AFM saw low budget films rarely use union players and/or contracts, it negotiated the new low budget film agreement to cover everything from film to cable television to soundtrack recordings that clock in at lower-than-major-company budgets. Now we are faced with a growing base of potential membership working in a field in which rules have changed, membership has shrunk, and it's time for the Union to take a hard look at reality.
Many of us...producer/musicians who are concerned about both the future of the Union and the realities of the independent recording artist...have been discussing a very real alternative: raise the ceiling on the Limited Pressing Agreement from 5,000 to 25,000. This would cast a large enough net that it would cover most recordings made in the independent record industry. It would enable union musicians to be hired by most of the sessions operating in North American studios today and would afford them the protection and guarantees of a union contract. This change would also bring the recording industry's low-budget field in line with the already-negotiated low budget film agreement. In fact, the soundtrack provision in that agreement, also at the 25,000 unit level, calls for payment of only 25% of recording contract scale. The limited pressing agreement weighs in at twice that figure...assuring twice the earnings of those involved in film.
Those who would argue that it amounts to concessions in wage earnings are ignoring the reality that very few recordings in the 5,000-25,000 range are filing at all right now. The net gain...to the musicians and to the Union...would be tremendous. If we hope to organize musicians into the Union we have to be prepared to offer them the possibility of a living wage under conditions that doesn't force them to violate our regulations and by-laws. If we hope to organize public awareness and support for the rights of union musicians we need to confront the realities of the changes going on in the industry. A single person with an ADAT and an emulator puts both musicians and studio personnel out of work...all the while staying under budget. An artist with a $10,000 budget can't afford to hire under the Recording Contract and goes to non-union players. Nobody wins.
As lunch broke up and we each headed back into our sessions another producer confided in me, "I'm really jealous that you have the budget to hire all union players. All the best ones in town...the ones I'd like to hire...are union. But I'm stuck...I feel as though the door is shut for me."
I'm convinced that any musician who is serious about their craft will eventually conclude that the Union is an important and necessary step in their career. A renewed look at the Limited Pressing arrangement brings people to the Union and into the Union. It is inclusive rather than exclusive. It's time to let recording musicians know that we understand the realities of their workplace and their careers. It's time to protect our members and help them work at the same time. It's time to open the door.