[Fmpro] Philosophy and junks (sorry its long, but pls read fully if you reply ; )

[Chris Alpiar]

> OK Chris, let me give you the benefit of the doubt.
> 
> First, you characterized the situation you were describing 
> using the words "scab" and, I believe, "migrant workers" or 
> something close.  These are your words, and if these words 
> don't represent your feelings about these people then you are 
> being reckless in your choice of words.

It is essentially correct. "scab" to me means non-union, someone that will
take the gig from a union worker for less pay regardless of the situation.
"migrant workers" connotates people that work under non-ideal circumstances
getting paid a fraction of what they deserve based on the type of job they
do. While they are both dramatizations, they both apply to this scenario.

> You insist there is a problem.  OK.  What is it?  It would 
> behoove you to characterize the real problem.  Sure life as a 
> composer (or anything else) is difficult.  Who said it 
> shouldn't be?  The Eastern Europeans have endured 
> difficulties than you can hardly imagine living under 
> tyrannical governments.

Well therein lies the beast! The problem is huge. It is the entire industry
of music, art and entertainment. Every aspect of it has been and is
continuing to be affected. No I do not have all the answers and I don't even
know all of the problems. I have often listened to people here (fmn) and in
other places and I regularly read the news (liberal and conservative) from
10-12 sources and have a solid understanding of technology and how the
changes in end-users of our product is changing but the industry is not
(yes, including the unions). 

I also have a decent grasp on history and of American imperialism and
economic manipulation of 3rd world countries, especially in south America,
the middle east, and Africa, but other places as well. The destabilization
in well targeted regions of the world is exactly what has allowed the
American (and British) economy to flourish. Capitalism in its very
definition requires a bottom tier of the pyramid which is used abrasively by
every level above it. It's a nice trick we learned from the British and have
taken over their endeavors in the last hundred and fifty years or so.
However, while I rue my countries involvement in the lessening of other
economies for its own sake, that is beyond the scope of this discussion. But
in analyzation, it is the Labor Unions that forced the bottom tier out of
the US and into those unstable regions of the world (whether directly
unstable as a result of our foreign policy or not it matters not, in this
argument at least). This has meant that menial jobs, "undesireable" jobs
were either paid at a rate guarantee'ing an American worker a way to make a
decent life for himself and his family, or it was shoved off and shipped out
to be done by some unlucky sod born in El Salvador for pennies on the
dollar.

But fundamentally the problem is ;;;;;>>> technology has made a change in
how people get our product, and it happened much faster then any of the
machine could respond to. All the links and tendrils of that machine (which
ultimately feeds a handful of billionaires but trickles down the pyramid
along the way at the same time) are too old and stubborn to react in a way
that is meaningful and so many of them are in dire straits at the moment and
are about to be obliterated. 

The machine in itself is evil in my opinion, as ultimately it was taken over
long ago by that handful of billionaires to serve their greedy and in some
cases nefarious motives. But there is much goodness inside its machinery and
many good people who find themselves caught between a piston and a cog are
in there and depend on that machine so we can't just tear it down. Of the
good things I include the majority of composers, artists and musicians. I
include also the unions, like AFM, which were built to defend working
musicians in the US, so that a violinist in Montana could still expect some
kind of legal aid, credit union, retirement options etc that we take for
granted that every American deserves. (again I say American and of course in
fullness I feel the same for every person in the world but again its outside
the scope of this)

> Sure life as a 
> composer (or anything else) is difficult.  Who said it 
> shouldn't be?  The Eastern Europeans have endured 
> difficulties than you can hardly imagine living under 
> tyrannical governments.

On a side note how do you know what I have or have not experienced? You
don't, so don't say I cant imagine what those eastern europeans have endured
etc. I have endured much that none should have to. But I survived and I am
here to speak about truth as I see it. Sometimes I am wrong, but more often
then not I am usually right and speaking on issues that people would just
rather not deal with, out of fear. I pray to all the gods, the one true god,
mother nature, the IS, the universal source, and the jar of TUMS in my
medicine cabinet that I never be afraid to speak truth as I see it no matter
how many people might disagree :)

> You believe in unions.  Good.  What is the union doing to 
> help?  Nothing, from what I see, except drive more work out 
> of the US. 

How do the unions drive work out of the US? Details please I want to learn
about your perspective and I would like to know if it is the unions that are
driving them out or the flagrant disregard of the priveleged few money
mongers. I know the unions are faltering now with CD sales in the toilet and
the PROs not contributing to the fund anymore as a result. I know
conceptually unions are wonderful to those they represent. I know that if
they don't start changing more drastically they will be imploded and the
industry will chuckle with another group of artists to disembowel as they
have composers

> You don't think $20/hr. is an acceptable wage.  
> OK.  What if someone somewhere else disagrees with you?  
> Should that person have the freedom to make his own economic 
> decisions?  If a musician in Bucarest has the choice of a 3 hr. 
> session for $60 or 3 hrs. at his other gig for $7.50 do you 
> think the AFM should have the power to stop him from working? 
>  Of course not.  And that's exactly how markets work.  
> Assuming people enjoy freedom, they make their own decisions. 
>  No idealog, dictator or union boss will make that decision for him.

Yes, you are absolutely correct. But I do know that in the US and in the UK
the unions set up a system to say OK for a musician making his entire career
recording or performing or whatever this is how much he should make
minimally to be a normal member of society. They base it on the fact that a
musician isnt going to play 8-5 5 days a week and they also know they are
self employed for the mostpart so benefits are needed. Legal aid,
retirement, etc. The concept is sound, and its right. Changes today are
screwing everything up so things need to change there as well but
essentially the unions are good, at least to everyone except the bean
counters. Should the AFM have any say over anyone outside of America? NO
WAY! Should we be responsible and find solutions to doing low budget
projects in the US? YES YES YES!

> 
> So assuming the union is legit within the US, do you think 
> its jurisdiction should encompass the entire world?  Do you 
> think the union or gov't should have the power to prohibit 
> people from going overseas to produce music, or anything 
> else?  How is that consistent with a free society or free 
> market capitalism (assuming again that you, as an American 
> value freedom and are not a Marxist)?

No centralizing all the world as one government of "The Earth" would be a
bad move. For many reasons. Starting with a lack of trust that one
organization could ever be selfless enough to truly represent individuals.
Or that the corruption wouldn't become so unbelievable that what is
happening today in the arts would become 100 fold in every aspect of life
and we end up in some Orwellian nightmare. 

But I do think that every musician out there deserves to be treated with
respect and dignity and a reasonable pay rate =) How to monitor other
countries I have no idea and I am exhausted just contemplating it for a
moment. But that is why I think American films should be produced with
American orchestras. Since they have a rate that has been established as a
rate needed to be able to have a life of a decent civilized human, that can
afford housing, good food, medical, education, retirement, vacations, all
those things needed for one's well-being

Well hmmm I am definitely not a communist. While I do like the concept of
everyone as equal and no one starving, and I think Marx was brilliant in his
ideas and ideals, it doesn't work as we saw clearly in the USSR (albeit it
was Lenonism not really Marxism in Soviet Union) and also that concept lends
itself to mediocrity of creative product and of little hope of achieving a
goal. Personally I don't think goals of achieving station based on monetary
value is healthy either but people are people and I don't have faith that we
will ever become non-territorial and that our base human instincts of
survival will ever stop finding itself manifesting in power struggle and
politics.


> 
> I hope I've been able to at least give you a more 
> comprehensive idea of the big picture.  The reason it is 
> important is that assuming you do feel strongly -- and I 
> assume you do -- about your positions, the only way to be 
> truly effective is to have a firm grasp of certain legal, 
> political and economic realities.  Otherwise your efforts are 
> in vain.  You run the risk of being overrun by historical 
> forces that you do not understand.

Ahhh but I think I do understand them. But my only point in all the
one-sentence reply I made in the beginning was to say "Hey something is
wrong here that there is no money for this budget and its getting shipped
overseas instead of being done someplace in the US. But now I have spent
several hours thinking and typing instead of writing music >.< so I should
go get on the ball and write some music using my gigastudio samples :(

Which reminds me why I got upset. Because 50 years ago at this point in my
career I would be in some bustling orchestration team working with an
orchestra daily. But now because we have no union and the current unions of
sympathetic types of workers are dropping the ball, and the kids are
downloading and not paying penance to the man, I am forced to work with
digits instead of people! So yea I am angry at the machine

Peace, Love and Music, and a little leg humping if you are tall enough

Chris