[Fmpro] Unions and futures

[Mike Vaccaro]

Rick,

Do you have a suggestion for a new vision for American musicians and 
composers to deal with the future.

You have obviously given this a lot of thought.
Mike
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick Blanc" <pazuni at sbcglobal.net>
To: <fmpro at nxport.com>; <chris at alpiar.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 9:49 AM
Subject: [Fmpro] Unions and futures


> We can all certainly enjoy our own beliefs and form our own philosophies 
> of what things mean; I'm just presenting mine.
>
> I believe many unions, and maybe particularly the musician's union, are 
> anachronisms, like an army fighting the new war with the old battle plan. 
> Music as art will struggle through history as it generally has.  The music 
> "business" however is market driven.  And the marketplace is 
> transnational.  Who is going to control it, and by what authority?
>
> The idea that Eastern Europeans are "allowing themselves to be abused" for 
> $20/hr. is absurd.  First the obvious: what does $20 represent in buying 
> power in Bratismava compared to LA?  What did the last job that abused 
> soul have pay?  I worked in Vienna once with Bulgarian musicians who were 
> being paid so little (not an American company) they had to bring food with 
> them in their suitcases because they couldn't afford to eat on the 
> Austrian economy.  I took a few of them out for McDonald's or Chinese and 
> they were thrilled.  My point is these people are happy to work, and 
> $20/hr. is a very decent respectable wage that will help them improve 
> their lives.
>
> As for American unions: they need, in my opinion, a new and different 
> vision to deal effectively with the future.  So far I see no evedence of 
> any vision at all.
>
> Rick
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