[Fmpro] New Era Scoring

[Rick Blanc]

 Very well put Mark.  Change, whether perceived
 as positive or negative, is the reality.
 Institutional change can been particularly
 difficult to achieve.

 I hear the Pony Express was a wonderful
 outfit... but the market prevailed.  I've long
 said that the union has no vision.  That is
 a perilous strategy.

 I don't know the answers to the questions
 concerning PRO's and royalty payments.
 Certainly everyone wants to work under the best
 possible conditions.  For most musicians that
 simply means working and getting a decent wage.
 It can be pretty basic when people are saddled
 with an overpriced mortgage a couple kids and
 car payments.  One is grateful for an honest
 days work.

 By the way, all kinds of industries have
 scrambled to adjust to developing realities:
 witness the UAW strike resolution a couple days 
ago.  Why should the music industry be immune?

Rick 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Mark Northam 
  To: pazuni at sbcglobal.net ; fmpro at nxport.com 
  Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2007 11:27 PM
  Subject: Re: [Fmpro] New Era Scoring


  Thanks, Rick.

  The NES situation is a tough call. One the one hand, isn't asking musicians
  to work with no back-end along the same lines of asking a composer to work
  but give up his/her ASCAP royalties? Then again, composers are creating work
  and musicians are playing the creations (musical works) of others.  And as
  you point out, if the choice is playing "dark dates" and worrying about
  union fines or penalties vs. going financial core and doing the non-union
  dates with NES perfectly legally, it's easy to make that choice.

  The $50,000 fines threatened for those working on films going to Seattle, I
  fear, only forced the decision for many to go fi-core which insulates them
  from union fines for working in Seattle or any other non-union locale. From
  what I hear, the recording musicians put Tom Lee (the AFM Pres.) up to
  making the threats, which in the end only backfired, badly.

  In their respective statements, I was disappointed to see Local 47 resort to
  name-calling ("scab orchestra") while NES wisely focused the wages they put
  into LA recording musicians' pockets. Hal Espinosa and the gang down at
  Local 47 ought to put some money into a good publicist or PR person. With an
  educated, informed audience, name-calling makes for an instant
  credibility-buster.

  Lee's new buyout agreements are clearly what the market wants, including
  buyout agreements for music library recordings and low budget indie films.
  The question is of course, is it too little, too late? The AFM stood by,
  arrogantly pounding their chest and threatening their members while an
  entire industry in non-AFM score recording was created and flourished over
  the last 12 years. The AFM, through their choice not to offer competitive
  deals and instead depend on fear, threats and arrogance to try and maintain
  their market share instead fueled the development of Seattle, Eastern
  Europe, and now NES. None of these would exist to the extent that they do
  had the AFM remained competitive, and it's sad to see the special interests
  of a small number of successful recording musicians result in the creation
  of so many new competitive alternatives that, admittedly, have driven down
  the wages and benefits standards of the industry.

  I'm not saying the AFM should match the $25/hr rates in Eastern Europe -
  that's obviously not practical. But it's no secret that the AFM's choice not
  to offer any buyout alternatives in the US for certain types of productions
  (although, amazingly, they've offered a low-budget buyout in Canada for over
  a decade now which eliminated Canada's non-union recording problem) has been
  the chief reason why non-union recording has flourished.  And yes, there's a
  difference between "a race to the bottom" and being competitive and
  realizing the world marketplace is changing and adjusting to that change.

  I hope the AFM's current initiatives to be more competitive will be
  successful and I think Tom Lee knows what he's doing and has some great
  ideas. But there are powerful forces opposing him that see his proposals as
  a direct threat to their livelihood and careers, and I can see how they
  believe that. But any way you look at it, it's a conflict that has needed
  resolution for a long, long time.

  Best,

  Mark Northam


  On 9/27/07 11:06 PM, "Rick Blanc" <pazuni at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

  >  I was happy to hear about the success of the NES
  >  sessions despite the RMA/47 attempt to scuttle
  >  it.  There is a name for top-down control of an
  >  industry; it is Stalinism.  NES is doing what
  >  the market demands, and it is long overdue.
  > 
  >  Mark, good interview.  You asked the "tough
  >  questions."  It is hard for me feel too much
  >  sympathy for those who may lose some of their
  >  power, position and benefits.  They clearly
  >  don't concern themselves much for the rather
  >  large army of unemployed musicians out there.
  >   As Greg said, the musicians working with NES
  >  are currently not enjoying any of those
  >  benefits.  They are happy to work and they
  >  should have that opportunity.  Anything else
  >  would be ...well, unAmerican.
  > 
  >  Rick
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