Musicians' Union and other questions

[DustinRinehart]

Hey Justin,
I mentioned to you in my previous thread that I'm in a band who is set to sign with Rob Thomas' RTel label in the first quarter of '09.

This will be my first experience working with a label of any kind, and I will be going into it as more of a hired gun than an actual contracted band member. I've been slugging it out with local, unsigned bands for around 8 years now, so I'll be completely new to this. Our singer/songwriter is the one who landed the deal, and the band was put together by him afterward. My current understanding is that we WILL be playing on the record and will also be part of the live band when touring starts. And I'm also looking at it is a large, door opening opportunity for me to get into session and/or live work for other artists when I'm able to start making the right connections with the right people. I just have a few questions that you might be able to answer seeing as you've been in the business for quite awhile now.

1. I've been told by several people that I should consider joining the musician's union. Is there any real benefit to doing this that you're aware of? And are you a member of it?

2. Without getting too personal about your own finances, can you give any examples of how you've found pay structure and compensation to be given when working with major label acts like Beck, Gnarls Barkley, NIN, etc.? I apologize if I'm overstepping any boundaries. No need to answer if you aren't comfortable doing so.

3. What differences, financially speaking, are there with studio work vs. live/touring work? As in do session players typically receive royalties from playing on records? Or does that only apply to whomever has the publishing rights?

I'm sure you can't answer these in a cut and dry manner, as each scenario with a different artist is somewhat unique. But if you're able to shed any light on this stuff for me, it would be incredibly appreciated.

Thanks, and sorry for the length of this one!
Dustin

 

[jmjbassplayer]

1. I am a member of the Union, yes. Benefits: some discounts on things like health insurance, gear insurance, and other benefits that they're trying to add, more over time. The main benefit: The Phonograph Recording Special Payments Fund and Secondary Markets Special Payment Fund, which are royalty paying schemes for both records and film/tv, respectively. Once a year, as you do more and more legit Union sessions, those funds pay you a check. I will say simply that mine have become sizable when I have a nicely busy year, and very happily received when they arrive every year in August or so.

2. I can't really answer this, sorry.

3. Session players typically never receive royalties, except for what I mentioned above, which is based on sales of the artist and the total amount of money in the pool, then divided by the number of musicians in the fund, or something like that. It's not really royalties, but the record companies pay into it, so it works similarly. Royalties come from record sales and songwriting, primarly, not to overstate the obvious. Studio work pays more than live, no matter how you slice it, unless you're playing for Michael Jackson back in '86 or something. However, there's less high paying session work to go around these days, so touring can be more viable, in fact. Depends on the tour.

These questions are a bit general, I'm afraid. Hard to answer without either a) getting too personal, or b) writing a book. )

Good luck,
JMJ