An online music store update

[smoothmoniker]

Originally posted by SteveDallas
I'm not saying the musicians should do the recordings for free or sign away all their rights. (I personally think the smart thing to do is for the orchestras themselves to produce recordings, and a couple are starting to try.)

i haven't seen that work too well. In essence, you're asking the orchestra to handle it's own marketting, PR, distribution, etc. Why reinvent the wheel when branches like Sony Classical are so good at it already?

But I guarantee that at least some of them will live to regret that they have left no recorded legacy of their careers.

So what is the union doing about it, I wonder?

Well, here in LA they renegotiated a "side letter" contract that allows musicians to work for 60/hr (about half the current rate) for recordings that are done with a budget of less than 100k, and that sell less than 50k recordings. If the recording becomes succesfull, then the original players get paid an additional amount based on sales. It makes it less expensive for a label record, but makes the musicians part of the success of any endeavor. Seems to be getting a positive response from both sides of the table.

-sm