Senza Sordino

With the recording industry changing as it has over the years, we have witnessed too many orchestras lose recording contracts and syndicated radio deals. Some musicians now believe we must find new ways to allow our orchestras to market themselves through broadcasts and recordings. Some believe we must reassess the funding models for recording projects. Some fear that changes benefiting one area … [Read more...]

As musicians, we are all keenly aware of the need for communities to support their local orchestras. We know that an orchestra’s value to its community reaches far beyond the concerts it presents. The loss of any orchestra is a terrible blow to a community’s cultural and educational foundations. That is why it is especially troubling to hear that any community or orchestra leader is seriously … [Read more...]

The notorious muckraker Molly Ivins once observed that among the steps needed to combat a crisis in state government were the following: get the governor out from under his desk; place a foot firmly in the governor’s back; tell the governor, “Lead, you dumb sumbitch, it’s what we pay you for.” In the past year, orchestras across the U.S. have been confronting the changing nature of media as it … [Read more...]

In the last issue of Senza Sordino, Doug Fisher asked whether we should have national agreements covering electronic media. While he clearly meant the question to be rhetorical, I would like to suggest that the right answer might be “no.” Collective bargaining agreements set minimum rates of pay (and, in almost all industries but ours, maximum rates as well) in order that employers can neither … [Read more...]