The conference was held in Copenhagen. Photo: Shutterstock
This blog is from General Secretary Horace Trubridge.
I was proud to lead a delegation from the British Musicians’ Union (MU), comprised of Executive Committee (EC) members Dave Lee, Rick Finlay, Andi Hopgood and Rachael Parvin, who work extensively in the freelance sector. There were delegates in attendance from all parts of the globe and the panel sessions were lively and informative.
Facing the same challenges
The consistent message that came across from the international panellists was that the problems and difficulties that freelance musicians face are the same the world over.
This was clearly articulated by the delegate from Zimbabwe, Edith Katiji, who is the Chairperson of her union, ZIMU. Edith eloquently explained how difficult it was for her and her colleagues to persuade ZIMU’s members not to undercut each other for live work.
She also talked about an alarming trend in her country whereby promoters were offering ‘audition’ gigs for no money which turn out to be full-on gigs with a paying audience. Sound familiar?
I talked to Edith about our Work Not Play campaign and the advice we give to our members about guarding against exploitation in the live music sector and she was very keen to replicate the scheme in Zimbabwe.
I suppose the above is a very good example of the value of FIM to all its members. The trade union movement is an international movement and it’s vital that, where invited, we advise and assist the musicians’ unions around the world that might not be as well established as we are so that they can tackle all the problems that their members are likely to face and provide the services and benefits that their members need.
It was also fascinating to hear about the various social security systems that are available to freelance musicians in other countries particularly France and the Scandinavian countries. Would that we had something similar in the UK.
The MU at work
My panel was titled ‘Developing specific trade union services for freelance musicians’. Naturally I talked about the five different insurances that all MU members have access to as part of their membership and the Contract Advisory Service (CAS) and its relatively youthful offspring, CAS Aftercare.
I explained how the CAS Aftercare service has proved particularly successful as, prior to its introduction, members were often left unsure of what they should do to improve the terms of the contract after using CAS and in some cases ended up just signing what they had originally been offered with disastrous consequences. CAS Aftercare therefore helps reduce the number of cases where a member has to call on the MU to extract them from a poor contract.
MU Supporters
The MU Supporters scheme, which now has well over a thousand members, is another success. These are, by-and-large, music loving non-musicians who recognise the MU as the only organisation that demonstrably looks after the future of music in the UK.
These supporters care about the same things we do whether it’s ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument or lobbying for a healthy grass roots live music sector they are behind us all the way.
Join for £1
I also shared the significant impact our new ‘Join for a £1’ scheme is having on our membership figures and how important it is that the MU is visible to freelance musicians. To my mind this is a key factor in retaining these musicians in membership.
If you are a musician in a contract orchestra or theatre show, then the MU is always visible to you. However, if you are a freelance gigging musician you may never have actually met or talked to an MU Official or activist and this is something that we need to address if we are going to keep these musicians in membership.
Visibility, communication, consultation and service are the key considerations in retaining MU members and we are improving all of these every day.
At the end of the day
The FIM Freelance Conference was a great opportunity for musicians’ union members from all over the world to share experiences and more importantly give examples of how they deal with the everyday problems that face our freelance sector.
It’s a work in progress, but it is essential work if we are going to properly serve and retain this highly significant area of our membership.
Musician? You can join the MU for £1 and get your first six months free – in-cluding contract advice, professional development and networking, and sup-port when you need it most.