Chappell Roan has taken on the treatment of music industry artists this week, in a Grammy acceptance speech for the best new artists, while challenging a better music company with young, developing acts. i am back.
“Recorded labels require artists to treat them as valuable employees with livable wages, health insurance and protection,” Lone said. “Label, we got you, did you get us?”
Roan's comments reflect a very frustrating system that many artists found vulnerable and helpless, but the musician's healthcare system, like most people in the US, even suggests Roan's comments It's even more difficult to navigate than that. So, how does it actually work?
From Roan's speech, we may assume that major label artists have no access to insurance at all, but that's not necessarily the case. The label doesn't provide direct coverage to artists like most employers in other industries, but SAG-AFTRA allows their artists to qualify for insurance through a strong entertainment industry association I have an agreement with
As explained by Duncan Crabtree-Areland, executive director of SAG, the artists signed under loyalty, recorded are the three big major record companies: Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment , Warner Music It is eligible for Group. Annual revenue from recordings as long as they are signed to the label. According to the SAG website, the premiums for these plans are currently at $375 per financial quarter. Another union, the American Federation of Musicians, represents instrumentalists such as session musicians and also offers healthcare options.
Crabtree – Ireland says he wants to talk briefly with Loan and find a way to raise awareness among the artist class.
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“We're trying to clarify those words,” says Crabtree Ireland. “In contrast to film and television, artists in the music industry often work independently, so being around people can lead to a bit of isolation, where information is not automatically shared.”
The lack of awareness about these types of union resources has been a problem for recording artists for many years. Still, SAG handles labels and doesn't completely address the issues Roan highlighted.
For one, artists who signed major record labels represent just a small portion of all recording artists in the business. Many independent label artists are not eligible for the same SAG transaction as their labels do not carve out transactions with the union. The same applies to unsigned artists who are still trying to get a foothold in the industry.
If the artist is dropped – as Roan did from WMG's Atlantic Records in 2020, they lose their insurance eligibility and need to find plans through Affordable Care Acts and Cobra. This can be particularly difficult for artists who have signed Young and not trained to enter another field, but ultimately, if an employee at a more typical job leaves or gets fired. It's similar to what you have to face.
Advocates and music policy experts who spoke to Rolling Stone acknowledge that insurance issues go far beyond musicians and affect all industries in the country.
“Our system is fragmented. Renata Marinaro, managing director of health services at Entertainment Community Fund, will help you provide uninsured music and entertainment resources to help you provide more people with more people. Ideally, changes should be made at the federal level to be included at a low cost.
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She points out that navigating the insurance network can be challenging for touring artists. “If you're a musician you're on tour and you're receiving coverage in the New York City market, you're not necessarily covered in Ohio or California,” she continues. “It's frustrating to tell someone that it's easier to travel around Europe and see different doctors with travel insurance than to travel around the US. , we need to escape from these state-based silos, be federal government and have the answer to make insurance more affordable.”
Most policy experts, Rolling Stone, advocated some form of universal healthcare system, providing freelancers with easy-to-access coverage that is not dependent on their employers.
“For so many musicians, you move between employers very often. Most musicians, you have a lot of different people pay you – some at every festival “We have a label, streaming service,” says Joey La Nev deFrancisco, organizer of United Musicians and Allied Workers. “It's an array of people who get dizzy. This is the case for many freelancers across the industry. In the US, they don't claim a single payer situation of any kind, relying on employer relationships. It's hard to imagine a situation that isn't there.”
Healthcare issues are just part of a broader conversation about how artists are categorized in the industry. Roan asked for labels to treat artists as “valuable employees,” but even that statement is a bit troubling when it comes to details. Technically, label artists are not considered employees at all. If so, it might open the door to the labels they worked to take 100% ownership of their music under the so-called “work for work” standard. So, reclassified as an employee is not a particularly popular movement in the industry.
Kevin Erickson, director of the Future of Music Coalition, a nonprofit music policy group in Washington, DC, contrasts this with the situation other types of gig workers face. “For example, Uber drivers are sorting out to be reclassified as employees instead of independent contractors. For Uber drivers, being a W-2 employee could solve many problems. Because there is,” Erickson says. “There's a situation for musicians who are appropriately reclassified, but for recording artists signed to labels, it raises many questions about independent contractors in other parts of the economy not wrestling.”
Still, other supporters like Erickson and DeFrunsko want to find ways to provide artists with better resources while still maintaining their intellectual property.
For example, last year, UMAW worked with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) to establish a new royalty stream by paying for subscription services and adding more money. We introduced wages. A small income seen by many artists from their streams.
“Artists in the music industry are simply not well organized,” Defrancesco says. “Many solutions to these problems inevitably need to join organizations, take collective action and force the industry to take artists more seriously.”
