MDC Student Completes First Local 655 Internship
Miami Dade College student Michael Pina recently completed South Florida Musicians Association, Local 655 AFM's first internship. Over the past eight weeks, Pina assisted officers and staff in logging and filing its archive of recording contracts dating back decades. He also assisted in making promo packs of Local 655 member bands, copying CDs, song lists, and photos for distribution to potential buyers and at ClearChannel's Party Expo 2004.
"The Local 655 internship program offers students an in depth look at the music industry," says Local 655 President Cliff Walker. "Recording, symphonic, and freelance concert contracts pass through our doors everyday; we are the hub of the industry. Currently our interns have been playing a major role in the conversion of Local 655 from a paper hub to a digital hub. This conversion will allow for quicker access and research of old contracts. When recorded music is put into New Use, income is generated for our members, and the only way we can verify our members were on those recordings is through the old contracts. The faster we can research a contract, the faster the musician gets paid. Our interns are helping to make this all possible and at the same time learning about recording contracts, pay scales, break requirements, collective bargaining agreements, Pension Plans, to put it simply, learning the Union Thing."
Pina is working toward an associate's degree in music business as a student of Local 655 member Ed Calle and was named 2004 MDC Music Business Student of the Year.
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