Double Times

New Symphonic Recording Agreement is Win-Win for Everyone

Symphonic recordings are not big money-makers, but they can generate some income for an orchestra, not to mention increase the orchestras' prestige and name-recognition. The new AFM Symphony/Opera/Ballet Live Recording Agreement allows orchestras with collective bargaining agreements that are signatory to the agreement to sell recordings of live performances at reduced up-front costs, while guaranteeing that the musicians will share in the proceeds of the sales should it become a hit.

Some of the key points of the agreement are:

• Recordings can be made from live performances or from archival recordings
• The orchestra must retain ownership and copyright rights
• The orchestra must approve the project by secret ballot vote
• An upfront payment of 6% of thee weekly scale or 48% of the per-service scale (37.5% for opera) allows up to 15,000 units to be sold
• Musicians also receive tier payments when more than 15,000 units are sold, as well as profit-sharing when the cost of recording has been recovered
• The product may also be distributed digitally (downloads or streaming)

Several orchestras have already taken advantage of this agreement. The Metropolitan Opera will be broadcasting performances in movie theaters across the country, the Philadelphia Orchestra will be offering downloads from its website, and the lyric Opera of Chicago plans to explore Internet distribution.

For more information on the agreement, AFM members can visit  Http://www.afm.org/member/im/08-06/ssd.html. And on a related note, Polyphonic.org recently held a virtual panel on symphonic electronic media, which can be viewed at http://www.polyphonic.org/panels.php.

• Posted: 10/01/06
Posted by: apana
• Category: Newsletter
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