Local and Industry News
Full- and part-time employees of the city of Orlando will be paid at least $15 an hour by 2021.
Mayor Buddy Dyer has announced that wages of all city employees will be at least $13 per hour this year, $14 per hour next year, and $15 per hour in 2021. Workers who currently make more will see their wages rise as well, and the city's responsible contractor policy will also require a $15 per hour minimum wage. Currently some city employees are paid as little as $11.25 per hour.
The Miami Music Project has received a $1 million donation from an anonymous donor. The funds will be used to expand the reach and footprint of the organization across Miami-Dade county. MMP has also announced that former Arsht Center President and CEO John Richard has joined their board.
The Florida legislature has increased arts funding for the 2019-20 fiscal year. Funding nearly doubled from the previous year, to $2.39 million. It should be noted that the previous year arts funding was slashed by 90 percent, to just 0.003 percent of the state budget, so this year's funding is still less than a quarter of what was allocated two years ago.
recording
Vinyl is poised to outsell CDs this year. For the first half of 2019, vinyl earned $224.1 million, nearly as much as the $247.9 million from CD sales, and vinyl sales have risen 12.9 percent while CD sales have flatlined. Physical sales only accounted for four percent of total revenues, however, as subscription services accounted for 62 percent of industry revenue.
AFM recording musicians #BandTogether to secure streaming residuals. The AFM is currently in negotiations with the motion picture and television industry, and its musicians have been staging demonstrations across the United States to protest lack of residual payments in the streaming and subscription age. While most other performers receive streaming residuals, including singers through the SAG-AFTRA contract, musicians are one of the few groups that have been denied streaming residuals.
symphonic
Musicians of the Sarasota Orchestra have reached agreement on a new four-year contract. By 2022-23, the base salary for the 36-week season will be $40,000. Musicians will also see improvements in travel pay, sick leave, and retirement benefits.
