Fair pay chain table proposal Calculation tool Pop musicians: test and respond now!
Design: Graphic Happiness
How do you determine what a fair gage is for an act or artist? The fairPACCT chain table Pop Musicians is launching a Calculation Tool that can be used to determine, based on five career phases, the minimum amount of remuneration for a live performance on stage. The tool is based on an initial test period. From now on, all pop musicians, managers, bookers and others can test how the new Calculation Tool works and share their findings with fairPACCT, preferably before Wednesday, November 1 and at the latest before Wednesday, November 15. Please use the form below (or click on the feedback button in the calculator tool at the bottom left). Feedback by fairPACCT and the chain table based on the responses received will be done by December 1.
Five career stages for live acts
According to independent research, musicians have a work week of almost 50 hours as a whole. The average commitment for one live performance is 15.4 hours, and they average 80 performances per year. The chain table strives for more consistency between the widely varying often limited income and the stage of development of an act. Using the newly developed Calculation Tool, the stage to which an act belongs can be identified based on 11 objective criteria. Phase 0 (starting up) and Phase 1 (upcoming) are buildup phases in reputation. In stage 2 (developing), for example, the act plays in the small venues of VNPF venues and works with a small professional team. An act in phase 3 (mid-career) performs at leading venues and festivals, sells out small venues, and here and there a large venue. An act in phase 4 (arrived) is capable of selling out large venues, pays for its own tours and earns enough to have a good income.
The gap between commitment and earnings of pop musicians
An advisory report on the gap among pop musicians between the time spent performing live and the remuneration received for it outlines the following fair pay remuneration, which is endorsed by the chain table. An independent professional in stages 2 and 3 should in any case receive a remuneration in line with modal levels, which amounts to € 415 per band member, per performance. A live act in stage 1 should receive at least €258 for each band member based on the minimum wage. In phase 0, € 116 in line with welfare level would suffice, and in phase 4 free market forces would apply. This is still far from current practice. In fact, the bottom line is that the actual income of pop musicians with a reasonable track record is only one-third of the social minimum and only one-fourth of fair pay.
Fair Pay Fund from 2025
The chain table also commissioned a macro calculation on the fair pay additional costs, starting with the VNPF venues. Some 8,000 performances take place there every year. If the band members in phases 1 and 2 would receive fair pay, an additional €7.8 million per year would be needed. Based on the social minimum, that still amounts to an additional € 3.1 million per year. The chain table then identified various options for closing the observed financial gap at the start of the coming cultural period 2025-2028.
A combination of promising factors seems to be the best solution here, so that a Fair Pay Fund can be established. The funds could come from, among other things, a minimal increase in service charges on ticket sales for all pop concerts, matched with additional government subsidy. The table presented its plan together with consulting firm Berenschot during the national Congress Podia Festivals Events on Sept. 18 this year. A feasibility study is currently underway, which will be presented during ESNS in January 2024.
Fair Pay Pilot in 2024: so quickly test the Pop Musicians Calculation Tool
As early as 2024, the chain table Pop Musicians wants a small selection of 5 pop venues to carry out a fair pay pilot, using the Calculation Tool and with the help of a private cultural fund to support this. It is therefore important to properly test the Calculation Tool right now and provide timely feedback, especially in case of errors or imperfections. There is no time to lose, the road to fair pay is set!
For consultation:
https://rekentool.fairpacct.nl/rekentools-testpaginas/rekentool-popmusici/
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Download the entry form here*:
* Please e-mail the completion form back to fairpacct@platformacct.nl preferably by Nov. 1 and no later than Nov. 15.
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Read on about what preceded:
Brief history
After an exploration, the Council for Culture and the Social and Economic Council released the advisory report “Passion Valued” in 2017. The earning potential of workers in the cultural and creative sector lags behind, they noted. The councils called for the development of guidelines for reasonable compensation. Based on this, a Labor Market Agenda appeared in 2017 with three spearheads: structural social dialogue, strengthening earning capacity, improving working conditions. Also, the Fair Practice Code emerged with three principles: fair pay, fair share, fair chain. Freelance music is, also in the opinion of the Ministry of OCW, one of the five cultural subsectors where the situation is most worrisome financially, with a few exceptions. A rapid concretization of the fair pay principle was deemed necessary.
Specific preliminary studies in 2020/2021
To refine some background studies, Platform ACCT commissioned the publication in November 2020 of ‘Tariff agreements for freelance musicians in pop, classical and jazz. Results of a research project’ by bureau HTH with the help of an expert guidance committee. This included 102 pop musicians (plus 34 with a mixed music practice). It was found that musicians on average perform 80 times a year for 2 hours with a fee of € 276. The first 50 percent do not make more than € 200 (median) and do not receive rehearsal, study or travel time compensation.
HTH then presented, when asked, in March 2021 ‘Better Terms and Conditions of Employment in the Cultural and Creative Sector. A Proposal for Follow-up Steps 2021-2024’. For freelance musicians, this included the following practice tools: Calculate and show what performances/concerts cost and benefit all parties. Also outline the cost of payment to all musicians according to collective bargaining agreements, e.g. the collective bargaining agreement for music ensembles. Develop (as a start) as simple a fee guideline as possible, e.g. a simple daily rate, rate per performance/concert, etc. Bureau HTH further suggests a solidarity fund between musicians.
Program fairPACCT and composition Chain Table Pop Musicians from 2022 onward
The three-year program fairPACCT of Platfom ACCT has started per 2022 with the help of OCW subsidy to concretize fair pay. Thanks to the efforts of the Vereniging Nederlandse Poppodia en -Festivals (VNPF) and the musicians themselves, the Ketentafel Popmusici was the first to start within this in February 2022. Still this Ketentafel is a frontrunner in developing fair pay practice tools. The table currently consists of 4 workers from professional associations and unions, 3 pop venues (incl. festival section), 1 festival, 2 artist managers and 1 booker. Noud van de Rhee, a.o. program manager of fairPACCT (at Platform ACCT), is independent chairman.
Report ‘The gap between commitment and earnings of pop musicians’
As an elaboration of the aforementioned preliminary studies, Berenschot was engaged by the Chain Table. Based on a detailed survey, this unindependent firm issued the report “The gap between commitment and income of pop musicians in January 2023. released. This was presented by the table at Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS). It was also submitted for comment to the Ministry of OCW and the Performing Arts Fund, which found no technical flaws. The report highlights the time commitment of pop musicians, defines five career phases, outlines the desired compensation for live performances for each phase, and shows a calculation of macro incremental costs at the minimum level and for fair pay, starting at VNPF venues.
Chain table-planing for additional money surcharges
The extra money for the additional costs cannot be raised within the pop sector itself or from higher public revenues, according to agency Berenschot. Without additional income support or financial incentives for the benefit of the pop sector, fair pay is unfeasible for most pop musicians, according to this agency in its report on “The Gap. The Chain Table then made a detailed picture of all the distinguished expenses and revenues at the VNPF venues, the subsidies from especially the municipalities and the Performing Arts Fund plus the (ad hoc) contributions from private funds. The conclusion is, also considering the fair pay optics of the State Secretary of OCW, that a financial solution must be found right at the beginning of the coming cultural period 2025-2028. Through a combination of new financial resources: an increase of the service costs for ticket sales of all pop concerts matched with extra government subsidy e.g. through the Performing Arts Fund. A feasibility study is now underway and will be presented at ESNS in January 2024. In order not to lose any time, the Chain Table is also considering a fair pay pilot as early as 2024 at five pop venues using the Calculation Tool and financial help from a private cultural fund.
Quickly test and respond now: digital fair pay Calculator tool pop musicians
FairPACCT recently engaged agency Ipsis to create digital Calculation Tools given the fair pay proposals from the various Chain Tables. Among other things, it has created an hourly rate calculator on “I am becoming self-employed” and the website of “starters’ counter” for new entrepreneurs. The first digital fair pay Calculator tool currently delivered in concept concerns the one for pop musicians. Based on this tool, the career stage of an act and the corresponding fair pay rate can be determined. The request to all involved is to quickly test and respond to this digital fair pay Calculator Tool Pop Musicians, especially in case of errors and imperfections. Because the findings on this tool are relevant to the progress of the process toward fair pay.
Learn more
Application form (Please return the entry form preferably by November 1 and no later than November 15 to fairpacct@platformacct.nl)
FairPACCT chain table Pop musicians (read more under the ‘current’ or ‘about the table’ section)
Berenschot research ‘The gap between commitment and income of pop musicians’ | Jan. 2023
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