Who We Are – #BandTogether

We are the musicians who record for motion pictures and television shows heard around the world.

Here's why we're fighting for a fair and equitable contract for our work in new media:

Jennifer Cullinan
Oboist/English Horn

Statement

“I stand with my colleagues in support of a new contract and a fair, better future for our families.”

Danita Ng-Poss & Jason Poss
Orchestrators/Music Copyists

Statement

“What we do now determines our future and the future for every musician who comes after us. We owe it to our friends and colleagues to ensure we are all paid properly. We also have a responsibility to pass along a career with proper pay to those who are starting out in the business, just like musicians who came before did for us.”

Mike Merritt
Bassist

Statement

“As a musician with 25 years of experience on Live TV, I know how important is it to work under an agreement that ensures wages and residuals. I fully support the AFM and the Contract Action Team’s efforts to secure a deal for New Media/Streaming that provides current, and future generations of musicians, proper payment for their work.”

Stephanie Matthews
Violinist

Statement

“Performing an elaborately written score flawlessly and skillfully at first sight demands a high level of individual investment on our part, including countless hours of individual practice starting in our childhood years, copious amounts of money spent on private lessons, music festivals and extra-curricular music programs, tuition fees at the top music schools and conservatories in the world, and the acquisition and ongoing maintenance of our instruments. In return, we are demanding fair and adequate compensation that will ensure job security and financial stability for musicians.”

Gabriel Golden
Bassist

Statement

“I am honored to work among these amazingly talented artists and am demanding a contract that includes good working conditions, fair wages and residuals for musicians working in new media that is vital for our future, pension and families!”

Amy Hershberger
Violinist

Statement

“I’ve dedicated my entire life to becoming an outstanding violinist. Few people in any profession understand what that really means. Working for the largest media corporations in the world, I should be able to make a living wage. If our contract for streaming doesn’t come to reflect the industry standard that actors, writers and directors have, that ability will be lost.”

Ken McGrath
Percussionist

Statement

“The special and unique contributions that professional musicians make to movies and television shows demands a contract for streaming media that includes residuals. Just as actors, writers and directors receive fair compensation, so too should musicians.”

Allison Allport
Harpist

Statement

“I support this campaign because musicians spend their lives investing time, money, skill and passion into their art. When musicians contribute their hard work, dedication and artistry to a show, they not only enrich the emotional lives of millions of people, but generate real profits for producers. Musicians must be fairly compensated for these contributions.”

P. Blake Cooper
Tubist/Cimbasso/Bassist

Statement

“This campaign and these negotiations for a fair new media contract are the most important in a generation of musicians. Every other entity of new media production receives their rightful residual, and we are no second-class citizen. In no other department of new media production within our industry would they say, ‘Yeah, let’s just give up our residuals.’ Musicians, we have to know our worth and fight for what we deserve for our contributions to these projects. The music we make lives on for generations. A residual payment is only fair. It’s the only way to actually make a real living doing this work. We deserve to be able to buy a home, raise a family, pay our bills, and enjoy all of what life has to offer, just like every other citizen of the United States deserves when they are hardworking, contributing members of the workforce. We’ve practiced untold hours at our art to be able to contribute to these projects at the absolute highest level of artistry. Our hard work and dedication to the art deserves to be honored with a fair new media contract.”

Ian Walker
Bassist

Statement

“As a second-generation working musician in film and television I always knew it was possible to earn appropriate compensation for participating in this multi-billion dollar industry. In the current atmosphere of widening economic disparity, it would be tragic if musicians were demoted to day-laborer status during the transition to streaming media. I wholeheartedly support the campaign to secure an appropriate backend for recording musicians.”

Trevor Handy
Cellist

Statement

“Our performances on screen breathe life into the composer’s score, in turn helping to take the viewer on the emotional journey the director envisions. I join my fellow musicians in demanding a fair contract that includes residuals for new media.”

Susan Chatman
Violinist

Statement

“New media technology is progressive… lowering the standards of compensation and living is not. There should be a way to find equitable compensation for new media technology.”

Joel Pargman
Violinist

Statement

“Recording musicians, like actors, writers, and directors, rely on profit sharing to stabilize income from a notoriously unstable source, the entertainment industry. In some years this can be 50-75% of our total income. Producers were willing to make a streaming residuals deal with SAG-AFTRA, WGA and DGA, but want to exclude the musical artists who contribute so much to the soul of a show or film. We are asking for respect for our art, and for a wage model that allows us to keep living and working in Los Angeles.”

Mei Chang
Violinist

Statement

“It’s our job to make great music together. It’s the industry’s job to take our jobs seriously.”

Geoff Osika
Bassist

Statement

“We are the 99%.”

Valarie King
Musician/Music Preparation

Statement

“We must keep up with the fast changing technology of our times or be prepared to be stuck in the past. As professional musicians we need to have a contract for streaming media residuals that reflects our years of hard work and dedication. The work we do is extremely important and deserves the highest respect.”

Tom Calderaro
Orchestrator & Music Copyist

Statement

“I am proud to work with the finest recording musicians in the world. It’s sad that this invaluable group of performers has always had to fight for a fair wage. Currently, the companies that rely on these recording musicians want to decimate their wages and make it difficult to support a family as a full-time recording musician. All the while these same companies report billion-dollar profits and pay their executives millions of dollars annually. Our union is demanding new media residuals so that its members can continue to sustain themselves as career recording musicians. I stand with my union and colleagues in this struggle.”

Alex Iles
Trombonist

Statement

“It has been an honor to be able to perform music regularly on television and motion picture soundtracks as well as live television over the course of my 30+ year-long career. As delivery systems continue to evolve, one thing that remains constant is the desire for the producers to include live musicians (frequently 80- to 100-piece orchestras) to support the stories they set out to tell. The musicians who provide this service are highly trained and specialized and have dedicated their careers to bringing composers’ music to life on screen.

In order to ensure that our employers may continue to draw on the most talented pool of musicians to continue this service, musicians need to make adequate salaries to keep up financially living in the expensive place where the majority of this work takes place. Under the current “new media” agreement without residuals, musicians are being asked to take what amounts to a 76% pay cut. Our employers will never afford to make up this difference by paying musicians more on the front end.

The current arrangement threatens the very existence of our careers at a time when the amount of productions and investment in this platform is growing and demand for live music is growing as well. We #BandTogether to let our employers know that we want to continue to provide the music at the highest levels of efficiency, accuracy and musicianship which composers are accustomed.”

Stephen Pfeifer
Bassist

Statement

“We urge companies generating billions of dollars in profits for equitable, industry standard compensation for musicians.”

Matthew Evans
Bass Trombonist

Statement

“I stand with the Contract Action Team because of the pivotal importance of negotiating a contract that benefits all collaborating parties. The future of the recording industry and the musicians who are the sum of its products depend on a fair contract. We share the same sacrifices it costs to hone our craft. We share the same vulnerability that is needed to create meaningful art. We share the love it takes to produce a product of the highest merit. We share in the labor; we share in the success; we share in the risk. A contract that proposes no residual payments of any kind, abandons the responsibility we all share in protecting the sustainability of the musicians in the recording industry and the projects that our contributions support. As we move deeper into the digital streaming world we are not asking for higher pay, we are asking to continue using the template that has worked to serve all collaborators. I am confident that we can negotiate a contract that reflects our shared desire to protect the quality of the products we produce and all those involved in its culmination.”

Christopher Anderson-Bazzoli
Music Preparation

Statement

“Actors interpret words in a script. Musicians interpret notes in a score. Both bring a lifetime of dedication to their art. Professional musicians deserve a contract for streaming media that includes residuals so that our very special contribution to film and television continues to be a viable career with some measure of security and the ability to support a family – just like actors, writers, and directors have.”

Pam Gates
Violinist

Statement

“I am passionate about musicians getting wages equal to our television and motion picture contract on the upcoming negotiations for our New Media Contract. Along with fair wages we must have a streaming residual to match the other entertainment unions.”

Alan Kaplan
Trombonist

Statement

“I’m involved with the Contract Action Team because I feel it is vitally important for the future of our recording industry and the players aspiring to be part of it. We musicians care as deeply as the producers about the quality of the products we make for their projects. Our reputations and pride are on the line each time we play. We spend countless hours away from work practicing so we may be as efficient and accurate as possible. We have always shared the risk and partnered with the producers by offering low and lower scale rates for their lowest budget and riskiest projects. We have been able to do this because we have shared in their successes by receiving a pro-rata share of the 1% licensing paid when the project has gone on to future markets. The producers recently have proposed no residual payments of any kind and the same low wages we offered as our partnering act. We are not asking for a penny more. We only want to continue the same formula which has served all parties involved very well. I hope we can find some common ground at the negotiations and come up with a contract we can all prosper from.”

Norman Ludwin
Bassist

Statement

“The struggle for fair wages is an international issue.”

Don Foster
Clarinetist

Statement

“One of the great privileges of my career is to get to share the various studio and television sound stages with some of the world’s greatest musicians. It is the very definition of art and creativity. We often will be sharing the same scoring stage, scoring the same film with our talented singers, who are squarely in line with SAG-AFTRA and the other guilds and are enjoying the additional revenue flow, while we are not. We think this is an insult. Isn’t what we are doing the same as what they are doing? It is my hope that the producers will once and for all recognize the musical talent of our unrivaled studio instrumentalists by recognizing us as creative artists. It is time to raise wages and offer a residual compensation for New Media in line with the other creative teams in the movie and television making process. It is the only fair and right thing to do.”

Lara Wickes
Oboist

Statement

“An orchestral stage is one of the only places where 100 people become one. We move together. We breathe together. We think together. We feel together. It is exhilarating to say the least. Now we are trying to take that collective focus and apply it to a battle for our livelihoods. I’m standing with my colleagues in the #BandTogether campaign because I know firsthand what musicians are capable of. I believe in the power and the value of what we do. I also know about the thousands of hours of hard work that has gotten us onto that stage. Musicians need to be able to make a living to be able to continue making our art.”

Marc Sazer
Violinist

Statement

“How crazy is it that we can go to work on a great score for great streaming project, playing the same music by the same composer for the very same scene, but the singers are getting fair wages and residuals, while those of us playing — and even those of us who orchestrated and copied the very parts the vocalists are singing from — are left behind? Our survival depends on this work. That’s why I’m doing what I can to help us all #BandTogether!”

Julie Gigante
Violinist

Statement

“Residuals are critical to sustaining the incredible talent pool here in Los Angeles. Musicians can’t make a living without them. The contributions of the Los Angeles musicians are important and should be valued for they bring their vast talent, technical abilities, and heart to the musical scores they perform on.

Tim Lefebvre
Bassist

Statement

“Absolutely 100% behind this movement. I stand with my fellow recording musicians and the AFM in demanding a fair contract that includes new media residuals for musicians.”

Martin McClellan
Orchestrator/Copyist/Pianist

Statement

“I am fighting for industry standard residuals for myself and colleagues, as well as the next generation, so that they too can have a career in this incredible industry. Musicians make immeasurable contributions to motion picture and television projects and our work on new media projects should be no different than the traditional media we work on. Musicians should not be excluded from the actors, writers and directors from participating in residuals on new media projects.”

Edmund Velasco
Saxophonist / Vice President, AFM Local 7

Statement

“As a working musician who has done very little studio work, I admire these hard working performers. They are the best in their field. They practice for hours daily. They are vital members of the community performing in local orchestras such as Pasadena and L.A. Philharmonic to name a few; they volunteer at local schools and teach the next generation of musicians you will need. They are our neighbors and friends. They deserve a fair contract.”

Pete Korpela
Percussionist

Statement

“We can’t wait any longer to demand new media residuals. The fight for future generations happens now.”

Allen Fogle
French Hornist

Statement

“Being a studio musician was my dream job all the way back in high school, and not a day goes by where I don’t feel lucky and humbled to be able to make a career out of it. It’s important to me that the next generation of players will be able to support themselves and keep our vibrant Los Angeles community growing, so I’m fighting for wages that will allow not only current players, but those on their way up the ladder, to support their families and keep our community growing!”

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