In Wednesday’s (10/28) Variety, Jon Burlingame writes, “For the first time in more than a decade, composers and lyricists working in film, TV and videogames are considering unionization. The Society of Composers & Lyricists was scheduled to announce at its annual membership meeting Tuesday night that an ‘informational meeting’ about the possibility of affiliating with Teamsters Local 399 will be held Nov. 16 at the Pickwick Gardens Conference Center in Burbank, Calif. The SCL, a nonprofit group whose estimated 1,200 members include many of the composers who work in pics, TV and vidgames, has not taken a position about union representation, SCL officials said. Emails alerting members of SCL; performing rights orgs ASCAP, BMI and SESAC; and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences were expected to go out this morning. A website has also launched at Composersguild.org. Composers and lyricists are among the few creatives left without a collective bargaining agreement. Services like orchestration, conducting and music performance are covered by American Federation of Musicians (AFM) agreements, but not the act of writing music or lyrics.”
Posted October 28, 2009
