Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
One of the first lines of defensive in a good cybersecurity hygiene is maintaining strong passwords. Technically, May 2, 2019 was national password day but it’s never too late to indulge in some improved security measures. One of the best favors you can do for yourself is use a password manager, like the one from LastPass.com (they have free and paid versions). While LastPass has been my go-to password manager for years, …
It’s spring and that usually means nonprofit galas are in full swing. For whatever reason, I’ve been attending quite a few this year and while the format is similar, execution varies. One common element that sees a great deal of variation is the silent auction component. On one hand, there’s the old school, pen and paper approach. It’s super affordable and I’ve seen it applied to great effect everywhere from intimate …
Sometimes, the most influential occurrences fly entirely under the radar. Case in point, an ongoing labor disagreement at the St. Louis Symphony (SLS) that may influence whether music librarians can be included in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and therefore entitled to the same compensation, benefits, and protections as other orchestra musicians. The disagreement is straightforward: the SLS musicians believe librarians they should be included in the CBA, the employer doesn’t. …
It’s time to revisit base musician compensation levels at the top eight highest paying orchestras. For a number of these orchestras, the 2018/19 season marks the end of their existing collective bargaining agreement (CBA). In each of those instances, the outcomes will have a large impact on what many orchestra musicians consider their organization’s ability to compete for the best on-stage talent. We’ve been tracking these values since the 2009/10 season …
Now that we have the settlement numbers from Chicago, Cleveland, Philly, and San Francisco, we’re just about ready to see how all of those figures impact the overall standings among the top eight highest paying orchestras. That article comes out tomorrow so today is an ideal time to take a look back at where things were when we last examined this issue in May, 2018. Top-Tier Musician Compensation 2018