In anticipation of June’s annual Orchestra Compensation Report update, it is always fun to take a look at some of the issues that don’t usually make it into those reports. One item of particular interest is related to the practice of projected base musician salary levels. For those unfamiliar, orchestras negotiate collective bargaining agreements (CBA) with their musicians that determine base wages up to five years in advance. As a result, this allows analyst geeks (like me) to have some prognostic fun…
Happy Anniversary NewMusicBox!
When it comes to online pioneers, the folks over at NewMusicBox (or NMBx if you’re hip) were already ahead of the curve before most even figured out there was something there. This month marks NMBx’s 10 year anniversary, which is the equivalent to at least 50 years in real business time (or 350 years for dog business), and they’ve spent the past decade pushing boundaries and producing fantastic content…
Ning Off Already
On Wednesday, May 6, 2009 the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (SFS) launched a boutique social networking site based on the Ning platform. If you aren’t already familiar with Ning, it is an enterprise solution that allows users to create their own social networking sites, think of it like a do-it-yourself facebook…
Details from the WCO Settlement
Over the course of 2009 Take A Friend To Orchestra month, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO) reached a settlement; however, news reports have not focused on the agreement’s details. But since this is a negotiation we’ve been following for several months, it seems appropriate to examine some of those details, especially those sticking points that kept the agreement out of reach for so long…
Honolulu Lays It On The Line
The Sunday, 5/3/2009 edition of the Honolulu Advertiser published an article by Ruth Bingham that reports on the Honolulu Symphony’s latest fundraising effort to stave off financial insolvency. According to the article, the orchestra’s stakeholders have not been paid in nearly three months and although it isn’t mentioned in the article, some stakeholders have stopped reporting for work while others have left the islands…