R_P_A_S
17th February 2008, 10:57
I've thought about this before. and I have event brought it up. A music engineer union.
I think what enraged me.. or motivate me, yet again to try and start something was two fellow coworkers who are also Music Engineers... We were talking about our job, our skills and our bosses, the middle man.
These two guys are in no way shape or form left-wingers or socialist at that. Not very political at all. And they don't know about my politics either. But we were talking about work and how we are sick of getting paid shit as our boss takes a BIG CHUNK of our rate into his pocket.
The fact that these guys are not political and said the following words is what inspired me...
"I don't own anything! all i have is a 1988 old ass volvo my father gave me and a fucking computer! that's all I own! I don't own my house, or any property! Why do you want to steal half my hourly rate???"
and the other one said... "I could work all my life, for this rate and I could never open up my own studio or put my self in a position I can have people make me money while I sleep. I didn't inherit money, I wasn't that lucky. I don't own shit so im forced to be own by a damn guy who was born into money, fuck them"
Obviously this is frustration against our boss, the manager of the music studio we "work for" and I use quotations because we are consider INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS, so in other words we aren't employees for the company.
I'm going to try and break down for you guys how we get ripped off..
1. studio manager is the owner of the music studio. He charges from $1200 to $1500 per 12 hour day for a client to use the facility.
2. in these $1200 and $1500 rates a music engineer is included for your music session.
3. The music engineer makes $10 to $15 and hour for his/her job.
4. The studio manager/owner sets the music engineers rate.
5. sometimes on the invoices, to justify the rate for the studio, The studio manager/owner will insert a FAKE music engineer rate of $30 to $60 an hour. So that the client does not feel its being over charged for the studio time.
6. The music engineers' rate stays at $10 to $15 regardless of what the invoice says.
7. music engineer receives no overtime, some music sessions run over 10 hours, and there are no design or mandatory breaks.
8. Music Studio and Studio manager/owner have very little liability or responsibility to the music engineer as he is not an employer just an "independent contractor" No benefits, No nothing.
9. Music studio keeps a list of about 12 to 15 music engineers who are willing to work for that wage. and calls them to "give them work"
10. Music studio and studio manager/owner work as a middle man between clients and music engineers.
11. If Music engineer complaints about the wages or ask for more, they simply STOP calling you. They have a full list of other drones who will do it with out giving studio manager any lip.
The average hourly wage for a music engineer for companies like Disney, Warner Bros, and others is anywhere from $40 to $100 an hour, depending on experience and project size. Some record labels and production companies have their OWN music engineers and they too pay them those rates.
We are fucking getting ripped off! We have no support, nothing to fall back on. If we ask for more money, they simply stop calling us. We can't collect unemployment, we can't get over time
They lie to the clients. make them think we are getting $30 to $50 dollars an hour to justify the rates while in reality we are getting $12 to $15 an hour!
Our boss, the studio manager/owner justifies the cheap rate they pay us by telling us: "we get you clients, we are the hub here and you just sit at home and wait for a call and you have work!":glare:
QUESTION:
What the fuck can we do??? everyone is afraid to "step out of line"
I think what enraged me.. or motivate me, yet again to try and start something was two fellow coworkers who are also Music Engineers... We were talking about our job, our skills and our bosses, the middle man.
These two guys are in no way shape or form left-wingers or socialist at that. Not very political at all. And they don't know about my politics either. But we were talking about work and how we are sick of getting paid shit as our boss takes a BIG CHUNK of our rate into his pocket.
The fact that these guys are not political and said the following words is what inspired me...
"I don't own anything! all i have is a 1988 old ass volvo my father gave me and a fucking computer! that's all I own! I don't own my house, or any property! Why do you want to steal half my hourly rate???"
and the other one said... "I could work all my life, for this rate and I could never open up my own studio or put my self in a position I can have people make me money while I sleep. I didn't inherit money, I wasn't that lucky. I don't own shit so im forced to be own by a damn guy who was born into money, fuck them"
Obviously this is frustration against our boss, the manager of the music studio we "work for" and I use quotations because we are consider INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS, so in other words we aren't employees for the company.
I'm going to try and break down for you guys how we get ripped off..
1. studio manager is the owner of the music studio. He charges from $1200 to $1500 per 12 hour day for a client to use the facility.
2. in these $1200 and $1500 rates a music engineer is included for your music session.
3. The music engineer makes $10 to $15 and hour for his/her job.
4. The studio manager/owner sets the music engineers rate.
5. sometimes on the invoices, to justify the rate for the studio, The studio manager/owner will insert a FAKE music engineer rate of $30 to $60 an hour. So that the client does not feel its being over charged for the studio time.
6. The music engineers' rate stays at $10 to $15 regardless of what the invoice says.
7. music engineer receives no overtime, some music sessions run over 10 hours, and there are no design or mandatory breaks.
8. Music Studio and Studio manager/owner have very little liability or responsibility to the music engineer as he is not an employer just an "independent contractor" No benefits, No nothing.
9. Music studio keeps a list of about 12 to 15 music engineers who are willing to work for that wage. and calls them to "give them work"
10. Music studio and studio manager/owner work as a middle man between clients and music engineers.
11. If Music engineer complaints about the wages or ask for more, they simply STOP calling you. They have a full list of other drones who will do it with out giving studio manager any lip.
The average hourly wage for a music engineer for companies like Disney, Warner Bros, and others is anywhere from $40 to $100 an hour, depending on experience and project size. Some record labels and production companies have their OWN music engineers and they too pay them those rates.
We are fucking getting ripped off! We have no support, nothing to fall back on. If we ask for more money, they simply stop calling us. We can't collect unemployment, we can't get over time
They lie to the clients. make them think we are getting $30 to $50 dollars an hour to justify the rates while in reality we are getting $12 to $15 an hour!
Our boss, the studio manager/owner justifies the cheap rate they pay us by telling us: "we get you clients, we are the hub here and you just sit at home and wait for a call and you have work!":glare:
QUESTION:
What the fuck can we do??? everyone is afraid to "step out of line"