San Francisco, CA - Feb 20, 2012 -  Urban Music Presents is asking San Franciscan's and the larger Bay Area community, along with anyone else who supports and believes LIVE MUSIC is important to our cultural vibrancy to please sign the following petition that I personally will send to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors asking them to support our local musicians and venue owners who support them.

  

The petition begins to read... "San Francisco venues and local street festivals are struggling to support Live Music and the musicians who make it happen, therefore I am calling on the City to provide tax break incentives to venue owners and business owners who pay our local musicians a minimum working wage as the vibrancy of the music scene here is the economic back bone to the Hospitality and Tourism industry that San Francisco vitally depends on." To view and sign petition please click here to sign     

 

As author of this petition, it comes from having years supporting LIVE MUSIC in the Bay Area and navigating the local economy and the trials and tribulations of the venue owner. I have truly come to a place that it is not the musicians vs. the venues. While there are some venues who take advantage and I have loudly spoken out on these practices, I know there are musicians out there who take advantage as well by driving down the value of live performance musicianship by offering your talents for less than adequate pay just to get a gig, making it that much harder to negotiate fair wages.

  

This being said, after hundreds of conversations with venue owners, musicians and promoters and managers such as myself I have crafted a petition that I think can lead to some ground breaking legislation that would create a level playing field for quality musicians while at the same time providing some relief and assistance to venue owners to have the means to pay the musicians.  

 

Now I realize there are many hard costs a venue owner has to navigate, rent, utilities, etc. which this petition does not address directly as these are hard costs and cannot be reallocated through taxation. However, the fact remains is that LIVE MUSIC performances drive the food and beverage sales in the venues, and therefore the revenue that is garnered and that has taxes levied on this revenue, the musicians have a right to some of this money. 

 

If you agree that the Board of Supervisors need to call for an Economic Impact Study on the Office of Economic Workforce and Development to assess how LIVE MUSIC drives food and beverage revenue and if you agree that it is responsible that the City of San Francisco supports the venues who are willing to pay a fair minimal wage to professional musicians as a place to negotiate from, by offering them a tax break incentive, and thereby creating economy within the music community then I urge you to sign this petition and to forward on to others to do the same.

  

The fair wage that I have identified in the petition is based on several conversations and a survey I conducted asking what was considered a fair minimal wage for musicians, not to be confused with minimal wage for an employed person, as these are professional services being provided that are grossly and often taken advantage of, either with intent or the lack of means but with earnest desire to support. I do believe this petition is a step towards supporting our music community as a WHOLE, as a collective that I hope we can all be proud to support.

 

Finally, I am often asked about the musicians union. First of all, the union here in San Francisco primarily supports the Opera and Symphony musicians, as they are the highest paid musicians and can AFFORD the union dues. Secondly, the venues would have to join the union and pay union fees, which they are not able to do because they are small, small business and therefore this is not realistic economically, this would result in even less venues than we currently have. The proposed idea I have, would be in opt in for the venue owner, to have a choice to receive tax breaks in order to pay musicians. In this infantile stage, perhaps too simple, but I think compelling enough to urge our supervisors to investigate this as a viable solution to support the artists and the small businesses alike.  

 

The only path I see to REAL CHANGE for equitable pay for musicians is through legislation and reallocation of taxes to help the venue owner pay for professional services rendered, which will be a tremendous benefit to San Francisco as a whole as we will become known as the City that honors and respects quality musicianship, and we will have artists thriving and venues will be as well - as patrons will be excited to see the best and the brightest performing regularly. Perhaps this is too much to dream and work for, but I stand strong in this.  

 

Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration,

 

Sincerely,

Stephanie Dalton, Director

Urban Music Presents | 2588 Mission Street, Suite 215 | San Francisco, CA 94110
o: 415-796-2319 |  stephanie@urbanmusicpresents.com     www.urbanmusicpresents.com | Jazz*Community*Accessibility

   

 

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Press inquiries
Stephanie Dalton, Urban Music Presents

415.796.2319 / 415.503.8207

stephanie@urbanmusicpresents.com

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