PREAMBLE

MWA is a worker center for musicians and DJ/Producers, hereafter named as “musicians”, who perform on indie labels or self-released recordings and/or do recording-related live gigs/touring. Our goal is the empowerment of indie musicians. MWA includes both AFM and non-AFM members.

The large majority of indie music production is not under union contract. Within non-union production, there are better practices, where artists/bandleaders have attempted to protect music workers’ rights and respect fair standards even in the absence of union contracts, and worse practices, which degrade conditions of work and standards of pay for all musicians. As MWA, we have launched this pledge to promote best practices and eliminate the worst in order to protect our livelihoods, restore the value of our labor, and ensure a culture of respect and dignity for all musicians.

All MWA members who are also members of the AFM, SAG-AFTRA, or IATSE are expected to adhere to whatever conditions and file whatever contracts their unions require of their members.

PLEDGE

We, the undersigned musicians, pledge that:

As artists/bandleaders (defined as the person who functions as employer on the recording session) we will not produce any recordings unless all participating musicians are:

1. Covered by the MWA Fair Recording Minimum Rates Guidelines, guaranteeing a minimum pay rate [see Appendix A]

2. Covered by the MWA Fair Recording Equity Guidelines, guaranteeing all musicians performing on a track†* an equal share in the profits generated by that recorded track — including all future profits derived from licensing that recording to a film, or any other medium. [see Appendix B]

3. Covered by the appropriate AFM contract. [see Appendix C]†

We will give every musician we hire written confirmation for every recording session including the amount to be paid, the work to be done, and the time period of the session.

As side-musicians or band members we will demand that all our recorded work be covered by one of options 1, 2, or 3, above. We will immediately notify MWA if any bandleader or artist refuses to provide one of options 1, 2, or 3, above. We will work* with MWA and the musicians on the session to try to secure one of these options.

†MWA acknowledges that the AFM recording contracts contain the most complete protections against “back end” exploitation: i.e. the unauthorized and unpaid re-use of recorded track in a film, video, commercial, theater or dance piece.

*“Working with MWA” means taking whatever reasonable steps that can be mutually agreed upon between MWA and the musicians on the session, in order to win the Fair Recording Guideline terms above, without exposing band members to unreasonable risk of losing the session. Such steps may include getting all the band members on the session together to discuss the possibilities for getting an employer to sign. MWA pledges to safeguard the identity of any music worker who contacts MWA to report the refusal of an employer to provide work under the Fair Recording Guidelines. MWA will take no action against a band leader, recording artist, producer, or record label that refuses to adhere to one of the fair recording options without the consent of a majority of the musicians on the relevant session.

†*For the purposes of this pledge, a track is defined as a unique recorded work intended for release.

APPENDIX A: MWA FAIR MINIMUM RATES GUIDELINES FOR PERFORMANCES ON SOUND RECORDINGS

• $85/hr minimum rate for in-studio recording, with a 3-hour minimum call time ($255 for a 3-hour minimum call time session; $680 for an 8 hour day).

• Remote/home overdub recording rate is $100/hr for the first two hours, and $85/hour for additional hours. Maximum one song per hour for remote/home overdub recording.

• No more than 1.5 tracks or 7 minutes and 30 seconds of music may be recorded in one hour of recording, and multiples thereof.* For example:
  • 1 hour of recording = 1 track maximum/7 minutes 30 seconds maximum  
  • 2 hours of recording = 3 tracks maximum/15 minutes maximum
  • 3 hours of recording = 4 tracks maximum/22 minutes 30 seconds maximum
  • 4 hours of recording = 6 tracks maximum/30 minutes maximum
  • [...]
  • 8 hours of recording = 12 tracks maximum /90 minutes maximum

*This does NOT prevent people from recording as many songs as they like in an hour or other given amount of time. But it does charge a minimum payment for the number of tracks or minutes recorded. For example, under this agreement, you may record 12 songs in an 8 hour day. If you record 13 songs in an 8 hour day, each musician must be paid $85 more—an amount equivalent to one hour of recording time—for the extra song. If 5 tracks are recorded in a 3-hour session, the musicians must be paid $255 + $85.

• No single performance by a hired musician under the MWA Fair Minimums Guidelines may be used on multiple tracks without the explicit permission of that musician.
• There shall be no video-taping of or use of any artificial intelligence technology with respect to any recording, live or studio, for archival or any other purpose, without consent from all participating musicians and fair payment therefore.
• It is encouraged that cartage be negotiated in addition to shares of equity and/or payments under these guidelines.
• This agreement does not preclude shares of equity for the musicians.
• This agreement does not preclude participation in backend or subsidiary rights that are equal to or greater than a union contract.
• These rates are the 2023/2024 rates and may be amended from time to time.
• This agreement does not cover recordings for film/video, or the licensing of any audio recording for sync with any film or video image. Payment for such uses should be negotiated separately with each recorded musician. We recommend the AFM Sound Labor Recording Agreement “re-use” and “new-use”, back-end clauses as guidelines for fair pay whenever actual AFM contracts are not possible.

APPENDIX B: MWA FAIR EQUITY GUIDELINES FOR PERFORMANCES ON SOUND RECORDINGS

• In recordings in which all participants are being compensated for their performance on the recording under the Equity Guidelines, each musicians’ equity share will be equal to the net profit* divided by the number of musicians.

*For purposes of this agreement net profits shall mean: all revenue from sale, distribution, or licensing of the track minus only the cost of recording studio, engineer, mixing, mastering, artwork and design, pressing and printing, barcode and registration, warehousing costs for physical product, and any shipping costs that are not passed on to the consumer, a contiguous three month period of publicity whether incurred before or after release, and labor (payments to musicians), plus whatever additional expenses are mutually agreed on by consensus of the band covered by the Equity Guidelines.

• In situations where there is a bandleader/artist, the bandleader/artist shall be counted as two people under the Equity Guidelines (for example, in a quartet, the bandleader/artist would get 2/5ths and all other musicians would get 1/5).
  

• In recordings in which some musicians are recording under the Equity Guidelines, but others are recording under the MWA Fair Minimums Guidelines, the share allocated to those recording under the Equity Guidelines will remain the same as if all musicians were receiving equity.*

*This will enable the Artist, Leader, or whoever advanced the pay to those who opted for Scale to recoup their investment.

• There shall be no video-taping of any recording, live or studio, for archival or any other purpose, without consent from all participating musicians. Any revenue generated from any videos produced during the recording session shall be considered income on the project.

• It is encouraged that cartage be negotiated in addition to shares of equity and/or payments under these guidelines.

• These Equity Guidelines do not preclude additional payments to musicians whether in their capacity as a performer or other capacities such as producer or author of the underlying composition where appropriate, which shall be subject to separate individual negotiations.

• Only artists/bandleaders/collective ensembles may use the Equity Guidelines (i.e. no record labels/companies or other employers). Furthermore, in order to prevent abuse of the Equity Guidelines,

  1. for any recording made in part or whole under the Equity Guidelines and released through an artist’s own record label, profits shall be calculated based on total net profit, not “artists shares”;

  2. no recording made in part or whole under the Equity Guidelines may be licensed to any indie label whose contract provides less than 50% of profit to the artist without prior approval from MWA. (MWA shall grant such approval only with the consent of the Equity stakeholder musicians performing on that recording).

APPENDIX C: AFM SOUND RECORDING CONTRACTS

The AFM has six audio recording scales

  1. Master Scale: $460.26 basic scale for a 3 hr session with a major label

  2. Low Budget Scale: $258.57 per 3 hr session for projects with budgets under $99,000.*

Note: These first two scales are Part of the Sound Labor Recording Agreement (SLRA) that the AFM has negotiated with the Major Labels). These MUST be used in any work involving any record company which is signatory to the SLRA, but may be used by other employers.

  3. Limited Pressing Contract: $196.50 for ensembles of 24 or less, $187.50 for ensembles of 25 or               more, $180.00 for ensembles of 35 or more per 3 hr session. For pressings/downloads of under                 10,000.

  4. Joint Venture: No scale: but a limited equity contract. Click here for more info. For collective                     recordings

  5. Demo: For promotional recordings that are not distributed or licensed commercially at all.                         Click here for more info

  6. Single Song Overdub: A $100 per song agreement intended to cover remote overdubbing                         sessions. More info here.

These last four are non-SLRA AFM agreements that may be used by an employer who is not a signatory to the Sound Labor Recording Agreement but who wishes to sign a contract covering a specific recording.

MWA expects all musicians working for a label that is a signatory to a collective bargaining agreement with the AFM to only work for that label under the appropriate AFM contract. Furthermore, nothing in this document prevents any musician, whether an AFM/SAG-AFTRA member or not, from demanding a union contract from any label that is not currently a union signatory.*  

*The MWA Minimum Rates Contract is set to be very nearly equivalent to the rates of the AFM Low Budget Scale.

FAQ

What if I want to pay something to my bandmates but I can’t afford to pay the minimum rates?

You are free (and encouraged) to combine the Equity Guidelines with a monetary payment. This pledge merely states that bandleaders/artists will hire musicians on either the minimum rates contract or the equity contract. If you use the equity contract, payments may still be made. Likewise, if a minimum rates contract is used, shares of equity may still be offered in addition.

I think I can get more than the minimum rate!

Fair minimum rates are minimums, not maximums! Nothing in the pledge prevents anyone from asking more than the minimum rates. Nothing in the Equity Guidelines prevents anyone from personally demanding their own monetary payment. Nothing in the Minimum Rates Guidelines prevents anyone from personally demanding Equity.

I don’t want to work for just equity – this record is never going to make money!

Then don’t — it’s your call! This pledge does NOT determine what YOU think is a gig worth doing. If you don’t want to work for equity, or you want to set your own rate higher than any of the minimums above, that is your right.

What is the point of the equity option anyway? Why isn’t it just the Minimum Rates Guidelines?

The Equity Guidelines ensures that 1) bandleaders/artists with limited resources, or low to $0 budgets, may, if they can find willing musicians, have the ability to produce music 2) when profit is generated on a recording, the musicians who contributed to it see a piece of that profit.

Many thousands of musicians record without pay or contracts, assuming that they’ll be paid if the recording is a hit, because someone said “you’re in the band” only to learn that such vague promises are meaningless when, often after years of unpaid labor, they are fired with no equity.  

The equity on many recordings isn’t worth much. But small equity percentages add up over time. And no one knows in advance which recording will be the next pop hit or major film score licensor.  

I've sunk a ton of my own money into this project - how do I recoup the costs if I'm sharing profit?

Under the equity guidelines future profit is shared amongst the musicians, that means expenses get reimbursed before profit is shared. Things like studio time, mixing and mastering, design, all count as expenses. You can find a list of these in Appendix B.

Making a record as an indie artist is so difficult - why should I sign this pledge? It's just going to make it harder!

Yes, it is really hard to make a record in today's music economy. But one thing we can do is come together and support each other by guaranteeing fair treatment in our own communities. This pledge encourages bandleaders to treat their musicians fairly and with dignity, and when you're no longer a bandleader but getting hired, you should be treated fairly and with dignity as well. This is a necessary step in demanding fairer treatment from labels and streaming companies.

What happens if I am offered more than the Fair Minimum Rates?

Take it!!! These are minimums, not maximums!

Where does the MWA Minimum Pay rate come from? Why that number?

A working group of MWA members developed the scale through a series of in-person meetings. After much debate, it was decided that the scale should be pegged to the “low budget” AFM contract hourly rate. That is why it is $85/hour.

I make records with friends in a long process over time. How could these guidelines work for a band/project like this?