{"id":4497,"date":"2017-12-08T00:28:20","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T00:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.afm47.org\/press\/?p=4497"},"modified":"2018-03-09T18:26:38","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T18:26:38","slug":"tv-musicians-demand-respect-from-the-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afm47.org\/press\/tv-musicians-demand-respect-from-the-networks\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Musicians Demand Respect from the Networks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Audience members outside of “The Late Late Show With James Corden” taping at CBS Television Studios Dec. 6, 2017, support TV musicians and call on the networks to #RespectTheBand.<\/p><\/div>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n

December 7, 2017 –\u00a0<\/span>Musicians working on late-night, award, and other live television shows are calling on the networks to pay band members when they appear on YouTube and network websites.<\/p>\n

“Other performers are all paid when\u00a0Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/em>\u00a0streams on YouTube or other online outlets, yet musicians are paid nothing. Musicians just want to be compensated for our likeness and our music,” said Cleto Escobedo III, Musical Director of Cleto and the Cletones. \u201cI love Jimmy, the producers, and everyone we work with. We just need to make sure the networks treat us and ALL of our colleagues fairly.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThe music that you hear and watch on YouTube and streaming systems is hand made with the sweat and expertise of music makers who dedicate their lives for the enrichment of others. It is demoralizing and wrong when this is taken without equitable compensation. We are only seeking what is right and fair for our livelihoods and our families,\u201d said Ray Chew, music director of\u00a0Dancing With the Stars\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Showtime at the Apollo.\u00a0<\/em>Chew is a former\u00a0Saturday<\/span>\u00a0Night Live band member and American Idol music director.<\/p>\n

Musicians who perform on live television shows including\u00a0Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/em>,\u00a0The Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/em>,\u00a0The\u00a0Tonight<\/span>\u00a0Show Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/em>,\u00a0Saturday<\/span>\u00a0Night Live<\/em>,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The Voice\u00a0<\/em>aren\u2019t paid when shows are \u201cfree\u201d to watch online. But these \u201cfree\u201d shows aren\u2019t really free\u2014they are supported by paid advertising. Other performers are all paid residuals when live television shows stream\u2014but musicians do not receive residuals for this type of work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about more than the headliners you see on television. It\u2019s about the networks treating everyone on these shows fairly,\u201d said Danita Ng-Poss who will be serving as a music librarian and copyist for her fourth Academy Awards show in 2018. Ng-Poss has also worked on\u00a0America\u2019s Got Talent<\/em>\u00a0and similar shows for the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about fairness. It\u2019s a travesty that musicians are being treated this way. We are just asking the networks for a little respect\u2014and the networks can certainly afford to treat musicians with the respect we deserve,\u201d said Harold Wheeler, well known in the Broadway and recording scene, who will be the Oscar\u2019s music director in 2018 for the third consecutive year and was also the original\u00a0Dancing With the Stars<\/em>\u00a0music director.<\/p>\n

The musicians, represented by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), have been negotiating a new contract for close to 18 months for work done on\u00a0live or recorded\u00a0television\u00a0programs initially aired over a broadcast network or in syndication, including variety shows, awards shows, game shows, talk shows, morning shows and sports broadcasts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should be afforded the same respect as all my colleagues working on these shows. It just doesn\u2019t make sense why vocalists are paid when they are on YouTube, but band members don\u2019t get anything,\u201d said sax player Dan Higgins. Higgins, perhaps best known as the sound of Bleeding Gums Murphy on\u00a0The Simpsons<\/em>, has performed on countless live television shows including the\u00a0Oscars<\/em>\u00a0for over 25 years and was in the\u00a0Dancing With The Stars<\/em>\u00a0band for eight years.<\/p>\n

The previous live television contract expired in February 2016 and covers shows including:<\/p>\n