Suggestions to present to Nightlife Advisory Board

Chris, this is all really awesome. Great notes, and I think we have some solid jumping off points here! What do you think should be our next step? Great work on volunteering SMC for the possible testifying portion too, and locating an additional ally in the lawyer.

On a related note, I'm really digging this format for communication. Although there are new functions we are learning to use, I really like the way the information comes to me and how it keeps the threads connected without getting jumbled. Also, I like that we can still use our google drive to keep documents housed, but have them embedded in the threads in a way that we can easily access whatever pertains to the conversation. It feels visually very streamlined, which I like!

Looking forward to next steps with this project!

Seems the area he wants to focus his recommendations on is the labor/wages issue, so my thoughts on next steps are to compile some specific solutions to that and/or develop more compelling solutions to the issues of spaces/venues/housing and subsidies. We should absolutely still schedule a meeting with him for Feb, and he also wants to attend our meetups in the coming months.

Yeah I'm digging Loomio as well!

Beautiful notes man!

Having the connection to the lawyer can be super helpful for a future legal workshop, among other things.

I just learned that Winter Jazzfest pays musicians through the union and therefore everybody gets paid a minimum of $200 per set. Kinda made me want to shed a tear.

Maybe a place to start could be trying to adopt 802 Union pay standards for major festivals taking place in NYC? I am speaking without concrete knowledge of this issue, but, you know those Metrotech Center gigs ain't paying quite on that level, and I suspect that fests like Afropunk or those Food Festival things where there is some coolness cache (or, just exposure) that they sell artists on don't pay this well despite corporate backing. Just a thought. It'd be good to consider the repercussions of a move like this too.

Anyway it's great to have this framework to focus on. Fair wages. Huh! I just spent a week chasing down a promoter for $125. He was a nice guy too who was just spacey, not some evil bastard. I would love to have a career where if I worked more I'd actually get paid more...

Yeah the local music festivals' fair payment of Artists is a great point - especially considering the radius clauses they get away with and the fact that all the Crew are usually union workers. Alvester is in the local 802. I'll see if he has any thoughts on that point.

I guess where we're at now is, we should compile a list of a few suggestions to solve problems/issues with musicians' wages + music spaces and present a refined list as an update at our next general meetup, yeah? Do we have any other suggestions?

Chris, it sounds like you and Alvester are in a sorta ongoing convo, is that right?

Also, I briefly browsed through our Google Drive to see if we had any documents that were a compilation of musicians' problems but couldn't find anything that fit this particular angle... lemme know if I missed something!

I think that's a good plan. Anybody want to make a spreadsheet? I can do it in the next couple days...

Alvester and I did leave it open as an ongoing conversation, but I have not spoken with him since. Perhaps I should lock in a meeting with him in Feb as well?

Nope, I don't think there are other docs on this topic.

Hey gang... getting back into the swing of things here while I'm at my in laws...

Depending on the rapport you guys (Chris and Alvester) have, we may wanna wait to compile some really concrete suggestions before scheduling another meeting, but I bet we can safely have something to offer if you guys talk in late Feb.

It would be good to present a handful of ideas at the next meetup to see what people are most excited by. I started this spreadsheet-- but I think it will take a bunch of work to really narrow down on a well-researched idea to present. Where things are at now, sometimes the problems are hard to define, or sometimes the solutions are unclear. This is far from comprehensive, just a start.

Perhaps focusing on bigger picture stuff might be helpful-- while making this spreadsheet it occurred to me that every time I came up with an idea that would help "the little guy" musicians, I would assume that government would refuse to participate since business is handled off the books. Is that really a given though? Wouldn't supposed advocacy for musicians bypass those who need the most help if we ignore this off the books part of the economy?

Another thing we might need is a snappy answer to the thought that keeps popping into my head, which is, "well, if people WANNA play for free how can we stop them?"

Thanks for sending Nikhil! I thin what you've said makes a lot of sense. I would definitely love to have our next step be to present more concrete ideas, even if these will evolve over time!