Freelance Services Department: Building a Better Future for Freelance Musicians

January 1, 2025

Wages Argott  -  AFM Director of Freelance Services and Membership Development

Defining the role of the Freelance Services Division is almost as difficult as defining a freelance musician—there are different facets, functions, and skills leading to a single label or classification. Much like freelancers, our goal has always been to keep the department as nimble, diverse, and as adaptive as possible. Addressing the needs of independent musicians can pose challenges across instrumentation, genre, geography, and even culture, so we aim to offer as many truly beneficial resources as possible.

The initial model for the Freelance Services Department was very technology-driven, and at its core, the department does have a lot to offer in the way of digital strategy and communication. Whether providing an efficient and functional solution to smaller locals seeking their first modern website via our Quartet Program or serving the needs of a band who simply wants to migrate their homepage to the Federation’s in-house platform at a substantial savings, the department has assisted hundreds of users in developing their online presence.

While recognizing that some of our web-based endeavors haven’t borne the expected fruit in their previous iterations, we’re seeking to introduce these ideas in alternative ways to better serve our members and empower independent musicians to take hold of their careers.

Venuology and Fair Trade Music

Venuology.org continues to develop and grow as our all-access review platform to expose bad actors in the club and indie venue circuit and shepherd musicians to opportunities with fair pay and dignity. This invaluable tool has the potential to not only improve working conditions at these venues, but also provide a resource for bands looking to responsibly book tours. Seeking pledges from venues for a minimum standard of fairness and equity is still a guiding principle, and Fair Trade Music can become a beacon toward realizing this goal. Effective online tools for connecting our working musicians with teaching and performing opportunities can still be a reality, but a centralized network administered by a single individual will always be less personal and less meaningful than developing mechanisms to see this realized on a more regional level with user-edited content (designed thoughtfully to ease the burden of many of our local officers and administrators).

Connecting with the Music Community

In collaboration with the Education Division and Communications Department, Freelance Services has assisted in the development of an action plan to create a stronger presence at national trade and educational events, while also supporting and assisting locals with appearances at regional events in their respective jurisdictions. We first tested the concept at the 2024 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, in cooperation with the Music Performance Trust Fund and Locals 7 (Orange County, CA) and Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA). This year, we’ll return to the NAMM Show and expand our appearances to attend the Jazz Educators Network in Atlanta, Georgia, with Local 148-462 (Atlanta, GA); Jazz Congress in New York City, with Local 802 (New York City); and Sphinx Connect in Detroit, Michigan, with Local 5 (Detroit, MI).

In tandem with the Organizing Division, we’re seeking to widen our outreach and explore new opportunities with appearances at larger-scale music festivals like SXSW in Austin, Texas. For the first time in my tenure, we’ll begin the calendar year armed with the expertise and energy of a fully staffed Organizing Division, with whom I expect to work very closely in the coming months on matters relating to our gigging musicians.

Freelance Co-funding Assistance for Locals

The Freelance Co-funding Program continues to provide transformative opportunities for locals across the US and Canada, enabling organizing assistance, performance showcases, educational sessions, facility improvements, community outreach and inclusion initiatives, and so much more. In the three years I’ve overseen the administration of the program, we’ve distributed more funding to more locals than the previous 10 years combined.

Facing the Future

The challenges we face in 2025 all loom large. Further advances in music replacement technology, an uncertain (to say the least) political landscape, and diminishing financial and human resources across the Federation all serve to stifle our fight for the future of our industry and the preservation of our professional way of life. Open communication and responsive action have been key in charting the course for the department and our freelance membership. I’ve been so fortunate to speak with local officers and members from all over North America about their struggles, successes, needs, and ideas.

When I’m outside of my office hours, you’ll almost always find me performing somewhere, doing my very best to keep making music while keeping an ear tuned to the needs of my colleagues. I’m also aware that a lot of the work I do on stage and in theater pits may be a far cry from the folks who spend hours in the studio or pack up and hit the road on the club circuit. Our interests and creative output may vary, but our goal is the same: to perform fulfilling and fairly compensated work in dignity and to have a meaningful voice in the decisions that affect us.

Remember, this is our Freelance Department. If you have some experience or insight of your own that may help us achieve this objective together, then I want to hear about it. If you think something we’re doing isn’t working or could be better, I want to hear about that, too. Feel free to reach out to me at wargott@afm.org. The many voices that comprise our musical community make us unique, but all those voices speaking with a singular message will make a difference.

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