A Music Week study that analyzed the top 100 singles of 2016 found that an average of 4.53 people wrote the hits, and those in the top 30 averaged 4.67 people. Many songs feature even more writers, with 13% of the top 100 written by eight or more songwriters. Only five top 100 songs were written by a single songwriter. Aside from being more likely to rightly recognize minor contributors today, the labels and publishers are increasingly bringing multiple songwriters together to create songs with a particular client in mind. What can be sacrificed in the process is creativity. Often using this “team” approach leads to more formulatic songwriting.
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Obama Center to Include Recording Studio
In May, former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled plans for the Obama Presidential Center and park to be built in Chicago’s South Side. Aside from the presidential library, the three-building complex will include an auditorium, restaurant, spaces for exhibition and education/meetings, plus a recording studio. According to the New York Times, the former president said, “I could invite Chance [the Rapper, a Chicago native] or Bruce Springsteen, depending on your tastes, to talk about how you could record music that has social commentary and meaning” and “a studio where I can invite Spike Lee and Steven Spielberg to do workshops on how to make films.”
Musicians Recognized for Community Service
Three AFM musicians received 2017 Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service in May. Violinist Diane McElfish Helle of Local 56 (Grand Rapids, MI) leads the Grand Rapid Symphony’s Music for Health initiative, which sends symphony musicians into hospitals to assist with patient rehabilitation and support. Since 2002, she has also worked with the String Discovery Ensemble, a violin quartet offering hands-on musical experience to 4th graders. In her 37th year with Grand Rapids Symphony, McElfish Helle also created Grand Rapid’s Upbeat pre-concert lecture series.
In addition to being a violist with The Phoenix Symphony since 1995, Mark Dix of Local 586 (Phoenix, AZ) has been active in educational and health and wellness programs including Mind Over Music (science based string orchestra programs), B-Sharp Music Wellness, and A WONDER Project Alzheimer’s Initiative.
Kansas City Symphony principal flute since 2007, Michael Gordon of Local 34-627 (Kansas City, MO) has worked hard to promote the value of music in his community through Community Connections. He collaborated with Arts in Prison to produce a series of chamber music concerts for inmates at Lansing Correctional Facility. He’s also a board member of the Northeast Community Center, which operates Harmony Project KC, a tuition-free music education program for underprivileged children.
A panel of peer professionals selected the musicians through a competitive nomination process. The awards include a $2,500 grant for each musician and a $2,500 grant to each musician’s home orchestra to support professional development focused on community service and engagement for musicians.
Sensaphonics celebrates May as Better Hearing Month with 3rd annual Facebook giveaway
Sensaphonics is running a Facebook giveaway contest for the month of May in celebration of Better Hearing Month. The company will award one winner with a pair of classic 2X-S custom in-ear monitors and a dB Check in-ear sound level analyzer.
“Better Hearing Month is the perfect time to show musicians how the right in-ear equipment can deliver amazing, high-impact audio while still supporting long-term hearing health,” says company founder and president, Dr. Michael Santucci. “As our clients know, Sensaphonics is committed to delivering both.”
Known for their dedication to hearing wellness, Sensaphonics designs IEM products that help prevent hearing loss. The 2X-S custom in-ears feature soft silicone earpieces for maximum isolation and comfort. The patented dB Check in-ear level analyzer is the only device that measures actual IEM levels in real time and displays how long one can listen safely at that volume.
Click below to see how you can enter!
Progress for Tyson Food Workers
Tyson Foods pledged last week to build a better workplace for its 95,000 workers. The promise came after a long campaign by hunger-fighting coalition Oxfam America, which challenged four large chicken producers—Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue, and Sanderson Farms—to improve on their worker safety, poverty-level wages, and anti-union attitudes.
Though the other companies have so far refused to engage with the Oxfam-led coalition, Tyson has pledged to: improve worker illness/injury 15% year-over-year; improve company retention by 10%; hire more safety trainers; shorten the time required for new workers to move to higher pay rates; and expand company-wide programs to improve worker health and well-being.
“Tyson Foods’ commitment to worker safety and worker rights shouldn’t just be applauded—it should serve as a model for the rest of the industry,” says United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) president Marc Perrone. UFCW is the largest union at Tyson, representing around 24,000 workers.
150 Workers Die Every Day
A recently released AFL-CIO study showed that 4,836 workers died in 2015 after suffering workplace accidents and 150 workers died each day from hazardous working conditions. The study was compiled from 2015 injury and fatality data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and FY 2016 enforcement data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This is the 26th year the AFL-CIO has published Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, which usually comes out close to Workers Memorial Day, April 28—a day of remembrance to those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew the fight for safe jobs.
Bill Changes Overtime Protections
Though the Working Families Flexibility Act has been touted as an attempt to provide employees with work flexibility, what it really does is provide employers additional flexibility in allowing them to compensate workers with paid time off (comp time) instead of overtime. The Republican backed measure was just passed by the House of Representatives and the Trump administration has come out in support of the bill in its current form. Democrats strongly oppose the bill because it gives employers final say in when comp time is used.
2017 Juno Award Winners
The Canadian Federation of Musicians and American Federation of Musicians congratulates all our members who were nominated for or won 2017 Juno Awards. The list of member 2017 Juno Award winners includes:
JUNO Fan Choice Award: Shawn Mendes of Local 145 (Vancouver, BC)
Album of the Year: You Want It Darker, Leonard Cohen former member of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA)
Artist of the Year: Leonard Cohen
Group of the Year: The Tragically Hip—Gord Downie, Paul Langlois, Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair, and Johnny Fay of Local 518 (Kingston, ON)
Songwriter of the Year: Gord Downie
Breakthrough Artist of the Year: Ruth B of Local 390 (Edmonton, AB)
Breakthrough Group of the Year: The Dirty Nil, Luke Bentham and Kyle Fisher of Local 293 (Hamilton, ON) and Ross Miller of Local 298 (Niagara Region, ON)
Alternative Album of the Year: Touch, July Talk, Peter Dreimanis, Leah Fay, Ian Docherty, Josh Warburton and Danny Miles of Local 149
Classical Album of the Year, Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment: Going Home Star—Truth and Reconciliation, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra of Local 190 (Winnipeg, MB)
Classical Album of the Year, Vocal or
Choral Performance: L’Aiglon, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal of Local 406
Adult Contemporary Album of the Year: Wonderland, Sarah McLachlan of Local 145
Canadian Music Hall of Fame: Sarah McLachlan
Allan Waters Humanitarian Award: Buffy Sainte-Marie of Local 802 (New York City)
Rally to Save the Arts in New York City
Members of Local 802 (New York City) joined other unions, including Actors Equity Association, for a Rally to Save the Arts in front of City Hall in New York City.
Local 802 President Tino Gagliardi was one of the speakers at the April Save the Arts Rally.
Hundreds of arts leaders, workers, and supporters turned out for a Rally to Save the Arts held April 3 in NewYork City.
Among the speakers at the New York City Rally to Save the Arts was Local 802
(New York City) member David Byrne, a founding member of the Talking Heads.
Young Artists Recognized by Yamaha’s YYPA Program
In April, Yamaha Artist Services Indianapolis and Yamaha Band & Orchestral Division named the winners of the 2017 Yamaha Young Performing Artists (YYPA) Competition. The musicians were selected on their technical skill and artistry as demonstrated in submitted audio and video auditions. Emphasizing Yamaha’s commitment to music education, the competition recognizes exceptional emerging musicians in the jazz, classical, and contemporary genres.
The 10 2017 YYPA Winners include: Victor Hernandez Ramirez of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (flute); He Zhang of Harbin, China (clarinet); Hannah Hickman of Sheldon, Iowa (classical saxophone); Howard Dietz of Morgan Hill, California (jazz saxophone); Michelle Hembree of Boise, Idaho (horn); Altin Sencalar of Temple, Texas (jazz trombone); Cameron Leach of Hilliard, Ohio (concert percussion); Stephen Morris of Aliso Viejo, California (drum set); Derek Louie of New York, New York (cello); and Nathan Ben-Yehuda of Los Angeles, California (piano).
Winners receive an all-expense-paid trip to the YYPA Celebration Weekend June 24-27, during the Music for All Summer Symposium, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, June 24-July 1. There, they will perform at a YYPA Concert and participate in workshops to help them toward their professional careers. Other privileges include services and support from Yamaha Artist Relations and professional recordings, as well as photography, of their live performance.
This year’s YYPA Guest Artist is Yamaha Performing Artist and principal timpanist of the National Symphony Orchestra Jauvon Gilliam of Local 161-710 (Washington, DC). He will give a special solo performance during the concert. In previous years, featured guest artists included three-time Grammy Award winner Jeff Coffin of Local 257 (Nashville, TN), saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band.
More than 250 talented musicians who have been recognized since the program’s inception. Many of them have already established successful music careers, as performers and educators, including Ricardo Morales, principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra, a member of Local 77 (Philadelphia, PA).