United We Stand: John Acosta on Why Musicians Should Join the Union (Episode 20)

You learned how to make music. Nobody taught you how to make a living making music.

Let's be honest: the musicians union has a bad rap with a lot of working players. Work dues, membership dues, "they never get me a gig." Nomad has heard every complaint. He has also been a union member for a long time, eight years in Local 257 in Nashville and in Local 47 in Los Angeles since 2005.

In Episode 20 of The Career Musician, he sits down with John Acosta, president of AFM Local 47, to answer the question every freelancer eventually asks: should musicians join the union? Like Nomad, John started out as a guitarist and moved into other parts of the business. This conversation covers the touchy parts and the parts most players never get explained to them.

From the Bronx to the union president's office

John grew up in the Bronx doing hip hop when KRS-One, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa were the older guys in the neighborhood. His father played congas with Tito Puente and Celia Cruz. At 17 he moved to LA with a manager, walked away from a bad record deal, then got called back to help finish an album that landed on DreamWorks in the 90s and was all over radio and MTV.

Then came kids, and the check-to-check life. When he was offered a six-month tour, he remembered his own father never being home. He turned it down and decided whatever he did next, he had to be able to stay in LA. He moved into engineering, running studios and even a talent agency, until the economy fell apart after September 11, 2001.

One day on a lunch break, he walked into the old union building on Vine just to look around. The studio manager found out he was an engineer and asked if he wanted work. That led to a staff job with benefits, then the recording department, then vice president, then president. He planned to stay five years. He was on his third term as president. That is Luck = preparation + opportunity.

What union work actually pays you

John laid out what you get under a union agreement that you won't get otherwise. A guaranteed minimum rate, so your rate is union scale, not a negotiation, unless you go for over scale, which you always should. Pension contributions. Health contributions. And the same job keeps paying you down the line.

His example: you play a demo on a union demo contract. A major label picks it up and releases it, so you get paid again. Then that master ends up in a movie, and you get a new use payment. One job, several paychecks. The gig is never only the gig.

Then there are the two funds Nomad talks about at the top of the show:

The Sound Recording Special Payments Fund. A share of royalties on the records you played on, paid every August, for five years after each recording. Nomad's first one in Nashville came as such a surprise he thought it was a mistake. John had the same experience after a big record and confessed to feeling guilty, until he was told it was the royalties he was supposed to get.

The Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund. When a film earns money in secondary markets like streaming, video on demand and airplanes, a percentage goes to the musicians who played on the score, in perpetuity. Nomad's first film on the card was Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and he says those checks help pay the monthly overhead. John said some heavy motion picture players get a big part of their income from this fund.

Pension, health, and getting creative with contracts

For every union job, the employer pays a percentage on top of your wage into your pension. Earn enough over a five-year window and you vest, which means you never lose it, even if you leave music. On the health side, John walked through how contributions from all kinds of union work add up toward qualifying for the Local 47 health plan.

The lesson is Savvy. Put your work on a union agreement whenever you can. A demo in your friend's kitchen can go on a demo contract. A chart you arrange can go on the card. Even a lecture where you play a little guitar can go under a live performance scale. Each one is a small contribution, and they add up.

They also covered rates. Leader pay is something the union treats as a sacred cow: even if you're alone in the room doing overdubs, you're the leader. Some first-call players are known as double or triple scale, or get guaranteed doubles for playing related instruments. Nomad has been double scale for a long time, and sometimes he takes single.

"They don't get me gigs"

Nomad played devil's advocate. Why pay dues if the union doesn't call film composers and get me hired?

"The union is not the people who work here, or the building. The union is every single musician who's out there hustling to make that gig, to get that paycheck."

John Acosta, 41:11

Musicians created it, together. Without it, John says, there is no scale on a record date, just whatever they want to pay you. How much leverage does the fourth trumpet player have on his own?

"We are the ones who are setting the floor, and then from there, we go up."

John Acosta, 42:42

And if they don't pay you, who chases the check? Nomad spoke from experience. The sound recordings department helped him track down a five-figure check and get the paperwork right. The union also lobbies when laws about musicians are being written. John pointed to the Music Modernization Act and to California scoring tax credits, where the AFM was the only one in the room talking about musicians.

On work dues, Nomad has the right attitude. When the bill comes, he tells his wife, "Babe, we got work dues." That means you just got paid for union work.

Think about the career, not just the gig

John's biggest push as an officer has been reaching young musicians before the first bill arrives, through free classes for members, school programs and outreach to hip hop, R&B and Latin players. In your 20s you're thrilled to get any gig. Then you hit 30 with no savings, no retirement and no health coverage.

"You're not building just for today. You're looking at 10, 20 years from now. Where do you want to be?"

John Acosta, 40:06

Nomad met John at a production music conference, the kind of event a lot of players skip. You never know who you'll run into. Make Music Your Business, and that includes the paperwork.

The takeaway

The union isn't perfect, and Nomad knows some friends won't love his stance. But scale, pension, health, back-end payments and someone to chase your money are real. If you're in LA, visit Local 47 in Burbank. If you're elsewhere, find your local and ask as many questions as you can. As Nomad says, the essence of union is unity. If you're working toward the sessions and tours that go on the card, start with the free Get the Gig guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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