Of course, we can continue to complain about the poor treatment of our artists, we can also approach it with a positive slant. That must have been the consideration of composers' advocacy group New Geneco When setting the 'Fair Practice Awards'. On Friday 8 September, they were awarded for the fourth time at Utrecht's TivoliVredenburg: prizes for patrons who, for once, did care about the welfare of creative artists.
This year, the honour fell to festival November Music from Den Bosch and ensemble Black Pencil from Almere. Both had shown themselves to be good patrons. Not only did they offer normal rates for their work, they also ensured a nice embedding in their own programme and repertoire and sufficient attention and playing hours. These all turn out to be quite rare in the music industry.
Paid out of pocket
The nominations are collected every year among the members of New Geneco: composers of new work in 'New Music' (so no pop, jazz or hip-hop). Remarkably, no large orchestras were nominated this year either.
So what does this fair practice look like? Among the nominees were a few amateur choirs, who paid composers for their work out of their own pockets. There was also a cardiologist with a guitar who single-handedly commissions composers to write new guitar works that he can also play. That this also adds new work to the world repertoire is quite unique.
Additional financing
The two winners each excel in their own way. According to composer Yannis Kyriakides, ensemble Black Pencil from Almere deserves the prize because the ensemble is committed to fair payment. But there is more, he says: says: "In addition, the ensemble also regularly repeats previously composed work, creating a recognisable and own repertoire, for a large and diverse audience on a wide variety of stages and special locations. This Ensemble thus fulfils a major pioneering role in musical life".
Festival November Music, held every year in Den Bosch, was nominated by composer Aart Strootman. He explains why: "It is a festival that moves with the times and rewards composers fairly. What was special about this commission is that we jointly look at the desired duration, scoring, etc. And from there look at what can be realised fair practice. When it turned out that the ambitions exceeded the budget, additional funding was sought and found."
Neat tables
With the awards, New Geneco hopes to generate more attention to clients' honest dealings with artists. Especially in new music, this is quite rare. According to a survey whose results are not yet public, only a minimal percentage of composers can make a living from writing. It is a bit similar to literary fiction, although subsidy opportunities there are even more limited.
New Geneco has a few neat tables on the website, showing how much you have to pay for a composition, or an arrangement. Those tables, they are also there for journalists, are known to be utopian. Not because the rates they contain are unreasonable, on the contrary: these are rates that are still on the low side, but are nevertheless rarely charged by clients.
Annual-indexing-honorarium-table-New-Geneco-Publication-1-July-2023
30 per cent less
It is striking, but not very surprising, that rich and large patrons turn out to be worse at applying these all-round reasonable fees, than small and poor ones. The 'compensation' in reputation and visibility offered by the big boys causes composers to agree to paltry fees anyway.
On top of that, making the current level of production and performance fair would be ridiculously expensive. Paying an orchestra of 70 musicians fairly is already difficult, let alone a composer, especially if they don't go to work for a crate of beer, but simply charge EUR 40,000 for an hour-long orchestral work. Whatever that is worth.
So, under the current political stern, that would lead to a drop in supply of at least 30 per cent. That, too, is ill-advised.
This is how we all keep up an unfair practice.
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