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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Damon Krukowski, Musician, on the Living Wage for Musicians Act
1:10:24
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136 sec
Damon Krukowski, a native New Yorker and long-time musician, testified in support of the Living Wage for Musicians Act. He highlighted the challenges faced by musicians in the streaming era, where despite generating billions in revenue, streaming platforms pay nothing directly to recording artists. This has made it increasingly difficult for both established and young musicians to build and maintain careers.
- Krukowski shared his personal experience as a musician since the 1980s and mentioned his mother, a 94-year-old jazz singer, to illustrate the long-standing challenges in the music industry.
- He emphasized that streaming now accounts for 84% of all recorded music revenue in the US, but the current unregulated system benefits only technology platforms and major labels.
- Krukowski urged the council to support the Living Wage for Musicians Act, introduced by Representative Rashida Tlaib, as a means to address this inequity in the music industry.
Damon Krukowski
1:10:24
Thank you.
1:10:24
Thank I'm Damon Krukowski.
1:10:27
I'm here to speak about the resolution for the In Supportive Living Wage for Musicians Act.
Carmen de la Rosa
1:10:31
Great.
Damon Krukowski
1:10:33
I'm a native New Yorker.
1:10:34
I've been a working musician since the late nineteen eighties recording and performing in the indie rock band Galaxy five hundred and then in the duo Damon and Naomi.
1:10:42
My mother who's now 94 is also a native New Yorker, also a professional musician, jazz singer Nancy Harrow.
1:10:50
She's been recording and performing since the early sixties.
1:10:53
I grew up with my mother and her musician friends trading stories about the music business and all the difficulties of making a life as
Andy Waldron
1:10:59
a
Damon Krukowski
1:10:59
professional musician.
1:11:01
I'm under no illusions about how hard that has always been.
1:11:05
Music like all the arts is work without security, a predictable income that is something we all accept.
1:11:12
However, there's been a profound change in the last twenty years for all recording musicians that has made everything harder than before.
1:11:19
Ever since streaming technology entered the marketplace, our incomes have plummeted.
1:11:23
Streaming is now responsible for 84% of all revenue from recorded music in The United States.
1:11:30
However, unlike previous technologies, streaming is unregulated and pays recording musicians nothing directly.
1:11:37
Nothing.
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This has wreaked havoc in the lives of working musicians like me and my mother who started our careers in a different paradigm.
1:11:44
But what's harder to accept is that streaming is making it nearly impossible for younger musicians to build a career as professionals.
1:11:51
This is not because streaming isn't making money.
1:11:54
It's often said that streaming has rescued the industry for the digital era because it's now generating billions of dollars quite literally.
1:12:01
That's true.
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But none of it, zero is paid to recording musicians directly.
1:12:06
All the money in streaming goes to technology platforms and to the major labels.
1:12:11
Meanwhile, nearly all musicians who make the recorded music content for streaming are working multiple jobs, struggling to survive while continuing to create new recordings that have no way to reach our listeners but through this same system.
1:12:24
The Living Wage for Musicians Act introduced last Congress by representative Rashida Tlaiben will change this.
Carmen de la Rosa
1:12:31
If you could just wrap up.
1:12:32
Yeah.
1:12:33
Thank I
Damon Krukowski
1:12:33
just wanna thank the council for taking this up and for urging the congress to pass the Living Wage for Musicians Act.
1:12:39
Thank you.
Carmen de la Rosa
1:12:40
Thank you so much.