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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Joey DeFrancesco, Organizer and Musician from United Musicians and Allied Workers, on the Living Wage for Musicians Act
1:12:45
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126 sec
Joey DeFrancesco, a musician and organizer with United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW), testifies in support of the Living Wage for Musicians Act. He emphasizes the importance of fair pay for musicians in the streaming era and urges the NYC City Council to pass a resolution supporting this federal legislation.
- UMAW helped develop the Living Wage for Musicians Act with Rep. Rashida Tlaib's office
- The act would bypass middlemen and send royalties directly to artists
- Over 600 NYC musicians have signed a petition urging the council to pass the resolution
Joey DeFrancesco
1:12:45
Hi.
1:12:46
My name's Joey DeFrancesco.
1:12:48
I'm a longtime musician.
1:12:50
I'm a resident of Astoria here in New York, and I'm an organizer with United Musicians and Allied Workers or Yuma.
1:12:58
We're a national advocacy group pushing for rights for all music workers.
1:13:05
We mobilize hundreds of thousands of musicians all over the country including tens of thousands here in New York City.
1:13:13
Here with UMA and a whole bunch of other musicians to also urge the council to pass this resolution support of the Living Wage for Musicians Act.
1:13:23
My organization, UMA helped to develop this legislation cheerfully with representative Rashid Khalib's office, and it remains the single strongest piece of legislation to get musicians paid fairly for our work online.
1:13:40
Here in New York, especially rents for everyone continue to skyrocket, cost of living continue to rise, and yet the payouts from streaming, which is the main way musicians are distributing music now, are not only minuscule but continue to get smaller and smaller, and there's no regulation on these payouts.
1:14:00
All while the corporate CEOs, tech CEOs who run these companies and the big labels are seeing soaring profits.
1:14:06
Musicians create the value for these companies and deserve to be fairly paid.
1:14:10
The language for Musician Act is unique in that it bypasses the middlemen, middle people, and drain who drain the music industry and send and instead the bill sends royalties directly to artists.
1:14:23
This would make a huge difference for artists' ability to continue living and working in New York City.
1:14:28
Tens of thousands of musicians have signed on to our petitions urging Congress to pass this act, and just this week we launched a new petition just for New York City Musicians urging the council to also pass this resolution.
1:14:43
Over 600 New York City musicians have also signed on to this, and I'm going to provide this to counselors following this hearing.
1:14:50
Thank you.
Carmen de la Rosa
1:14:51
Thank you so much.