“Don’t blow the gig!” These are words for which our departed brother, Dick Gabriel is known. He used to use the phrase as a reminder that if there is no contract covering work which you are offered, perhaps the best thought is not to reject the gig, but to find a way to get the work covered under a contract.

Here is a real example of one of our musicians taking Mr. Gabriel’s words to heart: A number of years ago we received a call from a member who was asked to do some recording sessions for a local music publishing company. The employer was already paying a wage comparable to those established in the AFM media guidelines for the type of work being done. However, there would be no pension contributions or typical protections, guaranteeing future payments for new uses of the recording.

The short version of the story is that it took one call from the Union, which led to a brief meeting with the owner/producer of the product to get the work covered on a union contract. As a result of this one member’s decision to call the union, there were more than 30 such recording sessions with this company. Now, a lifetime of benefits will flow to each musician because one of them took the initiative to make a phone call.