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Researching the British Musicians’
Union: Bridging Troubled Waters?
Martin Cloonan & John Williamson
26 June 2013

Outline
? Part 1 – The Project and and our approach
? Part 2 – Issues surrounding the Union – labour
markets, technology, law

Part 1 – Project & Approach
? Introducing the Project
? A Brief History of the Musicians’ Union
? The Music Industries pre-1955
? Richard Peterson’s ‘Why 1955?’
? Musicians as workers

Part 1 – Introducing . . .
? 4 years from 2012 – 2016
? Funded by AHRC and ESRC
? Exhibition, Conference in Glasgow, 2016
? Sources: Union archives; other archives (BBC,
trade unions, etc.); interviews and previous
accounts / media reports

Part 1 – A Brief History
? Formed in 1893 by Joseph B. Williams as
Amalgamated Musicians’ Union (AMU)
? Merged with National Orchestral Union of
Professional Musicians (NOUPM) in 1921 to form
Musicians’ Union
? Membership (2011): 31 482
? Independent union; 120 years old

Part 1 – Music Industries pre 1955
? Music industries as “a network of industries
based on the production, publication,
exploitation and consumption of music”
(Williamson and Cloonan, 2007)
? “Historically, for most musicians, performance
has been the source of the majority of their
income.”(Williamson and Cloonan, 2013)

Part 1 – Peterson: Why 1955?
? 6 things that matter: law , technology, industry
structure, organisation structure, occupational
career and market
? Discusses changes in the music industry, radio
programming and entrepreneurial practice.
? Lacking musicians, working practices

Part 1 – Musicians as Workers
? Musicians as workers rather than / as well as
creators, celebrities, stars, etc.
? Musicians as workers – who are they and what
do they do?
? professionals, semi-professionals, amateurs?
? MU: ‘anyone following the profession of music’
? 3 considerations re: Union membership – who is
allowed? /who is forced? / who chooses to
join?

Part 1 – Musicians as Workers
? Diversity of musical employment / occupations
? Organising musicians – Union works regionally
and occupationally.
? Easier to organise orchestras than freelancers,
small ensembles.
? Musicians as particular type of worker who
shape and interact with broader societal and
industrial changes . . .

Part 2 – Issues affecting workers
? JB Williams: ‘a protecting Union, one that will
protect us from amateurs, protect us from
unscrupulous employers and protect us from
ourselves.’
? Protection – especially of live work – underpins
Union thinking
? Threats to live work from changes in labour
market in industries employing musicians;
technology; law.

Part 2 – Labour Markets
? AMU identified 3 main threats to work:
? amateurs
? police and military bands
? foreign musicians

Part 2 – Labour Markets
? Tours by foreign musicians routinely opposed
? MU gains veto on work permit applications with
Ministry of Labour – so-called ‘ban’ on US jazz
acts
? More complicated?
? ‘Ban’ = racist? Inflexibly applied?
? Reactions to working conditions – protecting
employment to exclusion of all others.

Part 2 – Technology
? 3 most important technological advances:
? The “talkies” – end of silent films (needing orchestral
accompaniment)
? Broadcasting / Radio – BBC formed in 1922
? The Gramophone and subsequent growth of
recording industry in 1920s
? MU’s approach to each of these was different
and not always oppositional.

Part 2 – Technology
? The Talkies: outright opposition / sense that
cinemas would ‘return to sanity’ – but MU
powerless in the face of US film producers
? Radio: policy of ‘regulating terms’ (1923); ‘has
not reduced the employment of musicians, but,
on the contrary, has increased it” (1925)
? Recording Industry: regulation and control
coupled with financial recompense via. PPL
? Union able to see opportunities as well as
threats from new technology

Part 2 – Law
? 2 types of legislation to consider: that which affects
the Union and that which it has (helped) instigate.
? Anti-trade Union legislation (1979-1997) –
weakening of Union powers / ideological opposition
to restrictive practices; opening up of markets in
broadcasting.
? Monopolies & Mergers Commission (MMC) report
on Collective Licensing (1988) had huge impact on
Union

Part 2 – Law
? Lobbying – MU advocate of the performers’ right
from post-War period. Recognised in Rome
Convention (1961) subsequently in EU (1992) and UK
law (1996)
? MU has subsequently supported other music
industries’ organisations in successfully lobbying for
extension of copyright term on sound recordings.
? Alignment of interests / temporary alliances
between union and employers

Conclusions
? Viewing musicians as workers allows us to:
? Understand some of the apparently incongruous
stances taken by the Union
? Question when the industrial conditions that
facilitated the advent of rock’n’roll actually came
about in the 1920s, 30s and 40s rather than 1955.

Conclusions
? Why not?
? 1921 – formation of Musicians’ Union
? 1922 – formation of the British Broadcasting Company
? 1927 – release of the Jazz Singer (first talkie)
? 1931 – formation of EMI
? 1934 – formation of Phonographic Performance Ltd
(PPL)
? 1946 – agreement between MU and PPL
? 1947 – agreement between PPL and BBC

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