Music: Musicians' Plight

The U.S. echoes unceasingly with music—from giant horns in air, rail and bus terminals, from hidden speakers in public eating places, from home record players, radios and TV sets. In addition to mechanized melody, there is more live serious music being played than ever before—the number of U.S. symphony orchestras has passed 1,000 and is still growing, and there is a more modest increase in ballet and the opera.

A nasty slash of paradox defaces this pretty picture: though membership of the American Federation of Musicians last week stood at an alltime peak of 256,000, there are fewer jobs for U.S. musicians every month.

Wired for Sound. The facts, from a nationwide survey:* 1) only 33% of U.S. musicians in 1954 earned more in their profession than in other jobs; 2) another 35% turned from music to other vocations; 3) 17% entered nonmusical vocations but found occasional musical jobs; 4) the remaining 15% worked at music only in related jobs, such as teaching or arranging. In 1956 the situation is worse and still deteriorating.

In 1930, according to the survey, there were 99,000 jobs (reckoned in man-years) available for musicians. Then in one three-year period, some 18,000 silent-movie houses were wired for sound, and by 1940, there were only 79,000 jobs. During the war, a federal tax of 30% (now 20%) was levied against all places featuring entertainment and/or dancing, and hundreds of such places folded forthwith; so by 1954, there were only 59,000 jobs. Recordings, spinning off the presses in multimillions, create lucrative jobs for a comparatively few musicians in a few centers, but are pushing live musicians elsewhere off their chairs at an increasing rate. TV is causing a further deterioration of the situation, since few of the 2,600 local TV stations in the U.S. try to compete with big network shows produced in New York and Los Angeles; most employ no musicians at all.

Two Ways. The job depression is not offset by the boom in symphony work. There is only one orchestra in the country—the Boston Symphony—that could be said to work the year round. Members of other major orchestras can count on 3-8 months' work, and the great majority of secondary groups perform only.a dozen or so times a year. The major symphonies in 1954 paid instrumentalists an average of only $1,967.34.

The musicians' union recommends two ways to alleviate the situation: 1) repeal the 20% cabaret tax in the hope that owners will hire musicians again, and 2) pay a Government subsidy to performing organizations such as European countries do.