Ever since the WGA (Writers Guild of America) went on strike last May, followed by SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), I have been asked by friends why musicians aren’t striking, too. So many of the issues that animate this action in Hollywood apply to our situation in music: the lack of income for creators from streaming, the unregulated introduction of AI, the loss of jobs to increasingly consolidated corporate strategies minimizing creative labor.
The answer is that we can’t strike. Legally, we can’t.
Independent musicians can’t even talk about coordinated collective action against our corporate overlords - like organizing a consumer boycott, or withholding our work in some strategic manner. If we did, we could be sued under – get this – antitrust laws. All we punk rockers, self-employed, are classified as independent contractors. So if we get together and coordinate action against one of our “cust…
