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SRFN: Newsletter: Number 24 Autumn 1999: Musicians' Union
All views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily constitute SRFN policy.
The Musicians' Union
Folk, Roots & Traditional Music Section
Ian Smith
(folk@musiciansunion.org.uk)
MU FRTM Section Organiser/Secretary & Scottish Organiser
In 1997, at the Biennial Conference of the Musicians' Union, a motion was put forward that
we should create a new Section for Folk, Roots and Traditional Music and all the practitioners therein.
This was the third time that the need to highlight the particular needs of Folk Musicians had been
raised at Conference and it definitely proved to be third time lucky as the response was immediate
and unanimous. The FRTM Section was therefore born and early in 1998, Ian Smith, the Union's Scottish
Organiser, was given the job of organising the section and informing the membership of its existence.
The FRTM Section joined the other specialist sections within the MU covering Jazz, Freelance Musicians,
Symphonic, Opera & Ballet, Theatre and Education. As this article is being written a Section for Rock
& Pop Musicians is under consideration prior to our forthcoming 1999 Biennial Conference.
The Musicians' Union is Europe's largest representative organisation for musicians and with the
FRTM Section membership now well over the 200 mark, the need for such a specialist section is
obvious. We have just produced a FRTM Directory, edited by Pete Fyfe, well-known in the Folk
World as a musician, journalist and producer of the Fyfe's Festival Guides that this directory
will replace. Indeed, we are meeting the EFDSS at Cecil Sharp House on the 28th June to consider
looking at our joint databases and possibly considering collaboration on the next directory. If
you are a member of the MU and have indicated you wish to join the FRTM Section, a copy will be
yours free of charge, if not, then join the MU!
The Folk Sector may have been right to look at the MU with a quizzical "What does the Union do
for me?" but not any longer. We have truly arrived n the Folk Scene and for many of our members
we have always been there, but now we have expert representation and are already making serious
inroads into the problems that beset musicians working in this area. We are well advanced with a
representation from the Section meeting with PRS regularly and a senior membership representative
of that organisation, John Couter, will be attending the FRTM Section Committee meeting on the 28th
June in London.
The FRTM Section Committee is a veritable "who's who" of the folk world and is chaired by the
indefatigable Steafan Hannigan of "Sin-E" and American Soap "Friends" fame. Vice-Chair is Rick
Christian and every quarter of the UK is represented. From Scotland, Annie Grace (Iron Horse)
and Elspeth Cowie (TMSA). From Wales, Danny KilBride (KilBride Brothers). Eddie Walker from
Middlesborough has worked at our PRS contacts with Steve Heap (AFO/Sidmouth/Mrs.Casey Music)
representing us at National and British Council level. Chris Sugden (Sid Kipper) and Tom Napper,
Lynne Percival (Cheoll Club Manchester) and Brian Heywood (Barn Dance & Web Site Designer extraordinaire),
Mark Addison, Phil Heaton, Thornton Holmes, John Ward, Terry Mann and Freddy Macha make a highly
impressive team to properly represent the needs of our members in this critically important growth sector.
We currently offer £5 million public liability and £500.00 free instrument/equipment insurance as
a benefit of membership, wholly underwritten by us. We assist festivals and gigs throughout the UK
via our Music Promotion Fund and can provide funding for education based projects. One of the most
exciting is now coming to fruition at Barnsley College. We have also attracted major European Funding
to highlight the importance of music and the cultural industries through a distance learning project
co-ordinated by Lauder College Business School in Dunfermline. We will have stands at Cambridge,
Towersey, Sidmouth, Bromyard, Cropredy and other UK festivals and have a performing rights/songwriting
workshop as an integral part of this year's Cambridge programme. I have already visited Holmfirth and
the Edinburgh Folk festivals, which we were also delighted to support financially. We can now offer
preferential rates of membership to "Under 21's" and any 18-24 year old accepted for the New Deal programme.
For the wide range of services and aforementioned specialist representation, entry levels of
£30.00 pa (under 21) or £57.00 pa for those earning up to £5,000 pa to £174.00 pa for those
earning in excess of £20,000 pa seem very reasonable. With sensible stages in between, it has got
to make sense to join the Union!
We wish the SRFN every success and look forward to a long and happy association.
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