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Posts: 7799
Location: Peoples' Democratic Republic of R.I.
Joined: April 23, 2000
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Not to bring a firestorm down upon my head, but, the primary reason there are so few recordings by American orchestras is that the projects cost far too much compared to the expected short-term revenue from sales of classical recordings.
Now, I cheerfully admit that it has been ages since I looked at a major-orchestra contract, but, on the other hand, I would be surprised if work rules had changed much.
I completely understand that the work rules were enacted to ensure the high quality of the final product, and to keep hard-working musicians from being exploited. But, as far as I understand it, a session lasts for three hours. After 20 minutes of (recorded) playing, there has to be a 10-minute break. Then there's 20 more minutes of recording, then another 10-minute break.
HOWEVER, the producer has to choose which 20 minutes he or she wants to use. If the producer wants to use all 40 minutes, that hour gets paid for twice.
I was once offered $30,000 to "help" with the expenses of recording Mahler 4 with an American orchestra. There was no way I could get that math to work. And the fact that they had traveled so far down the indy-label "food chain" to dangle that in front of me showed me that the larger and more experienced and I am sure better-funded indy labels had also been tempted but, mirabile dictu, sanity had prevailed, and prevailed generally!
Please do not misunderstand--my favorite Scripture verse is Matthew 10:10. The laborers are worth their hire. The BSO Charles Munch La Mer is still selling, more than 60 years later. But for every recording like that, there are literally thousands that never broke even.
I did not want to dig my own little hole even deeper by throwing my $50,000 into the pot, spending $80,000 total (back then it cost more than $2 in advertising and promotion to sell each CD, which I got paid $7 for, but from which I had to amortize startup costs and pay royalties), and take in (GROSS) perhaps $9,800 in the first year. (A big shot at Harmonia Mundi USA told me that their "average" new release sold 1,400 copies in its first year. But even if I had sold 4,000 copies in the first year, that's only $28,000 gross, so I would have lost more than $30,000 for the privilege of releasing yet another Mahler 4.)
For another project, I discussed with the AFoM putting out a live recording of Mahler by a pick-up orchestra (which had included academics, visiting foreigners, and talented amateurs), and the AFoM told me that the presence of one union member on that stage meant that all players on the stage had to be paid union scale.
I know, there is a "small issue" loophole, but that is merely a legal guarantee that you will never make money, so you need 100% "Angel Money" up front. Plus some payment for all your own work.
The sad irony is that what eventually happened to that second Mahler project is that they kept the live US master tapes on the shelf, and re-recorded the repertory with a radio orchestra in Poland, for....
$10,000 all-in, including the conductor.
Which is, in microcosm, why there are so many new releases by orchestras you might not have heard of, and so few by US orchestras you have.
BTW, there used to be two semi-well-known US orchestras that were not Unionized, but I do not know if that is still the case.
Sorry for the length.
jm
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