Dan Point has taken over the leadership of the American Federation of Musicians Local 802, the union for Broadway and New York City musicians, months after the union was set to go on strike.
Point, who had been chief of staff and then recording vice president at Local 802, was appointed president of the union Jan. 1, after the prior president, Bob Suttman stepped down for health reasons. Point is fulfilling the rest of his term through 2027.
A former French horn player, Point came to the union in 2022 after years managing political campaigns and fundraising operations. He succeeds Suttman after a monthslong contract negotiation which almost ended in musicians walking out of Broadway shows, and still reverberates through the union. His next goals are to tackle AI in recorded music and to work with New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani on ticketing and more.
The musicians’ union was on the verge of a strike, around the same time as Actors’ Equity, with the union saying on Oct. 21 that they would walk out the next day if an agreement was not reached with the Broadway League, the trade association for producers and general managers. The strike was averted in the early morning hours of Oct. 22, but Point, who worked closely on negotiations, says the union had been prepared for the possibility, with musicians having already removed their belongings from Broadway theaters
“We were optimistic and very hopeful that we would reach a deal,” Point said. “We were prepared to strike if push came to shove, and we had a whole strike operation ready to go.”
Increased healthcare contributions, due the rising costs, and “adequate wage increases” had been sticking points in the negotiations. The union had also been pointing to the high industry grosses and returning attendance, arguing that musicians contributed to audience members wanting to come back to the theater and should have a share in the success. Producers have, in turn, pointed to the rising costs of creating shows, but Point argues those are largely coming from pre-production expenses, rather than musicians themselves.
Differing views over “is the success of Broadway something that can reasonably be expected to be sustained” was a key sticking point, he said. The union also had a goal of changing the way negotiations had typically gone.
“We were very successful in resetting the dynamic of these contract negotiations by ending the practice of making concessions in our workers’ contract and our musicians’ contracts in exchange for wage increases, benefit increases,” Point said.
Going forward, Point has set several priorities for the union, including increasing the number of members, which fell during the pandemic as many musicians left the field for other work. In addition to Broadway and Off-Broadway musicians, the New York-based union represents the bands on live TV such as Saturday Night Live and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, orchestras at the Lincoln Center and other freelance orchestras in the city.
AI is also a big priority, as Point, on behalf of Local 802 AFM, is heading into negotiations with the major record labels starting this week, alongside the broader American Federation of Musicians and delegates from Los Angeles and Nashville. The issue largely comes up in the streaming and recorded space, with those three cities as larger hubs for recording. The hope is to work with labels to allow all musicians the ability to choose whether or not to have their work used to train machines, and be compensated for that process. Additionally, the goal is to make it more clear to consumers when music includes AI.
“The big one is AI, and the future of how musical work is creative, especially in the digital space. But also the attempts to replace live musicians and substitute them with non-live sources,” he said.
Point also hopes to work with Mamdani, whom the union endorsed and has been in conversation with, on issues of affordability in the city, as well as on greater consumer protections around ticketing price transparency, banning speculative ticketing and more. Mamdani already signed an executive order to crack down on junk fees earlier this month, with the goal of penalizing entities that have hidden fees and ticket surcharges.
Read the full article here
