I know there is AFTRA, but fuck them. Does a working class musicians union exist? If not I'd like to start one. We get screwed by venues, streaming platforms, predatory music industry people, etc.
I had a few of my OWN songs removed from youtube for copyright violation, some of which had a non-insignificant amount of views and I count on the extra ~30 bucks (if i'm lucky) make from streams on youtube/soundcloud and having my music removed for only 2 weeks hurt me financially. I had to prove I was myself by taking a photo of myself while holding up my driver's license (with just my name and photo showing, I covered up the rest). I feel like that shouldn't happen.
Most of the musicians’ unions are centered around orchestral/broadway musicians as the owner/worker relationship is a lot more clear cut and direct there.
