Musicians’ Union want to hear about your stories of musician exploitation

The Musicians’ Union have launched to find out more about how many UK musicians are being asked to play for free or exploited by employers, venues and promoters.
The union state that most musicians are not well paid and that music fans and musicians should join their campaign to ensure that making and playing music continues to be a viable profession.
In the summer, the Musicroom blog reported on the dispute between working musicians and the Olympic organising committee, LOCOG, who were accused of under valuing musicians and approaching them to play for free.
Writing on their website, the MU posted a news item requesting stories from musicians who have been exploited:
“We are concerned at a growing trend of professional musicians not being paid for their work. The Olympics brought the issue to the fore, but we’ve uncovered numerous examples since – including Café Rouge expecting musicians to work for no fee at charity events where only a third of the revenue is going to charity.
“The MU will be launching a major new public awareness campaign targetted at this issue in the next couple of months and we need case studies.”
If you feel that you have been mistreated or exploited as a musician, and are prepared to give a short summary of your experiences, then contact isabelle.gutierrez@themu.org.
Do you have any experiences of being mistreated or exploited as a musician?