Klarinet Archive - Posting 001304.txt from 1998/04

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.net>
Subj: Re: Pay analysis, etc.
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 19:28:26 -0400

>Jonathan,
>
>My point about the data being outdated is that contracts are negotiated and
>renegotiated regularly and the figures in many a case (orchestra) can be quite
>different. For example, it is very likely that most all of the contracts on
>your wage chart are no longer in force. However, if you are simply looking
>for representative data without regard to current accuracy, that's fine with
>me! :)
>
>Also, keep in mind that musician costs (in the symphony orchestra) go far
>beyond that of salary alone. Costs for health care and other insurances,
>pension and other benefits are hardly a trivial amount in their comparison to
>mere salary.
>
>I might suggest that beside locating the current wage chart (which is, for a
>change, up to date!) which will have all that information (and can be obtained
>easily enough from the AF of M), you might try to get data concerning monies
>expended for auditions (if such data exists) from sources such as the American
>Symphony Orchestra League (lovingly referred to as ASOL) or from the
>individual orchestras. Of course, it's a bit tedious to gather it all, but
>the accuracy in your starting figures might give your arguement more teeth,
>perhaps?
>
>Good luck,
>Larry Liberson
>hardreed@-----.com

Larry,

The purpose of the salary figures was to justify one of the assumptions in
my financial model, which they did quite handsomely. I had conservatively
assumed an average scale salary in the major full-time orchestras of $50K.
As the numbers show, the actual figure is well in excess of that.

The purpose was not to detail all of the expenses associated with an orchestra.

My model calculates recruiting costs as a percentage of salary (which is a
common model). The other expenses are not relevant to this model. All
businesses have other expenses besides salary, such as health benefits and
many other things. But again, it has no bearing on the discussion.

-------------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net

   
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