Musician Pay Ordinance
Despite New Orleans’ status as one of the most musically important cities in the world—a key driver of its multi-billion dollar tourism industry—local musicians often struggle to make ends meet. Based on data we gathered as a part of our relief grant program, in 2020 working musicians were making an average of roughly $150 per gig, which can often last three hours of more. This is only a marginal increase over the roughly $100 per gig musicians were making in the 1980’s—and far lower when accounting for inflation and cost of living increases.
To begin to address this unacceptable wage stagnation, we worked with City Councilmember Helena Moreno’s office, the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Economy. and the Office of Nighttime Economy to draft legislation that set a minimum hourly wage for musicians performing at city funded events. Though we are not able to legislate minimum wages for private businesses, an internally mandated hourly minimum gives the city a platform to push contractors, particularly those hosting large events, to match the city mandated wage.
While the core of the ordinance was based on similar legislation adopted in Austin, we held several focus groups to ensure changes were made to fit a New Orleans musical context (for example, the maximum number of bandmembers covered by the ordinance had to be expanded from 5 to 10 to accommodate brass bands). Ultimately, the base rate of $200 per hour per musician, with a one hour minimum per performance, was the agreed upon rate. The ordinance passed the City Council unanimously and is now law.