Brandenburg adopts minimum fee standards
The state parliament in Potsdam was the first German state parliament to decide to introduce binding minimum standards for the remuneration of freelance musicians and vocal soloists.
The resolution is based on the motion "For the future of music in Brandenburg: Adequate wages for freelance musicians and vocal soloists" by Ulrike Liedtke, cultural policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group and Vice President of the German Music Council. It was adopted after intensive discussions between the four parliamentary groups of the CDU, SPD, Die Linke and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen. From 2020, the minimum fee standards will apply to state-funded projects, and from 2021, institutionally funded orchestras will also be obliged to comply with the minimum standard when engaging temporary staff.
Christian Höppner, Secretary General of the German Music Council, welcomes the decision. He sees it as a forward-looking signal to strengthen the economic framework conditions for freelance musicians. The situation of freelance creatives in artistic and music education professions is "predominantly disastrous in the fourth strongest industrial nation in the world". The current decision of the Brandenburg state parliament in favor of freelancers is "a blueprint for the other state parliaments to guarantee social security for artists that does not lead to poverty in old age."
