The United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) has introduced a critical new industry initiative designed to dismantle predatory financial practices that have long eroded artist income at music venues. This “Raise the Bar” campaign directly impacts songwriters, rights holders, and performing artists by demanding the elimination of merchandise commissions, pay-to-play fees, opaque contracts, and door polling. For radio programmers and label executives tracking the economic viability of touring talent, the initiative offers a potential framework to stabilize working conditions and ensure performers retain the revenue necessary to sustain their careers.
Four Standards to Eliminate Venue Predation
UMAW explicitly calls on all venues to sign a pledge committing to four specific standards that reverse decades of industry exploitation. The organization identifies merchandise cuts, pay-to-play arrangements, door polling, and a lack of contract transparency as the worst practices currently plaguing the sector. These mechanisms have become increasingly common, particularly at large corporate venues, creating unnecessary financial hurdles that drive down working conditions for artists everywhere. The campaign argues that these practices force performers to pay for stage time or surrender a portion of their merchandise sales, effectively penalizing them for their own success. By establishing these clear boundaries, UMAW aims to restore fairness and ensure that artists are compensated based on their actual performance and sales rather than arbitrary venue fees.
Independent Venues Lead the Shift
Rather than targeting the entire industry with punitive measures, the campaign seeks to celebrate and expand the reach of independent venues that already operate without these exploitative practices. UMAW has created an online directory listing venues that have committed to the new standards, a list that includes more than 20 locations across the United States at launch. Notable participants include The Lab in San Francisco, Woodbine Chamber in Louisville, and St. Vitus in Brooklyn, alongside numerous other independent spaces in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. The organization encourages fans and artists to actively demand their local venues join this initiative, leveraging public pressure to drive industry-wide change. Several other music organizations, including the Freelance Musicians Association of the AFM and the Maine Music Alliance, have already endorsed the campaign, signaling broad support for this shift toward fairer artist treatment. Venues interested in participating can sign the pledge directly through the UMAW Raise the Bar campaign website.
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