Steel Drum/Pan Blueprint For Success Highlights
- ·The pan union should represent panists not steelbands. Steel bands should be registered (for-profit) corporations, whom union-represented panists would work for.
- ·The government would assist steelbands in becoming for-profit business corporations, by way of grants, low interest loans and other business start-up assistance.
- ·Any union representing panists should function as a non-profit workers' union, that answers to the needs and welfare of it membership i.e. panists (only).
- ·The leader of the pan union, should be a registered union member for (at least) 5 years, and be registered for at least one year with a functioning steelband, or be an active performing/recording panist . In addition they should (at least) own a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), preferably in the non-profit area.
- ·The pan union should function similar to any reputable musician's union, and have available benefits to it membership, including (but not limited to): term life insurance, health and dental insurance, employment and education assistance services, financial educational assistance services, prepaid legal services, pension and retirement plans and services, family and domestic abuse counseling services, and a credit union (for low-interest mortgage, auto, student, and business loans, no-fee checking and savings accounts, estate planning, investment options, and other “banking” services). There are so many panists, that by the concept of “The Law of Large Numbers”, on which most of these services are based, the costs should be affordable to even the most modest income.
- ·The recording (audio, video, or otherwise) of ANY event in which a union member (or members) is a participant/performer, should be by the expressed written consent of the performing union member(s), as evidenced on official union contract(s), prepared by the union's legal team. This includes Panorama, and the local television companies will also have to enter into legal agreements/contracts. The contracts will reserve the rights for recorded union members to payments, royalties and other residual earnings/profits stemming from their performances.
- ·If Panorama is a “competition”, then panists and arrangers should be allowed to play/arrange for one band only. The registration deadline should be (at least) by October 31st of the prior year. Any applicant with an arrest or conviction for any violent crime where any weapon was involved, should have their application request denied, and should be disallowed from any union-related pan or steelband event, until the five years from such event has lapsed. Such records will not affect their union membership, and they would be eligible for the relevant assistance services that the union offers. Finally, on Panorama, it should always remain a competition for (acoustic) steelpans/steeldrums/pans only, in keeping with its tradition. The definition of a steelpan/steeldrum/pan should be: an “acoustic,steel percussive instrument, made from, either a 55-gallon oil barrel, or other steel container specifically manufactured for the production of a steelpan/steeldrum/pan”. NO ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF ANY KIND SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BE USED IN THE PANORAMA COMPETITIONS. (This includes the P.H.I., and the E-Pan. These creative innovations are very important to the continuing history of the “steelband movement”, and should definitely be deliberately highlighted during the competition. Soloists and “crackshots” like Professor, Boogsie, Robert, Othello Duvone, and Leon “Foster” Thomas, can perform on these innovations during breaks/intermissions. However, their use create both a distraction and an assumed advantage, as well as a dilemma, especially when it comes to judging for the tuning and tone quality of a steelband's instruments. It further marginalizes those competitors, who may not be able to afford the technology, and every steelband should have an equal opportunity to win. (In my opinion, I've heard them all, and NOTHING can EVER sound like a TRUE pan. Neither of them “improves” the pan, the latter of which is “perfect” in its “imperfection”. Plus, anyone who knows the history, electronics and amplification have been pan's nemeses.) Likewise, no form of amplified music should be allowed withing 5 miles of Panorama.
- ·Any business or corporation that intend to conduct business on the premises of any steelband event, should be made to agree to declare their earnings at such event, and make immediately available an agreed-upon percentage of such earnings to the union, unless they “broke even” or ran at a loss. The union shall have assigned member act as a monitor, and the agreement should have the option to audit their books. Individual vendors (on the outskirts) will be exempt from having to do this.
- ·All national government schools should have a pan program added to their curricula, broken down into subject areas that cover (among other things) the history of pan and the steelband movement, applied pan, basic musicianship/music theory, pan manufacturing techniques, arranging for the steelband, recording techniques and computer applications, and intro to music business. EVERY child in the government school system in Trinidad & Tobago, should be required to have a basic education in pan, and be able to play (at least) our National Anthem on our national instrument. (Makes logical sense, to me.) The goal should be by 2015, and by then, every government school should have their own start-up steel band (full range of pans for about 25-50 players), with the assistance of the government and the pan union.
- ·ADDENDUM 1: The government should include a No Steelband Tax Penalty, for any Carnival event where at least one steelband is not a part of the music entertainment. The monies gathered from that penalty, should be used to fund steelband projects.
- ·ADDENDUM 2: Likewise, any event promoter(s) that hire(s) a steelband outside the Carnival season, should be given a Steelband Hire Tax Credit.
- ·ADDENDUM 3: Every panman and panwoman should have a registered photo ID with a unique numerical identifier (such as their Tax Payer ID No.), which may be used for paying out benefits and for verifying number of hours logged.
- ·ADDENDUM 4: Every registered panman and panwoman should receive a Steel Band Performer Tax Credit, and be able to deduct expenses incurred in the conducting of their business as steelband and pan performers. This includes clothing, meals, transport, equipment, etc.
- ·ADDENDUM 5: Every business establishment that employs a steelband or pan player, as part of their year-round entertainment, can deduct the entire cost from their taxes for the first year, 75% of the cost in year two, and 50% of the cost for years three through five. They must not have any gaps in years, or they lose the benefit of the deduction. The business must show that it employed a steelband act for at least 20 hours per year, each year.
- ·ADDENDUM 6: Likewise, any live music establishment that does not hire a steelband for at least four hours in any one year, should also have to pay the No Steelband Tax Penalty.
- ·ADDENDUM 7: Any professional music band that does not include the steel drum/pan in its music (live and/or recorded), should have to pay into a special “Steelband Incentive Benefit Fund”. This should be a marginal amount, say, 2-5% of their yearly earnings.
ADDENDUM 8: The "steelband/pan industry" should be an equal-opportunity entity that does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, economic status, sex, sexual orientation, religion, or political affiliation. ANY organization, body, association, union, company, or steelband, should include an "equal opportunity" statement in all of their printed material, openly displayed on the front entrances of their offices and panyards, and include a “equal opportunity” clause, within their corporate articles and constitutions.
Replies
Thanks for the well-wishes, even if in sarcasm. :-) May you ALL be rewarded with 100 times more of what you wish for me! 2013 here I come! ! !
George D. Goddard/Ghost
HAPPY NEW YEAR GHOST ah might have to call on you soon to tell Claude and Sidd ah thing or two. Will let you know.
HAPPY NEW YEAR GHOST!! For 2013 I would wish with all my Heart that you and Sidds could AGREE to DISAGREE and DISAGREE and AGREE. Just my NEW YEAR WISH. Sidds ah hope yuh hear meh !
HAPPY NEW YEAR, GHOST!!! Good to see you passing through!!!