I have a side business of contracting musicians, playing and writing arrangements for weddings. This past Sunday I got an email from the mother of the bride (MOB) of Saturday's wedding complimenting us on our playing the day before, as evidenced by the recording she listened to that morning.
I don't know if the recording came from the video camera or from the sound guy who handled the vocalist, but from the MOB's language it sounded like she listened to an audio recording.
In any case, we were contracted to play live music, not provide a CD for continued listening. Certainly if an orchestra is recorded permissions must be secured, copyrights dealt with, and compensation given. I'd never thought of this before in the context of a string quartet, but one of my players was rather put off by the recording without compensation.
Has anyone dealt with this matter?
I suppose we could refuse to be recorded, but that would probably cause us not be hired in many circumstances. We could charge extra for the privilege, but our prices are already a little higher than the average in the area, so I don't know how much more the market can bear.
Do we grin and bear it? Charge more? I do have a contract, so I could put language dealing with this item, though I don't know exactly what to ask for.
Thanks for your input.
