California Governor signs into law Assembly Bill 2257

By Emmanuel Legrand

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 2257 (AB2257) into law​. The Bill, which was passed unanimously by the California Senate, will provide relief to a vast majority of music professionals, according to a wide coalition of music industry organisations. 

  California passed in September 2019 a law, aimed at companies such as Uber or Lyft, which defined what an "independent contractor" was. However, the law was criticised for having unintended consequences for recording artists who, according to the bill, would be transformed de facto into the employers of musicians, producers and sound technicians. 

  With the new law, recording artists, musicians, composers, songwriters and vocalists will be able to follow the Borello test (as opposed to the Dynamex or ABC tests) to determine employment classification for both live performances and studio recordings.The new legislation also provides for unions to continue to organise the work of recording artists, musicians, singers, and others, ensuring that current and future collective bargaining agreements will always govern in California. 

Creating fair rules

The bill was supported by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), Music Artists Coalition (MAC), Independent Music Professionals United (IMPU), International Allegiance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the Recording Academy, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), Songwriters of North America (SONA) and Teamsters. 

They commented: “This legislation ensures musicians and other creative workers can continue to live, create, and thrive in California. California’s leaders promised efforts to protect workers with a bill that would not undermine or destabilise the state’s vital music economy. Today, they have kept that promise. AB2257 restores California’s leadership as a home to the creative arts and creates clear, fair rules of the road for freelance, union, and independent artists in the state.”