Adaptistration

The Compensation Reports Are Back

The Adaptistration Compensation Reports have been reorganized and are now available. You can find all of the primary articles at the dedicated Compensation Report page and all of the articles are available under the “compensation reports” category archive… 

2007 Compensation Report: ICSOM Concertmasters

The final installment of the 2007 Adaptistration Compensation Reports will examine the compensation levels for International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) concertmasters...

2007 Compensation Report: ICSOM Music Directors

Following a season where the average International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) music director saw a slight dip in average income, 2004-2005 increases more than made up for those small losses...

2007 Compensation Report: ROPA Music Directors

If you were the music director for a Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA) ensemble during the 2004-2005 season, it is likely that you experienced the most significant percentage increase in compensation since before 2000...

2007 Compensation Report: ICSOM Executive Directors

Not unlike the previous season, the Executive Shuffle was a popular dance among ICSOM executive directors. In fact, 16% of the ICSOM symphonic ensembles had executive compensation figures which were impacted by a change in executive leadership...

2007 Compensation Report: ROPA Executive Directors

In an effort to mix things up from the previous Compensation Reports, the 2007 installment will be published in a different order. Instead of cycling through all the ROPA ensembles and then all the ICSOM ensembles, the 2007 series will be published by position. To begin with, we'll examine compensation figures for Executive Directors...

The 2007 Compensation Reports Are Coming!

Right on schedule, the 2007 Adaptistration Compensation Report will be published starting Monday, June 25th. This installment examines the compensation trends among orchestra executives, music directors, concertmasters, and base musicians at 76 different ICSOM, IGSOBM, and ROPA ensembles for the 2004-2005 season...

2006 Compensation Report: ICSOM Concertmasters

New for the 2006 Adaptistration Compensation Reports is a dedicated entry for ICSOM concertmasters. In actuality, the inclusion of ICSOM concertmasters isn't exactly new but in the 2004 and 2005 editions, they were included alongside the ICSOM music director reports...

2006 Compensation Report: ICSOM Music Directors

This year's ICSOM Music Director Report doesn't reveal any new benchmarks in earning, in fact, the average music director compensation for the 2003-2004 season decreased from the previous season...

2006 Compensation Report: ICSOM Executive Directors

The 2003-2004 season was a busy year for the executive shuffle among ICSOM ensembles. In fact, there was so much shuffling that almost 1/3 of all ICSOM symphonic orchestras had one or more executive receiving compensation for only a portion of the season. And then there's that thing in Saint Paul...

2006 Compensation Report: ROPA Music Directors

Much like their administrative counterparts, music directors serve as a sort of executive manager for nearly all things regarding artistic planning within an orchestra. As such, they should be subject to the same amount of scrutiny as executive administrators regarding their level of performance and if they are adequately fulfilling the duties of their post.

2006 Compensation Report: ROPA Executive Directors

The 2006 compensation reports are starting off a little differently as compared to previous years. This time around, the reports will begin with ROPA ensembles and with the ICSOM ensembles. Barring any unforeseen difficulties or pressing current events, the daily publication order will be ROPA executive directors, ROPA music directors, ICSOM executive directors, and ICSOM music directors and concertmasters.

Head's Up, The Compensation Reports Are On The Way

Beginning next week, the 2006 Adaptistration Compensation Reports will hit the internet. The 2006 reports come with some good news and some bad news...

2005 Compensation Report: ROPA Music Directors

Last in this series of compensation reports is the examination ROPA & IGSOBM ensemble music director compensation. Much like their administrative counterparts, music directors serve as the executive "manager" for nearly all things artistic, at the top level, within an orchestra (although that model is beginning to change). As such, they should be subject to the same amount of scrutiny regarding their level of performance on and off stage and if they are adequately fulfilling all of their duties, therefore qualifying them for what they are compensated.

Based on last year's figures, the average ROPA music director earned 764% more than the average musician base salary, as compared to the 644% ROPA executive directors earned over the average musician base salary.

We already know that the average ROPA executive director earned 7.79% over the previous year so let's see what the numbers tell us about how the situation for music directors has changed...

2005 Compensation Report: ROPA Executive Directors

Continuing with this year's compensation reports, we move on to examine the executive director compensation at 33 ROPA & IGSOBM symphonic ensembles with annual budgets over $1 million. Following last year's report, we discovered that the discrepancy between executive and musician base salaries was considerably larger than their counterparts in ICSOM ensembles.

Let's see what the numbers tell us for this year...

2005 Compensation Report: ICSOM Music Directors

Next in this series of compensation reports is the comparison between music directors, concertmasters, and base musicians for ICSOM & IGSOBM ensembles. Much like their administrative counterparts, music directors serve as the executive "manager" for nearly all things artistic, at the top level, within an orchestra (although that model is beginning to change). As such, they should be subject to the same amount of scrutiny regarding their level of performance on and off stage and if they are adequately fulfilling all of their duties.

Last year, music directors were at the top of the nonprofit compensation scale. They were earning so much (over $1,000,000) they came under scrutiny of the IRS, who examined orchestras as part of a larger investigation into nonprofit executive compensation.

Based on last year's figures, the average music director earned 794% more than the average musician base salary, that's twice as much as executive directors earned over the musician base salary.

We already know that the average ICSOM executive director earned 10.61% over the previous year so let's see what the numbers tell us about how the situation for music directors has changed....

2005 Compensation Report: ICSOM Executive Directors

The issue of executive compensation is one which draws a wide range of opinion from those inside and outside the business.  The subject has been of particular interest here at Adaptistration simply because using compensation figures is a common method used to evaluate a manager's value and effectiveness.

In last year's ICSOM Executive Director report I predicted that even though orchestras, on average, continue to run up significant deficits while simultaneously compromising artistic programming, executive managers would continue to see large increases in compensation.  This brings to the forefront the question of whether or not the business is, in fact, compensating effort over achievement.

Following last year's compensation reports it's time to revisit the numbers to see what's changed...

Reader Response: Reassessing The Music Director

Last weeks' series on music directors generated a great deal of email from readers, most of which were musicians, and they have generously granted permission to include excerpts from their correspondence in today's Reader Response.  But first, I wrote to JoAnn Falletta to ask a few questions about her role as music director for both the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Virginia Symphony.  Ms. Falletta graciously responded with these thoughts about her position in both orchestras: