Disney-On-Broadway Coronavirus Benefit On Again After Musicians’ Union Relents

A benefit concert from last November, in which 79 stage performers did songs from Disney musicals, was going to be streamed online to benefit the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund — until, less than a day ahead of time, the international president of the American Federation of Musicians demanded that the pit band be paid extra for streaming rights. (Equity and SAG-AFTRA had waived such payments.) On Sunday, the musicians involved, backed by the union’s New York local, said publicly that they didn’t want the additional money; in less than 24 hours, the AFM president changed his position. – The New York Times