Ian Pons Jewell Statement

“Since the major change in budgets from previous years, music videos have been an incredibly tough world to navigate, with pretty horrendous terms for the directors and their crew working on them. Despite this, it’s an incredible art form, so it’s our hope that these contract changes can be embraced as an initial step toward making music videos a better space to be involved in for everyone. WDMV kicked this entire conversation off, shining a light on the realities of the music video world and getting pitching terms improved, so I’m hoping this contract terms update will be another big positive step for us.

The APA/MVPA have been an incredible partner in this, working with us on the language and realities of this big shift in contract terms. There can’t ever be a one size fits all, so it’s important that directors and their production companies negotiate each project by its merits. These term changes aim to improve the base level from which negotiations with labels continue. We also don’t see this as them VS us, artists have such an incredibly tough road in their careers too. We hope this will create a healthier space for absolutely everyone.’’