Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
When you want to obtain a video from YouTube, a quick web search will reveal several tools that promise to do the job—but even leaving aside the issue of violating the YouTube terms of service, we can’t guarantee that they’re safe or reliable.
If you want to obtain YouTube videos, there’s only one official way to go about it: To put down $14 a month for YouTube Premium.
That might seem a lot for the privilege of downloading videos, but it also means that you’ll never see an ad again, can keep videos playing in the background on a phone, and will get access to a complete Spotify competitor in the form of YouTube Music.
Download YouTube videos to a computer
When you’re using YouTube in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Opera and are signed into an account that has YouTube Premium, you’ll see a Download button underneath every video when you open up its full page. Click the button, and the obtain will start. You must keep YouTube open in a browser tab to keep the downloads running, but you can leave the page you’re downloading from to view other videos.
You’ll see the option to obtain videos in other places, too. On the front page of YouTube, for example, you can click the three dots next to any video to find a Download option there. It’s on search results pages too, if you click the three dots next to any clip.
[Related: How to navigate YouTube videos like a pro]
To see downloads that are in progress and to view your downloaded videos, head to www.youtube.com/feed/downloads (you might want to bookmark the link for future reference). You can also click the YouTube logo in the top left corner and choose Downloads from the menu that appears to get to the same screen. To delete a video, click the three dots next to it, then choose Remove from downloads.
Click Download settings (top right on the downloads page) to change the quality of downloaded videos (better quality means longer obtain times and larger file sizes)—or get YouTube to prompt you to choose a quality setting every time you initiate a download. You can also turn on smart downloads, which will obtain a selection of recommended videos in the background for you.
Your browser of choice will cache your chosen videos on your computer’s storage drive for when you need them, but they’ll be in a scrambled format that only the browser can recognize. That means you can’t open up a folder on your Windows or macOS system and see a list of video files. To watch the videos you’ve saved, you need to go through YouTube.
How to obtain YouTube videos to a phone or tablet
A similar set of obtain features are available on the YouTube app for Android and iOS. When you’re browsing through videos on the Home tab, you can tap on the three dots next to any clip to find a Download video option, and that will start the download. Tap through on a video to get to its full page, complete with comments, and there’s a Download button there you can use as well.
When you search for videos in the app or browse a channel you’re subscribed to, you’ll see three dots next to each video as you scroll—tap these dots and pick Download video to save it to your phone.
As on a computer, these downloads won’t be saved as separate video files, but as data that only the YouTube app can interpret—so you can’t open downloaded videos in another video app on your device. To see videos that have been downloaded or are currently downloading, open the Library tab and choose Downloads.
[Related: How to use DeArrow to get rid of “YouTube face”]
To remove a video, go to the Downloads screen, tap the three dots next to a video, and then hit Delete from downloads. If you want to manage obtain settings, tap the three dots up in the top right corner of that screen and then hit Settings—there you can set a obtain quality for the videos, for example. On Android (but not iOS), you can opt to only obtain videos when connected to WiFi, and see how much space your downloaded YouTube videos are taking up.
On Android, there’s also a toggle switch for Smart downloads, and an Adjust smart downloads option for setting how much storage space this feature consumes. When enabled, it’ll obtain recommended videos from YouTube in the background for you, so you’ll always have something to watch when you’re without an internet connection.
Whether it’s beat-making, EDM production, multi-track recording, or critical audio editing, finding the best music production software for your creative endeavors is all about ensuring that you have the required tools to optimize your workflow without getting bogged down in the details. Some music production software is incredibly simple and best suited for beginners and simple creative tasks, while other software is favored by professionals for its advanced editing tools and flexible workflow. In this article, we’ve selected some of the best music production software based upon usability, sound libraries, and overall flexibility to help you make the right choice before starting your next creative project.
— Best Overall: Avid Pro Tools
— Best for Macs: Apple Logic Pro X
— Best for Hip Hop: Ableton Live
— Best for Beginners: Image Line FL Studio
— Best Free: Apple GarageBand
How We Picked the Best Music Production Software
Not all music production software is designed equally. Here are a few factors we took into account when selecting the best music production software for this list.
Price: The price of music production software varies widely, and we aimed to select products suitable for a range of budgets. On this list, we’ve included the best free music production software as well as flat-fee paid options and a subscription option.
Sound Libraries: If you’re using music production software primarily for composing and building tracks, a large library of high-quality sounds is an important feature to consider. Each of the digital audio workstations on this list includes a bundled library of sounds and effects, and some of the manufacturers offer additional sounds to purchase.
Compatibility: Not all music production software is compatible with every type of computer, and we did our best to ensure that Mac and Windows users are both represented within this list. Some software, like Pro Tools and Ableton Live, are compatible with both Windows and Mac, making them a good choice for maximizing your flexibility.
User-Friendliness: Music production software can be incredibly user-friendly, incredibly complex, or a mix of both. We took into account the needs of beginners and pros alike when making this list.
Best Music Production Software: Reviews and Recommendations
Best Overall: Avid Pro Tools
Why It Made The Cut: Avid Pro Tools is one of the most widely-used digital audio workstations in the industry, thanks to its advanced design and nearly limitless capabilities.
Specs:
— System Compatibility: Windows, Mac
— System Requirements:
Mac: macOS 10.14 or later
Windows: Windows 10 & 11
RAM: 16 GB minimum
Processor: Intel, Apple Silicon
— Plugin Format: 64-bit AAX
Pros:
— Cutting-edge audio recording and editing features
— Great for moving projects studio-to-studio; widely used
— Works on both Mac and Windows systems
Cons:
— Dense user interface with a moderate learning curve
— Plugins limited to proprietary AAX format
— Pricey subscription-based software
Avid Pro Tools is considered to be the industry-standard digital audio workstation for many reasons, all of which contribute to it being our pick for the best music production software overall. In addition to hosting a powerful suite of audio recording and editing features, Pro Tools stands out from the crowd with its flexible and lightning-fast workflow that make it an ideal choice for producing commercial audio on tight deadlines for music, TV, broadcast, and other media. Because it’s found in commercial studios everywhere, Pro Tools is also the best choice for maximizing compatibility when transferring session files between different studios or between Windows and Mac systems, both of which support the software.
Unlike the relatively intuitive drag-and-drop user interfaces of Apple’s Logic Pro X or GarageBand, Pro Tools leans toward a keyboard- and menu-heavy utilitarian workflow that offers incredibly granular control to users while being somewhat challenging and time-consuming to master. Users are also required to heavily commit to the Avid ecosystem when using Pro Tools, which only accepts plugins of Avid’s proprietary AAX format and now requires a monthly subscription fee in lieu of a flat one-time purchase. While this payment format can quickly add up over time and become expensive for small studios and individual users, Avid does a good job of keeping the software consistently up-to-date for their subscribers.
Best for Macs: Apple Logic Pro X
Why It Made The Cut: Apple’s flagship digital audio workstation (DAW) features an intuitive workflow and a large number of software instruments and effects, making it a great choice for composing, mixing, and mastering on Mac systems.
Specs:
— System Compatibility: Mac
— System Requirements:
OS Version: macOS 11.5 or later
RAM: 8 GB minimum
Processor: Intel, Apple Silicon
— Plugin Format: 64-bit AU
Pros:
— Robust audio recording and editing interface with large sound library
— Full version priced competitively compared to other DAWs
— Excellent effects library includes high-quality guitar amps and reverbs
Cons:
— Limited to Mac systems
— Only supports AU plugin format
— Workflow tailored more for composition and mixing than experimentation
Logic Pro X is some of the best music production software for Macs available, and that’s not just because it happens to be Apple’s flagship digital audio workstation. In addition to being competitively priced and offering a huge library of high-quality sounds and effects, Logic has an easy-to-learn user interface and intuitive workflow that make it a fantastic choice for recording, mixing, and mastering music of any kind. While it shares plenty of design DNA with Apple’s free entry-level music production software, GarageBand, Logic Pro X offers a deeper and more flexible variety of editing tools, including a musical score view and a dedicated mixer panel to meet the needs of professional songwriters, engineers, and composers. The amplifier emulations, reverbs, software instruments, and loop samples that come bundled with Logic Pro X are also some of the best available, making it a particularly good DAW for composition and songwriting.
While Logic Pro X’s overall strength lies in its creativity-oriented design, its sound stretching and chopping tools aren’t quite as easy to access and use as those found in Ableton Live, making it less ideal for sampling and experimentation. Its audio editing capabilities also aren’t quite as snappy as those found in Pro Tools, though they are easier to grasp and master. Finally, Logic Pro X is a Mac-only program, leaving out users who can’t commit to the more expensive Apple ecosystem. If you fall into that category, Avid Pro Tools is your best bet for commercial audio recording and editing while Ableton Live is the best choice for making beats and electronic music.
Best for Hip Hop: Ableton Live
Why It Made The Cut: Ableton Live’s intuitive sound manipulation tools and extensive library of instruments and effects make it an ideal digital audio workstation for producing electronic music and experimental audio content.
Specs:
— System Compatibility: Windows, Mac
— System Requirements:
Mac: macOS 10.13 to 12
Windows: Windows 10
RAM: 8 GB minimum
Processor: Intel, AMD, Apple Silicon
— Plugin Format:
Mac: 64-bit VST2, VST3, AU
Windows: 64-bit VST2, VST3
Pros:
— Intuitive workflow ideal for electronic music and experimental sound tweaking
— Latest version adds more traditional production features like take comping
— Large library of synth sounds and effects
Cons:
— User interface could use a refresh; appears drab and utilitarian
— Full-featured Suite version costs significantly more than other DAWs
— No free upgrades as the software develops
Ableton Live is a widely popular DAW with a reputation for being some of the best music production software for hip hop and beatmaking, thanks to its robust creativity-centric workflow, extensive sound manipulation capabilities, and live performance integration. In addition to featuring plenty of sample-chopping and resampling tools, Ableton Live includes a vast library of over 1,500 sounds in its lowest-priced tier and over 5,000 in its full Suite edition, making it an ideal choice for experimenting and creating unique projects. The software’s intuitive session overview is also perfectly designed for looping and stacking phrases when building beats or songs, and when paired with a MIDI controller like the Ableton Push 2, users can harness Ableton’s live set capabilities to trigger clips and samples for live performance.
Historically, Ableton Live hasn’t offered the most robust or in-depth audio recording features when compared to other professional DAWs, but the most accurate version aims to step up its game by introducing recording tools, like take comping and a new effect stacking system. The software’s interface is still blocky and predominantly gray, making it look slightly drab and outdated when compared to other DAWs. While the Intro edition of Ableton is fairly affordable, it only permits a maximum of 16 audio tracks, while the unlimited Standard and Suite editions cost significantly more than a competitor like Logic Pro X. Despite these limitations, Ableton Live’s enormous sound library and flexible sound manipulation tools might make it the perfect tool for you if you produce hip hop, beats, or other electronic music.
Best for Beginners: Image Line FL Studio
Why It Made The Cut: FL Studio’s beat-focused workflow and EDM-centric production tools are some of the easiest to learn and master, making it a great choice for budding music producers.
Specs:
— System Compatibility: Windows, Mac
— System Requirements:
Mac: macOS 10.13.6 or later
Windows: Windows 8.1, 10, 11, or later
RAM: 4 GB minimum
Processor: Intel, AMD, Apple Silicon
— Plugin Format:
Mac: 64-bit VST & VST2, VST3, 64-bit AU, FL Studio proprietary
Windows: 32-bit and 64-bit VST & VST2, VST3, FL Studio proprietary
Pros:
— Affordable software with free lifetime upgrades
— Step sequencer and piano roll are among the best available
— Robust automation tools ideal for EDM production
Cons:
— Lacks some advanced audio editing tools like comping
— Difficult to keep larger or more complex sessions organized
— Unique workflow doesn’t translate well to other DAWs
FL Studio stands apart on this list with an incredibly simple step-based interface and automation tools that make some of the best music production software for beginners overall. While it’s not as capable at recording multi-track audio as some of its competitors, FL Studio’s simple grid-based point-and-click workflow includes one of the best piano roll and step sequencer systems available in any DAW as well as extensive automation options. These tools make FL Studio very easy to learn, and thanks to its large library of samples, instruments, and effects, it’s a fantastic choice for making beats and producing electronic music at any skill level.
While the visual simplicity of FL Studio’s workflow is one of the major reasons that it’s so great for beginning producers, it’s different enough from other pro DAW software that much of the knowledge and workflow won’t be transferable. It lacks comping and other audio editing features that some users might consider essential, making it less than ideal for producing non-electronic styles of music, and session files can often become visually disorganized and unwieldy when the music becomes complex. Still, FL Studio is significantly more affordable than many of its competitors, and because all users get free lifetime updates, it’s an all-around solid value for beginners and pros alike.
Best Free: Apple GarageBand
Why It Made The Cut: GarageBand offers a streamlined library of musical loops, software instruments, and recording tools to every Mac user at no cost.
Specs:
— System Compatibility: Mac
— System Requirements:
RAM: 4 GB minimum
Processor: Intel, Apple Silicon
— Plugin Format: AU
Pros:
— Simple and intuitive user interface with some advanced features
— Includes high-quality library of instruments and effects
— Comes free on every Mac; iPad and iPhone version available
Cons:
— Requires a Mac computer or iOS device; no Windows version
— Limited flexibility; no mixer view, rudimentary track inspector
— Fixed demo rate of 44.1 kHz
If you’ve ever produced music, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard of GarageBand, Apple’s free-to-use digital audio workstation for macOS and iOS. As far as free music production software goes, GarageBand stands head-and-shoulders above the rest thanks to its simple and intuitive design, combined with a large library of high-quality sounds that include drum samples, synths, and guitar amp emulations. While GarageBand inexplicably lacks useful features found in other pro DAWs like a mixing console view and individual channel inspectors, its clean and blocky user interface makes it incredibly easy to start making music from scratch in no time at all. It also includes basic automation features for automatic adjustment of panning, volume, and other parameters, and all of its project files are fully compatible with Logic Pro X if and when users decide to upgrade their DAW.
While GarageBand is a great option for fast songwriting and musical sketching that can even be used to make commercial recordings, its design is fairly inflexible, requiring users to operate within the software’s beginner-friendly parameters with few exceptions. It also doesn’t support audio recording at demo rates above 44.1 kHz, preventing users from creating high-resolution projects that meet the industry standard. Still, GarageBand is entirely free to Mac, iPad, and iPhone users, making it a useful tool that’s worth checking out whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro. If you’re a Windows user looking for a free DAW, Cakewalk by Bandlab is a good option that’s been kept consistently up-to-date for years.
Things to Consider Before Buying Music Production Software
Style of Music: While the best music production software is generally flexible enough to use for a variety of genres and styles, some are much better suited to certain types of music than others. For example, sampling-oriented digital audio workstations like FL Studio or Ableton Live are more tailored for producing novel sounds and electronic music than Logic Pro X or Pro Tools, which offer smoother and more intuitive workflows for multi-track audio recording and editing.
Computer Age: One of the largest drawbacks to digital audio recording is waning compatibility and support in older computers, all of which will eventually stop working with the existing versions of music production software. If you’re looking for the most cutting-edge music production experience, make sure to double check your computer’s specs against the software’s requirements before committing.
Operating System: Unfortunately, not all music production software works with all operating systems. Apple GarageBand and Logic Pro X are two of the most widely used digital audio workstations, but they only run on Mac systems, leaving out Windows users. If you’re looking to maximize the accessibility of your session files across multiple systems, choosing DAWs like Pro Tools or Ableton Live that are compatible with Windows and Mac is the safest option.
Audio Project Scale: Some music production software is great for sketching out musical ideas or creating small-scale projects while others are better for tackling larger and more complex compositions. FL Studio is a good example of a DAW that makes it very easy to begin composing while requiring a lot of user intervention to keep projects organized as they grow. While all of the DAWs on this list can handle projects of different sizes, GarageBand or FL Studio are generally some of the best for jumpstarting creativity while Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, and Ableton Live are better suited for larger-scale production.
FAQs
Q: How much does music production software typically cost?
Music production software typically costs anywhere between completely free to near $1,000, and this is for the digital audio workstation alone. Additional plugins, which include software effects and instruments, can sometimes cost multiple hundreds of dollars each and be a significant contributing factor in the overall cost of a music production software collection.
Final Thoughts on the Best Music Production Software
If you’re primarily editing audio for commercial purposes and work with industry standard software, Pro Tools is the best music production software overall for handling complicated tasks with relative ease. If you’re a Mac user looking to complete some of the same tasks with a bit more access to creativity-oriented tools, Logic Pro X might be more your thing. Ableton Live is still some of the best music production software for hip hop and beat making, thanks to its quick and intuitive demo editing tools, while FL Studio is the best option for beginners due to its simple workflow. Finally, if you’re looking to save some money, GarageBand is still the best free music production software currently out there, but you’ll need a Mac to use it.
This post was created by a non-news editorial team at Recurrent Media, Futurism’s owner. Futurism may receive a portion of sales on products linked within this post.
FOX News Go uses about 2GB per hour of SD viewing and 4GB per hour of HD viewing. This can vary depending on your device and internet connection. If you are concerned about your data usage we recommend not streaming over a cellular network and contacting your Internet or Cellular Service Provider.
FOX News will stream at the highest quality possible based on your device and internet connection quality. For the best quality we recommend streaming via Wi-Fi or 4G.
You can watch FOX News Channel on FOX News Go and FOX Business Network on FOX Business Go.
To add the Bucks schedule to your calendar - click the link below. If your phone or computer does not automatically recognize the link, you will need to copy the link and manually add it to your calendar program through its settings and options features. Typically in most calendar programs, select “add” or “subscribe” to a calendar, then choose “From internet” and paste in the URL link copied from below.
In the three years following the Battle of Midway, the Japanese built six aircraft carriers. The U.S. built 17. American industry provided almost two-thirds of all the Allied military equipment produced during the war: 297,000 aircraft, 193,000 artillery pieces, 86,000 tanks and two million army trucks. In four years, American industrial production, already the world's largest, doubled in size.
"You felt that you had to get this done as soon as you can and as fast as you can. You wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. And we did whatever was necessary." -Jeroline Green
“Powerful enemies must be out-fought and out-produced,” President Franklin Roosevelt told Congress and his countrymen less than a month after Pearl Harbor. “It is not enough to turn out just a few more planes, a few more tanks, a few more guns, a few more ships than can be turned out by our enemies,” he said. “We must out-produce them overwhelmingly, so that there can be no question of our ability to provide a crushing superiority of equipment in any theatre of the world war.”
Two years earlier, America’s military preparedness was not that of a nation expecting to go to war. In 1939, the United States Army ranked thirty-ninth in the world, possessing a cavalry force of fifty thousand and using horses to pull the artillery. Many Americans — still trying to recover from the decade-long ordeal of the Great Depression — were reluctant to participate in the conflict that was spreading throughout Europe and Asia. President Roosevelt did what he could to coax a reluctant nation to focus its economic might on military preparedness. If the American military wasn’t yet equal to the Germans or the Japanese, American workers could build ships and planes faster than the enemy could sink them or shoot them down.
In the wake of Pearl Harbor, the president set staggering goals for the nation’s factories: 60,000 aircraft in 1942 and 125,000 in 1943; 120,000 tanks in the same time period and 55,000 antiaircraft guns. In an attempt to coordinate government war agencies Roosevelt created the War Production Board in 1942 and later in 1943 the Office of War Mobilization. To raise money for defense, the government relied on a number of techniques — calling on the American people to ration certain commodities, generating more tax revenue by lowering the personal exemption and selling government war bonds to individuals and financial institutions. All of these methods served to provide the government with revenue and at the same time keep inflation under control.
War production profoundly changed American industry. Companies already engaged in defense work expanded. Others, like the automobile industry, were transformed completely. In 1941, more than three million cars were manufactured in the United States. Only 139 more were made during the entire war. Instead, Chrysler made fuselages. General Motors made airplane engines, guns, trucks and tanks. Packard made Rolls-Royce engines for the British air force. And at its vast Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, the Ford Motor Company performed something like a miracle 24-hours a day. The average Ford car had some 15,000 parts. The B-24 Liberator long-range bomber had 1,550,000. One came off the line every 63 minutes.
America launched more vessels in 1941 than Japan did in the entire war. Shipyards turned out tonnage so fast that by the autumn of 1943 all Allied shipping sunk since 1939 had been replaced. In 1944 alone, the United States built more planes than the Japanese did from 1939 to 1945. By the end of the war, more than half of all industrial production in the world would take place in the United States.
Wartime production boomed as citizens flocked to meet the demand for labor. Tensions were often high between labor unions, which in spite of no-strike pledges felt the need to protect worker’s rights and could not stop strikes altogether, and citizens were outraged to hear of any work stoppages. In one instance when the United Mine Workers went on strike in 1943, newspapers condemned the miners as traitors. On June 25, 1943, Congress passed the War Labor Disputes (Smith-Connally) Act that authorized the President to take over plants needed for the war effort or in which war production had ceased because of a labor dispute.
While 16 million men and women marched to war, 24 million more moved in search of defense jobs, often for more pay than they previously had ever earned. Eight million women stepped into the work force and ethnic groups such as African Americans and Latinos found job opportunities as never before.
“Most of the people who got out of high school if they were female and didn’t go to the war, they went to Mobile,” said Emma Belle Petcher, who moved to the city from the tiny town of Millry, Alabama. “That was the place to go and get a job. And there were all kinds of jobs.”
World War II utterly transformed Mobile and its economy. The explosion began in the late 1930s, when local companies such as Alcoa began producing war materiel for Japan and European countries. Local shipyards won contracts to build Liberty ships and destroyers in 1940, and by the time America entered the war in late 1941, Mobile was already booming. The Alcoa plant processed millions of pounds of alumina used to build many of the 304,000 airplanes America produced during the war; the Waterman Steamship Company boasted one of the nation’s largest merchant fleets, and Mobile became one of the busiest shipping and shipbuilding ports in the nation. In 1940, Gulf Shipbuilding had had 240 employees; by 1943, it had 11,600. Alabama Dry Dock went from 1,000 workers to almost 30,000.
Like the shipyards in Mobile and plane-repair facilities near Sacramento, factories in Waterbury, Connecticut were transformed to keep up with the war. The Mattatuck Manufacturing Company switched from making upholstery nails to cartridge clips for the Springfield rifle, and soon was turning out three million clips a week. The American Brass Company made more than two billion pounds of brass rods, sheets and tubes during the war. The Chase Brass and Copper Company made more than 50 million cartridge cases and mortar shells, more than a billion small caliber bullets and, eventually, components used in the atomic bomb.
Scovill Manufacturing produced so many different military items, the Waterbury Republican reported, that “there wasn’t an American or British fighting man … who wasn’t dependent on [the company] for some part of the food, clothing, shelter and equipment that sustained [him] through the … struggle.”
Many factories ran around the clock. “It was seven days a week,” said Clyde Odom of Mobile. “And during the war when it was so strong, it was twelve-hour days five days a week, ten hours on Saturday, eight hours on Sunday, you felt like you've had a week off. And that went in and out, over, over and over and over.”
“Money seemed to be the least of the concerns,” Ray Leopold of Waterbury said. “The thing was to produce material that will win the war and bring their boys home.”
With the economy booming, Americans felt their lives improving.
“Things started getting better and better and better for the people who had to stay behind,” Sacramento’s William Perkins said. “People were doing real good economically. And it was a big boost from the end of the Depression up until the war ended and it just rolled on.”
Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investor’s point of view. We also respect individual opinions––they represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.
To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.
Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.
The group, titled Stand With Production, comprises an estimated 5,000 TV workers, a majority of whom have signaled their support for joining the crew union, a result confirmed by a third-party arbitrator.
In a statement, IATSE international president Matthew Loeb said, “From the beginning, the Stand With Production movement has been about finding a way to open a dialogue with the powers that be and codify those solutions into written agreements. That will now become a reality for thousands of workers.“
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, AICP president and CEO Matt Miller said, “We entered a democratic process where we gave employees and the union the opportunity to demonstrate that a majority of people actually wanted to be represented by this union. They did demonstrate it and now we will meet with the union to try to find an equitable arrangement that works for both us and them.”
The Stand With Production group went public with its initiative a year ago, seeking to form a national union and looking for voluntary recognition from the AICP.
The AICP, which bargains on behalf of companies that produce commercials in labor negotiations, initially resisted, with Miller suggesting “areas of concern” regarding the unionization effort, including his projections that the Stand With Production effort could result in the eradication of jobs and income for these workers and “currently represented IATSE crew,” runaway production to other countries and “work rules agreements and overly restrictive jurisdictional boundaries.”
However, in October 2022 the AICP had inked a neutrality agreement with IATSE over the unionization effort, essentially promising to voluntarily recognize the group if a majority of workers signed union cards Verified by a third-party arbitrator. Workers were eligible if they had worked two applicable jobs on AICP projects in the past 12 months.
As THR reported in the summer of 2022, the Stand With Production group began with a walk-off of production workers, the COVID compliance team and the script supervisor on a commercial for a major tech company in the fall of 2021. Erin Wile and Cheyenne Cage, whose walk-off over working conditions inspired others to do the same on the commercial, received so many emails and phone calls about the demonstration that they began organizing virtual “town halls” to discuss the situation of production workers on commercials. Eventually, after the Wile- and Cage-led group released a set of labor standards that it believed the industry should adhere to, it began exploring the prospect of unionization and connected with IATSE, which represented other crewmembers on TV commercials. “It’s an unusual but welcome thing for this level of organization to exist prior to an actual unionization campaign,” a source close to the union told THR in July 2022 of the Stand With Production group.
In a call on Tuesday, Wile and Cage called the development that their group had won a majority “surreal.” Said Cage, “Today I think is the first day it’s starting to settle in and feel like we actually did this.”
The pair note that the final stage of the organizing process involved workers filling out and sending their union cards through a mail-based verification system. Because there were some attendant issues, such as letters getting lost in the mail or being sent to old addresses, a group of around 30 to 40 volunteers phone banked to reach out to every member in the potential bargaining unit and determine if they received the letter, also encouraging them to return them on time. “I feel like we were Sisyphus in this process so many times, pushing the boulder up the hill, and this was like our last final hurdle,” says Cage.
The Stand With Production effort marked IATSE’s second attempt to unionize commercial production workers in the accurate past. A few years ago, production supervisors, assistant production supervisors and IATSE Local 871 attempted to get these workers covered under a sideletter in the latter’s commercials agreement, an attempt that eventually failed.
