WHY ARE SO MANY ROPA POSITIONS UNREPORTED?!?
Even though concertmasters have the opportunity to negotiate additional compensation rates, that does not ensure they will earn enough to be listed on an orchestra’s IRS Form 990. Currently, those forms are only required to list the five highest paid employees along with the five highest paid private contractors for personal and other services. Consequently, the additional payments resulting from an individual contract are not always enough to boost a concertmaster into a position as one of the five highest paid employees. As you can see in the table below, smaller budget organizations rarely pay concertmasters enough to breech that threshold which is why so many positions, especially those throughout Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA) ensembles, are not reported.
