Writing Our Obituary Is Not an Option: We Must Defend Our Rights

September 1, 2026

Dusty Kelly  -  AFM International Executive Board and Executive Director Local 149 (Toronto, ON)

The AFM has consistently prioritized generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in bargaining. As our Canadian national electronic media contracts come up for renewal, we are working to incorporate GAI language that protects musicians’ recording work. Musical content recorded for film, television, or digital media is “covered work” under our agreements, whether those recordings use GAI or not, and should attract corresponding payments and protections.

Our most recent success was ensuring the three Cs—consent, credit, and compensation—were addressed in the recently ratified National Film Board Agreement.

We have now been in negotiations with the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) for two years on a GAI Side Letter to the Independent Production Agreement (IPA). We have not concluded, and the entire agreement comes back up for renewal in 2027.

The Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA) negotiations have raised a louder alarm. The concern is no longer only whether new GAI language can be negotiated, it is whether recordings made in the past and today are being used in ways musicians never agreed to nor control.

The record labels’ position is blunt: side musicians are “work for hire” and the labels own the recording. If accepted, that position would allow the labels to use session recordings to train GAI without fair compensation for either the input or output. The AFM does not accept this.

Many musicians may feel pressured to accept “work for hire” gigs. If your sound is unique and recognizable, once it is fed into the machine, it may no longer be yours to control.

In the 1940s, AFM President James C. Petrillo warned that musicians should not keep making recordings that were “making their own competition.” As mechanical recordings and jukeboxes spread, thousands of live performance musicians saw their work disappear. The AFM responded with a lengthy strike, and part of the settlement was the creation of the Music Performance Trust Fund. Recording continued, and the landscape changed forever.

This is another such moment—except now, the recording itself is under threat.

History tells us that we must not be passive. We are organizing, and we need your help: share your stories, spread the word, talk to your colleagues, remind newer musicians of their rights, honour your AFM obligation to record only under AFM agreements, and document everything.

The choices made at the front end of a recording engagement matter. The protection is documentation: strong collective agreements and recording contracts that preserve compensation, consent, and control over both the input and output.

If you are planning a recording project, or have a job offer that comes with a request to sign away your rights, please reach out before you sign. For Canadian members, we are ready to assist, through our Canadian Office or your local union office.

Writing our obituary is not an option. We are defending musicians’ rights.

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