Now is the right time to become an American Federation of Musicians member. From ragtime to rap, from the early phonograph to today's digital recordings, the AFM has been there for its members. And now there are more benefits available to AFM members than ever before, including a multi-million dollar pension fund, excellent contract protection, instrument and travelers insurance, work referral programs and access to licensed booking agents to keep you working.
As an AFM member, you are part of a membership of more than 80,000 musicians. Experience has proven that collective activity on behalf of individuals with similar interests is the most effective way to achieve a goal. The AFM can negotiate agreements and administer contracts, procure valuable benefits and achieve legislative goals. A single musician has no such power.
The AFM has a proud history of managing change rather than being victimized by it. We find strength in adversity, and when the going gets tough, we get creative - all on your behalf.
Like the industry, the AFM is also changing and evolving, and its policies and programs will move in new directions dictated by its members. As a member, you will determine these directions through your interest and involvement. Your membership card will be your key to participation in governing your union, keeping it responsive to your needs and enabling it to serve you better. To become a member now, visit www.afm.org/join.
October 1, 2020
Robert “Doc” Morgan is the 2020 inductee into DownBeat magazine’s Jazz Education Hall of Fame. Now retired, Morgan served for 23 years as director of jazz studies at Houston’s Kinder High School for Performing and Visual Arts, the school that has spawned so many of the jazz world’s current pacesetters, including: • Mark Kelley, Local […]
Read MoreOctober 1, 2020
Financial Assistance Extended From 6 to 24 Weeks, Only One Application Form After eight years of work, the Toronto Musicians’ Association (TMA) has created a new benevolent fund that will augment existing programs to help members through times of financial need due to long-term illness. The Member Assistance Fund (MAF) became fully implemented this past […]
Read MoreOctober 1, 2020
(français) The Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians (OCSM) held its 2020 conference online for the first time from August 10-12 using the Zoom platform. Before diving into the conference topics, I should add that in addition to our three days in August, delegates also met online over three days in late May to give our […]
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2020
Engineering a Musical Community Mike Muszynski loves music. But he also loves to understand how things work. This double passion has guided his life, and is why he is a professional musician who also has an engineering degree and two music-related iPhone apps to his credit. This also goes to the heart of why he […]
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2020
On April 30, the musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, members of Local 72-147 (Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX), ratified a one-year agreement that runs from August 1, 2020 through July 31, 2021. The musicians were pleased that there were no cuts in pay or benefits reflected in this agreement. The orchestra continues to maintain 100% […]
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2020
Sean J. Kennedy On Independence Day 2020, a group of world-class percussion and brass musicians released a new arrangement of a Revolutionary War-era fife and drum tune, “The Downfall of Paris,” as a YouTube video. The idea sprang from the solitude of quarantine, during which Sean J. Kennedy, of Local 341 (Norristown, PA), the Philadelphia-based […]
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2020
Danny Strimer Local 257 (Nashville, TN) composer-guitarist-vocalist Danny Strimer’s New Love Songs is a 10-song travelogue of the heart. Strimer co-wrote the album and co-produced the recording sessions in Nashville. Also performing on the album is Local 257 bassist Brian Zonn. “After doing a good amount of writing and performing pop and country songs, I […]
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2020
Nashville Picker is One-of-a-Kind You don’t often hear a Music City drawl layered on top of a Russian accent, but that’s far from the only way that Nashville picker Ilya Toshinskiy is one-of-a-kind. Born in Obninsk, a small city about an hour south of Moscow, Toshinskiy got his childhood musical start on the classical guitar. […]
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2020
As everyone knows all too well, the COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the music industry. Whether it is from the prohibition of live music in bars and restaurants, the furloughing of orchestral players, or the shuttering of recording studios, musicians have been walking a high wire for seven months. Everyone has been wondering where their next […]
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2020
August Pappas’ crafty arrangement of Schubert’s Impromptu No. 3 captures the Romantic Style aspects of Schubert’s music and makes them available for keyboard percussionists. Originally composed in the unusual key of G-flat major, Pappas has transposed it to C major to better function on a standard-ranged vibraphone. Franz Schubert Impromptu No. 3 (for Solo Vibraphone), […]
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