Ray Hair

AFM International President

TV, Film Agreements Extended Again; Contract Streaming Fight Begins

May 2, 2019

On March 18, after a week of intense negotiations, an agreement was reached with major Hollywood film producers and their television film counterparts to extend the existing Theatrical and Motion Picture Film agreements until November 14, 2019, with a 2% increase in wages.

Musician’s Streaming Income: Growing and Glaring Disparity

April 2, 2019

The economy of streaming media is booming, but those of us who make and create the music—featured and nonfeatured alike, instrumentalists, singers, composers, copyists, and arrangers—are not receiving our fair share of the pie.

Status Report—AFM Pension Fund

March 4, 2019

If you’ve been following the status of the American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-EPF), you know it has been facing severe funding problems since the Great Recession, despite earning relatively good investment returns since then and receiving a significant contribution increase

Recruitment, Retention, and Organizing with a Revitalized Music Performance Trust Fund

February 4, 2019

After suffering decades of budget reductions from funding cuts imposed by regressive record industry proposals that were first agreed to by the Federation in 1983, new money from online interactive digital distribution and licensing of sound recordings, bargained from the industry by the Federation in 2017, have breathed new life into MPTF.

Live Concert Venues and Media Rights: Are Musicians Sold Short?

January 2, 2019

When we consider fair wages and working conditions for musicians working roadshows, the Federation’s Pamphlet B and Short Engagement Tour Agreements (SET) are the gold standard.

Streaming: The Economy of Listening

December 2, 2018

Below are excerpts from a keynote speech given by SoundExchange President and CEO Mike Huppe at the AFM-FIM International Streaming Conference held in Burbank, California, October 2-3.

Rallying in Support of Striking Lyric Opera Orchestra Musicians

November 2, 2018

Following is the text of a speech Ray Hair gave October 12, in Chicago’s Daley Plaza in support of striking Lyric Opera Orchestra musicians.

AFM-FIM Conference: Musicians Are Entitled to a Fair Share of the Streaming Pie

October 2, 2018

At the AFM-FIM conference on October 2 and 3 in Burbank, CA, AFM and FIM members will discuss fair pay for musicians in television and streaming.

Theater Musicians Association—25 Years of Workplace Involvement

September 2, 2018

TMA is the newest AFM player conference. It began its journey 25 years ago, and is now comprised of chapters organized among locals that negotiate local agreements with theatrical venues and presenters that book Pamphlet B tours.

Networks Feel Street Heat at Negotiations

August 2, 2018

The #RespectTheBand campaign resonated—prompting coverage from Variety and Deadline Hollywood. Never before had concerted activity toward the networks and their source-program producers occurred on such an aggressive scale.