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.
July 1, 2022
Over the past 28 months, I have gauged the progress of the pandemic by the kinds of questions arriving in my inbox. I will never forget the palpable panic in the very first round of questions I received from local officers, committees, and musicians back in March 2020. Questions about things like musicians’ rights to […]
July 1, 2022
Negotiating season is in full force as AFM orchestras are in the process of bargaining successor collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). At the same time, the Integrated Media Agreement (IMA) has come up for renewal. The current 2019-2022 IMA term expires on June 30, 2022. The AFM will be bargaining the successor agreement with the Employers’ […]
July 1, 2022
by Adam DeSorgo, AFM Symphonic Services Division Negotiator It is wonderful to see musicians returning to the stage and audiences returning to concert halls. However, amid the good news, orchestra committees and locals are dealing with increasingly complex sets of problems: COVID-19 protocols, requests for extensions, grievances, and collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations. Some employers […]
April 1, 2022
But what has unfolded over these past two years has been far more complicated than any of us imagined and the notion of a post-COVID world has given way to one in which we learn to live, uneasily, alongside a devastating disease that has shown its ability to upend our plans again and again.
January 1, 2022
by Wages Argott, AFM Director of Freelance Services and Membership Development Let’s talk about 2021, our first full calendar year under the shadow of COVID-19. I, like everyone else, finished 2020 grateful that my family and I were alive and healthy and we all still had roofs over our heads. I gave little thought to […]
December 1, 2021
January The Riot on Capitol Hill On January 6, a violent mob of President Donald Trump supporters sought to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election by disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to formalize President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. On January 7, AFM President Ray Hair issued this statement: “The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and […]
November 1, 2021
by Tino Gagliardi, AFM Director of Theatre, Touring, and Booking Division It’s been a long time coming, but after 18 months, Broadway’s touring shows have finally reopened. Officially, the pandemic has not been declared “over,” but touring musicians, on-location musicians, stagehands, and production crews are returning to work. In 2020, 23 AFM-covered touring productions were […]
October 1, 2021
by Laura Ross, ICSOM Secretary, Nashville Symphony Member, and Member of Local 257 (Nashville, TN) It took an additional year for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) to host the 59th annual International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) Conference held August 11-14, 2021 at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown hotel. Our hosts from PSO […]
October 1, 2021
Earlier this spring it became apparent that the Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA) conference would be held virtually for a second year. We considered the impact of the COVID crisis on our orchestras and the resulting financial hits our musicians and locals had taken, as well as the hesitancy of many of our members to […]
September 1, 2021
by Dave Pomeroy, International Executive Board Member and President of Local 257 (Nashville, TN) Over the past few decades, even before the pandemic, almost everything about the way we make records has been transformed. Hit recordings are being made in bedrooms and basements as well as big commercial studios. Music consumers have more choices than […]