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.
September 1, 2021
by Matt Allen, AFM Electronic Media Services Division Contract Administrator In films produced all across the United States and Canada, musicians are regularly employed by film producers for sideline work. Sidelining is when a musician is engaged to “mime” the playing of an instrument on camera, typically to a prerecording that is played back on […]
September 1, 2021
by John Painting, AFM Electronic Media Services Division Assistant Director Let’s say you’re approached to contract musicians for a project that is going to end up on a basic cable network, like TBS or Lifetime, and the producer is asking about a potential budget for the musicians. You head to your local’s website and the […]
September 1, 2021
by Carl Schilde, Canadian Federation of Musicians, Contract and Licensing Coordinator Since the dawn of the recording age, tens upon thousands of union contracts have been safely stowed away in dusty storage bunkers beneath the ice sheets of the northern Yukon—all in perfect chronological and alphabetical order. This is just so that, in the year […]
September 1, 2021
by Pat Varriale, AFM Electronic Media Services Division Director and Assistant to the President One of the many types of projects the EMSD is involved with is musician recordings that take place at venues in the United States and are ultimately released as sound recordings. The following narrative describes one case for which the EMSD […]
August 1, 2021
Welcome to the first Organizing-focused issue of the International Musician. You may be familiar with the phrase “organizing is the lifeblood of labor unions,” but what exactly is organizing? Broadly, it is people joining together around shared issues to build collective power and win positive change. In my early career as a touring theater musician, […]
August 1, 2021
When it comes to labor organizing, it takes hard work and collective action to win. But often it only takes one person to start that change in motion. In March, cellist Theo Zimmerman of Local 802 (New York City), one of a group of musicians from all over the Northeast, was contacted about several days […]
July 31, 2021
When we think of union campaigns, we often think of people in the streets, a media presence, and pressure from the public, but these are actually the fruits of successful organizing that preceded them. Any organizer who has run a successful campaign knows the amount of preparation, research, and planning that is put in ahead […]
July 1, 2021
Find out what has been going on in the Symphonic Services Division amidst COVID-19 with this update from the SSD Director Rochelle Skolnick.
July 1, 2021
by Deborah Newmark, AFM Director of Symphonic Electronic Media As I write this, we are 15 months into the COVID-19 pandemic and on the threshold of transitioning back to normal in the US. At the start of the pandemic, as musicians all over the world were sent home without any idea of when they would […]
July 1, 2021
by Meredith Snow, ICSOM Chair and Member of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) After 15 months of pandemic paralysis, our orchestras are going back to work. The quick nationwide rollout of vaccines by the Biden administration is creating the possibility of a near-normal summer season and the probability of a full return this fall. It […]