Officer Columns, Vice President from Canada

Married to the Band

April 15, 2019

In the absence of a written agreement, there is automatic equal ownership of the assets, equal distribution of income, joint and several liability, and the duties and responsibilities are not apportioned. Quite literally, you are married to the band.

New Directive from USCIS

April 10, 2019

Last year, the Department for Professional Employees (DPE) of the AFL-CIO hosted a meeting with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director L. Francis Cissna and the coordinating committees of several Arts, Entertainment and Media Industry (AEMI) unions.

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.

The Perfect Storm

March 6, 2019

In the first half of 2019 our New York Office is facing “the perfect storm.” A confluence of Federation events, culminating with our June AFM Convention, will be challenging to say the least.

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

Changes at the Musicians’ Pension Fund of Canada/CBC Agreement Update

March 1, 2019

I have been advised that long-time employer trustee and chair of the Musicians’ Pension Fund of Canada, Stanley J. Shortt, has retired from the board of trustees for personal reasons.

Streaming Leads to Slim Profits

February 22, 2019

As discussed last month, album sales have dropped dramatically as consumption has moved decisively toward streaming as the preferred platform. Recent information available online through Digitalmusicnews.com paints a different picture in terms of how artists can expect to benefit from various streaming services.

The AFM: Finding Strength in a Diverse Membership

February 19, 2019

Diversity within our union cannot be celebrated enough. While our membership runs the gamut in ethnicity, musical genre, age, and gender, the paucity of diversity within many of the workplaces in which we have representational duties continues to impede our effectiveness and growth.

Union Election Transitions

February 7, 2019

In the December 2016 issue of the International Musician, I devoted my column in part to union election transitions. It seems like a good time to revisit the topic. We think of December as the month that brings the year to a close and January as a month that sets the stage for new beginnings. Many union elections take place in December, and from time to time, new union officers are elected to take the reins of their local. On occasion, the election can be preceded by contentious campaigns that leave the outgoing officers feeling unappreciated.

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.