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.
Ken Shirk – AFM International Secretary-Treasurer
March 1, 2025
Anyone who lived through the early 1980s will remember US President Reagan’s sabre-rattling with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War with its attendant threat of imminent nuclear annihilation—a group of senile old men in the Kremlin and a has-been actor in the White House, each with their gnarled fingers poised over […]
February 1, 2025
Since January 20 of this year, the relentless 24-hour news cycle drumbeat has forced me to reflect upon just what makes a nation great. I’ve read Project 2025, and it does not chart a pathway to national greatness. “A great nation is one that can feed the people.” That’s what a wise old Lakota elder […]
January 1, 2025
Just the facts, ma’am Just as there is a season for the cold, dry Arctic air to sweep across the Canadian tundra, so is there a season for a Secretary-Treasurer to dust the reader’s eyes with cold, dry financial information. As a rank-and-file member, I often found this kind of information to be singularly uninteresting, […]
December 1, 2024
The one thing I appreciate about the outcome of the US elections this year is that the results are unambiguous. This provides a heightened clarity of purpose for the next two years, if not the next four, for anyone who makes a living in the arts or who works in the labor movement. Funding for […]
November 1, 2024
As of this writing, the US presidential elections have not yet been held, although I suspect that as this paper hits the membership’s mailboxes, the votes will have been counted, the networks will have announced a winner, and the promised lawsuits challenging the outcome will have been filed. Can American musicians look forward to a […]
October 1, 2024
In the world of AFM policy wonks, the perception is that the AFM Secretary-Treasurer is in charge of International Musician. The reality, however, is that the AFM International Executive Board is the supervisor of the paper. My job is to make sure that we have the staff to produce it and get it into the […]
September 1, 2024
When this administration stepped into office a year ago, one of the first messages awaiting me was a notice from the Federation’s group membership insurance broker that AIG/New Hampshire was pulling the plug on the AFM’s long-running musical instrument and band liability insurance programs for US members. That started what became a months-long scramble by […]
August 1, 2024
Feedback: Reader Calls for Contrition Over Condescending “Crazies” Comment I thank member Lang for his feedback to my July column, see Feedback letter below. (Full disclosure: Portions of member Lang’s letter that referred to President Biden’s mental health, Trump’s felony conviction, past reportage on COVID remediation policies, and the 2016 Russian election collusion were omitted […]
July 1, 2024
The article on page 6 of the July IM issue describes the many executive actions taken by US President Biden that have leveled the playing field between working people and their employers and that will operate to bring new good jobs as a reinvestment in the economy. These are actions that any US president may […]
June 1, 2024
I recently watched the documentary, Power, which describes the evolution of policing on our continent. Being American-centric in nature, it maps out policing in the US over the decades and centuries—from its original purpose of re-capturing escaped enslaved people, to Reconstruction where police violently enforced laws suppressing social and economic advancement of the formerly enslaved, […]