Music Performance Trust Fund’s Return to Prominence

September 1, 2024

Dan Beck  -  Trustee, Music Performance Trust Fund

Over the past 25 years, the recording industry’s Music Performance Trust Fund (MPTF) experienced an extraordinarily long fall from grace due to advances of technology that annihilated physical music products. Conversely, a steady climb from that abyss brought us full circle to the MPTF of today.

As in the Rolling Stone’s refrain, “You can’t always get what you want,” the revenues may never again reach the levels of the music business heydays of the 1980s. However, from an abysmal low of $680,000 in FY 2015-2016, signatory support has settled in at nearly $6 million per annum.

As we all struggled through the pandemic, there were three factors that could be considered a silver lining. We created a livestream event offering, established a scholarship program for union member families, and rebuilt our depleted financial reserve to protect future grants.

As union locals struggled to re-engage, and successfully re-establish admission-free live performances, we have seen our grant distribution expand from $1.3 million in FY 2020-2021 to $2.4 million the following year, to $4.8 million in FY 2023-2024. This enormous growth is a tribute to the organizational work of our participating locals and to our grant team as well.

The result is that grants, plus operational overhead, now constitute a dollar-in, dollar-out reality. And now, as streaming revenue from the signatories have begun to plateau, we anticipate our grant budget to remain constant for the foreseeable future. Although it is a lesser factor, we do see a possibility of continued growth in licensing income.

What lies ahead is the challenge of balancing our funds equitably through our allocation system. This year, nine more locals participated in our grants than the previous year. This limits our ability to allow a few locals to dramatically exceed their annual allocation.

The future path to effectively and strategically grow MPTF support is through grants with 50/50 matching funds. Using our funds to leverage local co-sponsorship has been a successful model for locals throughout the MPTF’s 75-year history. We see this growing, and we applaud the locals pursuing this path to growth.

While using our resources to provide supplemental income for union local membership is a primary goal, attention to the quality of live music events can help bring additional partners to the table. This demonstrates the leadership the AFM brings to communities through our grants.

MPTF grants are a collaborative effort. They are a financial resource to prime the pump. They are all about creating meaningful music culture and quality of life for communities throughout the US and Canada. We celebrate the spirit and work of AFM union locals to make music available to everyone, young and old.

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MPTF Awards $119,000 in Academic Scholarships

The Music Performance Trust Fund (MPTF) has granted $119,000 in academic support to 114 college and university students in the US and Canada for the upcoming school year.

This year, the Music’s Future scholarship was awarded to 27 students pursuing music-related degrees. The Music Family scholarship supports families of AFM musicians as they pursue higher education in their chosen field. This year, recipients represented 40 different AFM locals. Some are pursuing careers in music performance, while others are studying engineering, law, and art history, among other fields.

The 2024 scholarship applicants were asked to submit an essay on the impact of artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence on their studies and future careers.

“The student essays this year were impressive, enlightening, provocative, and reassuring. I’m pleased to see the next generation taking the challenging issues of technology seriously in heart and mind,” says Dan Beck, MPTF trustee.

Scholarships represent approximately 3% of MPTF’s annual grant distribution. Since reviving the scholarship initiative in 2020, the MPTF has distributed 576 scholarships to benefit aspiring professional musicians and the children of professional musicians.

View full list of 2024 scholarship winners at: www.musicpf.org

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