Tag Archives: award show

JUNO Award Week in Ottawa

by Robin Moir, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 180 (Ottawa, ON)

The week leading up to the April 2 JUNO Awards was exciting here in Ottawa. Not only were we able to sign a first-time, Canada-wide, three-year deal with CARAS for a CFM JUNO Agreement, but we were able to join in the fun of a city jam-packed with Canadian talent and fans! In all previous years, the agreement was signed year-to-year and negotiated between CARAS and the local of jurisdiction for the year’s event.

Nightclubs and bars were rockin’. There was a JUNO Cup Jam March 30. This year’s JUNO Songwriters’ Circle was hosted by 12-time JUNO Award winner and Local 180 (Ottawa, ON) member Bruce Cockburn, live at the National Arts Center April 2.

The 2017 JUNO Allan Waters Humanitarian Award went to Canadian singer-songwriter, educator, activist, and humanitarian Buffy Sainte-Marie, Ph.D., a member of Local 802 (New York City).

Ottawa also had something special planned for Sainte-Marie. The Speaker of the Senate, the Honourable George J. Furey Q.C., the Honourable Marilou McPhedran C.M., the Honourable Lillian Eva Dyck, the Honourable Sandra M. Lovelace Nicholas C.M., and the Honourable Murray Sinclair invited guests and members of Local 180 to a Senate event called “Celebration of the Power of Music,” honouring Sainte-Marie.

It was a remarkable occasion—the first time in the history of the Senate that music was celebrated. The first part of Sainte-Marie’s speech was dedicated to an initiative that the CFM has been lobbying for with the air transportation industry: carry-on allowances for musical instruments.

We were delighted to welcome such a powerful advocate for such an essential issue to our industry. We were also pleased to meet and greet many who believe, as we do, that the time has come for all air transportation corporations to offer musicians instrument carry-on opportunities.

“Minister of Transport Marc Garneau’s office is currently juggling a new passenger bill of rights, which we believe will address the issue of musicians travelling on airlines with musical instruments. We are so grateful to Sainte-Marie for her unsolicited support,” explains AFM International Representative from Canada Allistair Elliott. “We are committed to seeing this issue through to the end as we represent the interest of all musicians in Canada.”

Last but not least, Local 180 has been lucky to welcome Jacob Dioszghy as an intern. Dioszghy is a singer-songwriter and producer who is planning to study law. He is First Nations, like Sainte-Marie. Dioszghy’s mother was thrilled to discover he would have the opportunity to share in this wonderful event. Little did she guess that he would have a photo taken with one of her all-time favourite First Nations artists: Buffy Sainte-Marie.

CFM Focuses on Festival/Award Show Negotiations

Members were recently advised that the newly-negotiated agreement with the East Coast Music Association was overwhelmingly ratified. This was the first time in many years that the Canadian Office was directly involved with a primary labour dispute. While the necessity of such action is regrettable, status quo was not an option and neither was the absence of a workable agreement for musicians.

At the last meeting of the Canadian Conference in June 2016, the delegates were presented with some agreement templates suitable for use with festivals and award shows, particularly ones that change venue/city from year-to-year. While there is always room for negotiations, the conference deliberated on format language that could serve as the basis regardless of location. As a result, when the ECMA first indicated they were not interested in renewing the previous agreement, the CFM had no choice but use all means available to reverse that decision.

With the Juno Awards less than a month away, our office is on the verge of signing a national agreement, which—again according to Conference mandate—would follow Junofest to wherever the event will take place in the next few years. Like the ECMA contract, we are working on pension being applicable to the showcase performances, as well as contracted events and the award show.

We have also entered into negotiations with the Western Canadian Music Alliance, with a view to establishing an agreement to cover the Break-Out West festival, which takes place in the fall. This year, it travels to Edmonton, Alberta. At the crux of these negotiations is the fact that this festival has evolved into a “networking” opportunity, making this a nonpaid event. Again, status quo is not an option and having no agreement in place to protect the musicians is unacceptable.

Next up will be the Canadian Country Music Association, with their event taking place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, later on this year. We have just begun to make contact, again with a view to establishing a mobile, national agreement.

While I am ex officio as a member of the negotiating team, our Standards Committee has come up with a workable format to spread the workload of bargaining. Therefore, International Representative Allistair Elliott will also serve, along with an officer from the host city where the event takes place in the current year, as well as officers from the previous and next host cities.

It’s important to understand how these negotiations impact upon you, the members. Without a CFM negotiated agreement in place, there would be no minimum standard fee. Without a CFM agreement, pension could not be paid. And finally, without a media agreement outlining the parameters of what can be recorded, for what purpose, and at what additional fee, there would be no control over ownership, replays, or other new uses of the tracks.

These events are also popular venues for emerging artists, many of them not yet AFM members. In Canada, we are able to extend our umbrella to protect them by establishing a Temporary Membership Permit (a version of the Rand Formula), which allows nonmembers to work under a union contract, if they pay a fair share of the cost.

Of particular importance is pension. While the subject matter of a retirement fund is a conversation most young musicians are not willing to have, we must bear in mind that our pension is a reality because of past generations of musicians who contracted for and negotiated pension into their contracts, in order to ensure that future members would have a comfortable retirement. The responsibility lies upon each of us to do the same for ourselves and generations to come. By not contracting for pension, you are letting the employer escape an obligation, and making it difficult for our pension to survive through a poor investment market. Please do your fair share so that we all may benefit for years to come.

The CFM is committed to establishing agreements with all festivals and award shows that feature live performance of musicians to establish fair wages, pension, and a level playing field for all musicians. It’s the right thing to do.

Full List of the 2015 Grammy Award AFM Member Nominees

The full list of the 2015 Grammy Awards have been revealed and we wanted to highlight and congratulate our fellow AFM members who were nominated.

 

Best American Roots Performance

Keb’ Mo’ local 47 (Los Angeles, CA)

 

Best Rock Performance

Arctic Monkeys’ members: Alex Turner (keyboard), Matt Helders (drums), and Jamie Cook (guitar) from local 802 (New York City).

Black Keys’ member: Patrick Carney, local 24 (Akron, OH)

 

Best Engineered Nonclassical Album

Keb’ Mo’ local 47 (Los Angeles, CA)

 

Best Metal Performance

Slipknot member: Corey Taylor, local 47 (Los Angeles, CA)

 

Best Country Duo/Group

Keith Urban, local 257 (Nashville, TN)

 

Best Country Solo Performance 

Hunter Hayes, local 257 (Nashville, TN)

Keith Urban, Local 257 (Nashville, TN)

 

Best Americana Album

Keb’ Mo’ local 47 (Los Angeles, CA)

 

Best American Album

Rosanne Cash, local 802 (New York City) – The River & The Thread

Nickel Creek members: Chris Thile (mandolin) and Mark Schatz (bassist) local 257 (Nashville, TN) and Sara Watkin (fiddle) local 47 (Los Angeles, CA)

 

Song of the Year

Meghan Trainor, local 257 (Nashville, TN) – “All About That Bass”

Taylor Swift, Local 257 (Nashville, TN) – “Shake It Off”

 

Best Country Song

Kenny Chesney, local 257 (NAshville, TN) – “American Kids”

Glen Campbell, local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) – “I’m Not Gonna Miss You”

 

Best Rock Album

Black Keys’ member: Patrick Carney, local 24 (Akron, OH) – Turn Blue

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) – Hypnotic Eye

 

Best Rock Song

Black Keys’ member: Patrick Carney, local 24 (Akron, OH) – “Fever”

Ryan Adams, Local 257 (Nashville, TN) – “Gimme Something Good”

 

Best Pop Solo Performance

John Legend, Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) – “All of Me” (Live Version)

Taylor Swift, Local 257 (Nashville, TN) – “Shake It Off”

 

Record of the Year

Taylor Swift, Local 257 (Nashville, TN) – “Shake It Off”

Meghan Trainor, Local 257 (Nashville, TN) – “All About That Bass”