Tag Archives: cds

b-4 reports
Electronic Media Services, International Musician

CDs and B-4 Report Forms Ensure Your Projects Are Covered

by Kim Wysocki, Administrative Assistant AFM Electronic Media Services Division

The importance of our CD Jacket Program has continued to grow over the years. Securing the release of all sound recording product (including box sets, anniversary packages, deluxe editions), which usually contain live and previously unreleased material, keeps this department busy. Coordinating the proper filing of B-4 forms for these recordings, as well as all recordings done under the Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA) is as vital as ever.

This office continues to pursue major record companies, including numerous covered labels and independent labels signed to the SRLA, in obtaining CDs, label copies, and any other information (including from digital releases), which are then researched by our department. When this process is complete, we share the information we gather with the AFM locals under whose jurisdiction the recordings took place.

We work together to ensure that B-4 reports were filed (including hours worked, doubles, overdubs), as well as make sure a current signatory is in place. We continue to coordinate our efforts with SAG-AFTRA, the pension fund, and the Sound Recording Special Payments Fund (SPF) to ensure that musicians are properly credited and receive proper wages and pension for their work. This also ensures they will receive payments from the SPF for the next five years. In addition, the proper filing of B-4 report forms helps us to facilitate new use payments, if the recordings are utilized in motion pictures, television films, and/or commercial announcements.

Advertising agencies representing numerous advertisers contact EMSD on a daily basis. They inquire as to whether or not a track was recorded under an AFM agreement and if the appropriate session reports were filed. Once our office locates these reports, a new use billing packet is prepared and submitted to the agency.

The volume of sound recordings used in commercial announcements continues to grow. Musicians are reaping the benefits of these new use payments. We rely on you, the musicians, to be proactive in making sure that your original work is done under AFM conditions and that session reports are filed. The filing of these forms is essential and benefits every musician. Musicians who perform on recordings should see to it that they are properly listed for their work on AFM B-4 report forms. This facilitates smoother new use billing procedures. If you have any doubts as to whether or not a given project is covered under the SRLA and if B-4 reports will be prepared, please contact your local or the AFM.

EMSD has a scanning procedure in place to ensure that all report forms received by this office for any and all work performed under AFM agreements are stored in our system, thereby making them readily accessible. We also have an electronic CD jacket file (provided by the pension fund), which enables us to access information as needed.

All in all, the more information we have on file, the better equipped we are to serve and assist you. Locals should continue to send the AFM copies of any and all B report forms and music preparation invoices. And, if you hear from any contractor or leader that they possess a history of B forms that they would like to discard, please tell them not to. Rather, they should send them to the AFM. We will make good use of them.

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CDs Have Taken On a Life of Their Own
Electronic Media Services

CDs Have Taken On a Life of Their Own

by Kim Wysocki, Administrative Assistant AFM Electronic Media Services Division

CDs Have Taken On a Life of Their OwnInformation is power. I am the Electronic Media Services Division (EMSD) person who monitors the development of the CD jacket program and the filing of AFM B-4 report forms. I am happy to report that we are receiving more CD jackets from signatory companies in a timely fashion. When I first began ordering and processing CDs from the numerous record labels, I did it mostly in-between “other things.” Since then, it has grown with a life of its own.

EMSD works closely with major record companies, covered record labels, and independent labels who are signed to the Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA) and its counterpart the SRLA Single Project Short Form (SRLA-SPSF). We began to request a “label copy” for each CD released by the label to provide us with as much information as possible about each recording.

The label copy often provides invaluable information: names of all participating musicians, their instrumentation, as well as the names of the studios where the recordings took place. This information is not always included on the album jacket and is not readily available elsewhere if the release is strictly digital. We’ve been successful in using an aggressive approach: formulating lists of releases from various sources (trade magazines, websites, etc.), submitting them to the record companies, and then following up when necessary.

Our research begins when we receive the CD jackets. Once our research is complete, we distribute copies of the CD jackets to the AFM local(s) in whose jurisdiction the recording took place. The local(s) then ensure that they have all the B-4 forms; that these forms are properly filed (including hours worked, doubles, overdubs, etc.); and also that there is a signatory in place. This is extremely important for wage and pension purposes. (We coordinate our efforts, share, and utilize information with the Pension Fund.) It also ensures that musicians are properly credited to receive checks from the Sound Recording Special Payments Fund for the next five years, as well as for new use (motion pictures, commercial announcements, etc.).

As a rule, locals should forward copies of B-4 forms to our office for any type of recording (sound recordings, limited pressings, commercial announcements, motion pictures, TV film, videotape/live television, etc.). They are kept for research purposes. I maintain a log of the B-4 forms I receive from locals and make sure that we send any and all copies of forms to my colleagues in the New Use Department, so they can prepare and submit new use billings on behalf of the musicians. For the B-4 report forms of symphonic recordings, I forward copies to the Symphonic Services Division.

If you have questions relating to the B form reporting program, please contact me at: (917) 229-0272 or by e-mail: kwysocki@afm.org.

Electronic Media Services

A Brief Introduction to Electronic Media Services Division

Patrick Varrialeby Patrick Varriale, AFM Electronic Media Services Division Director and Assistant to the President

I am excited to present the first special EMSD issue of the IM as director of the Electronic Media Services Division (EMSD), which represents and protects the interests of the AFM’s great recording musicians.

The following four articles were prepared by the many talented EMSD staff persons:
1. CDs Have Taken On a Life of Their Own
2. Top 10 Important Reasons to Record AFM
3. Protect The Product 
4. AFM Agreements Provide Compensation for New Compilation and Clip Use Collections
5. How to Handle Professional Sideline Work
6. New Use Department Has a Cubicle for You
7. 52-Week All Media Cycle Addition in Commercial Announcements Agreement

They are intended to be informative and to serve as a guide. We have also included an up-to-date list of EMSD staff and the functions they provide. They are all serious people—most of whom have dedicated themselves to serving recording musicians for many years. Our West Coast Office is led by Matt Allen and Mary Beth Blakey. While the New York Office will continue to be my base of operations, I am both confident and proud to have Allen and Blakey working with me to handle the complex and detailed-oriented administration of our recording agreements in a department where the projects keep coming.

The negotiations front has been, and will continue to be, busy. Earlier this year we completed negotiations for the new Basic Theatrical Motion Picture and Television Film Labor agreements. Those agreements have since been ratified. We have also completed negotiations with representatives of the producers of Conan, and are preparing to enter into negotiations for a new Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA). Also on our negotiations radar are: Country Music Television (CMT), national public television, basic cable television, and nonstandard pay television.

Though our collective plates are extremely full, that has not prevented us from putting together a collection of articles for you to enjoy. So please sit back, read up, and let us know if you have any questions or comments.