Tag Archives: ray hair

media rights

Live Concert Venues and Media Rights: Are Musicians Sold Short?

When we consider fair wages and working conditions for musicians working roadshows, the Federation’s Pamphlet B and Short Engagement Tour Agreements (SET) are the gold standard. Pamphlet B establishes fair conditions for musicians on the road in touring theatrical musicals, where the shows are booked for a given number of weeks. The SET contract was structured to cover tours where most engagements are one-nighters or run for less than a week.

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Rallying in Support of Striking Lyric Opera Orchestra Musicians

Following is the text of a speech I gave October 12, in Chicago’s Daley Plaza in support of striking Lyric Opera Orchestra musicians.

Hello Sweet Home Chicago! It’s a privilege to be here with officers of our great affiliated Local 10-208, the Chicago Federation of Musicians, folks from the Chicago Federation of Labor, the Illinois State AFL-CIO, and of course, members of our Lyric Opera Orchestra.

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afm-fim conference

AFM-FIM Conference: Musicians Are Entitled to a Fair Share of the Streaming Pie

In recent years, the rise of streaming as the preferred model of digital distribution and consumption has radically transformed the media marketplace. Worldwide, digital revenues and audiences have accelerated toward both advertiser-supported and subscription-based consumption models, benefiting digital service providers, copyright owners and producers, and other stakeholders. If current trends hold, the number of paid music subscribers worldwide will rise from more than 149 million today to 200 million by the end of this year.

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Theater Musicians Association—25 Years of Workplace Involvement

I’ll have the privilege of attending the 23rd conference of the Theater Musicians Association (TMA) on August 20, at Local 47’s new offices in Burbank, California. TMA is the newest AFM player conference. It began its journey 25 years ago, and is now comprised of chapters organized among locals that negotiate local agreements with theatrical venues and presenters that book Pamphlet B tours.

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respecttheband

Networks Feel Street Heat at Negotiations

The Federation resumed its discussions with the television industry in July, at ABC headquarters in New York City, for a successor agreement covering musicians who perform on late night and prime time variety shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, and The Voice, and on award shows such as the Grammy Awards and the Oscars.

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Negotiations

Negotiations Roundup—A Capsule View of Talks in Progress

The Federation’s negotiations with its bargaining partners, whether on an industry-wide, single-, or multi-employer basis, are a never-ending process. Other than contracts with touring producers such as the Broadway League, most of our negotiations seek improvements in compensation and working conditions when musicians are engaged to perform electronic media services either streamed or broadcast live, or captured for analog and digital distribution.

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mptf advantage

The MPTF Advantage: Employment, Audience Building, Recognition

The Federation’s recently concluded Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA) has brought new life to both the Sound Recording Special Payments Fund (SPF) and the Music Performance Trust Fund (MPTF), which are important residual components of that agreement. As music consumption transitioned to streaming, both funds experienced declining revenue due to the precipitous drop in royalties from physical recorded product (CDs, etc.) and digital downloads, which had been the sole sources of revenue for the funds. 

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The AFM-EPF and the Multiemployer Pension Crisis

The United States currently faces a worsening multiemployer pension crisis. One recent report estimated that 114 multiemployer pension plans across the country will become insolvent over the next two decades. These plans cover nearly 1.3 million people and they are underfunded by more than $36 billion. The American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-EPF, “the Fund”) is not immune to the forces driving this crisis.

The AFM-EPF, like many other multiemployer funds, was a robust, healthy pension fund through the late 1990s. In fact, our fund was actually overfunded, meaning that assets exceeded liabilities (promised benefits to participants for service already performed). Simply put, the Fund had more money on hand than it was projected to need to pay out as benefits in the future. In 1999, the AFM-EPF was 139% funded.

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Motion Picture and TV Film Agreements: One-Year Deal, 3% Raise

I am pleased to report that on March 9, after a week of intense negotiations, an agreement was reached with major Hollywood-based film producers and their television film counterparts to extend the existing Theatrical and Motion Picture Film Agreements for one year with a 3% increase in wages. Upon ratification, the extension and wage increase will become effective April 5, 2018.

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Formidable Arts Leader Remembered

The AFM lost a champion of its causes when Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) died in March. She will be remembered as an advocate for the arts and artists, having chaired the bi-partisan Congressional Arts Caucus for years.

AFM President Ray Hair notes, “When I went to visit her on important issues relating to the lives of professional musicians, she always expressed her profound appreciation of our union and showed her unwavering support for our musicians in Rochester, and in particular members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.” Slaughter was the first woman to chair the powerful House Committee on Rules and was serving as its ranking member. She was 88 years old.