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Recent News

AFM Announces New Agreement with American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio

AFM President Ray Hair announced a the AFM has reached an agreement with American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio that extends the current contract by three years. Musicians working on more than 20 public radio programs, including Performance Today and Prairie Home Companion are covered under this contract.

Important to this agreement are groundbreaking new media provisions that establish use fees and residual payments for musicians whose public radio performances are licensed to interactive digital service providers such as YouTube, Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix. In addition to a new use fee payable to each musician whose performance is embodied in any clip or program exhibited via new media, 5% of producers’ gross receipts derived from the license for exhibition of any clip or program will be distributed half (2.5%) to the AFM and Employers Pension Fund, unallocated to any particular individual, and half (2.5%) to musicians.

 

Musicians working under the new contract will receive 2.5% wage increases in each year of the contract. Health, welfare, and pension benefits are also maintained and protected in the contract.

Recent News

List Generates New Conversation About Women and Music

In July NPR released “The 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women,” a comprehensive list of women-generated albums from 1964 to the present. Compiled by nearly 50 women from across NPR and the public radio system, produced in partnership with the Lincoln Center, the list is “an intervention, a remedy, a correction of the historical record and hopefully the start of a new conversation” to put women at the center of popular music. Read through the list at: http://www.npr.org/2017/07/24/538387823/turning-the-tables-150-greatest-albums-made-by-women

Recent News

Scientists Discover Birds Can Swing

Using mathematical analysis, researchers from the Max Planck Institute in Frankfurt, Germany, found that the thrush nightingale can sing in an off-beat “swing time” like jazz musicians. Some experts surmise that they do this to make their calls to mates more noticeable or to help them dance during mating rituals, or it may be that they simply get too excited and lose control of their rhythm. The nightingale is not the only species found to improvise a tune. The Veery thrush of North America also swings. Another study showed that the hermit thrush uses the fundamental musical intervals found in human music in its songs.

Recent News

Nissan Charged with Unfair Labor Practices

Nissan workers in Canton, Mississippi, will vote today on union representation by United Auto Workers. In advance of the election, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a complaint alleging unfair labor practices. Nissan has threatened the 3,700 employees with loss of wages and benefits and threatened to close the plant if employees do support a union and promised increased benefits and improved conditions if they oppose.

“Nissan is running one of the nastiest anti-union campaigns in the modern history of the American labor movement,” says Gary Casteel, secretary-treasurer of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and director of the international union’s Transitional Department. He asked company investors and policymakers around the world to join in to call a halt to Nissan’s illegal and unethical behavior.

Ever since the election petition, Nissan has delivered daily threatening anti-union messages via video and mandatory meetings. The company has a history of unfair labor practice conduct in Mississippi and has had multiple Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citations issued against it for violations of federal safety and health laws. OSHA fund the company “did not furnish employment and a place of employment which was free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees.”

Kristin Joham
Recent News

Spokane Symphony Member Awarded Union Plus Scholarship

Kristin JohamAFM Local 105 (Spokane, WA) member Kristin Joham has been awarded a $1,000 Union Plus scholarship. Joham, who has been a member of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra and adjunct professor at Eastern Washington University since 2008, plans to study speech and hearing sciences. She completed Washington State University’s post-baccalaureate program in 2016. She plans to attend graduate school this fall and hopes to use her musical background and speech therapy training to create a multifaceted team approach for patients with neurogenic communication and motor speech disorders.

Joham holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance from Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music where she was in the Honors Scholars Program. She grew up in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, where her grandparents were very active in the National Education Association. “I was born into a union household, and my opinion of the importance of public education and teachers’ rights is still strong in me today,” she says. “Now as an AFM member, I am constantly reminded of the need and power of a union to fight for workers’ rights.”

In its 26th year, the Union Plus Scholarship Program awarded $150,000 in scholarships to 106 students representing 31 unions, in 2017. Recipients included university, college, and trade or technical school students in 35 states. The program, offered through the Union Plus Education Foundation, awards its scholarships based on outstanding academic achievement, personal character, financial need, and commitment to the values of organized labor.

Visit unionplus.org/scholarship for details and to apply.

Recent News

New AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund Leader Named

AFM President Ray Hair announced that Robert DiPaola now leads the AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund as its chief executive officer. Having served as the fund administrator of the Sound Recording Special Payments Fund for over a decade, DiPaola brings a wealth of experience to the AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund.

The AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund is a joint project of our union and SAG-AFTRA. It collects and distributes royalties in accordance with various statutory provisions of US copyright law and agreements with foreign collective management organizations. Musicians, singers, and nonfeatured performers received more than $50 million from the AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund last year.

Some royalties remain unclaimed by performers because the AFM and SAG-AFTRA Fund has insufficient contact information for royalty processing. Visit: https://www.afmsagaftrafund.org/unclaimed-royalties to check if there is any money waiting for you.

Recent News

Mississippi Nissan Plant Workers Seek Organization

In mid-July pro-union workers at Nissan Motor Company’s Mississippi plant filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board seeking a vote on union representation from the United Auto Workers (UAW). While Nissan managers continue their anti-union push, the federal labor board has accused the company of several violations surrounding union organizing, including allowing managers to illegally question and threaten union members. Nissan denies any wrongdoing.

The UAW has only won one vote among workers at foreign-owned auto plants in the South. After loosing an initial vote in 2014, 160 maintenance workers at Volkswagen AG’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, organized. That campaign featured heavy outside pressure from anti- union groups and politicians. Governor Phil Bryant spoke out against the UAW.

The pro-union campaign has sought support from ministers including Rev. Isiac Jackson, head of Mississippi’s largest black Baptist denomination. They’ve also received support from the NAACP and actor Danny Glover. A rally in March was headlined by Senator Bernie Sanders.

Recent News

Guitar Center Workers Ratify First Contract

On July 11, The Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced that Guitar Center workers in four stores have ratified their first union contracts. Under the new contract, more than 100 workers at the stores located in New York City; Chicago, Illinois; Danvers, Massachusetts; and Las Vegas, Nevada; will receive guaranteed base wage increases over the three-year term of the contract and access to union-provided health care insurance. “The contract ratified tonight wrote the songbook for workers in the retail music industry,” says RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum. “Workers from all four stores fought to ensure the voices of their over 100 co-workers were heard—and the company listened. I am extremely proud of the negotiations team involved in this first contract and the provisions they reached in unison.”

“I love this job and it has provided me the supplemental income to pursue my career as a musician. Thanks to our work with the RWDSU and the company we have made these jobs even better. I look forward to further pursuing my musical aspirations,” says Cody Bergstrom, a nine-year Las Vegas Guitar Center employee. Musicians, union members, and the public are urged to patronize these stores.

Dan Beck
Recent News

MPTF Trustee Dan Beck Finalist for National Award

Dan BeckMusic Performance Trust Fund (MPTF) Trustee Dan Beck is a finalist in the 2017 Octicon Focus on People Awards, which honor outstanding people with hearing loss. The national competition recognizes individuals who help to change perceptions of what it means to live with hearing loss. During a 45-year career in the music industry, Beck pioneered closed captioning to music videos, working with artists including Cyndi Lauper, Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam, and more. When he stepped down as president of V2 Records, he committed to raising awareness of hearing conservation. A board member of Hearing Education Awareness for Rockers (HEAR), Beck promotes hearing awareness in musicians and speaks about hearing health to educational, healthcare, and music industry organizations.

You can read about the other two finalists and vote for the winner at: www.Oticon.com/FOP. The winner will be announced in October.

Recent News

New Equity Deal with Resident Theaters

 

Actors’ Equity Association members ratified a new five-year contract with the League of Resident Theaters (LORT) in June. LORT is a national network of 72 nonprofit theaters. Equity cited major gains in the deal that includes retroactive salary increases (to February 13), improved pay for stage managers during tech week, and an increase in the number of Equity hires required per production. The new contract also has provisions for preventive physical therapy for choreography-heavy shows of more than eight weeks and the infusion of $1.7 million in employer contributions to Equity’s health fund.