Now is the right time to become an American Federation of Musicians member. From ragtime to rap, from the early phonograph to today's digital recordings, the AFM has been there for its members. And now there are more benefits available to AFM members than ever before, including a multi-million dollar pension fund, excellent contract protection, instrument and travelers insurance, work referral programs and access to licensed booking agents to keep you working.
As an AFM member, you are part of a membership of more than 80,000 musicians. Experience has proven that collective activity on behalf of individuals with similar interests is the most effective way to achieve a goal. The AFM can negotiate agreements and administer contracts, procure valuable benefits and achieve legislative goals. A single musician has no such power.
The AFM has a proud history of managing change rather than being victimized by it. We find strength in adversity, and when the going gets tough, we get creative - all on your behalf.
Like the industry, the AFM is also changing and evolving, and its policies and programs will move in new directions dictated by its members. As a member, you will determine these directions through your interest and involvement. Your membership card will be your key to participation in governing your union, keeping it responsive to your needs and enabling it to serve you better. To become a member now, visit www.afm.org/join.
Local 802 (New York City) member David Byrne, who became a board member of SoundExchange in May, visited Capitol Hill last week to speak with Representative Jerrold Nadler about the Fair Play, Fair Pay Act of 2015, which would create a performance right for sound recordings used on terrestrial radio and mandate royalty payments to record labels. Nadler has been a strong advocate for issues dear to artists and music companies and is co-sponsor of the bill.
In the first half of 2015, streaming nearly doubled in popularity, generating 135.2 billion streams, up from 70.3 billion in the same period of 2014. Even with all that growth, album sales still declined 4%, though that’s the smallest decline since 2012. However, track sales saw a lager 10.4% drop. Streaming equivalent albums (SEA) is the biggest driver of consumer consumption. Physical album sales fell to 62.41 from 67.3 million in the previous six-month period. CD sales were down 10% and vinyl grew by 38.4%.
Taylor Swift of Local 257 (Nashville, TN) topped many sales categories. Her 1989 was the best selling album in the first half of 2015, scanning 1.33 million units so far. (It topped in 2014 as well.) She also led in vinyl sales (34,000 units), and in a combined tally of album sales, track downloads, and streams (2.011 million album and album equivalent units).
When Neil Young of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) rejected Donald Trump’s use of his song for political purposes he was in good company. Rollingstone published a list of 34 artists who objected to the use of their tunes in political campaigns, among them were Bruce Springsteen of Local 399 (Asbury Park, NJ) and 47 regarding Ronald Regan’s use of “Born in the USA”; Dave Grohl of Local 47 over John McCain’s use of “My Hero”; Nancy Wilson of Local 76-493 (Seattle, WA) over Sarah Palin’s use of “Barracuda”; Eddie Van Halen over John McCain’s use of “Right Now”; John Mellencamp of Local 11-637 (Louisville, KY) over John McCain, George Bush, and Ronald Regan’s uses of “Our Country,” “Pink Houses,” “ROCK in the USA,” and “Pink Houses”; Joe Walsh of Local 4 (Cleveland, OH) over Congressman Joe Walsh’s use of “Walk Away”; Neil Peart of Local 298 (Niagara Region, ON) over Rand Paul’s use of “The Spirit of Radio” and “Tom Sawyer”; and David Byrne 802 (New York City) over Charlie Crist’s use of “Road to Nowhere.”
Local 802 (New York City) member Rosanne Cash has been selected as the 2015 Artist-in-Residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. As artist-in-residence, the Grammy-winning singer songwriter will perform three intimate concerts at the Hall of Fame September 2, 3, and 24—each with a different theme and guest line-up. “Rosanne Cash, this year’s artist-in-residence, comes to us at the top of her game. On her latest release, The River and the Thread, Rosanne explores her deep roots in the South and delivers some of her best work in an already illustrious career,” says museum CEO Kyle Young.
To read more about Cash’s latest album and her career click here.
The AFM has filed a lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. for collective bargaining agreement violations regarding the Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA). The SRLA covers wages, benefits, and other conditions of employment for professional musicians in the creation of sound recordings. Among multiple violations named in the suit was recording work on the 2009 docomentary Michael Jackson’s This Is It, made just before Jackson’s death. Sony called the musicians for a recording session, which it claimed was for a “record” (defined as CDs, records, tapes, music videos, or concert DVDs), when the actual purpose was the recording of a film score. The SRLA Sony signed only covered recording for records, and prohibited recording for film scores. While Sony could have signed a letter that would allow them to use the AFM Motion Picture Agreement for this recording session, the company refused. As a result musicians are unable to collect residuals on the film.
This discrepancy may seem small to the public, but it makes a huge difference in terms of fair compensation to musicians trying to earn a living, explains AFM President Ray Hair. “Musicians have joined together to create industry standards and it is simply unacceptable for greedy corporations to knowingly violate those standards and deny residuals,” he says.
The suit also charges Sony with failure to make “new use” payments to musicians as required under the SRLA for the incorporation of covered sound recordings into new sound recordings and electronic media. Among other projects named in the lawsuit were: Pitbull’s 2012 version of Michael Jackson’s “Bad”; use of the Earth, Wind & Fire song “Boogie Woogie Wonderland” in the 2012 movie The Untouchables; use of the 17 songs from Tony Bennett: Duets II in a 2012 program broadcast on National Public Television; and use of recorded live televised performances of Whitney Houston accompanied by instrumental musicians (covered by the AFM Television Videotape Agreement) to produce a CD and CD/DVD set called Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances.
“We did not want to go to court,” says Hair, “but Sony repeatedly refused to do the right thing and pay the musicians fairly.
The Richmond Symphony has purchased a 70-foot outdoor performance tent after successfully completing its $500,000 Big Tent Initiative and winning a $500,000 challenge grant from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation. The new tent will be in place by mid-August, allowing the organization to bring its 70-piece orchestra and 150-member chorus outside the walls of the Carpenter Theatre, in order to cultivate a greater, more personal connection with its surrounding community.
British authorities have launched one of the biggest-ever enforcement operations of its kind in a concerted effort to combat online piracy and the prevalence of counterfeit goods being sold on social media. While some investigations are ongoing, 4,300 Facebook listings and 20 Facebook profiles have been removed as a result of the eCrime team’s efforts, and more than 200 warning and cease and desist letters have been issued.
American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is asking federal anti-trust regulators to stop the proposed merger of Office Depot and Staples. If the deal went through, there would be just one major office supply retail chain in the country. There were three before OfficeMax and Office Depot merged in 2013. APWU also opposes the Postal Service’s outsourcing of services at Staples. The nonunion office supply chain pays most of its employees close to minimum wage.
The House is currently considering legislation that funds the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and other cultural agencies. Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY), who is the Congressional Arts Caucus co-chair, is urging musicians to remind their members of Congress about the importance of arts and arts funding. Efforts to increase NEA funding from $146 million to $2 million, as requested by President Obama, have so far failed. We are currently hoping to maintain level funding for the NEA, and to reject any attempt to reduce it. Share this Top 10 Reasons to Support the Arts and to get your message of support across visit: https://www.votervoice.net/ARTSUSA/Campaigns/41478/Respond.
Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) member James Horner, the composer of countless breathtaking scores, from Titanic and Braveheart, Field of Dreams and Avatar, to Jumanji and An American Tail, and so many others, passed away on Monday, June 22 in a plane crash near Santa Barbara, California. The two-time Academy Award winner was just 61. Horner’s dossier as a film composer is as extraordinary, and he will not be forgotten by those who worked closely with him, or by the innumerable people he touched with his music. Horner will inexorably live on in his music and the classic films that he was invaluable to. With three new scores to be released this year, the world has thankfully not yet seen the last of James Horner. In the Shakespearean fashion, Horner will of course live on through his truly exceptional art; undoubtably, “[his] heart will go on.”
