Tag Archives: AFM

Important AFM Update: CA Film & TV Tax Credit Expansion & Musician Jobs

A Message from AFM International President Tino Gagliardi

For the past several months, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) has lobbied on behalf of musicians regarding Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2025-2026 Budget. For the first time, the AFM has taken a strong, proactive position to ensure we are heard in Sacramento. With thanks to Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA) President Stephanie O’Keefe and AFM local leaders up and down the state, we have been successful. Our union now has a seat at the table among the other arts and entertainment unions and guilds. Continue reading →

AFM Launches #NotMe App for Safe Reporting of Workplace Misconduct

Report Anonymously, Protect Your Rights, and Contribute to a Better Work Environment for All

by Rochelle Skolnick, AFM Symphonic Services Division Director and Special Counsel
and Jonathan Ferrone, AFM Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President

Reports of sexual harassment, assault, and other abusive practices within our industry have become more public over the past few years. The AFM strives to ensure a safe, comfortable, and productive work environment for all members. Our union, after all, belongs to all of its members, and an injury to one is an injury to us all. Unfortunately, we have learned that some members may not have felt comfortable reporting sensitive situations to their union and some were unaware that their union could help in such cases. Continue reading →

NAMM 2025

MPTF Trustee Dan Beck, AFM Local 7 Secretary/Treasurer Tammy Noreyko, AFM Local 47 Sound Recording Business Representative Jamie Vespa, AFM Local 47 Communications Director Linda Rapka, AFM International Musician Advertising Director Honore Stockley, AFM Director of Communications Antoinette Follet, AFM Director of Freelance Services Wages Argott, and AFM Local 7 President Edmund Velasco.

The American Federation of Musicians and Music Performance Trust Fund were thrilled to exhibit at this year’s National Association of Music Merchants show for the second year in a row. Continue reading →

AFM, NBCUniversal Settle Civil Action; Submit Your Incomplete Track Information

NBCUniversal (NBCU) and American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) are jointly requesting information, pursuant to a settlement agreement in the civil action AFM v. NBCUniversal Media, LLC et al., pertaining to incomplete tracks used in one of the following programs from March 1, 2020 through October 1, 2024 (“Claim Period”), in order to ensure proper payment for such use pursuant to the Television Videotape Agreement:

“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”
“Late Night with Seth Meyers”
“Saturday Night Live”
“Today Show”
“The Kelly Clarkson Show” Continue reading →

Announcement: Remote Recording

Please note that all musicians working under the Sound Recording Labor Agreement, the Basic Theatrical Motion Picture Agreement, and the Basic Television Motion Picture Agreement are to receive double the Recording Musician’s rate for ALL sessions for which they record remotely.

Despite a previous temporary application and interpretation of the relevant contract language, such temporary application and interpretation is no longer in effect.

If you are called for a session in which you are asked to perform alone and are told you will be receiving single scale, please contact my office immediately.

Thank you,

Stephanie O’Keefe
President, AFM Local 47

AFM Motion Picture/TV Film contract extended through November; musicians’ fight for streaming continues

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Negotiations between the AFM and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers began March 13. On the first morning of bargaining, musicians held a press conference calling on the film and TV studios to engage in fair contract negotiations and protect the future careers of professional musicians as the industry shifts to streaming and online distribution. The story was reported by several news outlets including Variety, Billboard, Deadline, and Digital Music News. Continue reading →

January 2019 Overture Online: Back in the Game 🎮

BACK IN THE GAME:
AFM hits reset button on Video Game Agreement

AFM Local 47 2018 Election Returns
Congratulations to our newly elected union officials!

The Virtual Orchestra – 30 Years Later
An overview from TMA SoCal

Musicians Helping Musicians
Member-led health education committee strives to serve those in need

and more!

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Overture Online is optimized for reading via smartphone or tablet. For those without access to a smart device, issues may be viewed on a web browser here. Local 47 members may download archived pdf versions from the members section at afm47.org.

A message from the AFM Local 47 Executive Board

To all members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 47:

Our contracts are the heart of our union. Whatever we achieve through collective action and collective bargaining is secured because management signs agreements. Our contracts allow us to make sure employers do what they are obligated to do. They raise the expectations of all musicians for pay, benefits, and professional treatment.

Recently, those contracts have been put at serious risk. Members of Local 47 are being asked to record music for major, well-funded projects without union contracts. If union contracts are made irrelevant by work done in the shadows, the floor for pay will drop for both union and non-union musicians. These employment practices are especially divisive and pernicious because they exert enormous pressure on individual union members.

We all know what it is like to wonder where your next call is going to come from or how you are going to pay your bills. No single musician can stop the forces that undermine our profession, but as a union we have always been able to push back.

We believe that it is now necessary to take action together. We call upon the Federation and other AFM Locals to unite with our membership in defense of our union and our contracts. In the coming months we will be launching a campaign to uphold our contracts, to recapture work being done in the shadows and to ensure that musicians can earn a livable wage working in Los Angeles.

Our goals are:
1. To ensure fair pay, benefits, and professional treatment for musicians.
2. To protect our union’s ability to bargain, administer and uphold our contracts.
3. To bring more work under union agreements.

We, the Executive Board of AFM Local 47, are committed to building a stronger, more successful future together.

– AFM Local 47 Executive Board

AFM Releases New National Music Theater Prep Rates

Following a proposal from Locals 47 and 802, the AFM International Executive Board, pursuant to its authority under Article 3, Sections 9(b)-(e) of the AFM Bylaws, has approved a National Live Musical Theater music preparation minimum scale, applicable in the U.S. and Canada, to become effective on April 1, 2017.

This National Musical Theater Music Preparation scale is for live musical theater productions only, applicable in all locals of the US and Canada. It shall not apply to any other category of music prep services (e.g., symphonic, electronic media, miscellaneous, etc.).

Establishment of this scale stabilizes rates in an increasingly portable work environment and removes the incentive for producers or their agents located, or mounting a production, in a Local’s jurisdiction to engage music prep services in a different Local solely on the basis that a different Local may have lower music prep rates.

A copy of this wage scale may be accessed in the members section at afm47.org (login required).

A Message from AFM International President Tino Gagliardi

Report Anonymously, Protect Your Rights, and Contribute to a Better Work Environment for All

BACK IN THE GAME: AFM hits reset button on Video Game Agreement

BACK IN THE GAME:
AFM hits reset button on Video Game Agreement