Tag Archives: AFM

Listen Up! Moves Full Steam Ahead

Musicians hand-deliver more than 12,000 petition signatures to Lionsgate to stop

offshoring film scoring work

by Linda A. Rapka

Momentum continues to grow for the American Federation of Musicians’ member-driven Listen Up! campaign aimed at stemming the offshoring of film scoring and bring more music jobs back to the United States.

Musicians made a special delivery at Lionsgate’s Santa Monica headquarters May 13 of a petition signed by over 12,000 supporters of their Listen Up! campaign. Around 40 musicians gathered at Stewart Street Park about a mile from Lionsgate for a pre-delivery rally. Speakers included Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo, Santa Monica City Councilman Kevin McKeown, Pastor Bridie Roberts of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, and rank-and-file AFM musician Neil Samples. Continue reading →

Musicians’ Listen Up! Campaign Delivers Petition Signed by 12,000 Supporters to Lionsgate HQ

Courtesy of Listen Up! “Listen up, Lionsgate!” — The Listen Up! campaign hand-delivered more than 12,000 petition signatures to Lionsgate Entertainment’s Santa Monica headquarters May 13 calling on the company to uphold industry standards for musicians and end its practice of offshoring film scoring work. Helping with the delivery were L.A. County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary Maria Elena Durazo, Santa Monica City Councilman Kevin McKeown, and Pastor Bridie Roberts of Clergy and Laity for Economic Justice. Lionsgate executives accepted the petitions but refused to meet with the musicians.

“Listen up, Lionsgate!” — The Listen Up! campaign hand-delivered more than 12,000 petition signatures to Lionsgate Entertainment’s Santa Monica headquarters May 13 calling on the company to uphold industry standards for musicians and end its practice of offshoring film scoring work. Helping with the delivery were L.A. County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary Maria Elena Durazo, Santa Monica City Councilman Kevin McKeown, and Pastor Bridie Roberts of Clergy and Laity for Economic Justice. Lionsgate executives accepted the petitions but refused to meet with the musicians.

Petition calls on Lionsgate to uphold industry standards and end practice of offshoring film scoring work

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA (May 13, 2014) — Today members of the American Federation of Musicians made a special delivery at Lionsgate corporate headquarters in Santa Monica of a petition signed by over 12,000 supporters of their Listen Up! campaign. Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo, Santa Monica City Councilman Kevin McKeown, and Pastor Bridie Roberts of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice were present to support the musicians and be part of the delivery delegation.

“L.A. is the entertainment capital of the world,” says Durazo. “Working women and men in our communities demand that working musicians get treated with the same level of professional respect as other workers. Today, we are asking Lionsgate to listen up and do the right thing.” Continue reading →

Listen Up! – Musicians Call for Fairness

National campaign seeks to bring motion picture and TV film music work back home

by Linda A. Rapka

Musicians in Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York kicked off the nationwide Listen Up! campaign April 10 seeking fairness for musicians working in the motion picture and TV film industry.

AFM President Ray Hair speaks out against film-music offshoring at the Listen Up! campaign launch in Los Angeles.

Led by rank-and-file members of the American Federation of Musicians, the campaign calls upon the entertainment industry to stop the offshoring of film and television music scoring and to ensure musicians’ work is valued by all companies at the same professional standard as other cast and crew. Continue reading →

Musicians Kick Off Listen Up! Campaign Today

AFM President Ray Hair speaks out against film-music offshoring at the Listen Up! campaign launch in Los Angeles.

WESTWOOD (April 11, 2014) — Yesterday Los Angeles-area musicians held a press conference and rally across from the Regency Theatre in Westwood as part of a nationwide kickoff for Listen Up! – a campaign for fairness for musicians working in the motion picture and TV film industry.

The campaign calls out the motion picture-TV film industry for treating U.S. musicians unfairly by offshoring movie soundtrack recordings. Many offshored soundtrack recordings are made for films funded in part by U.S. taxpayers. At the Listen Up! kickoff event, musicians who are members of the American Federation of Musicians and its affiliated Los Angeles Local 47 were joined by representatives from the AFL-CIO, and other labor, faith, and community leaders to call on the film industry to stop offshoring film scoring work. Continue reading →

A New AFM Local is Born!

Local 50 serves performers of regional Mexican music

by Ethan S. Harris

On Jan. 8, the newest Local in the AFM family was born in our own Local 47 Auditorium.

The acting members of the Executive Board of Regional Mexican AFM Local 50 took their oaths of office in front of approximately 20 new members. Also in attendance at the ceremony were Local 47 Vice President John Acosta, Organizer Ethan Harris, and AFM Assistant to the President for the Western United States, Ken Shirk.

AFM Assistant to the President for the Western United States Ken Shirk with the acting Executive Board members of the new non-regional AFM Local 50: Euler Torres (President), Ruben Fernandez (Vice President), John Anthony Diaz (Secretary/Treasurer), and Jesus Tucker (Executive Member-at-Large).

Continue reading →

‘Ellen’ Show Signs Deal With Musicians Union

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Oct. 24, 2012) — After years of urging by Professional Musicians, Local 47 — the labor union representing musicians in Los Angeles — producers of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” this week agreed to compensate musical guest performers under American Federation of Musicians (AFM) contracts.

Musicians performing on “Ellen” previously received wages and benefits under contracts with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and were deemed as “specialty acts” rather than musicians, a distinction disputed by Local 47. SAG-AFTRA contracts do not include the provisions for residuals and re-use payments to musicians that are covered under AFM contracts. Per labor standards, if two or more unions have overlapping jurisdiction, workers must be compensated at the higher prevailing rate. Continue reading →