It is with a very heavy heart that I let you know of the passing of our brother, Frank Amoss, on Saturday, October 5, 2019. Frank was a drummer and band leader. He was a Local 7 Trustee before he was elected as Vice President and eventually held the presidency of Local 7 for 20 years. Continue reading
LOS ANGELES, CA (Oct. 11, 2019) — Today musicians who score for television and films performed live music outside the Variety 2019 Power of Women luncheon calling on honoree Dana Walden, chairman of Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment, to pay musicians fairly for their work on streaming movies and TV shows. Continue reading
AFM members are advised that the Shahkar Bineshpajooh concert taking place at Microsoft Theater on Nov. 30, 2019 is a non-union engagement, with no protections for fair wages, health & welfare, pension, or other benefits that come with union contracts.
AFM Local 47 has been in discussions with Mr. Bineshpajooh and the venue to try and secure an appropriate AFM agreement. Unfortunately they have not agreed to sign a union contract. We recommend that AFM members not participate until such a contract is in place.
As professional musicians, we must take a stand against taking jobs at sub-standard rates far below what we deserve. We not only cheat ourselves by accepting such engagements, but we also cheat our colleagues by setting a precedent that it’s acceptable to undervalue us and our work. Any musician performing at a major venue like the Microsoft Theater deserves to earn a fair wage and benefits in line with industry standard.
If you are contacted to participate in this concert, please alert the President’s Office at 323.993.3181 or john.acosta@afm47.org. We want to make sure you are paid correctly and receive the proper benefits.
Negotiations resume this month with film/TV producers
OCTOBER 7, 2019 — Today members of the American Federation of Musicians rallied from coast to coast as part of the musicians’ national grassroots #BandTogether campaign calling on film and TV producers to offer a fair contract that includes streaming residuals.
In Sherman Oaks, a large crowd gathered in the morning outside the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers headquarters, where bargaining resumed today, to perform live music and rally with leaders from entertainment unions including SAG-AFTRA and WGA West. In New York, a concurrent rally took place outside NBCUniversal headquarters at Rockefeller Center with Congressman Jerrold Nadler and AFM members. The rallies follow several public actions held in recent weeks in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles. Continue reading
On Aug. 15, 1969, half a million people gathered upon on a dairy farm in Bethel near White Lake, New York for a three-day music festival that would come to define a generation.
Billed as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace and Music,” the epic event would later be known simply as Woodstock. Little did anyone imagine that it would become synonymous with the counterculture movement of the 1960s, and remains so five decades later. Continue reading
GLENDALE, CA (Oct. 2, 2019) — On Tuesday night more than 50 musicians held a flash-mob musical street performance outside of Disney CEO Bob Iger’s book signing event at the Alex Theatre as part of the grassroots #BandTogether campaign to demand that Disney and other major film and television studios improve standards for musicians’ work in new media. Continue reading
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Jazz lovers are encouraged to get their tickets soon for a spectacular concert on October 5, 2019 as the Los Angeles Jazz Society honors jazz legends and supporters at the Montalban Theatre.
The Jazz Tribute honoree this year is Grammy award winning jazz guitarist, AFM Local 47 Life Member Lee Ritenour, being recognized for his long career spanning 40+ years, and his tremendous support of young musicians as well as through the Six String Theory Competition. Continue reading
Hollywood musicians, those foot soldiers who bring the work of celebrated composers such as John Williams (“Star Wars”), James Horner (“Titanic”) and Hans Zimmer (“Dunkirk”) to life, have faced a mound of professional challenges in recent years.
Producers record their film scores in London or other overseas locations to avoid paying union scale, digital recordings have eaten away at opportunities for live players, and studios penny-pinch on music in countless ways even though their recording budgets are typically a tiny piece of a project’s budget — a $100-million project might spend less than $400,000 on musicians’ pay.
But now the musicians are facing a threat that some call potentially an “extinction-level event.” It’s the takeover of the entertainment industry by streaming video services.