Category Archives: Press Releases

Los Angeles Musicians Elect New Union Leadership

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AFM Local 47 members vote in John Acosta as President, Rick Baptist as VP

John Acosta

LOS ANGELES, CA (Dec. 16, 2014) — Members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 47 have elected new leadership, with current vice president John Acosta rising rank as the union’s new president.

Replacing Acosta as vice president and joining the Local 47 executive board for the first time is veteran studio musician Rick Baptist. Gary Lasley will serve a third term as secretary/treasurer. Acosta succeeds Vince Trombetta, who has been president of the Los Angeles musicians union since 2009. All three titled officers ran unopposed in the Local 47 general election held on Dec. 9. Continue reading →

Musicians Applaud State Legislators’ Commitment to Enhance California’s Film and TV Production Incentive Program

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Press contact: Linda A. Rapka 323.993.3162

LOS ANGELES, CA (AUGUST 28, 2014) — The American Federation of Musicians Local 47, the labor union representing more than 7,000 Los Angeles musicians, and the Recording Musicians Association of Los Angeles applaud the announcement by Gov. Jerry Brown and other state leaders affirming their commitment to expanding California’s Film and Television Job Retention Act.

Members of the California Film & Television Production Alliance, AFM Local 47 and RMALA stand alongside fellow entertainment guilds and thousands of hard-working men and women up and down the state in commending the governor and a band of state legislators who yesterday confirmed that California’s film and television production incentive program will be expanded, extended, and improved through the passage of AB 1839. The bill gives the program additional funding of $330 million per year for five years, more than tripling the current annual allocation.

Musicians are happy about language included in the legislation that will increase the credit for qualified expenditures relating to music scoring and music track recording by musicians. Further, the bill will urge Congress and the International Trade Commission to investigate aggressively and impose sanctions and tariffs on elements of production, including music scoring, visual effects and virtual photography, protected by the Tariff Act, to combat unfair and illegal competition from international parties. Continue reading →

Hollywood Musicians Union AFM Local 47 Hosts 30th Annual Regional Orchestra Players’ Association Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PASADENA, CA (July 31, 2014) — The American Federation of Musicians Local 47 is proud to host the 30th annual conference of the Regional Orchestra Players’ Association (ROPA).

Each year, regional orchestra musicians from throughout the United States gather each year in a unique host city for an annual conference. A representative organization within the American Federation of Musicians, ROPA pursues activities conducive to the general welfare and artistic well-being of member orchestras and their musicians, and serves to enhance communications among those orchestras and with the AFM and individual Locals. Local 47 ROPA member orchestras include the California Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, New West Symphony, and Pasadena Symphony and POPS.

The opening ceremony for the 30th annual ROPA conference takes place Friday, Aug. 1, at the Pasadena Central Library. Guest speakers include U.S. Representative Judy Chu (D-CA, 27th District), Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo, and Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) Deputy Director James Elmendorf. Continue reading →

Mayor Garcetti Supports Musicians’ Listen Up! Campaign

Los Angeles mayor joins American Federation of Musicians in calling on film production companies to end their practice of offshoring film scoring jobs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2014

Press contact:
Linda A. Rapka 323.993.3162
linda.rapka@promusic47.org

Print PDF is available here

LOS ANGELES, California (June 11, 2014) — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced today his support for the American Federation of Musicians’ Listen Up! Campaign, which calls upon film production companies that benefit from taxpayer-funded film credits to score their films in the United States.

“I’m fighting for good paying middle-class jobs across California, and our work to pass legislation – which will boost production and music scoring – must be with that goal in mind,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Halting the bleed of film and television production jobs out of California has been a top priority for Mayor Garcetti. Alongside the musicians union and other entertainment guilds, Garcetti has taken a leading role in advocating for the passage of AB 1839, the bill that would enhance the state’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program and provide a bump in the incentive for film soundtrack scoring in California. 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 →

Mayor Garcetti Named Honorary Member of Musicians Union

Photo by Kori Chappell Mayor Garcetti beams as he accepts his AFM Local 47 Honorary Membership card.

Mayor Garcetti beams as he accepts his AFM Local 47 Honorary Membership card. Photo by Kori Chappell.

AFM Local 47 hosts the mayor in a ceremony to thank him for his support of Los Angeles musicians

LOS ANGELES, California (May 5, 2014) — The musicians union of Hollywood hosted Mayor Eric Garcetti in a ceremony last week naming him an Honorary Member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 47.

Mayor Garcetti personally attended the event at the Local 47 auditorium the evening of April 28. The members of AFM Local 47 thanked the mayor for supporting local musicians with his endorsement last September of our ListenLA campaign (listen-la.com), which highlights and promotes film and TV music scoring by union musicians. The membership also expressed their appreciation for Garcetti’s efforts to fight runaway production and keep film and TV work in Hollywood in supporting new legislation aimed at enhancing California’s production tax incentive program. 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 →

ABC Drops ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Band

LOS ANGELES, CA (Feb. 6, 2014) — When “Dancing With the Stars” returns this March, the house band won’t be with it.

ABC and BBC Worldwide Productions announced this week that they will not have the 28 instrumentalists, singers, arrangers and copyists return for season 18.

The network did not announce a reason for the firings, but the American Federation of Musicians cites executive changes at ABC for the decision. The musicians union says the network put “pressure on ‘DWTS’ producer BBC Worldwide Productions to cut corners and pander to a younger viewing audience.” Continue reading →

Musicians Protest Marvel Entertainment in Cleveland

Protesters want the studio to keep jobs in the USA

CLEVELAND, OH (May 22, 2013) — Tomorrow at noon, members of the American Federation of Musicians will form an informational picket line outside a location shoot for “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” to protest Marvel Entertainment’s outsourcing of musical score work to Europe.

Musicians are outraged that rather than employ local musicians, Marvel pockets millions of taxpayer dollars from U.S. tax credits meant to keep work in the United States and instead hires foreign musicians on the cheap.
Continue reading →

Musicians to Protest Marvel Entertainment Today

Recording musicians want studio to keep jobs in the USA

HOLLYWOOD, CA (April 23, 2013) — Today at 10:30 a.m. members of American Federation of Musicians Local 47 will form an informational picket line outside the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood to speak out against Marvel Entertainment’s outsourcing of musical score work to Europe.

Recording musicians are upset that rather than employ local musicians, Marvel pockets millions of taxpayer dollars from U.S. tax credits meant to keep work in the United States and instead hires foreign musicians on the cheap. Continue reading →