Casual Corner

Fifteen members met with Trustee Richard Gabriel and President Peter Graves on February 12 to hear the benefits of the Pension fund and of filing contracts.

Despite 20 years of bad tradition, there are many good reasons for filing contracts. Just by signing a simple participation agreement, leaders can make pension contributions on behalf of everyone in the band. And if they are incorporated, they can even make contributions on their own behalf.

So what? Well...if you retire at age 65, the Pension Fund pays you a 48% return on your investment, and you can continue to work and pay into the fund and increase your pension payout even after you start receiving these pension checks. How many other plans can say all that?

We have easy-to-use computer programs that can handle all the paperwork and calculations for you. We also have blank contracts that can protect your performance from cancellation, unannounced recording of your performance, wage disputes, etc. If you are interested in being on our mailing list to hear about future meetings like this, give us a call!

NARAS-MPTF Joint Projects

South Florida Musicians Association, along with Los Angeles Local 47 and New York Local 802, is proud to be a part of the second of a 3-year project involving the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) and Music Performance Trust Funds (MPTF).

$30 thousand will be spent in south Florida this spring to present a series of children�s concerts whose purpose is to provide a fun and entertaining but enriching and meaningful context for young people to listen to music. The aim is to help young people grow into more knowledgeable audience members and consumers of music.

This year�s theme is "Melody." The goal is to help students identify what a melody is, what its role is, and how composers use it. Composers Beethoven, Stravinsky, Gershwin, and Ellington will be featured in performances by a saxophone quartet, percussion ensemble, wind quintet, Zydeco band, and a Jazz Orchestra. Call us for dates and locations if you are interested in attending any of these free concerts.

Incident at the Delray Center, or...Why File Contracts for Live Performance?

Almost a year ago, one of a series of nonunion concerts promoted by Joe Ferrer was performed at the Delray Tennis Center. As everyone knows, there is a history of non-contracted live engagements in south Florida. What made this one different was that when the musicians discovered that the performance was to be videotaped, they wanted to be paid under the terms and conditions of an AFM contract.

To further complicate the problem, Ferrer thought that the musicians were aware of the taping and had agreed to it. It gets worse...When the players stood up for their rights, Ferrer verbally agreed to pay for the videotaping, but then threatened to never hire them again.

Although there was no contract, the Local attempted to intervene. Ferrer later retracted the threat and even began filing contracts for the next season. Sadly, he refused to make good on his verbal agreement to pay for the videotaping. Important lessons:

You can�t have a union taping of a nonunion gig.

Had there been an AFM contract for the live gig, the musicians would have had protection for videotaping, recording, or broadcast.

Moral of the story: all gigs should be under an AFM contract because you never know...

News & Announcements

Ed Calle performed at the annual Calle Oche Festival in Miami...Eric Allison was recently interviewed on the "Lunchtime Miami" radio program...The Bob Dylan album Time out of Mind recorded at Criteria in Miami Beach recently won a Grammy...