Studio Beat
Local 655 Representation at the AFM Convention
Two years ago, we received the bad news: the 2003 AFM Convention had decided to tax recording musicians’ income from the Special Payments Funds (SPF) to help the Federation stay financially solvent. Our members were immediately concerned about this news; many unanswered questions remained about Federation finances, and about the fairness and practicality of the tax itself. It soon became clear that many other AFM members shared our apprehension, and an atmosphere of divisiveness grew to threaten the AFM more than any time in recent history.
Admirably, the Local 655 recording musicians’ reaction to this adversity was increased participation in Union matters. Among the changes they brought about was my appointment as Electronic Media Representative, and the formation of a chapter of the Recording Musicians Association (RMA). Members have worked very hard to improve the circumstances for our recording musicians.
Many of our efforts specifically led up to the recently concluded 2005 AFM Convention. President Walker, Secretary-Treasurer Apana, and myself were in Las Vegas, working diligently on issues relevant to all of our members. You’ll be hearing more about these achievements very soon.
SPF Tax Eliminated
One of the highlights of July’s convention was how our work directly contributed to the elimination of the SPF tax. I testified to the joint Law and Finance committees about how the SPF tax had hurt our members. I also took part in discussions that helped shape the economic plan that was ultimately adopted by the convention. The monies generated by this new plan will replace the SPF tax, which was completely eliminated by the new plan.
As you can see in the chart below, the new funding will come from increased Electronic Media work dues. In our Local, all of these work dues were previously at 3.5% of scale wages. Since our jurisdiction sees very little work under the Motion Picture and TV agreements, these increases will have very little impact on us. Also, the minimal increase for work under the Commercial agreement does not affect original sessions, only initial use and re-use.
In addition, the National work dues for most New Use will increase from the current 12% to 15%. In all, we felt that this new economic plan would have the least negative impact on our members, and we worked hard driving this point home to the committees and delegates. In the face of a difficult dilemma for our members and the AFM as a whole, we feel that this was a huge victory for our Local and for all recording musicians.
Get Involved!
While we’ve made many improvements in our Local, we have a long way to go. The officers and staff have been working hard, but we need your help, and we need it now. There are several committees that sorely need your participation to make this Local better and stronger. We need ideas and energy. If you have even a little time to offer, please let me know. We need people with talent and experience in business, graphics, photography, and anyone who wants to lend a hand in making Local 655 stronger and better.
Special Payments Fund
If you played on a Union record session during the last five years, you probably received your SPF check recently. If you did not receive a check, or if it seems a session might be missing from it, please contact me and we’ll figure out why!
Thanks,
Steve Roitstein
Cell: 305-332-1338
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