May 22nd, 2009 The Committee
I. SUMMARY JUDGEMENT AGAINST RECORDING MUSICIANS
II. LAWSUIT DISMISSAL LETTER FROM AFM PRESIDENT TOM LEE
III. FAREPLAY PUTS IN IT’S TWO CENTS - collected from RMA rank and file.
IV. STANLEY CLARKE AT ASMAC LUNCHEON, MAY 27th
V. COMMENTS
VI. CONCERTS AND EVENTS
Remember that you can always read new and past
COMMITTEE mailings at www.responsible47.com,
and even search previous mailings by word or phrase.
————————
-CORRECTIONS-
-We were informed by an national AFM officer that President
Tom Lee, not Treasurer Sam Folio, was the writer of the
response to Dave Pomeroy’s letter of the last mailing. We
regret any confusion.
-As Mr. Pomeroy commented to us, After winning the presidency
of the Nashville Local he declined the RMA NASHVILLE presidency.
The RMA Nashville president is Mike Brignardello.
His full comment will be featured in the next mailing.
=================
I. SUMMARY JUDGEMENT AGAINST RECORDING MUSICIANS
As we informed you yesterday, the recording musicians and their
puppet masters lost every aspect of their lawsuit against the AFM in
a summary judgement by United States District Judge Margaret
Morrow.
Here is the text of the summary judgement:
IT IS ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that
1. The action be, and it hereby is, dismissed in its entirety against defendant
AFM with prejudice;
2. The action be, and it hereby is, dismissed in its entirety against defendant
Local 47 with prejudice;
3. The cross-claim for interpleader filed by Local 47 against AFM and the
counterclaim for interpleader filed by Local 47 against plaintiffs be, and they
Case 2:07-cv-07225-MMM-SS Document 133 Filed 05/21/2009 Page 1 of 2 2
hereby are, dismissed in their entirety with prejudice;
4. The obligation of Local 47 to deposit, pursuant to the stipulation approved
by the court on May 16, 2008 [Docket No. 54], amounts it collects that are
designated “Federation Work Dues” is terminated;
5. The Clerk of the Court shall release all funds deposited by Local 47 into the
court’s registry, with appropriate interest, to AFM; and
6. AFM and Local 47 recover their costs of suit herein.
DATED: May 21, 2009
MARGARET M. MORROW
UNITED STATES DISTRICT J
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May 18th, 2009 The Committee
I. A PHRASE WE THOUGHT WE’D NEVER UTTER
II. IEB ADOPTS NEW VIDEO GAME AGREEMENT
III. CALIFORNIA PHILHARMONIC WORKING THE PROBLEMS
IV. COMMENTS
V. CONCERTS AND EVENTS
Remember that you can always read new and past
COMMITTEE mailings at www.responsible47.com,
and even search previous mailings by word or phrase.
======================
I. A PHRASE WE THOUGHT WE’D NEVER UTTER
…. and that phrase is “Bravo, Board!”
Why?
Secretary-Treasurer Lashinsky has continued to try to take
work in the jurisdiction away from rank and file members,
trying to relabel or reword the requests to look like she’s
“donating” something. (See the May 2009 Board Minutes,
page 26, column 3). Another bassoonist deserves to do
that work and be paid for it.
Where does the “Bravo” come in? Our board has begun acting
as her conscience and refuse her requests to play jobs in the
jurisdiction.
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May 13th, 2009 The Committee
I. DAVE POMEROY BEGINS JOB AS RMALA SURROGATE
II. MAGIC MOUNTAIN SITUATION
III. MORE SCORING IN SAN FRANCISCO
IV. COMMENTS
V. CONCERTS AND EVENTS
Remember that you can always read new and past
COMMITTEE mailings at www.responsible47.com,
and even search previous mailings by word or phrase.
======================
I. DAVE POMEROY BEGINS JOB AS RMALA SURROGATE
New Nashville Local President (and RMA Nashville President)
Dave Pomeroy has begun his job as surrogate for RMALA
and/or RMA International Officers as the real, usual architects
try to keep a low profile.
His letter below concerns the Video Game Agreement. How
many video games are done in Nashville?
Below his letter is a reply from AFM Secretary Treasurer
Sam Folio, someone who actually does know the score,
and then one from us.
———–
Letter from Dave Pomeroy
Hello everyone. Local 257 President Dave Pomeroy here. I have
been watching the ongoing dialogue regarding the recently
adopted AFM Videogame Agreement with great interest and
much concern. In my role as RMA International Videogame
Committee chair, I was among those who have been asking
for the AFM to reach consensus since November 2006 and create
one Agreement that we can ALL get behind. Unfortunately, this
is not what has happened.
A combination of the AFM’s unwillingness to listen to anyone
perceived as being critical of the current administration, a lack
of respect for due process and the empowering of those who are
not doing the work to make and influence decisions has led to
this precarious position we are in. All that I, as an individual AFM
member and a recording musician, have ever asked for was to
have the knowledge and experience of those who do work in the
recording industry utilized and acknowledged in a meaningful
fashion by the leaders of the AFM. This has not happened either.
As President of Local 257, this past March 23 I attended the Leadership
Music Digital Summit here in Nashville. Steve Schnur from EA was a
panelist at a Videogame seminar and once again said that he would
gladly pay up to 4 times scale if the music was unencumbered. This
statement was also made by Mr Schnur in the AFM Videogame report
of 2004. So here we are 5 years after his initial statement and now we
have unilaterally offered the VG industry a “combined use” rate of
$75./hour, where as long as it is released in a videogame initially,
music “can be used in any new medium with no additional payment
obligations”. What happened? This is a loophole of gigantic proportions
that many of us, people who actually work in the recording business,
also have gone on record as being against. In this Agreement, there is a
vague reference to “songs as such term is understood within the music
publishing industry” which should be paid “if used in any way not in
conjunction with the game.” Does also this apply to instrumental music?
This kind of shoddy language does make this clear. Soundtrack Albums
and Digital Downloads are also excluded from ANY additional payment -
EVER! Why would we voluntarily make such an offer? As EA has announced
a record label and movie division in the past 18 months, one would think
that we would be trying to avoid any cross platform loopholes. Once again,
we have not.
This Agreement practically begs these companies to exploit our work in
way that havent even been devised yet and we will be powerless to stop
them. Why, after more than 2 years, this document would suddenly and
secretly be approved in an IEB conference call, without the meaningful
input of those who it affects, especially while we are in the middle of Film
negotiations, is beyond my understanding. In the first round of those
negotiations, Vide ogames were referenced a number of times and I believe
it is foolish to think that they will not take notice of this and that it will
have a negative impact on our negotiations. Local 257 cannot endorse
this in any way and I urge the IEB to reconsider this decision before it
is too late.
The reason that so many different elements of the RMA community
weighed in on this, both as individuals and in groups is simple. It is
because for the past few years AFM Leadership has consistently refused
to interact with Phil Ayling, the President of RMA International. This is at
the root of many of our problems and has made forward motion
impossible. A Union is the sum of its parts - ALL its parts. I represent a
very wide cross section of Nashville musicians, and I give all of them, not
just those who agree with me, the respect and attention they deserve to
the best of my ability. How can we possibly move forward and most
importantly, offer a united front in negotiations when we continue to
bicker and fight amongst ourselves? This has gone on for far too long,
and I urge everyone who reads this to reach out to one another and
create a meaningful dialogue before it is too late. There is not a moment
to lose, and we must at all cost overcome our personal differences and
get back to business while there is still something left to save. Long Live
the AFM!
In Unity,
Dave Pomeroy
President, Nashville Association of Musicians
———–
Rebuttal from AFM Secretary Treasurer Sam Folio
RMC and AFM Video Game Agreement/FINAL 032509
Unfortunately, Dave Pomeroy has again missed the boat in this matter.
He assured the AFM in June 2008 that the video game agreement that
the RMA promulgated and presented to the IEB had input from New York,
Los Angeles and Nashville RMA chapters. But now some chapters of the
RMA, even though they had input into the RMA proposal, claim they had
no input into the process that concluded with the video game agreement
recently adopted by the IEB. From this confusion, it appears that RMA
chapters are going to have to decide whether they wish to provide input
through the RMA International or direct to the IEB. The IEB took Pomeroy
at his word that no RMA chapters had any additional input the IEB should
consider when making a decision.
In Pomeroy’s diatribe below he makes wild irrelevant excuses as to
why the AFM leadership modified his proposal (or the RMA proposal).
This is nothing more than political bellowing that he has recklessly
inserted into this discussion in hopes that sensationalizing this topic
will somehow force people to conform to his fantasy. A big dose of
reality - not public invectives against individuals - will better serve
and support a rational approach to a discussion of issues. And by
the way, Pomeroy, who represents himself as Chair of the RMA Video
Game Committee has provided no evidence that he has ever played
on a video game recording session. Nashville has had only one
video game recording completed in its jurisdiction in the past 5 years
(or maybe even longer) as far as we know. So Pomeroy as Chair of the
RMA Video Game Committee speaks about an industry in which he
has no experience or expertise.
The RMA represents its members while the IEB represents all recording
musicians in the AFM without regard to RMA membership. Therefore,
the IEB is held to a much higher standard than the RMA and is required
to take a broader view of the video game business than the RMA is
able to. The IEB spoke with industry leaders. It received input from local
officers around the US and Canada as well as many RMA members who
disagree with their leadership. The Federation received information
from those who chose not to be members of the RMA. Information from
composers was sought as well as contractors and production companies.
The IEB was also cognizant of the fact that much of the video games work
was heading to Seattle and foreign shores and that musicians in Canada
and the US were experiencing less and less work. So the Federation spoke
with a very broad group of individuals associated with the video game
business and utilized the information from the RMA as well as all of the
other sources and made an informed decision that it believes has a much
greater chance to gain work for members of the AFM.
To that end, everyone should understand that it is the job of local officers
and the IEB to organize work. Business models change over the years and
this must be taken into consideration when going after work. It appears
all too frequently that some individuals are more interested in preserving
work for themselves than expanding work opportunities for others. The
IEB is committed to preserving current jobs and organizing more work
opportunities. Pomeroy, as the President of Local 257 will now have to
confront that reality. Is he going to preserve work for a smaller amount of
his members or is he going to work on behalf of all of the members of
local 257 and go after video game or film work that could be done in
Nashville? Or is he going to sit passively by and watch work that could be
done in Nashville leave for Europe? Or perhaps he will just continue to
use public forums to defend his inability to broaden his scope
and actually work on expanding job opportunities for the musicians in
local 257 which is what he was elected to do.
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