PENSION / AFM-SAG-AFTRA FUND / EVENTS

5/27/17
I. PENSION COMMENT
II. AFM & SAG-AFTRA Fund
III. EVENTS

…Absolutely guaranteed anonymity – Former Musician’s Union officer
…The one voice of reason in a sea of insanity – Nashville ‘first call’
scoring musician
…Allows us to speak our minds without fear of reprisal – L.A. Symphonic musician
…Reporting issues the Musicians Union doesn’t dare to mention – National touring musician

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I. PENSION COMMENT

FYI:
When our AFM Pension took its stock market dive in 2008,
You recall our L.A. / NY H&W Fund had similar financial woes.
A person in the H&W loop gave me the following info.

(This regards only H&W management, but we can imagine
a similar band of irresponsible folks who “might” have
been ignoring the location/vulnerability of our Pension
money during the stock market crash.

For instance, if those Pension Trustees had been paying
attention to the crisis, they could have switched us to safe
Blue Chip stocks before the worst of it.)

H&W Trustees at the time of the 2008 crash:

Lewis, Vince, exec at Disney, exec at Entertainment
Partners, Gary Hughes (“Management trustee,”) one
more un-named person.

Six total Trustees: 3 from the Union side and 3 from
the music business executive side.
Trustees are volunteers. They serve as a community service.
Trustees are not officially “Trustees” until they meet
together to make decisions.

No Union allows membership to contact Trustees directly.

Very sad.
Again, this is not a list of AFM Pension Trustees.
Then again, maybe some of them were…

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II. AFM & SAG-AFTRA Fund in the Spotlight at ASCAP Expo

The little-known AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights
Distribution Fund pays royalties even to oft-neglected session musicians
and backup singers.

Stevie Wonder was the headliner — and closing act — of the ASCAP
I Create Music Expo that concluded this weekend, but musicians and
singers will be interested to know that an obscure fund, jointly run
by the American Federation of Musicians and performers’ union
SAG-AFTRA, also had a moment in the sun at the annual conference
for songwriters, composers, artists and producers.

If those two unions seem like an odd pairing, they aren’t: since its
2012 founding by way of merger, SAG-AFTRA, like AFTRA
before it, has represented recording artists — singers — as
well as actors and others, such as broadcasters.

The joint fund, the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property
Rights Distribution Fund, distributed about $60 million in royalties
in 2016 and thus will be welcome as anything but odd by those
who receive checks from it — a variety of singers and musicians,
including such non-featured performers as backup singers and
session musicians, who otherwise might not receive music
royalties at all.

Although that total is far less than the approximately $1 billion
in residuals that SAG-AFTRA distributes annually, and is also
less than the $90 million to $100 million in audiovisual AFM
residuals that are disbursed each year (which are administered
by yet another organization, the Film Musicians Secondary
Markets Fund), the checks can be significant, ranging up to
$1 million in some cases, said fund executive director Dennis
Dreith.

“We do for non-featured performers what SoundExchange
and AARC do for featured performers,” explained Dreith,
referencing two other music royalty organizations. He spoke
to The Hollywood Reporter after conducting a seminar Friday
for about 100 people at the Expo.

One recipient of a payment from the fund was so unaccustomed
to receiving royalties that she rang up Dreith and asked if she
was really allowed to cash the check. He assured her that she was.

Citing the case of a former Motown session bass player who he said
died impoverished after helping churn out hit after hit (“You Can’t
Hurry Love” by The Supremes, “My Girl” by The Temptations,
and dozens more), Dreith added that the fund helps ensure that
“there won’t be another James Jamerson,” at least in the economic sense.

Where the Money Comes From

Unlike Expo organizer ASCAP, which collects and pays royalties to
songwriters and composers, the joint union fund is for performers.
It was established in 1998, which may give a clue as to its initial
scope: the royalties are collected from U.S. digital platforms, but
not from U.S. terrestrial (conventional) radio, as to which there
is no provision in law for performance royalties. The Fair Play
Fair Pay Act, which the fund and unions vigorously support,
would change that and require AM and FM stations to pay
such royalties, too.

Those for-now digital royalties are paid to non-featured vocalists and
non-featured musicians regardless of their union membership or
affiliations. The fund collects foreign performance royalties for
U.S. non-featured performers as well, but only for members of
AFM and SAG-AFTRA.

That, anyway, is what the sound recording division of the fund
does. Two more recent arms, the symphonic royalties and
audiovisual divisions, represent evolutions beyond digital-only.
The first focuses on royalties for featured and non-featured
performers in symphonic sound recordings, including archival
recordings and radio broadcasts licensed for use on cable,
satellite and digital media. And the audiovisual division
collects royalties — again, for featured and non-featured
singers and musicians — from foreign territories for films
and television programs containing U.S. performers, which
have been broadcast on Spanish and German television,
and motion pictures containing U.S. performers, which have
been exhibited in cinemas in Spain.

There is no word on whether that limited geographic portfolio
might expand.

Like residuals, which inspired this reporter to prepare a
colored chart that Backstage likened to “a periodic table of
elements on mushrooms,” music royalties are complex: a
flowchart in the ninth edition of Harold Vogel’s definitive
Entertainment Industry Economics, which features almost
two-dozen circles, squares and other shapes and a similar
complement of connecting lines, looks like an oil refinery
diagram — except that the latter is easier to understand.
Indeed, turning bauxite into aluminum is apparently simpler
than the way money flows in the music business. But in one
small corner, at least, the AFM & SAG-AFTRA fund has it covered.

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III. EVENTS

 

DEAN AND RICHARD
are now at Culver City Elks

the first 
Friday of 
every month.
7:30pm-10:30pm,
11160 Washington Pl.
Culver City, 90232
310-839-8891
————————————-
LA WINDS JAZZ KATS 584
NO COVER, NO MINIMUM.
Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at
Viva Cantina
7:30-10:00.
900 Riverside Drive, 
Burbank.

Free parking across the street at Pickwick Bowl.
Come hear your favorite charts played the way
they 
should 
be. 

We are in the back room called
the Trailside Room. 


Come on down.

Guaranteed to swing.

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5/28 – 6/2/17
The BBB featuring Bernie Dresel

Mark your calendars and/or get tickets now:
playing TWO daytime shows near LAX (Los Angeles Airport)
this will be the only notice (earlier than usual) for these rare
“west side” shows

1.  LA Jazz Institute Big Band Spectacular
SUNDAY May 28 from 4:30-5:30 at Westin LAX Grand Ballroom
Call 562-200-5477 for $20 tickets or get them at the door.
http://lajazzinstitute.org

2.  LA Audio Show
FRIDAY June 2 from 5:30-7:00 at Sheraton Gateway LAX
poolside deck Single day tickets for the 10am-6pm LA
Audio Show and the 5:30 concert are available for $25
at http://www.laaudioshow.com/register

The deck area offers a variety of amenities from cabanas
to lounge seating and standing room where drinks,
appetizers and snacks can also be purchased. For those
whose preference is indoors, the windows of the
Costero Bar, overlooking the pool, will be opened.
And, for attendees, and others, who have worked up
an appetite for more solid fare, the Brasserie restaurant,
also with windows to the pool, will be serving.

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5/27/17
CULVER CITY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Music Director/Conductor Arlene Cardenes
Saturday May 27th, 5:00PM
A Culver City Centennial Celebration
This performance will feature a new
fanfare by Cary Belling.
Also
Andres Cardenes, Violinist and COnductor
Turning Point School Auditorium
8780 National Blvd. 
Culver City, CA 90232
Click here for ticket information

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6/7/17

FREE ADMISSION GLENDALE NOON CONCERTS!

PRESS RELEASE/ Wed JUNE 7, 2017 at 12:10-12:40 pm at the Free Admission
GLENDALE NOON CONCERTS/ Richard Strauss Violin Sonata:

Violinist Jacqueline Suzuki
Pianist Brendan White.

Thank you!
Jacqueline Suzuki
Curator, Glendale Noon Concerts
818-249-5108

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6/10/17

EDENDALE UP CLOSE CONCERTS
in Echo Park, at the Edendale Branch Library (LAPL).

Fiato String Quartet) – Saturday JUNE 10, 2017 (Noon-1:00pm) performance

Complete info, including upcoming concerts through JAN 2018,
can be found at http://edendaleupclose.blogspot.com
Thank you!
Jacqueline Suzuki
Curator, Edendale Up Close Concerts
818-249-5108

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6/13/17

CalStateLA Symphony Orchestra/Olympia Youth Orchestra

Dear Friends & Colleagues:

You are cordially invited to attend the admission FREE concert given by the CalStateLA Symphony Orchestra/Olympia Youth Orchestra on Sunday, June 11, 2017 at 3PM at the historic San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, 320 S Mission Drive, San Gabriel, CA 91776.

The orchestra is composed of young and talented students ages 12 through college age performing standard repertoire for orchestra from Baroque to Contemporary periods. Students win their positions in the orchestra through our annual competitive audition. The guest soloist this concert will be the renowned violinist, Timothy Fain, who was the recording artist on the sound track of the movie “The Black Swan”. He will be performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor accompanied by the orchestra.

Other works will include Wagner Tannhauser Overture, 2nd movement of the Dvorak New World Symphony, Mozart Adagio and Rondo for violin and orchestra(performed by our concertmaster, Jeongwon Claire An), and the 1st movement of the Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4.

Looking forward to seeing every there..

Sincerely,
Fung Ho

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6/25/17

Dear Doctor Wu Fans,

We will be appearing at the Santa Monica Summer SOULstice Festival on Sunday, June 25th 2017 from 4:30 to 6:30 PM, where we will play two sets of your favorite Steely Dan tunes.  Please bring your friends along and enjoy a great time with us!

Edgemar Courtyard
2440 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90405
4:30 – 6:30 PM

We hope to see you there!

The Doctor Wu Band
http://www.doctorwuband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/doctorwuband

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7/11-14/17

SANTA BARBARA JAZZ WORKSHOP

The LA Jazz Society is proud to partner with Kim Richmond
and Kimberly Ford in presenting the Santa Barbara Jazz
Workshop, July 11-14, from Tuesday afternoon to Friday night.

A faculty of Jazz professionals teach instrumental/vocal master
classes, improvisation, Jazz Listening (How to listen, and who to
listen to.), modern Jazz combo and Big Band playing with concerts
each late afternoon (open to the public) where advanced students sit in

For more information, visit www.santabarbarajazzcamp.com.

Presented by Kim Richmond and Kimberly Ford
at the Marjorie Luke Theater and SOHO Jazz Club.

You can read all previous offerings at:
http://www.responsible47.com

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UNTIL NEXT TIME,

THE COMMITTEE FOR A MORE RESPONSIBLE LOCAL 47

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