Databases, InTune, reporting, FIF, work dues, per cap reporting, the crucial record-keeping and clerk duties that all union officers are responsible for are endless. Each Local is either dependent on InTune or left to their own devices (no pun intended).

Our AFM, or Locals and musicians would all benefit from a modern, secure, easy-to-use AFM-wide database that every Local could portal into, creating ease, efficiency, cost-savings and accuracy in reporting. We know it can be done. At Local 47, a large local with deep needs, we were hobbled by an outdated, Microsoft Access-based system that risked both internet security and systems failure.

We invested in a comprehensive, usable and successful system for membership, dues, jobs, finances and reporting. It is a secure, cloud-based system which has created 24/7 musician access for members and non-members, as well as efficiencies including remote access for staff and officers.

Imagine if the AFM had such a system that your Local could simply pull up on a web browser or on your phone to take care of your local’s reporting needs.

Teamsters do it. SAG-AFTRA does it. The Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund and the AFM&SAG-AFTRA Distribution Fund have all built modern, secure and comprehensive systems that handle millions of contracts and hundreds of thousands of musicians.

There are several Resolutions before the Convention that speak to this urgent need, and I look forward to working with all the proponents on the issue. It’s time for our AFM to invest in a centralized, AFM-wide clean, comprehensive, modern database solution. I’ve helped Local 47 do so, and I’m ready and willing to help the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada move into the technological future.

On to Ottawa!

Imagine being a freelancer out on the road with an artist you’re attached to, or as part of your own band, or as a side musician in a band, or as part of the core group of an orchestral tour. What do these all have in common? No AFM coverage, no health care contributions, no pension contributions, no workplace or media protections.

It has been decades since artists went out on tour to promote their records; now sound recordings are produced to promote tours. Indie artists travel their region, travel the continent, and travel the globe, performing in a range of venues, putting it together.

And, when tours come through our locals, we are left to deal with them piecemeal, local by local. This uncoordinated, reactive and patchy non-approach leaves locals to struggle alone.

We need to do better. We can do better! We need an AFM-wide strategy and structure!

In 2019, the AFM Convention authorized the International Executive Board to act on these needs, and that language now appears in Article 13, Section 3: “The IEB is given full power and authority to promulgate, adopt, revise, and/or adjust all scales for traveling musicians and to promulgate, adopt, revise, change, suspend, and/or repeal any rules, laws, and/or Bylaws pertaining to traveling musicians…” 

These strategic needs require both IEB leadership and an upgraded and transformed AFM Touring Division. It would make sense to have separate staff for non-theatrical touring, as touring theatre has its own unique employers, business models and challenges. Research and organizing resources are crucial to success in this area.

A significant gap for freelance and indie musicians out on the road in the U.S. is the lack of health care benefits. The Entertainment Industry Flex Plan is a flexible, portable, bankable, usable employer-based contribution plan that is ready and willing to play a role in providing meaningful health contributions for musicians on tour with AFM contracts. As a longtime participant in the Flex Plan I can bring real information to the table.

We don’t need new bylaws here, we need a committed and focused voice in our leadership.

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Onward to Ottawa!