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Where Do I Begin?

If you’re about to hire musicians for a recording and you’re uncertain about how to file a union contract to cover that work, you’ve come to the right place.

If you’re a musician being hired for a recording and don’t know what you’re supposed to get paid, you’ve also come to the right place.

The new AFM Electronic Media Services Resource Center is designed to steer you in the right direction!


We’ve reorganized our contract information to better help employers and musicians alike to find the resources they are looking for.

On the Electronic Media Services Division main page, you’ll find links to a wide variety of different types of media and you might find yourself overwhelmed. We want this process to be as straightforward as possible, so if you’re new to this, it might help to first explain why there is such a variety.

At a baseline level, there are two main parameters that determine how a musician should be paid for recording work: 1) the type of service they are performing and 2) the manner in which the recording of that service will be exhibited.

The type of service is the most important factor. Studio sessions to record album tracks are different from studio sessions to record film scores, and both are very different from appearances on a late-night television program.

But the manner in which the work will be exhibited is also important. Let’s say you’re budgeting for a new television singing competition series, which will require a house band to perform behind the competing vocalists. This type of work is clearly akin to our live television agreements, but different types of television have different types of broadcast patterns, so the terms for network television don’t fit for basic cable, public television, or premium channels like HBO. These formats each have their own agreement terms that fit the broadcast patterns required by those networks.

When you’re budgeting, you may not know the manner in which the work will be broadcast and that’s okay. Having access to wage scales for every agreement may help you decide if one format is out of your price range right off the bat.

As mentioned, the Resource Center is designed to steer you in the right direction by first offering links to a specific medium of exhibition and then any potential subdivisions of that medium.  As always, if you have any questions regarding the information on this site, feel free to contact the Federation or the AFM Local in which the work will take place.

 

The information is now organized by recording medium and further subdivided into subpages to help you find the correct agreement, wages, benefits, and filing instructions for your project.

 

An “archival recording” occurs when a live engagement is captured for the purposes of future review by the Producer and the Producer only. Archival recordings are not permitted to be broadcast or disseminated in any way, shape, or form. Moreover, a recording engagement cannot be called for the purpose of being an archival recording, if outside of the scope of a live engagement or steady collective bargaining agreement.

Most likely, if you are looking to capture a recording for purposes such as demonstration to potential financial backers, the Audio Demonstration Recording Agreement is a better fit.

The AFM has a Visual Archival Agreement to cover the capture, with no more than two cameras, of a live engagement for the purposes of review. If such a capture is intended for sale or other dissemination, it may better fit under the Limited Release DVD Agreement.

The Commercial Announcements Agreement covers musicians employed to record the music tracks to be used in the production of commercials in any medium (television, radio, Internet, etc.) The agreement also includes separate provisions for musicians engaged to appear on camera.

Musicians must be paid for session work and will also receive residual payments in the form of “cycles,” depending on how the music is used and how the commercials are aired.

All commercial announcements session work and residual payments are filed on an AFM B-6 Report Form.

Music recorded under the Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA) may be licensed for use in commercials. In this case, the SRLA’s licensing provisions do not apply and all payments that would have been required if the music had been recorded as a commercial in the first place will be required. For more information, see New Use.

Single market advertisers, usually small businesses, in areas with small AFM Locals, may file their work under the Made and Played Commercial Announcements Agreement.

Demos are recordings that are intended to display a piece or performance for the purposes of, well, demonstration, as well as for attempts to find financial backers for a project. They are, inherently, non-broadcast in nature. If a recording is intended to be distributed to the general public at large, the demonstration agreement terms do not apply.

AFM Locals administrate their own Audio Demonstration Recording agreements for the capture of music for such purposes. This agreement contains an additional payment for video capture, though the usage is limited to that which would normally be covered by an Electronic Press Kit.

Full visual capture of live performances for demonstration purposes is generally not covered, aside from, in limited circumstances, by the Limited Release DVD Agreement or by the Audition language in the Television Videotape Agreement.

The AFM has a wide variety of agreements covering film and television work. If you’re unfamiliar with how they work, then it’s difficult to know where to begin.

The first distinction is that the work of a musician varies depending on the type of production being made. Work done for “television” may vary wildly from project to project. The AFM makes a distinction between work that normally requires underscoring or has a narrative structure (covered by the Film Agreements) and variety-type work that’s normally broadcast live or as-live (covered by the Live Television Agreements).

Film Agreements
The AFM’s film agreements are negotiated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and covers in-studio work (“scoring”) as well as on-camera appearances by musicians (“sidelining”). This type work can be done for either theatrical release or for a television series. Also included here are Industrial Films, which are similarly underscored, but are not broadcast outside a specific location or event.

Theatrical Motion Pictures
Industrial Films
Television Films
On-Camera Work (“Sidelining”)
Soundtrack Releases
Live Television Agreements
The Live Television Agreements are a family of agreements that cover variety-type programming intended to be broadcast live or as-live, such as morning shows, daytime and late night talk shows, sketch comedy shows, award shows, game shows, sports, and other specials. For historical purposes, these agreements also cover “daytime serials” (soap operas.)

Network Television (“Videotape”)
Basic Cable
Non-Standard Television (Pay Cable)
Public Television (PBS)
Country Music Television (CMT)