A Letter From Our Union Presidents

"Do we have royalties for you?"may be an unexpected question - but it is a question that the AFM and SAG-AFTRA take great pleasure in asking. Our two great unions have a long record of fighting for the principle that vocalists and musicians should benefit from all the varied uses of their recordings in the United States and overseas. Consistent with that principle, we've worked hard to make it possible for U.S. musicians and vocalists - both royalty artists and session performers - to receive payments for the rental of recordings in Japan, for home taping in Japan, for home taping in the U.S., and for digital performances of recordings in the U.S. We will continue to work for the payment of U.S. and foreign royalties to singers and musicians in the U.S.

The AFM and SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund is a joint project of the two unions, formed for the purpose of distributing these and similar royalties. The Fund distributes to entitled vocalists and musicians without regard to union membership. If you are a musician or vocalist who has performed on a recording entitled to a distribution, please check below to see if we have money for you! We invite you to visit www.afm.org and www.sagaftra.org to learn more about us. Professional vocalists who record under collective bargaining agreements negotiated by SAG-AFTRA earn industry standard scale wages and contributions to the SAG-AFTRA Health and Retirement Funds. Similarly, professional musicians who record under AFM agreements earn industry standard scale wages, contributions to the AFM and Employers Pension Fund, health payments, and Special Payments Funds payments related to sales. The AFM and SAG-AFTRA also lobby for artists' interests on both a national and international level and represent artists in litigation and before the Copyright Office. Tens of thousands of professionals already belong to SAG-AFTRA and the AFM and enjoy the benefits of union membership.If you aren't one of them yet, we'd love to welcome you as a new member!

Gabrielle Carteris
President
Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

Ray Hair
President
American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada