Dear Member,
When the ball dropped in Times Square across from Federation headquarters one year ago, no one imagined the new year would see a worldwide pandemic that would disrupt how people live, work, eat, shop, and travel. COVID-19 has impacted how we communicate, how we study, and most importantly for professional musicians, how we entertain people. New COVID protocols have changed even the simplest of gigs.
But there have been some bright spots this year as musicians have developed creative solutions to perform online virtual concerts, the Music Performance Trust Fund has increased funding for live Facebook performances, as well as the newly ratified Live TV agreement, including for the first time, a streaming residual for musicians who perform in live television production.
And while some musicians are safely back to work in orchestras, media industries, sound recording, and film scoring, many musicians whose livelihood depends on performing live on tour, in nightclubs, bars, restaurants, festivals, theaters, and concert halls continue to experience severe economic shock.
Federation officers and staff have been working around the clock, fighting hard to negotiate improvements to existing agreements and facilitate new streaming engagement opportunities. We have worked harder than ever before to lobby governments in the US and Canada for additional Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits and coverage for the self-employed, gig workers, and others in nontraditional employment. We will continue in 2021 to work to ensure economic relief for members, including protections against evictions, foreclosures, and utility shut-offs.
With the upcoming inauguration of a new pro-labor administration in Washington, I am optimistic that the Federation’s most important legislative goal – relief for our pension fund – is far more achievable today than ever before.
In concluding what has been the most challenging year of our lives, we also mourn those we’ve lost, including internationally known artists Charley Pride, Neal Pert, Joe Diffie, John Prine, Eddie Van Halen, Bill Withers, Little Richard, Kenny Rogers, Charlie Daniels, Mac Davis, Bucky Pizzarelli, Jimmy Cobb, Ellis Marsalis, and many colleagues not so famous. Yet as we move on to another year of uncertainty, we should not lose heart; as Albert Einstein famously said, “In the midst of crisis lies great opportunity.”
In the new year of 2021, if we can work together in solidarity, if we are concerted and unified in our efforts, if we persevere in our music and develop new ways to produce and promote it that overcome the labor-economic impact of the pandemic, we will adapt, we will perform perfectly, we can seize the opportunities, and we will thrive.
Here’s to a happy and healthy new year, brothers and sisters.
In Unity,
Ray Hair
AFM International President
