The Recording Musicians Association held their biennial Conference over the two days of January 10-11 2025 in New York, hosted by the American Federation of Musicians in their offices in midtown Manhattan.
Our intention was to have an entirely in-person Conference, for which some of the Officers and Delegates were already in New York due to the AFM Videotape negotiations which concluded that week.
The in-person part did not go according to plan. By Tuesday, January 7, we began to hear news of fires breaking out in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, and within hours it became apparent that this was a major catastrophe, both for the Los Angeles area, and in particular for the hundreds of musicians who lived in those two areas. We created hybrid meetings so that Delegates and others could participate via Zoom, and moved ahead with the Conference.
The Conference provided a forum for reports and sharing. There were reports from our Officers, our Chapters and specific discussions focused on contracts. We were addressed by AFM President Tino Gagliardi, as well as the AFM’s key staff: Director of the EMSD John Painting, Director of Governmental Affairs Ben Kessler and Director of Organizing Gabe Kristal.
The Conference schedule was organized to allow for conversations to develop, and we were able to engage over a number of topics, including film/TV tax credits, the recording scene in Nashville and other cities, AFM enforcement of contracts, the new streaming residual and the recent success with the Live TV/Videotape Agreement. We also spent a great deal of time talking about the catastrophic fires burning in Los Angeles, and how we could prepare to help affected musicians after the Conference.
On Saturday, we discussed the formation of new committees, including committing to a bi-coastal tax credit committee and a bi-coastal committee on new signatory companies for our film and television contracts.
We held our election, and the results were:
- President Marc Sazer, President
- Lara Wickes, Secretary
- Martin McClellan, Treasurer
- Devin Malone, First Vice President
- Joanna Maurer, Second Vice President Maurer
- Chris Anderson-Bazzoli, Roger Blanc, Executive Officers
- Allen Fogle, Delegate to the AFM Convention
- Diana Wade, Alternate Delegate to the AFM Convention