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EMSD Resource Center

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 — or if you’re a musician being hired for a recording and don’t know what you’re supposed to get paid — you’ve come to the right place. We’ve reorganized our contract information to better help employers and musicians alike to find the resources they’re looking for.

The AFM EMSD Resource Center is designed to steer you in the right direction!

We want this process to be as straightforward as possible, so if you’re new to this, it might help first to explain why there is such a variety.

On the Electronic Media Services Division (EMSD) main page, you’ll find links to a wide variety of different types of media.

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.

However, 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. Still, 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 how 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.

Where Do I Begin?

The EMSD Resource Center is organized by recording medium to help you find the correct agreement, wages, benefits, and filing instructions for your project.

As always, if you have any questions regarding the information on this site, contact the AFM Local where the work will take place, or the EMSD.

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 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, another agreement would be a better fit. 

All Archival Recordings should be filed on a B-7 report form, checking “Other” and specifying “Audio Archival” or “Visual Archival” on the line provided. 

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 long 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 alternative 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 intended to display a piece or performance for demonstration purposes and 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 administer 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 Audition Program 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 major 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 of work can be done for either theatrical release or for a television series. Independent or Festival Films are motion pictures budgeted at $2,000,000 or less and intended to be exhibited at film festivals. Also included here are Industrial Films, which are similarly underscored, but are not broadcast outside a specific location or event. 

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.) 

“New media” is a catch-all term referring to methods of content distribution that differs from “old media,” which refers to things like analog broadcast television, feature films, and radio. “New media” are forms of media that are computational and rely on computers for redistribution. This includes the Internet, social media and social networking services, over-the-top streaming services, etc. 

Many AFM agreements contain provisions that indicate what happens if material is exhibited on new media, or in many cases, even when it’s made for new media. For example, when Sound Recordings are accessed on streaming platforms, a residual payment is due into a number of AFM funds. Motion pictures and television series made for New Media platforms are covered by sideletters to the film agreements. Advertisements on new media platforms are also covered under the Commercial Announcements Agreement. 

The explicit capture and broadcast of live events on Internet streaming sites are covered by individual letters of agreement. 

There is no stand-alone “New Media” AFM Agreement, so if you are unsure where your project may fit, please call your Local or the Federation. 

The SRLA contains a separate exhibit covering the work of musicians employed to record on-camera work for Traditional Music Videos, an audiovisual product that includes an audio element produced from the master record, and a visual element of the type or genre traditionally aired on television for promotional purposes, historically on networks like MTV, VH1, BET, CMT, etc. 

Rates are provided for instrumental musicians engaged to perform on-camera in such videos and payment is per video. There is no requirement to pay for musicians who are royalty artists, nor is there a requirement to pay anything additional to the musicians who appear on the track (assuming they are not also called for the video capture). 

In addition, an Alternate Music Video structure was bargained in 2023 to cover audiovisual capture that is not intended to be synched to a pre-existing master recording. This provision also pays by time worked, though there is no limitation on the amount of finished product that can be produced from such a session. 

All work for Traditional Music Videos is filed on an AFM B-4 Report Form. 

The AFM negotiates its radio agreement terms with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), which produces Live From Here (formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion). The AFM then promulgates that rate for other NPR productions to its more generalized Public Radio Agreement. 

Those rates are also applied on a case-by-case basis for syndicated, satellite, or Internet radio productions. 

Our radio agreements contain rates for in-studio work (paid by program length) as well as for the capture and broadcast of live performances and concerts. A separate, higher rate is applied when such a capture is “segmented” and aired as an individual piece, rather than aired as a complete concert. 

All radio work is filed on an AFM B-10 Report Form. 

The Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA) covers the performance of instrumental musicians, or as leaders, arrangers, orchestrators, and copyists in the production of recorded music intended for public sale or distribution, as well as on-camera work in the creation of music videos. The AFM negotiates this agreement with representatives from the major record labels. 

Aside from full “regular” Sound Recording Scale, in which 15 minutes of final product may be produced from a 3-hour call, discounted rates are available for Low Budget projects, as well as “Special Sessions,” shorter calls to produce less finished product. 

AFM Locals are permitted to set their own rates for projects that will not reach a threshold of sales to qualify for back-end payments, including Limited Pressings and Demonstration Recordings. Moreover, home studio work for small projects may be covered as Single Song Overdubs. In the absence of an employer hiring musicians, self-contained groups may file Joint Ventures without any monetary obligations. 

To learn more about work covered by this agreement, or other similar agreements, please follow the links below: 

The studio work for musicians providing underscoring for video games is not dissimilar from the work done for underscoring motion pictures. As a result, the AFM’s Video Game Agreement rates are determined by the size of the orchestra, much like in Theatrical Motion Picture, with a lower hourly rate for orchestras of 25 players or more. 

All video game work is filed on an AFM B-7 Report Form. 

AFM recording agreements are required when someone hires a musician to provide a musical service. However, what happens if there is no musician being hired, per se? What happens if a self-contained band rents studio time to cut an album? If nobody is hiring them, do they not need a union contract? Is the band then not protected if those songs get licensed into another project?  

If all musicians on a recording project are part-owners of the recording and they all benefit from any potential sales, then the musicians can file a Joint Venture Agreement with their Local to ensure that the project is on file with the union, even when no money changes hands.