American Federation of Musicians

American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada

Full name	American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada
Founded	1896
Members	90,000
Country	United States, Canada
Affiliation	AFL-CIO, CLC
Key people	Raymond M. Hair Jr., president
Office location	New York, NY
Website	afm.org

The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada. They the largest organization in the world representing the interests of professional musicians. They accomplish this by negotiating fair agreements, protecting ownership of recorded music, securing benefits such as health care and pension, and lobbying legislators. In deference to the differing laws and cultural attributes of each country, in the US it is referred to as the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and in Canada as the Canadian Federation of Musicians/Fédération canadienne des musiciens (CFM/FCM).

The American Federation of Musicians was founded in 1896, at which time it took over from an older and looser organization of local musicians unions, the National League of Musicians.

Among the most famous actions by the AFM was a ban on all commercial recording by members in 1942–44, in order to pressure record companies to make a better arrangement for paying royalties to recording artists. This was sometimes called the Petrillo Ban, because James Petrillo was the newly–elected head of the union. Petrillo also organized a second recording ban in 1948 (from January 1 to December 14), in response to the Taft–Hartley Act.

Presidents

• 1896–1900 Owen Miller
• 1900–1914 Joseph Weber
• 1914–1915 Frank Carothers
• 1915–1940 Joseph Weber
• 1940–1958 James C. Petrillo
• 1958–1970 Herman D. Kenin
• 1970–1978 Hal Davis
• 1978–1987 Victor Fuentealba
• 1987–1991 Martin Emerson
• 1991–1995 Mark Massagli
• 1995–2001 Steve Young
• 2001–2010 Tom Lee
• 2010–Present Ray Hair

External links

• Official website