| AFTRA |
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists - The most impressive part of this site is its music industry resource links, including links for singers, recording studios, charts indicating the fair pay scale for various performance venues, and much more. With 80,000 members and 36 local offices this national labor union advocates for those in various communications areas, including broadcasting, entertainment, recording, and educational media. Recently AFTRA proposed legislation that would encourage film producers to film in the US by offering them tax incentives.
Other benefits to joining include health insurance and improved job prospects. |
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| FIM |
International Federation of Musicians - This site is a bit bland and slow in comparison to some of the other music industry sites, yet it does have the option of being displayed in
French, English, German, and Spanish. This entity works in conjunction with National unions such as the AFM mentioned below. Links includ FIM recommendations, programs of action, and a list of members. |
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| AFM |
American Federation of Musicians - Started in 1896 the AFM is the largest union in the world with 250 local unions in the US & Canada.
The union assists musicians in negotiating payment agreements with producers, tracking the usage of a product/song worldwide, and lobbying for legislation that favors performing rights and intellectual property rights. There are also numerous forums, listserves, orchestra audition ads, a music and labor clipart gallery, and for members an online copy of the "Internation Musician" paper.AFM and AFTRA are jointly sponsoring a project to recoup royalty funds for its members. The The Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund deals with digital performance royalties, Japanese rental royalties, and audio home recording. The royalty money involved is that paid to non-featured musicians and vocalists. |
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| RMA |
Recording Musicians Association - This organization is a group that branched out from the AFM and focuses on the potential exploitation of artists in the recording arena. One recent news alert, in which the Union is calling its members to spread the word, is regarding Jive Records' unwillingness to become signatory to the AFM Phonograph Record Labor Agreement. In line with the Union rules a RMA member could not be contracted by this company since they are not abiding by the labor agreement. |
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| Performing rights organizations such as ASCAP - American Association of Composers and Performers - and BMI - Broadcasters Media Industry - track the usage of sound recordings on tv, radio, Musak, and at major concerts in order to compensate musicians, songwriters, and publishers. |
| ASCAP was the first of such societies founded in 1914 by writers and publishers who fought to get the 1909 Copyright Act enforced. BMI was born quite a bit later by the broadcasting companies in 1940 as an alternative to ASCAP whose artists had gone on strike. An artist must join one or the other in order to collect royalities.
Both companies represent hundreds of thousands of songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres. In their individual repertoires are millions of compositions, and they collect license fees for American artists as well as thousands of international artists who choose these companies to represent them in the U.S. BMI's site is very trendy, especially when compared to ASCAP's, yet both offer scholarships, songwriting competitions, and other benefits.
SESAC is another similar Performing Rights organization. Started in 1930 as the Society of European Stage Authors & Composers it primarily licensed gospel and European music. Now like ASCAP and BMI it covers all genres and composers from various countries. |
| Foreign performing rights organizations similar to those above exist throughout the world to keep track of artists' compensations. See many of these groups as they are listed on BMI's International Marketplace page and ASCAP's Foreign Affiliates page. These organization work together to collect license fees for musicians, most of which are knowingly or unknowingly a part of the international music scence. |
| NSAI |
Nashville Songwriters Association - With many services, ranging from song contests, conferences, and camps, this organization is not just for Nashville residents. Also there is a link to Music Row an online journal of Nashville related music news. This magazine in particular has links to national music news also in a section on the homepage called "Around the web." |
| SGA |
Songwriters Guild of America - Started in 1931, this association with 4,500 songwriters and several offices throughout the U.S. focuses on educating members and representing them in dealings with publishers and record companies. Other services include a bulletin board room, chat room, publishing audits, catalog administration, royalty collection and what they clain is the "best songwriter's contract in the business." |
| NAC |
National Association of Composers - One of the oldest organizations devoted to the promotion and performance of music by Americans. |
| IUMA |
Internet Underground Music Archive - This is an excellent site that hosts websites for 900+ music groups from around the world. All the services are free, including your own custom web page where you may place MP3 files, get email from fans, create message boards, etc. Started in 1993 the site has an interesting history.
Recently they have even agreed to give artists 25% of the advertising profits generated from their sites.
Similar sites are Addicted to Noise & Music Central. |
Euro Music |
European Music on the Web - This site claims to be a definitive resource for finding out about European music, concerts, companies, etc. on the Web. It has its own search engine, where one can find out about organizations, artists, conferences, etc. in various countries. |
| rlabels.com
| Record Lables on the Web - Put together by a student at Stanford and working for the campus radio station, this site is now partly maintained by the record labels that have their sites listed and partly by the webmaster. It is a simple search to find record labels by category and/or by country/state. This would be a great place to start when looking for possible record labels in another country or by category. |
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| AFIM
| American Federation of Independent Musicians - This group is the premier organization for the independent music community in the United States. Its members include independent labels, distributors and suppliers. Founded in 1972 as NAIRD (National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufacturers), the organization has grown from being primarily a distributing entity to now a group encompassing all aspects of the independent music business world. In 1978 the organization started their own annual award ceremony, although on their website they note the many independent artists that are also nominated for Grammy awards. The 2002 convention was held in San Francisco with NARM - The National Association of Recording Merchandisers. Main products from the site are an annual directory and educational jump start cassette tapes on everything you need to know in the industry. |
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