Hollywood composer faces $50,000 fine from his union
mainAustin Wintory, a Grammy-nominated games composer, is speaking out against his union. Here’s his case. No response yet from AFM.
I, Austin Wintory, am facing a $50,000 fine from my own union for – The American Federation of Musicians – and have decided to speak up against my union’s blockage of ALL new video game recordings
Several years ago Ray Hair, the President of the American Federation of Musicians put together a Videogame Agreement working committee to develop a new game agreement.
The new Videogame Agreement was approved by the AFM’s International Executive Board and went into effect December 2012. This new contract was done without allowing any composers, musicians or any of the 90,000 members of the union given an opportunity to vote on it.
“The new administration, was deeply committed to fixing the videogame mess,” explained committee member and Recording Musicians Association (RMA) President Marc Sazer at the time. He also predicted, incorrectly, that “the new agreement should induce employers to sit down and negotiate with the AFM.”
Nothing could be further from the reality of what happened.
The end result was an agreement that was universally rejected by every single video game developer and publisher, and has gone completely unused since the day it was created.
For almost two years now, under this contract, no union member has been allowed to work on a new video game soundtrack as a result.
“Unfortunately employers have not signed the current agreement,” admits AFM Local 47 Vice President John Acosta who represent the recording musicians of Los Angeles, “and the limited work we were doing before has all but vanished into non-union land.”
This contract created an untenable situation. Composers and musicians have continued to need to earn a living in this industry. Those musicians and composers therefore we’ve been forced to work without union sanction because the union has failed to signed any video game companies to work with them in almost two years.
After having successfully recorded the iOS game HORN with AFM musicians, I attempted to do the same with THE BANNER SAGA. The unusable contract forced me elsewhere, and I soon found the remarkable Dallas Wind Symphony. This collaboration happened as a direct result of the AFM’s unusable contract, and I am now being punished for simply doing my job under those circumstances.
In an article telling entitled “Education and Discipline in the Videogame Industry,” AFM President Ray Hair declares, “The time has come for education and discipline,” “within our ranks” as well as within the Video Game industry.
“I don’t think anybody give you anything because they like you,” said AFM President Hair recently, “In the union business they give you things because they are afraid of what you are going to do to them.”
Simply put, this current leadership does NOT represent me, and I believe does not represent the best interests of AFM musicians.
If you feel inclined to, please show your support by sharing this video and commenting on it below.
I can be reached at info(at)austinwintory(dot)com
Ahh, the A F of M–
doing their best to support recording musicians in London and Bratislava.
“I don’t think anybody give you anything because they like you,” said AFM President Hair recently, “In the union business they give you things because they are afraid of what you are going to do to them.”
Inducing fear into it’s members is one of the union’s greatest pastimes. It’s completely senseless to be part of union this day in age. Why anyone would create the headache for them self by inserting a middleman is beyond me.
It is unfortunate to see a union veering between helping its members and music to survive, as in Minnesota, and in causing strife. But there must be much more to this story than we see here. An industry that is not abiding by a union agreement is not one likely to be serving anyone but itself. We should know by now to expect those involved in technology to be self-serving, self-enriching, and unethical. But, then, so are many musicians. As well as union staff. Hair is no Petrillo. My main beef with the union is that they charge dues when members are unemployed and can levy fines against members. What gives them that right?
“My main beef with the union is that they charge dues when members are unemployed and can levy fines against members. What gives them that right?”
The fact that, in order to become a member of a union, one needs to agree to follow its bylaws. Isn’t that true of most organizations?
The videogame issue is an extraordinarily difficult one for the AFM. No doubt it has made mistakes in dealing with it. But the goal of making sure that musicians who play for videogames are paid fairly should be one that most people who love music would support. The videogame industry is wildly profitable. The offshoring of scoring those games is simply another example of business being greedy. We didn’t build a middle class in this country from offshoring, and we won’t maintain one that way either.