With the rise of streaming music, SAG-AFTRA wants to make sure its members get paid.
SAG-AFTRA has reached a tentative agreement with major labels following months of negotiations.  The three-year agreement is a successor contract to the existing SAG-AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Sound Recordings.
Both parties reached an agreement on Thursday after two days of bargaining in New Orleans. Â Negotiations first started in April 2018 in Los Angeles, three months after the current deal expired. Â They then continued for two more sessions over the summer in New York.
The SAG-AFTRA Sound Recordings Code covers sound recordings on digital, CDs, vinyl. Â It also includes all music formats as well as audiobooks, cast albums, and any other sound recordings utilizing vocal performances. Â The Code covers singers, announcers, actors, comedians, narrators, and sound effects artists. Â It also applies to artists who work at scale and overscale, and appear as royalty and non-royalty artists.
Several artists may qualify as royalty artists for their own recordings, but could appear as non-royalty artists on others’ recordings.
The Sound Recordings Code has existed since the early 1950s.
Highlights of the new contract include annual minimum wage increases and increased contributions to health and retirement plans.  The latter includes ‘significantly increased’ contributions on payments from online streaming music services.  The new contract also includes other improvements in economic terms.  SAG-AFTRA didn’t provide any details.
Source: Digital Music News
