Dear Friends:
As you may have heard, my term as AFM President ended on August 1, 2010. For the past 15 years I’ve served on official Federation Negotiating Committees as Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer and during the last nine years as AFM President. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve 90,000 members in this capacity.
I’m proud of the many important changes we made in the AFM in the areas of legislation, administration and negotiations during my presidency. New policies, initiatives, systems, a website overhaul, and the launch of AFM social networks were all part of restructuring the AFM to meet the demands of 21st century business practices. A solid commitment was made to ramp up the legislative efforts of the AFM and the fruits of that activity are beginning to pay off for the benefit of all musicians in and out of the union as well as the copyright holders.
I’m also extremely proud of the relationships we developed with the video game industry offering opportunities for composers, publishers and developers to use AFM musicians under a new streamlined agreement that featured fair and equitable terms. A result of that outreach was a huge increase in the amount of video game work for AFM members which averaged about one million dollars in wages and benefits per year over the last three years. This far surpassed previous years, and I have every reason to believe that we were well on our way to another banner year far exceeding one million dollars in 2010.
The success of this program was a result of Savina Ciaramella’s hard work developing and nurturing relationships with all of you. Savina worked and reported directly to me so I know first hand how much trust and respect you have for her and we have for you.
Unfortunately, Savina was dismissed by the new administration so it will be up to others to continue to develop the great relationship with the game industry that Savina established.
On a personal note, I want you to know how much I appreciate the work we did together in establishing a contract that allowed video game scoring sessions to be recorded with AFM members. It brought much needed work to our musicians and allowed the companies to produce a quality soundtrack without having to leave the shores of North America. I will always value the relationship we developed and I wish each of you and your families a wonderful future.
Thank you for your support, and please don’t hesitate to contact me if I may be helpful to you in the future.
Sincerely,
Tom Lee
AFM President, Emeritus