More Thoughts on the Don't-Get-Involved AFM

Thanks to Matt Plummer for his comment on The Don't-Get-Involved AFM:

...[E]ven if you argue we lowered our standards too much for the new videogame agreements, it's a decidedly different issue.

The AFM is mostly organizing work that has been non-union or non-existent in the past, while the screenwriters' guild is negotiating rates on work that has always been union work.

Although videogame agreements have been non-union or nonexistent in the past, this field of work is still within the framework of the "music business." The AFM's one-page contract has none of the traditional benefits of organizing attached. It washes away all long-standing principles of what the professional musician expects in return for her expertise as an artist.

When videogames became part of the music business the AFM should have been involved initially, but we were finessed by others. Now, the one-page contract, with nothing on the table but a flat hourly wage, is the future of the videogame marketplace.

Currently, neither the WGA nor the AFM has any strictly legal "right" to residuals. The WGA and the AFM are in the same boat. But the WGA is on strike for the principle of residuals for its artists. Compare this to our AFM. While residuals fill the bank accounts of Sony and others, and the few dollars paid to the musician disappears into oblivion, the AFM does nothing to protect its artists' expectations.

The WGA is fighting to protect the artist's expectation of residuals, while the AFM doesn't get involved.