SAG-AFTRA Reaches Deal With Recording Industry

SAG-AFTRA has reached a tentative three-year successor deal with the recording industry, covering session singers, royalty artists, announcers, actors, comedians, narrators and sound effects artists.

The deal covers work by performers for Sony Music Entertainment, affiliates of Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, Capitol Records LLC and Hollywood Records for recordings in all new and traditional media and all music formats, along with audiobooks, comedy albums and cast albums.

The deal now goes to SAG-AFTRA members for ratification.

The new deal includes a payment formula for online streaming and non-permanent digital downloads for revenues generated outside the United States through platforms such as Spotify, Tidal and Rdio. It’s the first time that the labels have included revenue generated outside the U.S. in any payment streams under the union’s contract.

The agreement is the first new contract covering sound recordings since the 2012 merger of SAG and AFTRA and will be known as the SAG-AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Sound Recordings. The previous agreement expired December 31, 2015 and the new contract is retroactive to January 1, 2015  and runs through December 31, 2017.

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