The 1942 recording ban

[ghost of miles]

Found this on a cool big-band site that I just discovered:

Petrillo ban

There's a joke in Evan Hunter's QUARTET IN H that references Petrillo and the recording ban... can't remember it at the moment, but I'll try to post it tomorrow.

[garthsj]

I hope that this is not self-serving, but here is a short account of the Petrillo AFM incident that I wrote as a "sidebar" for a book on the history of popular culture which has not yet been published. It might be useful as a background for those on this board who know nothing of the history of this event.

The AFM Recording Strike, 1942-1944

One of the strangest events in the history of the American recording industry was the strike by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) from August 1942 to November 1944. The history of the this strike starts in the mid-1930s, when the unemployment of musicians had increased dramatically due to the use of talking motion pictures and the decline of vaudeville. The fact that the Depression caused people to stay at home and listen to the radio and the increasing use of juke boxes in public places had added to the demise of live music. When he had been the head of the Chicago local of the AFM, James Caesar Petrillo, recognizing the harmful impact that "canned" music would have on the members of his union, had forced the radio industry to employ union musicians to manipulate turntables and program commercial records in radio stations. However, when Petrillo was elected as the president of the national AFM he decided to bide his time before seeking to redress the grievances of the musicians.

As the battle between ASCAP and BMI was being waged in the late 1930s and early 1940s Petrillo patiently waited to see how the courts would rule on the issue of royalties and fee payments. Eventually he decided that the best place to attack would not be the radio stations or live music locations, but the record companies. The AFM was a relatively powerful union in 1942, and no live performance where admission was charged could be given anywhere, even by high school or amateur musicians, without the consent of the union. Petrillo approached the leaders of the recording industry in early 1942 asking for a flat rate to be paid to his union for each record pressed. His threat was to keep all musicians out of recording studios if the union's demands were not met. The recording industry doubted that he could make good on this promise, and they rejected the offer.

When the members of the AFM gathered in Dallas for their annual convention in June 1942 the mood was militant, and Petrillo outlined his plan of attack. Union musicians would not be allowed to make any more recordings after a specific date except for those intended for the war effort or for use in the home. This basically meant that all recording would stop because the record industry could not control their product once it was shipped from their warehouses. No one in the recording industry seemed to take this threat too seriously, however an order went out to every AFM local in the country that after July 31, 1942 all recording engagements should be refused. This order applied to everyone in the union, from the pianist at the local bar to the piccolo player in the Philadelphia Symphony. The result was that on August 1, 1942, the recording studios at Columbia, Decca and RCA Victor were effectively shut down.

It took a little while before the effects of the ban were noticed because record companies usually had a sizeable amount of back material "in the can" which they could issue. However, the public was used to having a wave of new material issued each month. The record buyers quickly discovered that music that they heard on the radio in live performances and in the theater could not be found in the record stores. The musical Oklahoma! had been a smash hit on Broadway, but there were no records of its popular songs available, except on live radio broadcasts.

The silence in the studios continued, and the record companies were beginning to feel the pinch. While some smaller companies did sign with the AFM, the "big three" remained steadfast in their opposition to the strike. The record companies had hoped that President Roosevelt would intervene on their behalf because of the need for morale-building entertainment during the war, but even this did not work. The first of the "big three" to give in after thirteen months was Decca, which had no more product to release. The company signed a contract with terms specifying royalties from a quarter of a cent to five cents on every record sold, payable to the AFM for help to its members. The first major project that Decca undertook once the ban was lifted was to record and release the original cast recording of Oklahoma! which then sold 1,300,000 albums at $5 each.

Both Columbia and RCA Victor continued to hold out, but at the end of two years both companies were getting to the bottom of their stockpiles. Another factor was that Decca Records was beginning to make serious inroads into their markets especially with juke boxes, and on Armistice Day 1944, both companies signed agreements with the AFM on terms similar to that reached with Decca. Almost immediately RCA Victor was recording songs from the movie Meet Me in St. Louis, and Columbia began its long association with the Philadelphia Philharmonic.

The ban itself has some peculiarities, for example, Petrillo did not consider the harmonica a "musical instrument," and therefore groups such as the Harmonicats were able to make records and accompany singers. Some vocalists such as Frank Sinatra made records accompanied by "a cappella" vocal groups. The recording industry did, however, continue to turn our "V-discs" for the war effort, and much of the big band music that has survived from this period has been taken from this source. There were further strikes by the AFM in 1948, and later in 1958 but nothing on the scale of the infamous two-year ban during World War II.

Edited January 29, 2005 by garthsj

[Jazzmoose]

Self serving? Hell no! Fascinating.

[JSngry]

The first ban/strike was a great victory for the professional/union musician. The MPTF (Musicians Performance Trust Fund) is still in full gear today, providing entertainment to many civic events at little if any cost to the municipalities. If you go to a "City XYZ Arts Fair" or some such and there's live music being played throughout the day and into the night, odds are good that it's being provided by the MPTF. The musicians get paid (scale) through the union and get exposure to the "general public", plus the city gets to hold a festival that is enjoyed by many, across demographic lines. win-win. If your city has something like this, odds are good that you can thank the AFM MPTF, and for THAT, you can thank the first recording ban. Plus, the MPTF provides many similar services for schools, hospitals, senior centers, etc.

The other two bans, I'm afraid, were less focused, less successful, and were a contributing factor to changing popular taste, especially the one of 1948.

[ghost of miles]

The first ban/strike was a great victory for the professional/union musician.

Thanks for pointing this out, Jim... it's a conclusion I've come to as well. The 1942 strike has long been represented in a negative light, primarily because it kept many great bands and musicians off records during an interesting period in the evolution of the music, but from an economic perspective, it must indeed be viewed as a victory for performing artists.

[brownie]

The first two bans (1942, 1948) I am aware of. However the 1958 ban is new to me. Did it have any effects like recording sessions being put to a stop?

Thanks garthsj - and JSngry - for your illuminating contributions. And to GoM for digging up the DownBeat story!

[garthsj]

The first two bans (1942, 1948) I am aware of. However the 1958 ban is new to me. Did it have any effects like recording sessions being put to a stop?

This is taken from my notes .... I am not sure which site I got it from ... it should answer your question.

A Brief History of the Recording Musicians Association

In an attempt to protect the live music industry, AFM President Petrillo ordered a ban on phonograph/transcription recordings in 1942. In 1944, the ban was lifted as the AFM had negotiated fixed royalties for each album produced by the record companies. By 1951, the royalty payment amounted to 5% of the overall budget for TV productions, which led to "track libraries" being produced overseas to circumvent the royalty payments. LA musicians were losing work, and even Desi Arnez was pleading their case to AFM officials in New York.

Petrillo in 1955 began to divert the $25 payment for film reuse on TV from the recording musicians to the new MPTF program; the total roylaties diverted came to almost $2 million. Full-time recording musicians, receiving no pension, royalty, or reuse payments, and unable to ratify their own contracts, now became upset over the loss of these funds to the MPTF program, and in 1956 began a revolt led by Local 47 VP Cecil Read. Before the revolt would end, the leaders would be expelled from the AFM and they would make national news, seeing their cause reported in the LA Times, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and others.

During the 1958 motion picture strike, these "renegades" formed the Musicians Guild of America. If the AFM would not represent their interests, they would form their own union to represent their needs. An NLRB election gave representation rights at the major studios to the MGA, taking them away from the AFM. The new AFM leadership took this, as well as the formation of the Recording Society of NY, as a wake-up call, and began to follow suit, eliminating the 5% TV royalty tax and creating a pension plan. The AFM won back representation rights to the studios in 1960 and began talks to reunite with the MGA recording musicians, offering the Special Payments Fund, a recording advisory committee, and the ability to ratify contracts as incentives to put an end to the dual unionism.

The RMA of NY was formed in 1969 to offer more input from recording musicians during negotiations. When the AFM "gave back" 25 years of progress through negotiations in 1982 by making a sweetheart deal to legitimize nonunion rates at San Diego jingle house Tuesday Productions, recording musicians used this as a rallying cry to form a national RMA, eventually with chapters in NY, LA, Chicago, Nashville, and Toronto.

The RMA exists to unify recording musicians and coordinate their efforts. They lobbied for and were eventually given AFM Conference Status in 1987. Some of the goals the RMA has worked toward since its founding are:

* Oversight of the AFM-EPF, forcing it to be a better performer

* Publication of a national directory and scales in 1971

* 1994 creation of Low Budget Contract to keep scoring from moving overseas

* Creation of EMSD in 1990

* Testifying before Congress over Digital Performance Rights in Sound Recording Act in 1995

[couw]

This is taken from my notes .... I am not sure which site I got it from ...

source: http://www.afm655.org/learn/rma.htm

[SGUD missile]

The first two bans (1942, 1948) I am aware of. However the 1958 ban is new to me. Did it have any effects like recording sessions being put to a stop?

If I recall my AFM history, the 58 incident was rooted in the attempts by the La movie scoring musicians to secede from the union to gain more specific benefits for the movie and recording musicians. The attempt was called the Musicians Guild and (Ithink ) one of the ringleaders was then studio bone player Si Zentner ( among many others )

One of the issues was the establishment of a pension fund which did not exist at the time.

I do know that Chicago trumpet player ( and board member of the AFM Chicago local ) Don Jacoby was sent out by Petrillo to arbitrate the issues involved and over a period of some six months, the issues were settled , which began the process of creation of the Musicians EPW fund contributed to by both musicians and employers who choose to participate in this plan ( mainly those players/arrangers in the symphonic, recording , and theatrical fields these days ) supplying you with an additional income in retirement based on your lifetime covered earnings/contributions ..As a matter of fact, I am a beneficiary of the EPW fund myself.

Petrillo was an odd character: he did a lot of damage to musicians in some ways, and yet helped create some features like those described above that were outstanding ..

[brownie]

Many thanks garthsj and SGUD missile!

Very interesting posts!

[garthsj]

This is taken from my notes .... I am not sure which site I got it from ...

source: http://www.afm655.org/learn/rma.htm

Thanks for finding the source Couw; I will now make the correct citation in my notes ... I am usually careful with sources ... in my business you can't be too careful.

[Guest ariceffron]

didnt some companies still record? besides the bootleg labels-- companies like asch, it was run by a pacifist so he recorded through the ban....isnt that right?

[JSngry]

Not sure about that, Aric, but a lot of smaller independent labels settled w/the AFM before the majors did. That's where a lot of great small group jazz w/then-emerging bebop players first got documented.

I might be wrong about this, but some of those labels maybe even got started as a result of the ban - some enterprising individuals saw a void in the market and went about filling it by meeting union demands so they could go ahead and start making/selling records again.

[SGUD missile]

didnt some companies still record? besides the bootleg labels-- companies like asch, it was run by a pacifist so he recorded through the ban....isnt that right?

During the original ban, there were V discs recorded for use on the AFRS by many bands, but I don't know of any "scab" recording being done ..Petrillo had a pretty firm grip on stuff at that time.