AFTRA Detroit Political Beat

Martha Reeves (AFTRA Board member), Elected to the Detroit City council and serves as co-chair of the Detroit Entertainment Task Force.
The headlines read 'Heat Wave' In Detroit when Martha ran and won a seat on the Detroit City Council in November (05).  The Detroit City Council, one of the country's few full-time city legislative bodies, consists of nine (9) members elected at large for a four-year term. The City Council was first constituted as the legislative body of the City in 1824 (replacing a Board of Trustees) and was called the Common Council until July 1, 1974—the effective date of Detroit's new City Charter. Reeves was a member of the Motown group MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. She says, "I'm not a politician, there are a lot of things I need to learn. My main reason for being on the city council is to be the voice of the public." 
Martha still finds time also to be a voice for AFTRA Detroit members. She doesn't just carry the title of an AFTRA Board member: she actively participates in the Local's affairs somehow finding time to wear yet another hat and serve all of us.

Martha Reeves goes to Capital Hill for the Launch of the Public Performance Rights Campaign for song artist.
In June 2007, AFTRA in coalition with other artists' rights groups, indie and major labels launched an all-out effort to on Capitol Hill to pass a federal law to secure public performance rights for recording artists, singers, musicians and labels for over-the-air terrestrial radio. Over-the-air Radio: The U.S. is the only country in the industrialized world that does not mandate payments to recording artists and content owners for music played over-the-air.  We strongly believe this unfair exception in copyright law needs to be addressed by Congress. Because of the lack of a performance right in the U.S., American artists are not only denied payment for domestic airplay but also are not paid when their recordings are played abroad. On the other hand, Internet, satellite and cable radio owners are all required by federal law to pay a performance royalty to recording artists and labels for the right to play their sound recordings. The foreign response to the lack of a performance right in the United States has been to not pay U.S. performers for foreign airplay. As a result, American performers lose millions of dollars each year in both foreign and domestic revenue. AFTRA is working with the Recording Academy, the American Federation of Musicians, the Recording Artists' Coalition, the Music Managers Forum, SoundExchange, A2IM, and the labels to correct this longstanding inequity.

Click here to visit the SoundExchange website and sign the petition to support fair pay for musicians>>

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