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Attention Longtime Royalty Recording Artists
     -- Moore class action settlement news

If you recorded for a major record label as a royalty artist at any time up to January 1, 1995, there is a possibility that not all of your earnings were properly reported to the AFTRA Health and Retirement Funds (the “AFTRA Funds”), as required by the terms of the AFTRA Phonograph Code ("Phono Code"), the labor contract that covered this work.  It is very important that all of your earnings are properly reported to the Funds because you may be entitled to a pension through the AFTRA Funds, the amount of which is determined by your reported earnings. 

In October, 1993, a lawsuit was filed by Sam Moore and others against the AFTRA Funds and the major record labels alleging that the labels had failed to properly report artists’ earnings and failed to make the proper contributions to the Funds on the artists’ behalf, and that the AFTRA Funds acquiesced in these delinquencies.  In October, 2002, the AFTRA Funds reached a settlement with the plaintiffs, and the court certified this settlement as a “class action” settlement.  As a class action settlement, any artist who falls into the definition of the plaintiff class may benefit from the settlement.  If you recorded under the AFTRA Phono Code at any time up to January 1, 1995, you are part of the plaintiff class. 

Under the terms of the settlement, you, as a plaintiff class member, have the right to have your pension account reviewed for errors or omissions by the AFTRA Funds through a special claims procedure that has been created for this purpose.  However, you can only benefit from this claims procedure if you file a claim with the AFTRA Funds.  To initiate such a review, you must send in a Claim Form, which is available from AFTRA or the AFTRA Funds offices.   

If you need any assistance in filing this claim, please contact Dominique Bravo, the AFTRA Ombudsperson at the AFTRA National offices in New York.  She can be reached at (212) 532-0800 or (800) 638-6796 (toll-free) or by email, dbravo@aftra.com.

Posted 11/10/05