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AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund

The US fund that collects and distributes performance royalties to non-featured performers, and a named party to the November 2024 SAMPRA reciprocal agreement.

Based in
United States
Founded
1998

The AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund is a United States not-for-profit formed in 1998 by the American Federation of Musicians and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. It collects and distributes performance royalties to non-featured performers: session musicians, backing vocalists and others who are not the billed artist on a recording.

In SoundExchange’s United States distributions, 5 per cent of collected royalties goes to non-featured artists through this Fund, 45 per cent to featured artists and 50 per cent to rights owners.

The Fund is a named party to the reciprocal agreement SoundExchange and SAMPRA announced on 18 November 2024, under which South African neighbouring rights royalties for United States non-featured performers are deposited with it. SAMPRA’s own annual review for 2024 lists “AFM SAGAFTRA, USA, Performers” on its international representation table; the entry does not appear on the equivalent tables for 2020, 2021 or 2022.

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