Among the services the Union provides are protection against unlawful labor practices, free engagement contract forms, free use of our rehearsal hall, networking with other professional musicians, a band and ensemble referral service, free or discounted legal advice and services, assistance in promoting yourself or your group, and other benefits available through the national organization, such as instrument insurance. You will also receive monthly issues of the International Musician, containing useful information and ads.

We do not function as a "hiring hall." However, we advertise extensively in local publications on behalf of our musicians and receive numerous inquiries from those interested in hiring musicians. We respond to these inquiries by providing our Band and Ensemble Referral List or a list of performers on a particular instrument. We also publicize public appearances of our member groups on our website and provide referrals to those looking for musical instruction.

Dues may be paid annually or semi-annually. We will send statements in December and June. You may pay by check or money order. If you prefer to pay in cash, please bring in exact change. Checks may be mailed.

Work Dues at 2.5% of Scale (not your actual fee) are due on all engagements. This is another means for the Local to help cover the cost of providing membership services. For work covered by Collective Bargaining Agreements, dues are usually withheld from payroll by the employer and remitted to us. Work dues on Community Music Partnership jobs are withheld by us when the leader is paid. Work dues on Music Performance Fund jobs will be withheld from your individual checks and remitted to us. For single-engagement contracts, members may either file contracts with us and request to be billed, or they may calculate the work dues themselves and remit them periodically.

You will find the scale rate for various types of engagements in the front of your Membership Directory. These are minimum scales, and you may ask for higher compensation. We discourage members from playing below scale or for free, but we recognize that there may be circumstances (most typically in church) where the member wishes to donate musical services. Please contact our office for more information on procedures for doing this.

Instrument insurance is available from Seabury & Smith through the American Federation of Musicians. Be aware that as a professional musician, your homeowner’s policy may not cover your instrument.

Local 11-637 provides a life insurance policy with a death benefit of $1,000 for each member as part of your membership.

At this time we do not offer any health insurance policy, individual or group, but the AFM is exploring ways of making this available to the membership.

AFM members may participate in the AFM-EPF (American Federation of Musicians and Employers Pension Fund). Currently musicians who perform on MPF jobs receive a 4% pension contribution for each job. Members may also file pension contributions on their own behalf on special single-engagement contract forms. Please contact us for copies of the LS-1 contract form and information on how to take advantage of this valuable new member benefit.

This is a program jointly administered by Local 11-637 and Metro Louisville government. Each Metro Councilor has funding to provide bands and musicians for organizations and community events in their districts. Typically these will be block parties, neighborhood picnics, arts fairs or seniors’ events. The organization should submit a request for musicians to their Councilperson, and if it is approved, a request form will be sent to our office and we will take care of booking the band and paying them and then billing Metro Louisville. Musicians are compensated at single-engagement scale. Please contact us if you would like more information about this program, or visit our website.

This program is similar to the CMP but is funded through a nonprofit agency in New York. Its mission is to support live, free public musical performances. The requesting organization must prepay 65% of the cost of the performance and the MPF will provide 35%. Request forms and prepayment should be submitted to our office at least three weeks prior to the performance date. Musicians participating are paid at our Public Service scale and also receive a 4% contribution to their AFM-EPF account. This program is available to organizations outside of Metro Louisville or those whose events are too large in scope or otherwise ineligible for CMP funding. It is widely used in our area for neighborhood concert series, holiday events, parish festivals and seniors’ entertainment. Please contact us for more information and application forms, or visit our website.

Please note that union membership is not mandatory to take advantage of either of these programs, although we request that at least the leader be a member, as it is union staff time and efforts that sustain them.

…at www.afm.org for much more information and resources.