Mr. PETRILLO. No. Mr. MCCANN. Have you the authority at any time you desire to turn this car in and secure a new one at the expense of the American Federation of Musicians? Mr. PETRILLO. Correct. Mr. MCCANN. Does the American Federation of Musicians pay your chauffeur? Mr. PETRILLO. I have no chauffeur. Mr. MCCANN. You have no chauffeur? Mr. PETRILLO. No. Mr. MCCANN. Does the American Federation of Musicians pay any part of your income tax in addition to the salary which is given to you? Mr. PETRILLO. No. Mr. MCCANN. What is the amount of your monthly salary check after deductions, if any, from the American Federation of Musicians? Mr. PETRILLO. Well, 20 percent comes off of the $20,000 a year. That is, 20 percent of $20,000 is what? Mr. MCCANN. Well, we will leave that to be figured out. Does the Chicago local of the American Federation of Musicians pay any part of your income tax in addition to your salary? Mr. PETRILLO. Will you repeat that. Mr. MCCANN. Does the Chicago local of the American Federation of Musicians pay any part of your income tax in addition to your salary? Mr. PETRILLO. Yes; they pay all my income tax. Mr. MCCANN. They do? In addition to your salary? Mr. PETRILLO. That is right. Mr. MCCANN. Does the American Federation of Musicians pay your income tax in addition to your salary? Mr. PETRILLO. No. Can I explain about the taxes of the Chicago Federation of Musicians? They paid that up until 1944; then they discontinued. Mr. MCCANN. Where do you make your Federal income-tax return? Mr. PETRILLO. Chicago. Mr. MCCANN. Have you been required by the Income-Tax Bureau within the past 5 years to make any additional payments on your income tax? Mr. PETRILLO. No; as a matter of fact, they have returned some money to me. Mr. MCCANN. How many assistants do you have as president of the American Federation of Musicians? Mr. PETRILLO. Four. Mr. MCCANN. Name them. Mr. PETRILLO. Harry A. Steeper. Mr. MCCANN. Give his address. Mr. PETRILLO. He lives in Teaneck, N. J. His address I do not know. Mr. MCCANN. Proceed and give the next man's name and address. Mr. PETRILLO. Rex Riccardi. Mr. MCCANN. What is his address? Just give the city. Mr. PETRILLO. Larchmont, N. Y. Mr. MCCANN. Name the next assistant. Mr. PETRILLO. Claire Melder. Mr. MCCANN. Where does he reside? Mr. PETRILLO. New York. Mr. MCCANN. And the next? Mr. PETRILLO. Ed Canavan. Mr. MCCANN. Where does he reside? Mr. PETRILLO. New York. Mr. MCCANN. Name the salaries of these men. Mr. PETRILLO. Harry Steeper receives, as first assistant, $15,000 a year; Rex Riccardi and Claire Melder receive $10,000 each per year; Ed Canavan receives $8,000. Mr. McCANN. Which one of your assistants has charge of your recording? Mr. PETRILLO. Rex Riccardi. Mr. MCCANN. Which one has charge of the radio broadcasting field? Mr. PETRILLO. Claire Melder. Mr. MCCANN. Which one of your assistants is in charge of the theatrical field? Mr. PETRILLO. Harry Steeper. Mr. MCCANN. And which one is in charge of the movie field? Mr. MCCANN. Now, will you please give the names of the officers and board of directors of the federation? Mr. PETRILLO. Charles Bagley, vice president; Leo Xelusman; Tom Gamble, secretary-treasurer; Harry Kenner, executive board member; George Clancy, executive board member; John Parks, executive board member; Oscar Hild, executive board member; Walter Mordoch, executive board member from Canada. Mr. MCCANN. Does that complete the list? Mr. PETRILLO. The top officers; yes. Mr. MCCANN. That is all at this time. Mr. KEARNS. At this time I would like to have Congressman Fisher of Texas take the witness. Mr. FISHER. Mr. Petrillo, how many members are there of the American Federation of Musicians? Mr. PETRILLO. Two hundred and sixteen thousand. Mr. FISHER. Does that include all or practically all the professional musicians in the Nation? Mr. PETRILLO. That includes all the professional musicians. Mr. FISHER. So there are no professional musicians in the Nation except those who belong to your union, of which you are president? Mr. PETRILLO. I would say that is correct. Mr. FISHER. You have a number of contracts-the union you represent-with various recording companies, do you not, with respect to the making of recorded music? Mr. PETRILLO. That is right; maybe in the neighborhood of 600, approximately, say, maybe 550. Mr. FISHER. Five hundred and fifty individual contracts for recording? Mr. PETRILLO. Transcriptions and recordings. Mr. FISHER. When do these contracts expire? Or, do they all expire at the same time? 66874-47-vol. 1———13 Mr. PETRILLO. They all expire at the same time, December 31, 1947. Mr. FISHER. It was indicated by the press recently that at Detroit, Mich., where the American Federation of Musicians held their convention did they not Mr. PETRILLO. Correct. Mr. FISHER. That there was a question as to whether the federation would continue, or negotiate for the continuation of the contracts which are now in existence and will expire at the end of this year. Is that correct? Mr. PETRILLO. That is correct. Mr. FISHER. Just what occurred at the Detroit convention with respect to action or contemplated action with regard to the termination of the contracts, or whether they would be renewed or not? Mr. PETRILLO. Well, I personally had a resolution introduced at the convention giving the executive board the power to either renew the contracts or not make any recordings at the termination of the contract, because we find through the Taft-Hartley bill we cannot go into such deal as we have made now. As I understand the TaftHartley bill now is, we can go into a deal, but only the musicians who work, we will say, for Decca, or Columbia Recording Co., will receive the benefits of that royalty. Mr. FISHER. You now are referring to the provision in the TaftHartley bill respecting the control over the so-called welfare fund, are you? Mr. PETRILLO. That is right. Mr. FISHER. Is it your intention to renew any contracts at the end of this year for the recording of music? Mr. PETRILLO. Well, I have got to make an explanation, with your permission, Mr. Chairman Mr. KEARNS. Proceed. Mr. PETRILLO. As to how this royalty fund all came about. For a great many years the American Federation of Musicians has been debating in convention after convention what we are to do to protect the musicians against canned music. Mr. FISHER. And by canned music, you mean recorded music. I would say that after about 15 years of resolutions and discussions, the convention finally put their foot down, in 1942, and demanded some action from the national executive board. There were about 15 resolutions introduced at the convention, and the executive board went through those resolutions for a period of 3 or 4 months, debating them all from time to time, and finally we came to the conclusion that the best thing for the federation to do was to stop the making of recordings, on the ground that we have today no instrument to destroy. You must keep in mind that if the musicians were not confronted with the canned-music situation, we would not have any trouble with radio stations or anybody else. It is this recording that has caused us all our trouble. Now, if you will notice in this letter that I read you now, this letter does not ask for a meeting or make any demands on the recording and transcription companies. We have definitely made up our minds to stop make recordings and transcriptions. Mr. FISHER. That was in 1942? Mr. PETRILLO. That is the letter I want to read you now, with your permission. GENTLEMEN: Your license from the American Federation of Musicians for the employment of its members in making musical recordings will expire on July 31, 1942, and will not be renewed. From and after August 1, 1942, the American Federation of Musicians will not play or contract for recordings, transcriptions, or any other form of mechanical reproduction of music. JAMES C. PETRILLO, President. There is nothing in this letter that asks for a meeting to negotiate any kind of a contract. Now, then, what happens? Thurman Arnold, at that time the Assistant Attorney General, brought suit against the federation in a Federal court in Chicago. We appeared before Judge Barnes, and he asked Judge Barnes to issue an injunction against the American Federation of Musicians, directing the American Federation of Musicians to send the men back to work. Judge Barnes denied that petition, and that request of Mr. Thurman Arnold, and we continued not making recordings and transcriptions. This went on August, September, October, November, December, and on January 12, I believe, of 1943, a subcommittee of the United States Senate on Interstate Commerce, Worth Clark, chairman, summoned me before their committee. I was there 2 days, and this committee wanted-pleaded with us, I should say I should not say pleaded-but they requested that we send men back to work and negotiate a contract. I told the committee at that time that the Federation was not interested in a contract; that something would have to happen with this recording business, that the idea of the musician making one record and receiving $2,000 for making the record, and that eventually taking away $1,000,000 worth of business from the musician when that record was thrown around the country on all the radio stations and juke boxes, was not a healthy condition, and we did not want to make recordings. So, after 2 days of debating and arguing, this committee said it would be a fine thing for the country if we went to work and negotiated with these recording companies. That is how we got into negotiations, got into this picture. We met with those people and we signed a contract, some 4 or 5 months later, with Decca, on the basis of a quarter of a cent for a 35-cent record, a half a cent for a 50-cent record, three-quarters of a cent for a 75-cent record, and so on. Columbia Recording Co., NBC Recording Co., and a few others stayed out of that some 27 months. No records were made, and they finally came in and made a deal with the federation. So that the fund up to December 31, 1946, has reached a total of approximately $2,000,000, and I tell you gentlemen now, that we were never satisfied with that contract. We only made it because the Senate committee asked us to do it. We don't want to make recordings and transcriptions at the expiration of this contract, because they are dissatisfied and we are dissatisfied. Not all of them; some of them are-and we are dissatisfied. Now, then, I said to the convention, coming to your question, that it might be well for the American Federation of Musicians to go into the recording business itself, if we do not conflict with the antitrust laws. That is a matter for our attorney to take up. It is just one of those things. at How serious the thing might be, I don't know. I can't tell you this moment. I would prefer being a labor union and remaining in the labor business. I think it is a healthier condition, but we have had so much publicity on this meager fund that we collect, $2,000,000, in the period of 3 years, and when this $2,000,000 that we received in a period of 2 years can give an organization like ours such bad publicity, and at the same time recordings are still taking our jobs away, and at the same time the recordings we make are still playing in radio stations where there are no musicians, and at the same time the radio station that you hear playing these 22 hours out of 24 hours, playing music, if you please, and not one musician in that radio station on the payroll, I tell you, gentlemen, that is a sad condition for the musicians of this country, and we do not propose to go through with it any more. Now, that is the story in brief, and I say again, if we did not have the recording situation we would be a very healthy organization, but because we tried to block the canned music that is taking our jobs away, and because we tried to block Movietones and Vitaphone from throwing our men out of the theaters—and we have not been successful in anything, I say, so far as canned music, we do. Mr. FISHER. You say that is because of the taking away of jobs. How many men do you have unemployed in the union? Mr. PETRILLO. I would say at this time we are not in bad shape because of the war situation, but before the war every local, especially the large locals, had much unemployment. Mr. FISHER. It is your statement, then, that if you should renew the contracts you are going to make demands that will be more satisfactory to you with respect to the amount of the tax on the records than you have at the present time? Mr. PETRILLO, I didn't say that. Mr. FISHER. I understood you to say you are not satisfied with the terms of the contract. Mr. PETRILLO. We are not satisfied with the terms of the contract, and the membership is not satisfied, the convention is not satisfied, and we feel the best thing to do is to stop making them. Mr. FISHER. All right. It is your present intention to stop making them? Mr. PETRILLO. That is correct. Mr. FISHER. Do you then intend to start making them yourself if you can do so without violating the antitrust laws? Mr. PETRILLO. Without getting into the laws and getting in trouble with the courts or the Government, we might take it serious, but as I said before, we would sooner remain a labor organization. Primarily, that is what we were organized for. Mr. FISHER. Do you, in giving consideration to these matters, take into account the public interest, the welfare of the public who like these records and use all these things Mr. PETRILLO. Correct. |