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Membership

VMA Member Benefits

Joining the VMA is EASY and REWARDING

If you are currently a professional musician i.e. being remunerated for playing your instrument, then you cannot afford not to be a member of the VMA. The VMA is a local office of the Canadian Federation of Musicians/American Federation of Musicians. The CFM/AFM is the only professional organization in North America that is concerned about musicians’ welfare!!

The services, benefits, expertise, camaraderie and the feeling of knowing that you belong to an international organization that has clout with your employers just makes plain sense.

Doctors belong to the Doctors of BC, school teachers belong to the BC Teachers’ Federation, attorneys belong to the Law Society of BC, and musicians have the Vancouver Musicians’ Assocation.

 

List of Benefits

  • Contract Defense Fund: will pay VMA minimum scale fees to each musician on defaulted contracts.
  • Free, professional performance contracts enforced by the VMA.
  • Employer/engager contributions paid into: The Musicians’ Pension Fund of Canada
  • $3,500 death benefit after one year of membership.
  • Discount on the best instrument, equipment and liability insurance in Canada! Covers your equipment against all perils, 24 hours each day, anywhere in the world.
  • Assistance in obtaining P-2 Work Visas to allow members to legally work and be paid as musicians in the United States.
  • Emergency Travelling Assistance Program: toll free numbers in Canada and the US for member use, 24 hours per day, when experiencing contract related problems with engagers, emergency cash also available.
  • Access to Recording Industries Music Performance Trust Funds (RIMPTF).
  • Residual payments on digital streaming, film and television scoring, sidelining, jingles (commercials) and other electronic media.
  • AFM licensed booking agents.
  • VMA referral service (General public may call the office to request contact information for individual members or for members’ bands/ensembles)
  • Audition postings.
  • Free legal assistance for collecting on defaulted contracts.
  • Special Payments Fund eligibility for filing CD, Cassette, Motion Picture and TV recording/session contracts. (Musicians keep on getting paid long after the session work has been completed).
  • Subscriptions to International Musician and Upbeat.