The American Federation of Musicians failed to achieve its main goal in its recently concluded negotiations for a new film and TV contract – winning residuals for musicians’ work on episodic TV shows made for streaming services. Even so, the 80,000-member union says it will keep fighting for those payments when the contract comes up for renewal in two years.

The negotiations with management’s AMPTP concluded with a tentative agreement on Friday, but terms of the deal weren’t released until today.

American Federation of Musician

The new two-year contract, which still must be ratified by the union’s members, “includes many substantive improvements and no significant concessions,” the AFM said, “yet still does not include residuals for work on films and episodic TV shows made for streaming.”

The union added: “For the first time in history, musicians will receive screen credits when they perform on theatrical and streamed film scores. Also for the first time, the proposed deal establishes fair wages and conditions for high-budget shows made for streaming platforms.”

Other economic improvements include an increase in musician residual payments for shows rented and purchased online, as well as 3%-a-year wage increases. According to the union, “Musicians successfully resisted attempts by the studios to impose unjustified concessions, including those that would allow studios to score more TV shows and films abroad.”

The AFM added: “While these unprecedented achievements are significant wins for musicians, their biggest demand — residuals for work in new media — was not included in the final offer by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. While the studios continue to refuse industry-standard residuals for new media projects, musicians have made it clear that this is still a priority and that they will continue to fight for this basic standard.”

AFM president Ray Hair called the deal a temporary “truce” in its ongoing battle for streaming residuals:

“The campaign for fairness in our contract with the studios, particularly on the issue of compensation and residuals for content made for streaming, has energized not only our film and television musicians in Los Angeles, New York and Nashville, but musicians throughout the country. The tentative agreement, if ratified, will be viewed as a short-term truce. While we’ve made meaningful progress on how we are recognized and treated when we perform scoring sessions for theatrical and long form new media productions, our musicians’ concerted activity will continue as the backdrop to our ongoing efforts to obtain fair residual terms whenever we are engaged to score content made for streaming.”