Case Study: AftraZ: The Industry-Standard for AFTRA Reporting

Record labels must pay the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) whenever a member makes a recording. Every few years AFTRA and the industry hammer out a new contract. The record labels need to calculate payments, track artist activity, and report activities in a timely manner while complying with the nuances of the contract. In short, the AFTRA payment process can be extremely time- and resource-intensive.

Challenge: Complex, Time-consuming AFTRA Payment Process

Developing an automated solution presented many challenges. First the software needed to be adaptable to ever-changing contract rules. The application had to streamline the entire AFTRA payment process and integrate with each record label’s royalty payment system. The software also had to produce hundreds or even thousands of AFTRA- approved forms each period.

Solution: AftraZ Streamlines Process, Integrates with Payment Systems

Working closely with AFTRA and those who report to them, RBZ&A developed the AftraZ software to:

• Maintain a list of AFTRA performers and earnings accounts
• Import earnings from the sales system
• Identify missing earnings accounts
• Report earnings details
• Distribute earnings
• Calculate AFTRA contributions
• Produce Schedule C’s
• Submit payments electronically to AFTRA

Users run the multi-user database software from their own PCs. Recording labels can choose to use either an Oracle or SQL Server database.

RBZ&A developed and maintains the AFTRA payment calculation and tracking software that all five major recording studios (WMG, SONY, EMI, UMG, and BMG) have been successfully using for some time now. The addition of e-File, the electronic reporting feature of AftraZ, substantially reduces the processing time and paper trail of ordinary reporting.

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