The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) and SAG-AFTRA announced that the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund has distributed $62 million in royalties to session musicians and singers — the largest distribution in the fund’s history.

The fund distributes domestic royalties that are required to be paid from interactive digital streaming providers to session vocalists and musicians. The fund also distributes royalties from various foreign performance rights organizations to U.S. session musicians and singers. More than 42,000 session musicians and singers in all 50 states, as well as Canada and other countries, will receive payment, with payment amounts averaging $1,500. The fund distributed $60 million in 2019 and has distributed more than $430 million since it was established in 2008.

“This is great news at such a difficult time for musicians. This fund provides for session players who live gig to gig, and there has never been a greater need for royalty income than right now, with the extensive cancellation of live performances,” said AFM International President Ray Hair.

“The music industry has been massively impacted by COVID-19, and no one more so than performers whose touring work has been halted and whose recordings are mostly cancelled. We’re proud of the fund’s commitment and diligence in ensuring that the distribution of royalties will reach tens of thousands of performers at a time when that financial security is needed more than ever,” said SAG-AFTRA’s Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.

“I am incredibly proud of our staff, who have worked tirelessly to ensure that this distribution went out on schedule to the performers who so greatly need it during these difficult economic times. Their dedication to the mission of the fund and its participants is unparalleled,” added distribution fund CEO Stefanie Taub.

Hair and Crabtree-Ireland also stated there is insufficient information to process payments for some performers and encouraged all musicians and vocalists to visit afmsagaftrafund.org/unclaimed-royalties.php to see if they may be owed a distribution of funds.

John Alexander

Bandtwango Music CEO John Alexander has resigned from the company, effective immediately. In 2015, Alexander co-founded the country music crowdfunding and artist development platform alongside Carl Allocco. Bandtwango will continue to operate under Allocco’s leadership.

Alexander has signed a deal to pen a memoir for ECW Press, alongside co-writer and sports historian Greg Oliver. The book, titled I Shoulda Stayed in Baseball: My Wild Ride in Pro Wrestling, Country Music, and with the Mets, is set to release in April 2021.

Alexander moved to Nashville in 2000 to oversee music marketing and national account development for GAC-TV and Jones Radio Networks. In 2010, he was named VP, Artist Management and Strategic Marketing for Black River Entertainment.

“I feel proud of my accomplishments on Music Row since arriving here in 2000,” says Alexander. “I hope that I made a positive impact on those I did business with over the past 20-plus years as a country music executive.”

Alexander’s upcoming memoir chronicles his history in the music industry, beginning in 1981. That year, while working for the New York Mets minor league affiliate in Shelby, North Carolina, he met then rock and roll singer Patty Lovelace. Alexander left his job with the Mets to manage Lovelace, who later changed her name to Patty Loveless. In 2012, as Black River’s VP, he discovered a young singer-songwriter, Kelsea Ballerini, in Franklin, Tennessee. Ballerini introduced herself to Alexander at the Mellow Mushroom, having recognized him as Sarah Darling’s manager. After meeting the budding singer, he invited her to perform for him at the Black River offices. Alexander then arranged for her to meet Black River label CEO Gordon Kerr, and head of Black River publishing, Celia Froehlig. Ballerini was eventually signed to a publishing deal and later offered a label contract.

Alexander’s legal name is John Arezzi, and prior to his music business days, he worked in the pro wrestling business in the 1970s and again in the 1990s. During his tenure in wrestling, he worked as a promoter, talk show host, and photographer/writer. Alexander left wrestling after graduating college in 1979, but later returned in the 1990s, before leaving the business again and entering into the country music scene in the mid-90s. During this time, he worked as a music marketing executive for WMJC-FM (in his hometown on Long Island/New York City with personality Suzanne Alexander, and Billboard country music charts editor Jim Asker) and later with WYNY-FM, before moving to Nashville.

“I decided to leave the music business because so many opportunities from my ‘past life’ began to come my way,” explains Alexander. “I originally left the wrestling business in 1996, changed my name to John Alexander, and vanished from that industry until the end of 2018. That’s when I reemerged with some social media accounts under my legal name, and things took off!”

Alexander is now focusing his attention on his upcoming memoir and his return to pro wrestling as a historian and analyst. He currently hosts a weekly podcast and Facebook Live show.