The International Federation of Musicians (, FIM) is a global union federation bringing together trade unions representing music performers. FIM counts member unions in 70 countries and three regional groups in Europe, Africa and Latin America. It is a member of the Council of Global Unions.
The International Federation of Musicians (FIM) was established on August 3,1948, during a conference in Zürich, which had been organized on the initiative of the Swiss Musicians' Union. The conference brought together key figures in the music industry to address musician's rights and the need for international cooperation in protecting these rights. From 1951, it held meetings with the members of the Berne Convention, the International Labour Organization, the IFPI, and the European Broadcasting Union, to negotiate the copyright rights of musicians, establish a strong network among musicians' unions and setting the foundation for its future objectives.
For many years, the secretariat was independent of both the main international federations of trade unions, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Federation of Trade Unions, and as such, by the 1980s, it represented both unions in capitalist countries, and in communist countries such as Cuba.
In 1997, the organization affiliated to the International Arts and Entertainment Alliance. The secretariat is currently based in Paris, France.
The International Federation of Musicians' main objective is to safeguard and advance the creative, economic, and social rights of musicians as represented by its member unions. This leads to activities such as:
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Labor Office (ILO), and UNESCO are among the organizations with whom FIM collaborates with closely. Other initiatives include the holding of international congresses and conferences, the advancement of all efforts to make music the common property of all people, and the upkeep of ongoing relationships with other international organizations that could be of service to FIM.
The following unions were affiliated in March 2022: