Play Meter

Coinman Intervie
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"The man who would be .president"
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Some stories command to be told. S0 it is with the
story about the man who would have been president of
the AMOA. Jim Mullins, last year first vice president of
the association and next in line for the presidency, was
suddenly and inexplicably cast out of the national
association on the eve of what was to have been his
elevation to president. It was no doubt a sobering
experience for him, one he did not care to talk about for
quite some time after his "non-election." And the AMOA
itself remained notably silent about the whole affair,
adding a "tinge of corruption," as Mullins puts it, to the
whole matter.
Finally, months later, after he saw events begin to
vindicate his judgement- the CRT's jukebox rate
decision and the defeat of the location list appeal,
among those er:;ents- he has become a reluctant
Coinman. Here, for the first time, he tells his side of a
story, a story that has an importance for the entire
industry.
He describes an association which has come to
see itself as something apart from the industry; as
something that is not actually accountable for its actions
or inactions but rather as something that sees itself as
being more important than the industry it is supposed to
represent; an association whose actions have been
influenced by clandestine behavior, blind loyalty, and
petty ambition; an association which has ·historically
discouraged the free flow of ideas to the deteriment of
the industry as a w hole. And something has to be done
about it, he says, to turn the association back around to
the course and purpose it was originally designed for.
And while he says he sees promising signs of changes
within the AMOA, he is himself the rude reminder that
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all is not well within the association; for he is, after all, an
expelled, non-member of the association.
Mullins has spent most of his professional career
working in some capacity with trade associations. He
went into business for himself in 1946 at the age of 26
starting Mullins Amusement Company. of Miami, Florida.
He was instrumental in the formation of south Florida
association which which he headed for 17 years. Later, he
helped formed a state association which he also served
as president and chairman for a number of years. He
then became very active in association work at the
national level- serving two three-year terms as a
member of the board of the association. He served as
chairman of the national association's exposition
committee, and also chairman of the seminar
committee, which he points to with pride as his greatest
single accomplishment within the association.
He also was the oper~tor who gained the key
support of U.S. Senator Richard Stone of Florida to
sponsor an amendment which would have exempted
jukebox operators from the clutches of the Copyright
Royalty Tribunal. Though the amendment went down in
defeat 60-30, it was Mullins' action which got the
measure considered on the floor of the U.S . Senate.
After Senator Stone's decision to sponsor the
amendment, two other senators later added their names
to the co-sponsorship of the amendment.
Mullins -remains to this day active in liberal politics. A
board member of the American Civil Liberties Union , he
believes his experience in dealing with ACLU case
histories has sharpened his legal sense, a sense which he
feels the AMOA ignored- to the disadvantage of
operators who he feels were misrepresented by their
national association.
PLAY METER , July 15, 1981