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Does Advocacy Work?

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Daryl Friedman
Advocacy
Jun 21, 2017 - 8:14 am

What a difference a month makes.

One month ago, during GRAMMYs on the Hill, 100 GRAMMY winners, nominees and music professionals from all over the country and all walks of life, came to Washington with one goal: to be advocates for the next generation of music creators. Their meetings with legislators were echoed around the country as thousands more turned to social media and other platforms to advocate Congress.  Now, four short weeks later, their work has already begun to pay off with two significant accomplishments.

First, Congress started the process to modernize our nation’s outdated and broken copyright laws when the House of Representatives listened to our pleas and overwhelmingly passed the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act (H.R. 1695).

The bill had become unnecessarily controversial after some misinformation spread, and our advocates in D.C. and nationwide worked both sides of the aisle to educate Congress on the need for this bill and note its importance to the music community.

20 days later, the bill passed the House by a very uncontroversial vote of 378 to 48.

The bill elevates the Register of Copyright to a presidential appointee confirmed by the senate—giving the office more autonomy to implement the reforms the music community has clamored for. Following its passage, bipartisan Senate leaders introduced a companion bill with the goal to deliver it to the President to be signed into law.

Second, despite a White House threat to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the House and the Senate agreed to a bipartisan spending package that increases funding for the NEA. Congress listened to our advocates, and those from dozens of other like-minded advocacy groups, and increased the agency’s budget by $2 million—a clear sign that music and the arts still have champions in Washington.

H.R. 1695 and NEA funding were two of GRAMMYs on the Hill’s five legislative priorities; and while work still must continue to fully modernize copyright laws and ensure funding for the NEA beyond 2017, our accomplishments after one month bode well for continued progress and success.

None of this could happen without intense advocacy efforts: both grassroots and in the Capitol.  So we congratulate our music creators who became Citizen-Advocates for the cause. 

Advocacy works.  Or more accurately, Recording Academy Advocates work. They work hard.  They work effectively.  And the entire music community benefits from their efforts.

The U.S. Capitol building
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District Advocate Day 2017: 4 Things At Stake For Music Creators

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More than 1,000 performers, songwriters, producers, and engineers representing all 50 states to discuss critical legislative issues affecting the music industry
Advocacy
Oct 18, 2017 - 8:10 am

Oct. 18, 2017, is a huge day for the livelihood of the music community.

Music creators from all 50 states — including songwriters, performers, musicians, producers, and engineers — will participate in the largest grassroots initiative for music in the nation: the Recording Academy's District Advocate day.

The purpose? Music creators will come together on this day to get some important face time with congressional offices in their home districts to discuss legislative issues affecting the music industry, including performance rights, copyright reform and the impact of digital services.

Taking place in nearly 300 congressional districts across the country, artists and industry professionals will lead the charge for updates to music legislation on behalf of today's creators, as well as the next generation of music makers, ensuring they can make a living from their craft.

There are a variety of issues creators will discuss on District Advocate day, but here are four key ones on the table:

Fixing Outdated Laws

Each year, $200 million in royalties for U.S. artists is left overseas due to a lack of a performance royalty in the United States. While most countries provide performance royalties to artists, they do not have to pay U.S. artists since the U.S. does not have a reciprocal royalty in place. The U.S. is aligned with the likes of North Korea, China, and Sudan in its stance on performance royalties. The bipartisan Fair Play Fair Pay Act of 2017 would change this through reforming music licensing for sound recordings in a comprehensive way, allowing music creators to receive fair pay for their work.

Modernizing Copyright Protections

Although they are one of the most vital components of any song production, music producers have never been mentioned in any part of the copyright law. H.R. 881, the Allocation for Music Producers Act, would fix this by extending copyright law to music producers, ensuring fair compensation for their work.

Protecting Songwriters And Composers

Songwriters and composers are the first contributors in music production. However, because of decades-old consent decrees, songwriter royalties are suppressed to below fair-market value. True music licensing reform must include changes to ensure songwriters and composers receive fair compensation.

Advocating For The Next Generation

Recording Academy members understand that their efforts not only benefit themselves and their current peers but the creators who will follow in their footsteps. This is why District Advocate day is one of the most widely attended events hosted by the Recording Academy. By advocating for these issues and others, Recording Academy members can ensure that music is valued today, and in the future, both culturally and economically. 

"The participation of members across all 50 states is an unprecedented milestone signaling that the music community is firmly united in advocating for a fair and just future for all music creators," said Daryl Friedman, the Recording Academy's Chief Industry, Government & Member Relations Officer. "We look forward to having these in-depth conversations with members of Congress and reinforcing that music lives in every state, and deserves to be heard in Washington, D.C."

Your Voice Amplified: Be A District Advocate

Recording Academy Advocacy Town Hall 2017
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District Advocate 2017: Town Halls Encourage Songwriter Activism

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Recording Academy leadership and advisors joined together for an Advocacy Town Hall in advance of District Advocate Day 2017
Brian Haack
Advocacy
Oct 17, 2017 - 6:26 pm

In advance of the Recording Academy's 2017 District Advocate Day in Washington, D.C., members of the Academy's National Advocacy Committee, Chapter Board leadership, and Advocacy & Public Policy team hosted a series of Advocacy Town Halls around the country to discuss important topics germane to music creators.

Present at the Recording Academy's Los Angeles Chapter Advocacy Town Hall were GRAMMY-winning producers Rodney Jerkins and Om'Mas Keith, songwriter MoZella, and Todd Dupler, Senior Director Advocacy & Public Policy for the Recording Academy —  all speaking to more than 100 attendees at L.A.'s iconic Village Studios.

Jerkins, Keith and MoZella painted a picture of the current industry landscape with regard to streaming service royalties and payouts — an increasingly unsustainable marketplace for creators. Meanwhile, Dupler pointed to the recent lobbying efforts by the Recording Academy, which succeeded in first saving, then increasing the funding for, the National Endowment of the Arts over the past year. The point being: Lobbying for legislative change and connecting with elected officials who have shown themselves to be allies of creators' political goals can and does work.

The panel also discussed legislation that may soon come to vote on the House floor, which could impact music creators in positive or negative ways. Of potential benefit are the Allocation for Music Producers Act and possible legislation for songwriters. The former would amend copyright law to assure that producers, engineers, and mixing/mastering professionals are able to earn digital royalties, while the latter would reform some of the more difficult aspects for compulsory license restrictions for musical works and compositions, making it easier for PROs to negotiate with music services on behalf of creators.

On the opposite side, the panel cautioned the Music Transparency Act (H.R. 3350), which could impose prohibitive barriers between songwriters and copyright protections — protections that creators across all other artistic fields enjoy as a basic right. The bill would, as Dupler asserted, "take away one of the only legal protections copyright owners have for their royalties."

Registration for District Advocate Day 2017 is now closed, but that doesn't mean you cannot still get involved.

Learn How You Can Support Artists And Help Fight For Creators' Rights

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Booker T. Jones, Sue Ennis Join National Advocacy Committee

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GRAMMY winner and platinum songwriter join Recording Academy committee to advance music creators' rights
Tim McPhate
Advocacy
Sep 14, 2017 - 9:19 am

GRAMMY winner Booker T. Jones and Seattle-based multiplatinum songwriter Sue Ennis have joined the Recording Academy’s National Advocacy Committee, a body comprising leading performers, producers, songwriters, and studio engineers that works to advance the interests of the music creators the Academy represents. 

As the leader of the instrumental group Booker T. & The MG's, the house band at Stax Records, Jones stands as an R&B/soul pioneer. An Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame. The Booker T. & The MG's classic "Green Onions" was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1999. 

Ennis, a current Recording Academy Trustee, is known for writing Heart classics such as "Dog & Butterfly," "Straight On" and "Even It Up," among others, with GRAMMY nominees Ann and Nancy Wilson. She will co-chair the Committee with GRAMMY-winning producer Rodney Jerkins. 

Jones and Ennis join existing Committee members Jerkins, KEM, Ann Mincieli, Academy Chair John Poppo, and Nile Rodgers. 

As noted by Jones and Daryl P. Friedman, Chief Industry, Government, & Member Relations Officer of the Recording Academy, in an interview with Billboard, the Committee's forthcoming agenda will include advancing support for important issues affecting music creators, including the Fair Play Fair Pay Act and the Allocation for Music Producers Act.

"We have a gargantuan task of informing and re-informing lawmakers about the inequities that exist in compensation for the creative arts, especially music," Jones told Billboard. "Authors Will and Ariel Durant wrote about the five necessities for a society to be happy and one is the cultural aspect. You can have food, water and other necessities, but if you don’t have culture, society is going to fall ill. The U.S. needs to be the leader in this area instead of falling behind."

Neil Portnow Encourages Radio To Pay Artists And Producers

Neil Portnow
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Neil Portnow Encourages Radio To Pay Artists And Producers

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Recording Academy President/CEO details the position and needs of music creators ahead of 2017 Radio Show Conference in Austin
Nate Hertweck
Advocacy
Sep 7, 2017 - 4:37 pm

As key members of the radio industry prepare for the 2017 Radio Show Conference in Austin, Texas, next week, Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow has a message for the format's biggest decision makers. In a newly published op-ed, Portnow urged the radio industry to "reassess its relationship with artists and listeners, both of whom have many other ways to connect," calling for performance royalties to be paid for artists and producers for over-the-air radio play, as is the case with every other broadcast platform in America and with radio broadcasters in every other developed country worldwide.

Read Portnow's full remarks on this topic below, which originally appeared on Radioink.com on Sept. 6.

"This morning on my way to work, I turned on the radio. It's a regular habit, but this morning I tried an experiment. As I arrived at our office parking lot, I stopped to ask a number of our staff members how they listened to music on their commute. While the answers varied, often by age bracket, one thing was consistent: The 20-somethings barely knew where the FM button was.

As the radio industry gathers this week in Austin to take stock of its place in a crowded media market, leaders at the National Association of Broadcasters are aware of this dynamic. In fact, their conference materials note, "With all the choices from YouTube to Spotify to Pandora, radio struggles to remain relevant to a younger generation."

The data supports NAB's declaration:
– Although about 50% of radio listenership is in cars, that segment is under assault
– More than 33% of cell phone owners are streaming music in their cars — a rapidly growing figure that has increased 600% in the past five years
– Last year saw a 27% increase in the number of listeners who stream Internet radio in their cars
– Radio media spends have dropped precipitously, falling out of the top five media channels, replaced by mobile, according to BIA/Kelsey
– Among 18-24 year olds, streaming beats out radio as the top source of music listening
– And a new report just last week from NYU shows radio listening by teens has declined by almost 50% from 2005 to 2016.

This poses a daunting challenge for radio. But there is a path forward. As the head of the trade association representing songwriters, artists, and studio professionals, I've criticized the broadcast industry for not paying artists and producers for over-the-air (terrestrial) radio play, even using my remarks on the GRAMMY telecast to call for that change to be made. And the music creators who comprise the Recording Academy have lobbied Congress in growing numbers. In 2014, 100 advocates lobbied on this subject. The next year, 1,000. The next, 2,000.

Their argument is undeniable. The lack of a radio performance right is the only instance in our economy where one party can use another’s intellectual property without permission or compensation. Every other broadcast platform in America (Internet, satellite, and cable) pays, as do radio broadcasters in every other developed country in the world. There are no arguments to support the continued exploitation of artists and use of music without any compensation to its makers.

As radio battles the music community over this issue, it also battles digital platforms for the future audience. Perhaps here is where our common interests can unite. Music creators want a healthy, competitive online marketplace. While we will fight for the terrestrial right as a matter of basic fairness, we also know the future of radio is digital (where there is a right). With the performance right issue resolved, radio and music could work together to develop a digital framework that’s fair to both sides across the board. If instead the radio industry chooses to continue to deny artists payment, the chasm will widen and the future for broadcasters will look more troublesome.

Fifteen years ago, at my first GRAMMYs as president, I remember hearing artist after artist come to the stage and thank radio in their acceptance speeches. This past year, not a single winner on the telecast thanked radio. This is an unhealthy rift that should be reversed.

I hope the radio community gathered in Austin realizes that it must reassess its relationship with artists and listeners, both of whom have many other ways to connect. Rather than putting its efforts into fighting artists in Washington, radio should work with us to resolve the performance right dispute. It’s the first step toward our industries working together to create a balanced and equitable future as partners. A future where music fans still turn to radio, advertisers deem radio relevant, and music makers are paid fairly for their work.

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