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Music Piracy: How Fans Are Part Of The Solution

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In this latest installment of "Conversations in Advocacy," explore how fans can be a key factor in the whack-a-mole game of music piracy
Renée Fabian
Advocacy
Dec 1, 2017 - 3:15 pm

Guess what? Fans are not only an integral part of the lifeblood of the music industry, they are a great tool in the fight against music piracy.  

"With the notice and takedown system so broken, we need all the help we can get keeping music accessible to real fans. It's great to see true fans be part of the solution, looking out for the artists and songwriters they love." — Conversations in Advocacy #1

Taylor Swift's latest album, Reputation, released Nov. 10, sold more than 1.2 million copies in its first week. According to industry insiders, the incidents of album pirating were comparatively low.

While torrent-based album ripping tended to be the primary means of music piracy in the past, more recently there has been in a shift in how music gets shared illegally. Nowadays, music is prone to circulate illegally on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, as well as via stream-ripping, which is one of the more dominant forms of piracy worldwide.

To battle piracy, it takes an army — artists, managers, record labels, and industry trade groups — and, increasingly, legions of fans, who have taken to reporting violations as well. In the case of Swift, for example, when the track list for Reputation was released online, Swifities themselves flagged and reported the parties who posted the track list.

With a notice and takedown process that is labor intensive and a lot like playing whack-a-mole as illegal content proliferates across the internet, assistance from music fans is welcome. Instead of ripping music for free, fan communities are now becoming a huge asset to ensure artists get properly paid for their work.

"Fan armies care deeply about their favorite artists and actively monitor for instances of a song or album illegally posted," a spokesperson for the RIAA told Billboard. "Our 'report piracy' inboxes and Twitter feed are often flooded with emails and tips. It's not only helpful, it's a hopeful sign about the mind-set of modern fans and their respect for artists."

Read more about how fans are impacting the fight against music piracy here.

"Conversations in Advocacy" is your weekend digital tip sheet on music advocacy and the policies that affect music makers and their craft. New installments post every Friday.

Conversations in Advocacy #3

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House Judiciary Ranking Member: The Most Important Congressional Race?

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In this latest installment of "Conversations in Advocacy," explore both sides of the race for top Democrat of the House Judiciary Committee
Philip Merrill
Advocacy
Dec 15, 2017 - 11:21 am

"The Congressional race nobody is talking about is maybe the most important for music creators. Who will be the top Democrat on Judiciary?" — Conversations in Advocacy #3

On Nov. 29 Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) stepped into the role of Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee in an acting capacity, but Democrats will soon make a final choice on who will be the permanent Ranking Member. Also in consideration is Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who has been uniquely aligned with the policy interests of the big technology companies that dominate her Silicon Valley congressional district.

Writers at The Intercept recently took a dim view of what they considered Lofgren's unfailing allegiance to tech giants like Google, even in the face of recent controversies. As far as matters affecting creators and copyright law, Nadler has taken a much more pragmatic view, as evidenced by his sponsoring legislation such as the Fair Play Fair Pay Act of 2017.

Both lawmakers say they believe in protections for artists, but Lofgren's tech-centric point-of-view may not always align with the interests of music creators. For example, The Intercept noted that in 2009 she sanctioned Google's plan to digitize millions of books from libraries without approval from the actual copyright holders.

It is an especially crucial time for the House Judiciary Committee given the prospect of major copyright reform legislation in 2018. Modernization is overdue and it is in crafting the details of such a long-awaited update that Nadler could potentially best demonstrate his bill-making abilities.

It all adds up to why the music community should keep a close eye on who will ultimately be chosen to lead the effort to update copyright law as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

"Conversations in Advocacy" is your weekend digital tip sheet on music advocacy and the policies that affect music makers and their craft. New installments post every Friday.

 

Conversations In Advocacy

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Cryptocurrencies: How Will They Disrupt — And Improve — Music Royalties?

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In this latest installment of "Conversations in Advocacy," explore how cryptocurrencies and other digital transaction services are shaking up the way musicians collect royalties
Nate Hertweck
Advocacy
Dec 8, 2017 - 3:10 pm

Cryptocurrency's prospective influence on the music industry is as exciting as it is mysterious. So what will these blossoming digital formats mean for royalties when it gets down to brass tacks?

"Tech has already revolutionized how music is made, discovered and consumed. I think the next disruption is going to be with royalties, and how musicians will be able to get more direct, and better, pay through cryptocurrencies and other digital transaction services." — Conversations in Advocacy #2

While the concept of cryptocurrencies may be new to some, there is no shortage of entrepreneurs who have been paying close attention to the movement and devoting time and resources to building music platforms that can utilize the technology.

Choon, one new service coming in spring 2018, promises to implement the Ethereum blockchain technology to ensure royalties are immediate and accurate.

Choon is essentially a streaming service that will allow fans to purchase music using NOTES, a proprietary cryptocurrency that can be collected and distributed fluidly from fan to artist, returning 80 percent of revenue to the copyright holder(s) to be divvied up based on a "smart record contract" set up ahead of time.

At launch, NOTES will cost the listener 5 cents each and can also be earned by creating popular playlists, listening to promoted songs, and providing useful feedback, according to Billboard.

"There's this common misconception that there's no money in music, and that the only way you can make a living is touring, but that’s not really correct," said Choon co-founder Gareth Emery. "It's a $16 billion industry. What I realized though, was that the money is going to all the wrong people: intermediaries and middlemen who don't really need to be there. Choon is our attempt to fix these problems, cut out these people, and provide a much better deal for artists."

Another service shaking things up is Monero, an open-source cryptocurrency launched in 2014 that boasts a music catalog of more than 30 artists, including G-Eazy, Weezer, Motörhead, Kaskade, and Fall Out Boy.

"Unlike many cryptocurrencies that are derivatives of Bitcoin, Monero is a unique protocol," Hypebot said of the service, while adding that it "focuses on privacy, decentralization, and scalability."

With buy-in from major artists and a major holiday initiative dubbed "The Coral Reef Project" teed up to raise awareness of Monero, the service is pushing hard against the floodgates, hoping music consumers will open their minds and wallets to this new way of supporting bands and artists they love.

These two examples represent real-world implementation of the technology primed for disrupting an industry already in flux, and the best part is that artists, musicians and songwriters stand to reap the rewards.

"Conversations in Advocacy" is your weekend digital tip sheet on music advocacy and the policies that affect music makers and their craft. New installments post every Friday.

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Senate Leaders Advocate For Arts Education Funding

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Senate Appropriations Chairman Roy Blunt came out in support of arts education, which benefits both students and our society at large
Advocacy
Jun 8, 2018 - 1:46 pm

"Glad to see Senate leaders recognizing the value simple investments in music and arts education can have on a child throughout their lifetime." — Conversations In Advocacy #22

On June 5 the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies held a hearing to review the Department of Education's FY2019 budget request with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. While the hearing outlined a variety of priorities, Senate Appropriations Chairman Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) also highlighted the importance of including arts education in next year's budget.

"There are some small targeted programs like Special Olympics and Arts in Education, that again, while the size maybe looks like they don't make a lot of impact, it would make a lot of impact if you eliminated them," Blunt said during the hearing. "I think our committee would want to think long and hard before we did that."

Blunt's support for arts education is well founded. According to Americans for the Arts, participation in an arts education facilitates long-term growth for students in academic, social and eventually professional life by fostering creative thinking, civic engagement and problem solving. In addition, students engaged in the arts are four times more likely to excel in other academic areas and are more likely to go on to earn a bachelor's degree.

Blunt's recognition of the value of arts education will hopefully translate into increased budget support. In the FY2018 budget, Congress allocated a $2 million increase to the Assistance For Arts Education program, taking the program from $27 million to $29 million. During the 2018 Arts Advocacy Day, the Recording Academy joined other arts advocates to ask Congress to fund the program for FY2019 at $30 million, which will ensure more students have a chance to gain valuable educational and academic benefit from music and the arts in schools.

Visit our Advocacy Action page to learn how you can make a difference in the fight to maintain crucial funding for the arts.

Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? "Talk To GRAMMYs"

"Conversations in Advocacy" is your weekend digital tip sheet on music advocacy and the policies that affect music makers and their craft. New installments post every Friday.

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YouTube Adds Songwriter, Publisher Credits To YouTube Music

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While YouTube's move to display credits marks a step in the right direction, there is still some work to be done to ensure music creators are properly credited and compensated for their work on streaming platforms
Advocacy
Jun 1, 2018 - 3:05 pm

"I'm glad YouTube has finally taken action to give credit where credit is due. Hope it means the new YouTube music service will lead to greater respect and treatment to music creators and their rights." — Conversations In Advocacy #21

If you've been following the Recording Academy's advocacy efforts, you'll know that the Give Fans The Credit campaign, one of our major initiatives, has been lobbying digital music services to include credit information for all songs that are played. After all, without songwriters, producers, and studio musicians, there would be no music for fans to bump in their cars, play on their phone or jam out to on the dance floor. Accordingly, streaming services should acknowledge all the creatives behind the tracks fans love.

Similar to the crediting changes Spotify made in February, on May 16 YouTube announced an important step forward to recognize music creators. The Google-owned streaming platform will now display artist and songwriter information with official links to artists' websites, in addition to the labels and publishers behind the music — all accessible using the new "music in this video" feature under Show More attached to each video.

YouTube will display credits across millions of the videos on their platform, including official artist videos, fan-generated content using music, DJ sets, short films, beauty vlogs, and gamer videos. The ability to discover credit information on fan-made content is a first for any platform, which YouTube is able to administer using its Content ID system.

While displaying credits marks a huge step forward, there is still work to be done to ensure music professionals are credited and compensated properly for their work, and that their copyrights are fully protected, which YouTube acknowledged.

"YouTube is committed to providing recognition to all of the people who contribute to the creative process, and this is just the beginning," YouTube said. "Through our industry partnerships we will expand the scope and quality of data to ensure all creators are credited as completely and accurately as possible."

And artists are getting onboard with this step in the right direction. Take, for example, GRAMMY winner Elton John.

"It's wonderful seeing [songwriters] get the credit they deserve," John said. "There is so much more we can do to establish a better situation for music creators and this is great step forward."

The move to display credits on YouTube follows the announcement of its new premium paid music subscription, which may also bolster revenues paid to music creators. Similar to other digital streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, YouTube Music Premium will offer users the chance to stream ad-free audio on the service for $9.99 a month. Those who want unlimited access to all of YouTube's content can go the YouTube Premium route for $11.99 a month.

YouTube is taking a step in the right direction by recognizing that fans want to know more about the people who create the music they love. Now more of the music professionals behind the scenes who are crucial to the creative process will get the credit they are due. We hope YouTube will continue to expand the credit information they provide and that other digital music services will follow suit.

Tell Online Music Services To Give Fans The Credit!

"Conversations in Advocacy" is your weekend digital tip sheet on the policies that affect music makers and their craft. New installments post every Friday.