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GRAMMYs
News
the-grammy-fund-for-music-creators-the-newest-tool-in-the-academy-s-advocacy-arsenal

The GRAMMY Fund For Music Creators: The Newest Tool In The Academy’s Advocacy Arsenal

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

These days, advocacy work is nearly as central to The Recording Academy’s membership as the creation and promotion of music.

Changes in the way music is consumed, combined with an outdated patchwork of legislation governing the industry, have resulted in a landscape where many creators are overlooked and underpaid.  Broadcasters, tech companies and other large corporations are pocketing the profits from music, while music creators don't always receive fair compensation for their work. Creators are disadvantaged both by government-mandated rules that don’t fully protect their work and exclude them from decision making as well as closed-door deals that devalue their intellectual property. This uncomfortable reality demands a robust effort by the music community to change the status quo.

The Recording Academy maintains its position as the trade association for music creators by crafting innovative and effective ways to elevate creator voices in Washington. More music professionals are following The Recording Academy’s lead by physically traveling to Capitol Hill annually on GRAMMYs on the Hill Advocacy Day to ask congressional lawmakers to fix a broken system. In February 2015, 10 prominent music professionals stepped up as co-founders of The Academy’s GRAMMY Creators Alliance, lending their clout to policy discussions about fairness for music makers at all levels of the industry, not only for themselves but for future generations.

We also experienced a phenomenal response to GRAMMYs in My District in 2015. On Oct. 14, more than 1,650 members of The Recording Academy took part in this unique, grassroots advocacy campaign,  which connected creators with hundreds of local congressional offices across the country. Here, they received  support on essential legislative reforms, including the AMP Act and the Fair Play Fair Pay Act of 2015.

Following these impressive successes, our members have asked what more they could do to make a difference. They challenged us to be as creative in the advocacy work we do as they are in the work they do. As 2016 got underway —and with an exciting 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast in store on Feb. 15 — we hunkered down to lay the groundwork for what we believe is an exciting next step.

And here it is: The Recording Academy is launching The GRAMMY Fund for Music Creators. This fund is the next step in the logical progression of our work to expand our reach and make engagement on music legislation reform accessible to every one of our 25,000 members throughout the country. The GRAMMY Fund – a Political Action Committee or PAC — gives members another meaningful opportunity to actively help protect the rights of music makers and advance their interests on important policy matters by offering tangible support to those members of Congress who support music creators.

This new tool in our advocacy arsenal will be available to all — not just the top performers you see at the GRAMMY Awards, but to those working music professionals in every discipline and genre. It’s time to combine the considerable resources at our disposal and put them to work for us in Washington, and the GRAMMY Fund will make it easy for every member of The Academy to participate at a level with which they feel comfortable.

In addition, the GRAMMY Fund represents a natural evolution as an advocacy organization, leveling the playing field with our opposition. We may not be the biggest PAC, but together with all that our members are doing, we will be among the loudest in the space. We're supported in this endeavor by our Fund Ambassadors, representing some of the most prominent names in the music business: singer/songwriter Anita Baker; top-charting songwriter Evan Bogart; songwriter, singer, and percussionist Sheila E.; singer/songwriter/producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds; songwriter/producers Jimmy Jam, Rodney Jerkins and Harvey Mason Jr.; and songwriter/guitarist/producer Nile Rodgers.

In a Feb. 2 story on The GRAMMY Fund in The New York Times, Fund Ambassador Harvey Mason Jr. notes, "We are regular people trying to make a living, playing in bars, in other parts of the country besides New York and L.A. We represent everybody, not just superstar artists. So we are careful in how we disseminate our message, and when we go to D.C. or have events, it is with a variety of people from the bottom to the top."

It's an exciting — and challenging — moment in the evolution of music for creators. With the growing strength of our grassroots advocacy efforts, we strive towards a fair and rewarding music economy for all creators.

GRAMMYs
News
summer-travel-tips-for-flying-with-instruments

Summer Travel Tips For Flying With Instruments

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THE GRAMMYs
Advocacy
Jun 21, 2017 - 8:14 am

It's summer! For musicians, that means warmer weather and time for summer music festivals, family vacations, and other opportunities to travel and bring your instrument along for the ride. If you've booked a flight on a commercial airline to your destination, now's the time to refamiliarize yourself with the federal rules for flying with a musical instrument.

Thankfully, after much lobbying by members of The Recording Academy and other music organizations, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued new regulations for flying with musical instruments early last year, in accordance with the FAA Modernization And Reform Act Of 2012 (Public Law No: 112-95). Those new rules went into effect March 6, 2015, for travelers using any domestic carrier, and provide for the safe transport of musical instruments by air. 

Where once there was confusion caused by different rules according to different carriers and different airports, now musicians have federal guidelines that apply across the board. So now musicians can grab their axe and go.

Here are the three primary accommodations for travelers with instruments included in the regulations:

    • Small instruments as carry-on baggage
      Instruments such as a guitar, violin or trumpet should be packed securely in a carrying case and be small enough to stow in the overhead compartment or under the seat like any other carry-on baggage. As long as the instrument fits, the airline must accept it and cannot charge additional fees.
    • Large instruments as in-cabin cargo
      For an instrument that may be too large to stow in the overhead bin but too valuable or delicate to check as baggage, travelers may purchase a second seat to stow the instrument as in-cabin cargo. This is an acceptable option as long as the instrument is in a carrying case and can be safely secured to a standard airline seat. However, if an airline does not have a program that provides for the purchase of a separate ticket for cargo, the airline does not have to specifically accommodate a musical instrument.
    • Large instruments as checked luggage
      If an instrument is too large to carry on or occupy its own seat, an airline must accept the instrument as checked baggage as long as it complies with federal size and weight guidelines. Specifically, the sum of the length, width and height of the instrument (including the case) cannot exceed 150 inches and the weight of the instrument cannot exceed 165 pounds. If the instrument exceeds these measurements, the airline may still accept it but the airline is not required to do so and the instrument may be subject to additional fees.

To take advantage of these new regulations, keep in mind these important tips:

  • Make your travel plans as far in advance as possible. Familiarize yourself with the airlines' travel and carry-on policies. Remember that the size of overhead bins vary with different aircraft. Know the dimensions of your instrument to make the best decision on how to transport it. Let the airline know you will be traveling with an instrument and specify which of the three ways you plan to transport the piece.

  • Overhead storage space is at a premium and is available to all passengers on a first-come, first-served basis. Airlines are only required to treat a musical instrument like any other piece of carry-on luggage, so while an airline cannot discriminate against your musical instrument, it has no obligation to prioritize it either. If you plan to carry on your instrument, make sure you arrive at the gate early for flights with zone boarding. Even better, enroll in your airline's frequent flier or loyalty program to take advantage of early check-in and priority boarding privileges.

  • If you are buying a separate seat for your instrument, you must book the seat directly beside you. Let the airline know you are traveling with an instrument in the second seat. Make sure you know the exact dimensions (height, width, weight) of your instrument and share that information with the airline as well. Then confirm your seat assignments to be sure you have two seats together. While airlines may not charge more than the seat price for an oversized instrument, there may be a fee for obtaining pre-flight seat assignments. Also, don't bring bungee cords or your own paraphernalia to strap your instrument into the seat. The flight crew will have appropriate equipment to safely secure the instrument.

  • If you plan to check your instrument with regular baggage, make sure you know its dimensions and have it securely packed. Arrive early to provide plenty of time for baggage check-in. Musical instruments checked as baggage can be charged the same fees as other checked baggage, but they may not be charged more. 

  • Print out a copy of the Final Rule Regarding Carriage Of Musical Instruments. Keep it with you when you travel for easy reference if you encounter an airline employee who is unfamiliar with the new rules. If an airline employee attempts to dispute your plans for traveling with your instrument, stay calm and ask for a customer service supervisor. Don't challenge or become hostile with the flight crew. For serious disputes, file a complaint with the Department of Transportation and with the airline. 

Enjoy your summer travel plans!

For additional information, visit:
Printable Copy of the Federal Rule
Press Release from the U.S. Department of Transportation
​
FAQs Provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation

Full Text of Final Rule as Printed in the Federal Register

 

GRAMMYs
News
the-penny-paradox

The Penny Paradox

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THE GRAMMYs
Advocacy
Jun 21, 2017 - 8:14 am

“Isn’t a song worth more than a penny?” 

This is the question I posed to the nearly 27 million viewers of the 58th Annual  GRAMMYs on Feb. 15 as I spoke about the rate at which music creators are compensated by streaming services and other digital distribution platforms. With GRAMMY-winning hip-hop artist Common and 12-year-old GRAMMY-nominated jazz pianist Joey Alexander by my side as just two examples of the breadth of artistry represented by The Recording Academy, I wanted to drive home the fact that streaming services offer insufficient returns to those who make the music at the core of their businesses.  

To clarify: Streaming services offer a new way for creators to reach their audience and for consumers to listen to the music they want to hear. But streaming services, which earn billions through advertising and subscription fees, do not fairly compensate creators for use of their work. As I noted during my remarks, many music lovers have yet to grasp this perplexing reality: When they stream a song, all the people who created that music collectively get paid a fraction of a penny. That fraction of a penny gets slightly larger when the listener pays to subscribe to the service — a proposed 0.0022 cents per stream for 2016 versus 0.0017 cents from the free tier on Pandora, for example.  

This is more than unfair, it's unjust. How can a piece of music — which can take many people to create, perform and record, which provides so much pleasure and enjoyment, which can inspire, motivate and heal listeners — return mere fractions of a penny to its creators? There is a paradox here. No other professional endeavor in this country returns so little in compensation in exchange for so much.  

The good news is we can do something about it. When we support music makers through music purchases, subscribing to paid streaming services and buying concert tickets, we contribute positively to the economy that keeps music creators creating. Subscribing to a paid music service — rather than using a service's free tier — makes a small but significant difference.   

These actions alone don't go far enough to address the issue of pay inequity for creators. We must join together — creative professionals with the public at large — to ask Congress to modify the legislation that dictates how much music creators are paid in royalties for their contributions.  

Streaming services themselves are not the enemy, nor is digital technology. Music creators love and embrace the innovations that technology provides. Thanks to technological advances, music fans now have a wealth of ways to enjoy music, and are able to listen to whatever they want wherever they are. The ready access to music through digital platforms has launched numerous emerging creators, extended the popularity of existing performers and revitalized the careers of many of our legacy artists.  

We can embrace these new platforms, yet also demand that technology not diminish the value of music in our society or economy. As Common noted in our telecast presentation, there are thousands of musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers, and other music professionals dedicating their lives to making great music. They deserve to make a living so that they can continue to create art the world can enjoy, and become the standard-bearers for a profession the next generation of creators can emulate. Our audience agreed, as the #SupportMusic hashtag we promoted became one of the top trending items on Twitter during the GRAMMY telecast. 

We all know a song is worth more than a penny. If you love music, I hope you will join me by asking Congress to act now to pass pro-music creator legislation and by spreading the #SupportMusic message everywhere.  

(For more about how you can join the fight for fairness for music creators, use the hashtags #SupportMusic and #FairPlayFairPay on social media and read more about The Academy's advocacy efforts at www.grammy.com/advocacy.)

 

GRAMMYs
News
bots-legislation-could-be-a-victory-for-artists-and-fans

BOTS Legislation Would Be A Victory For Artists and Fans

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THE GRAMMYs
Advocacy
Jun 21, 2017 - 8:14 am

Update: The BOTS Act passes the Senate on November 30 after Academy members lobby for the bill at GRAMMYs in My District.

New legislation backed by The Recording Academy designed to stop the devastating impact of ticket “bots” on music fans, performers, and the live entertainment industry has made much-needed progress through Congress, moving closer to becoming federal law. On Sept. 13, the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act passed the House of Representatives; on Sept. 27, companion legislation was passed by the Senate Commerce Committee. Now the bill awaits consideration by the full Senate. The House bill, H.R. 5104, was introduced by Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.). The Senate bill, S. 3183, was introduced by Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Chuck Schumer (R-N.Y.).

Upon introduction of the bill, Daryl Friedman, Chief Industry, Government, & Member Relations Officer of The Recording Academy, praised the legislation, explaining that “The relationship that forms when an artist connects to a fan through his or her music is at the core of what makes music special. Artists try to keep their tickets affordable for their fans, but scalpers move in and drive up the price by using automated ticket ‘bots’ to make it harder for fans to buy tickets to see their favorite artist perform live.”  He concluded that the BOTS Act will enable artists to “offer concert tickets to fans in the manner that they want, ensuring that the special connection between music lovers and music makers continues.”  With House passage won, Academy members who participated in GRAMMYs in My District on October 26 lobbied Senate offices for passage. 

The existence of bots is rooted in advances in Internet technology. As online ticket services sprang up to facilitate the sales of admission to live events across the country, ticket scalpers and third-party brokers also went digital, giving rise to automated online “bots,” computer programs that scoop up the lion’s share of available tickets and re-sell them for inflated prices. Fans who go online to buy tickets from a venue or legitimate ticket sellers like TicketMaster would discover that seats for the hottest events would be sold out within minutes of the sale window opening because of bots. Third-party sellers could then offer the same tickets for 30 to 1,000 times the original ticket price. By 2013 it was estimated that some 60 percent of tickets to the most in-demand events were snatched up by bots.

Not only have scalpers been able to enrich themselves through these illegal activities, there are additional issues when scalpers fail to resell tickets, leaving large blocks of seats empty during performances.

These automated bots have prevented fans from fair access to live events, hijacking the industry with their relentless and parasitic activity.  Several companies have tried to beat the bots by changing how ticket buyers engage online during the purchasing process. Their efforts have led to those Captcha boxes of squiggly lines and multi-font words and letters that humans can identify but robots cannot. However, these innovations haven’t stopped hackers from redesigning bot programs to overcome security hurdles to continue hoarding tickets.

Laws prohibiting ticket bots are on the books in more than a dozen states, including Washington, which passed anti-bot legislation in July. New legislation making the use of ticket bots a criminal offense was just enacted in the state of New York, where the issue is especially pressing not only for live concert and sporting events but for Broadway shows. The move comes after the state’s attorney general delivered a report in January citing an incident where a single broker purchased 1,012 tickets to a 2015 U2 concert at Madison Square Garden within one minute.

The Better Online Ticket Sales Act will elevate this issue to the federal level, and give the Federal Trade Commission the authority to “prohibit, as an unfair and deceptive act or practice in commerce, the sale or use of certain software to circumvent control measures used by Internet ticket sellers to ensure equitable consumer access to tickets for any given event, and to provide for criminal penalties for such acts.” It would also provide state attorney generals with new authority to take action against bots as well.

Once the BOTS Act passes both chambers of Congress and is signed into law, the BOTS Act will restore a measure of sanity and fairness to the live concert and event industry, allowing fans access to affordable tickets to see their favorite artists. And it can’t happen soon enough.

Spotify Logo

Spotify Logo

 

Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images

News
Spotify Introduces New Anti-Creator Mode does-spotifys-new-discovery-mode-resemble-anti-creator-payola

Does Spotify's New "Discovery Mode" Resemble Anti-Creator "Payola?"

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At a time when the music ecosystem is struggling, Spotify is encouraging creators to decrease their already low royalty rate in exchange for additional promotion
Advocacy
Nov 11, 2020 - 4:21 pm

At a time when more are calling for reinventing steaming rates to better artist payout, Spotify is launching a new mode that invokes past concerns with payola infractions within the music community. Spotify's "Discovery Mode" offers creators the opportunity to increase their public visibility in exchange for a diminished royalty rate, which currently fluctuates between $.003 and $.005 per stream reportedly.

https://twitter.com/NME/status/1326129618156457986

Acts will be able to get on the right side of the platform's recommendation algorithm... at a cost https://t.co/S8hp2nBogM

— NME (@NME) November 10, 2020

Payola, the practice of requiring compensation in return for airplay by broadcasters, decreases the diversity of music included in airplay and provides an unfair barrier of entry for smaller artists. While current antiquated payola legislation does not extend to digital streaming services, Spotify's anti-creator behavior of enticing struggling creators to further reduce their already low royalty rate in order to stay competitive with their music community peers is reminiscent of past payola practices. 

"Spotify's promotional royalty rate is yet another example of how the company avoids paying music creators their fair share," said Daryl Friedman, the Recording Academy’s Chief Advocacy Officer. "It's a predatory tool that can be likened to payola, and it's troubling that Spotify introduced this at a time when music creators are seeing their livelihoods devastated amidst the pandemic. With Spotify payouts already so low, I don't see how this experiment will benefit any musicians who are already struggling to earn a living wage."

The Recording Academy has a history combatting these anti-creator "pay-for-play" practices. In 2007, the Recording Academy penned a letter to then-Federal Communications Chairman (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin in support of the FCC's pending payola investigations into Big Radio. Without commenting on individual investigations, the Academy urged the FCC to continue oversight to "ensure that future conduct in violation of the payola laws will not occur" and to intervene if any such conduct occurs.

https://twitter.com/pitchfork/status/1325925397427523588

Some have likened Spotify's latest feature to payola https://t.co/Zy0BzTwe6O

— Pitchfork (@pitchfork) November 9, 2020

At a time when COVID-19 has resulted in closed venues and canceled tours, causing a tremendous amount of financial distress for the entire music ecosystem, artists and creators need fairer compensation. Yet instead of providing a lifeline, Spotify's flirtation with "pay-for-play" will further damage the financial health of small-time music creators who want to remain competitive on their platform.

Spotify & Other Streaming Giants Are Fighting Songwriter Royalty Increases…Still

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.