The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) offered the following statement from its Executive Vice President, Public Policy and Industry Relations, Mitch Glazier on the legislation: “On behalf of a music community that has lost thousands of jobs to piracy, we are frustratingly familiar with the damaging impact of online theft,” said Glazier. “As the music industry continues its transition from selling CDs to providing fans convenient access to a breadth of legal music online, laws that provide effective enforcement against new and developing forms of content theft are essential to the health of our business.
This article is being written in response to a posting on my Facebook profile, about a Senate bill that is being debated on in Congress (http://www.riaa.com/newsitem.php?content_selector=newsandviews&news_month_filter=5&news_year_filter=2011&id=6D8D72B7-8594-CE79-D4F0-5C95C50D770E) to make the streaming of content illegal. There currently is no law in the copyright law that covers streaming on various outlets. U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee members Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Christopher Coons (D-Del.) introduced in May, S. 978, a bipartisan bill aimed at more effectively combating the online theft of copyrighted works by classifying the illicit streaming of music, movies and other content as a felony. Another Facebook member responded to the posting and this was my response to them:
Actually, this benefits all artists, this does not put a dent in the independent business, this helps independent artists realize another revenue stream previously not available to them. And there are more new things shared than old, trust me, I worked in retail distribution for 18 years, and it's horrid. Technology is going to continue to change and as an artist you must choose to change with the business as it evolves or be left behind as the majors almost did themselves that honor by trying to hold onto the old delivery system of physical distribution, though still relevant it is slowly phasing out. There are tons of streaming sites (downloading is something totally different) and the big 4 streaming sites (last.FM, Pandora, Yahoo Music, and Maestro.fm), have gotten away with it for years without paying performance royalties as traditional radio does, so why should they not pay as traditional radio does?
Just over a decade ago, there wasn't even a law in the Copyright Law to protect digital rights, because the business had tremendously evolved and no one saw the future of the business being so radical of a change, so after hearing the voices of numerous artists and a push by the RIAA (not as bad as people make the out to be, they are like a union we as artists don't have to pay for that protects our interests) Congress had to go in and debate on and write into law, a new Digital Millennium Copyright law that protects your digital rights, and the 3 main performance rights agencies had to change their business in order to begin monitoring digital performances. Sound Exchange was far ahead of the curve over these three though, but now the three do offer digital performance collection. If the 6 majors at the time their MAPS agreement had been created between them had not tried to corner the market and be greedy, there wouldn't have been a rise in p2p file sharing sites, and other digital media as we have realized over the past 10-15 years, and though they would have been launched, piracy would not have been as prominent as it has been. I agree with some artists freely offering their music, that is their choice, however, all artists don't think like that. The Music Industry is the only industry that has this wide spread problem. No one is going to Sears and pirating washing machines, or to McDonalds and stealing Big Macs from the counter. So it is up to each individual artist whether signed or independent what choices they want to make in their music careers to remain relevant brand. It is those artists that stay abreast of changing trends, new technology, creating or realizing new revenue streams (because many have closed for all artists, changes in the laws that protect and benefit them as an artist, and changes in the infrastructure of the industry as a whole that will remain at the top of their game.
Musicians/artists have been getting the bad end of the deal since the beginning of the recording industry, far too long, while others have reaped off of their hard work (distributors, labels, publishers, managers, etc.) and intellectual property. It is a shame that Prince doesn't own any of his masters to his best work with Warner Brothers, can't earn anything off of it, and didn't earn what he should have while with Warner Brothers. Even though Prince and Radiohead are making strides in how they are delivering content to their fans, setting up a model for other artists to follow, it took them both being in horrible contracts to realize that. Why waste time and know exactly what you re getting into and learn the game first. Although they both recovered and still have illustrious careers, every artist just doesn't have that luxury that finds themselves in a horrible recording contract, and most never recover.
On the other hand one of the greatest businessmen in the history of the industry, Michael Jackson was smart enough, and chose to to learn the game inside out, and now owns %50 of not only the Beatles catalog, but a 50% stake of the entire Sony/ATV music publishing catalog of every single artist ever signed to them (Black Eyed Peas, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Jonas Brothers, Ricky martin, Elvis Presley, Eminem, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Gretchen Wilson, etc.,), the largest Country Music publisher Acuff-Rose with publishing rights to over 55,000 country music songs, Tony Martin's Baby Mae Music with a catalog of 600 songs, the largest sheet music company in the world, digital sheet music provider Musicnotes.com, Famous Music, a music publishing business with a song catalogue of more than 125,000 songs that includes (Rick Ross, Ludacris, Pitbull, Flo Rida, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Dr. Dre., 50 Cent, Jay-Z, etc.) .and that does not even include Jackson's other publishing firm, Mijac, which publishes songs written by Jackson himself and which is administered by competitor Warner/Chappell Music.
The majority of signed artists today have no rights to their intellectual property, and most are in a non recoupable state, where the label has spent millions of dollars just to record, manufacture, promote and market a project, and when the albums sales don't meet the expenditures, the artist never gets one red cent. The balance of what is owed on the "artist's account" goes over to the next album, and if they don't recoup that money and the money spent on the next album, it becomes a revolving cycle. This is where independents have the power over most signed artists today. They have the ability to realize all the revenue streams available to artists out here today (and most are not tapping into them), have creative control over and wholly own their intellectual property, and I understand some are not in it for that, but for those that are, then I am an advocate for them getting what they deserve for their individual intellectual property. What is the sense of being in a business if the ultimate goal is not to enjoy others enjoying your product and you capitalizing off of it? Bills don't pay themselves, and children need to be raised. Yes, I agree wholeheartedly, involve the consumer in your music (promotional give aways, contests, etc.), but don't give away the entire farm.
All artists have the freedom to give their music away, build up a fanbase and following on Reverbnation, Facebook, MySpace, Youtube, etc., , but how many independents are actually turning this into alternate revenue streams like performing in big venues like major artists, branding in commercials or with lifestyle company, ring tones, downloads (that actually pay), etc., creating opportunities with numerous amount of technologies available to them? I say establish an opportunity for fans to enjoy your music (a one time give away, promotional contests, etc.), , but also establish a way to capitalize off of the revenue streams available to independent artists out here.
Radio has changed, but it is not dead, witnessed by Dr. Dre earning over $50 million last year in publishing royalties, and the reason I mentioned him is because he really has not been consistent in putting out music like other artists have. Radio has become more corporate now with broadcasting companies like Beasley Broadcasting, Clear Channel, Fox, Cox Radio, CBS Radio, etc., buying up blocks of independently owned stations across the country. When I first broke in the business the PD's and MD's made all the decisions for airplay and what was added to a playlist on the station, now everything goes through a radio consultant who reports back to a corporate board, who then disseminates that list to all of the stations in their network, and though PD's and MD's have a little flexibility, they have to adhere to what the board tells them to play.
There are tons of opportunities for indie artists to perform, you just need to do your research, put yourself in the eyes of those who are promoting certain events in your area, and promote, promote, promote promote. Facebook, Reverbnation, MySpace, Youtube, are just a few of thousands of resources available to artists.
There are independent artists now making the charts on Billboard without the influence of a major distributor behind them, because they are flooding the internet with the right targeted sites that bring back real and consistent results, they register their music with the proper channels, not counting the performance rights agencies (ASCAP, SESAC, and BMI) or Harry Fox, but with the R.I.A.A. that certifies albums going gold, platinum or diamond, with NARAS to vote for and be voted for a Grammy, with NARM, if they are an independent online merchant selling their products to be in the loop with release schedules of the majors to know when to release their product, with the Urban Retail Coalition if they are an urban based company so that they will be able to target their sales towards their merchants, with Soundscan to track retail sales, even if you are selling product out of the trunk of their car, or with BDS to track radio airplay, etc., etc. So artists need to tap into these things as an independent to compete with the majors, because whether they realize it or not, they are.
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