Category: SoundExchange

@LindaBlossBaum Joins Faculty of Business & Entertainment Program at @AmericanU @KogodBiz

We’re happy to join in the announcement that our long time friend and artist rights advocate Linda Bloss-Baum is joining the faculty at the Business & Entertainment Program at the Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington DC. Linda most recently was senior vice president of government relations and public policy at SoundExchange. Linda will teach two undergraduate courses as a full-time faculty member and will be Assistant Program Director for the Business and Entertainment Program. We couldn’t be more pleased for Linda who has been in the trenches with creators on a bunch of issues, most recently the American Music Fairness Act.

The AU press release gives a synopsis of Linda’s history at the university and her professional background. “In 2013, Bloss-Baum joined the Kogod School of Business as an adjunct professor. She received AU’s Adjunct Professor of the Year award in 2018. Her course, “Protection of the Creative Class in the Digital Age,” is one of the most popular on campus. Now, she will also teach “Introduction to the Entertainment Industry.” 

In March, Bloss-Baum led a delegation of students to the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, for a week-long course in networking and professionalism in the entertainment industries.

Bloss-Baum has held several senior positions in public policy and government affairs, including Time Warner, Inc., Warner Music Group, and NBC Universal/Universal Music Group. 

“It is such an honor to return to my alma mater as a full-time faculty member and assistant program director to teach and mentor the next generation of leaders in the entertainment industry,” said Bloss-Baum. “The Business and Entertainment Program at Kogod has grown rapidly over the past decade. I look forward to working with John Simson and the Kogod community to foster future growth and opportunities for the program’s exemplary students in the years to come.”

John Simson, the Program Director, said “Linda is a true changemaker with a deep and sincere commitment to teaching and mentoring. As someone who has had extraordinary success in the entertainment industry, she brings a wealth of experience and insights to Kogod and its students.”

@SoundExchange CEO @mikehuppe Nails NAB Hypocrisy on Artist Pay for Radio Play–#IRespectMusic

The hearing on Groundhog Day (Feb. 2) for the American Music Fairness Act (or “AMFA”) was a fantastic opportunity for artists to be heard on the 100 year free ride the government has given broadcast radio. We know it went well because the National Association of Broadcasters sputtered like they do when they’ve got nothing to say.

But what’s really hysterical was how they talked out of both sides of their mouths in two different hearings–which makes you think that NAB president Curtis LeGeyt was doing his impression of Punxsutawney Phil. Yes, when it came to broadcasters getting paid by Big Tech, the broadcasters wanted their rights respected and to be paid fairly. But when the shoe was on the other foot, not so much. In the Senate, the NAB asked for more money for broadcasters in a hearing for the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act–to protect the mega radio broadcasters from the mega tech oligarchs. And if broadcasters don’t get more money, they want to be exempt from the antitrust laws so they can pull their content. Just like artists do to them…NOT.

Then the NAB comes over to the House Judiciary Committee–on the same day being Groundhog Day–and asks the government to continue their 100 year free ride. We call bullshit.

SoundExchange CEO Mike Huppe nailed this in his Billboard post:

The AMFA witnesses didn’t ask for an antitrust exemption, like the broadcasters did. They simply asked that recording artists be granted similar copyrights as others.

They didn’t ask for more money, like the broadcasters did. They simply asked for at least some payment, since they now receive none when broadcast radio stations air their music.

They didn’t ask for special treatment, like the broadcasters did. Rather they asked that they be treated the same as all other artists around the world, and even the same as artists on virtually all other media platforms in the U.S.

And they didn’t ask for rigts to negotiate and withhold content, like the broadcasters did. Under AMFA, radio stations would still be allowed to play music as they please. Artist advocates simply asked that the biggest-of-the-big stations pay a modest royalty set according to market rates. Stations making less than $1.5 million per year would pay a flat, annual royalty of $500 (less than $1.40 per day) for as much music as they choose to air. And the smallest stations’ payments would drop all the way down to $10.

No station is going to go bankrupt over these royalties.

Huppe has a very strong point here. This legislation has been picked over for years. AMFA bends over backwards to protect community radio and small broadcasters and repects everyone’s contribution to radio’s success.

But that’s the point–it respects everyone‘s contribution.

You can watch the hearing here:

Catchup and Watch the Free Webinar on Radio Royalties and the American Music Fairness Act #irespectmusic

We had a great panel in Austin to discuss the history of the U.S. broadcast terrestrial loophole and strategies to stop the century-long Big Radio free ride on the backs of the world’s recording artists. Strategy number one is to support the bi-partisan American Music Fairness Act (or “AMFA”) introduced in Congress as HR4130 and sponsored by Rep. Ted Deutch and Rep. Darrell Issa.

The panel of Texas artist Terrany Johnson pka Tee Double, Texas music lawyer Gwendolyn Seale, Sean Glover of SoundExchange and me discussed the importance of the bill to Texas artists. As Tee Double said, the issue and the AMFA bill are “genreless” because the issue is critical to all Texas artists regardless of genre or locale, and in fact to all American artists.

http://www.irespectmusic.org

The panel’s main purpose was to educate viewers about the radio loophole–American is one of a handful of countries including China, Iran and North Korea that does not pay artists when their recordings are played on the radio. We emphasized that artists have the power to close that loophole through asking their Member of Congress to support the AMFA legislation through candidate forums and petitions to Congress like the Copyright Alliance petition or the petition at IRespectMusic.org.

One key topic was that artists should not be gaslighted by Big Radio’s argument that they should be able to force artists to work for free because “exposure”. This is one of the great dodges.

No Exposure Bucks!

Hosting the panel alone helps to raise awareness of the opportunity to bend the arc of the moral universe and we want to thank all the great organizations that reached out to inform their members and supporters by hosting the educational panel. Hosting the event were the Austin area musician support organizations @ATXMusicians, @AustinMusic Foundation, @IRMAustin (I Respect Music Austin) and @TALATexas with help from @SoundExchange, the Copyright Alliance (@Unite4Copyright) and the Texas Music Office (@TXMusicOffice).

If you missed it you can watch it below and get the background materials here. Be sure to say hello to the panelists @sealeinthedeal, @terranyjohnson, Sean Glover and @musictechpolicy.

Takeaways are: Make sure you support artist pay for radio play and AMFA by filling out the Copyright Alliance petition or the petition at www.irespectmusic.org! Also consider calling or emailing your Congressperson and asking them to support AMFA. You can get that information by checking WhoAreMyRepresentatives.

In any event, artists, producers or labels should register for SoundExchange at www.soundexchange.com. Find out if SoundExchange is holding money for you already and whether your recordings are correctly registered with SoundExchange. Do this even if you are registered as a songwriter with a PRO like ASCAP or BMI–the PROs work for songwriters, SoundExchange works for artists, producers and record companies.

And while you’re at it, register to vote and get your band registered, too! We plan to have candidate forums in 2022 and you want to be ready to vote for artist rights! If you want to work on these efforts, please leave your contact with me.

Watch this space for updates on the American Music Fairness Act and artist pay for radio play or sign up for the MusicFirst Coaltion newsletter to stay in the loop. And finally if you have any questions, write to me or leave a comment.

Thanks!

Fair Trade of Music Campaigns for the New Reciprocity for Artist Rights (#irespectmusic)

I cannot tell you the number of times U.S. artists have said to me, “I don’t need to join SoundExchange, I’m already a member of BMI.”  (Or ASCAP.)  Then I have to explain to them why SoundExchange collects an entirely different royalty–for the performance of the sound recording not the song.  It’s SoundExchange for recordings, PROs for songs.  Say it like a mantra.  It is a testament to the decades of propaganda from the National Association of Broadcasters and especially SiriusXM that has kept U.S. artists in the dark.

Strangely–and I’m being sarcastic–I never get this question from artists who are not Americans.  They are very aware of the performance royalty for sound recordings.

What neither the US nor the UK artists know very often is that when an American artist is played in the UK, the US artist receives no royalty due to decades-old trade rules.  But when a UK artist is played in the US, the UK artist receives their full royalty from SoundExchange as a matter of law.  A new organization called the Fair Trade of Music campaign  wants to change that so that artists are treated the same in the UK regardless of where they call home.

Why do we care?  We care because Fair Trade of Music estimates that U.S. artists lose about $330,000,000 each year due to this lack of fairness and reciprocal treatment.

We care because due to COVID-19, live music income has collapsed to zero or near zero.  Public performance income from SoundExchange is one of the few income streams left that American artists can count on.  And this is not a Yank thing.  The idea that American artists are generating income that is denied to them because of ancient trade laws is just as maddening to their sisters and brothers among artists in the UK as it is to the Americans.

We care because fixing this inequity is not a zero sum game.  UK artists should not make a penny less if US artists get their rightful share.  The money is already being paid and the rates are already determined–it’s just that the payment of the money for US artists must be redirected.

We care because we have a chance to fix the ancient trade rules that perpetuate this inequity.  There are a lot of trade rules about many different products and services including the rules for these payments to American artists.  Those rules can be changed by vehicles like the upcoming UK/US trade agreement.

Right now the focus is on the UK because we have a vehicle to take a big step toward fixing this treatment (which is true in many other countries, too).  That vehicle takes the form of the upcoming UK/US trade agreement which may be signed in the next few months.  Even if it isn’t actually signed it will be negotiated, and the outlines of the UK/US deal will likely be much better defined before the end of the year. (This “bilateral” trade agreement with the UK must be put in place due to the UK leaving the European Union.)

We need to be at that table.  Now is the time to take action.

If you want to sound off to the powers that be about fixing this loophole, you can sign a petition to support fair treatment at the Fair Trade of Music site.  I don’t often ask you guys to do something like this, but I really think you should sign up.

As Ann Richards said, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.