A2IM: American Association of Independent Music

Posted in News by A2IM

Call To Action To Independent Labels, Creators & Service Providers Who Rely Upon Music Having Value:

For years we have called on government to help fight Piracy including those websites that promote the devaluation of music and disregard the rights of creators by leaking music early and without permission. Both the Obama Administration and the Congress have started to provide creators much needed support in recent months. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency has taken aggressive action against infringing websites, recently seizing the domain names of 82 sites. Since then ICE, and its Director John Morton, have been taking heat in the blogosphere and in some print media for their actions.  It is imperative that the music community let the Administration know just how vital ICE’s actions are, and how much we appreciate them.

We need to show them some love for their action! PLEASE send a note to John Morton thanking him for what he’s doing.

This letter, which also highlights a recent A2IM press statement, was sent to the Obama administration by A2IM today.  They need to hear from our members across the country now!

Use the A2IM letter as a guide, but please personalize your letter, and write to:

Mr. John T. Morton
Director, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528

Care of : erik.barnett@dhs.gov

And express your support for the current actions of U.S. Homeland Security detailed in the attached link press release and please copy: Rich.Bengloff@a2im.org. This is important so let’s get to work!

Best and happy holidays to all!

The A2IM team

Posted in News by A2IM

The US Copyright Office published this notice that it will study granting federal protection to pre-1972 sound recordings.

A2IM needs music labels with pre-1972 recordings to contact us so that we know how many of our members this may affect and to better represent your needs.

• Most importantly, we need A2IM members with pre-1972 recordings to weigh in on their music masters preservation status needs and the limited resources they have to do this preservation. We will propose federal funding for retention of masters, the “storage, categorization and digitization” of music.

We may also request some labels owning such masters to sign the brief that A2IM will be filing on behalf of our members on this issue.

What’s at stake?

a)      U.S. Federal Copyright Law does not cover pre-1972 copyrights (instead they’re covered by individual state laws).  Federal protection of these copyrights will provide more robust safety valves for unauthorized but socially valuable use of pre-1972 works (eg. libraries, educational institutions, museums, etc.) but could also result in for-profit use of copyrights that are still commercially viable and which need to be protected so we can make money on them!

b)      Expanding Federal Copyright Laws comes at the expense of some states’ piracy protections/infringement remedies, including for instance DMCA safe harbors that Veoh and YouTube have used to win court rulings that have been unfavorable to content owners.  State laws tend to be stronger against piracy, why give up these stricter and State remedies?

c)       Would labels be covered by “work for hire” legislation from the 1970s for pre-1972 copyrights?  Under the federal law, would labels continue to own these copyrights or would the rights revert to the artists?

d)     There’s currently a risk that some services may decide they do not need to pay SoundExchange for the performance of pre-1972 sound recordings.  In our filing, we will propose an amendment to Section 114 of the federal law that would fix that problem.

A2iM must present our initial written comments by January 31^st so please contact us the first week in January so that we’re well positioned to have our filing completed and correct in advance of this deadline.

Posted in News by A2IM

Posted in News by A2IM

We ask our members to join us in welcoming the newest team member on the A2IM staff, Sheryl Cohen.  Sheryl’s title is operations manager.  She’ll oversee the day to day office of A2IM, be our primary point person for the A2IM members’ website, and be your contact for invoicing questions.  Shoot Sheryl an email to wish her good luck and give her a warm welcome.  Sheryl can be reached at sheryl@a2im.org or 212 999 6113 ext. 3.

Prior to accepting this position with A2IM, Sheryl had worked with Musicians On Call.

Welcome aboard, Sheryl!

Posted in Member Services, News by A2IM

Select Distribution is looking to increase its reach in the rest of the Canadian market. With a stronghold in the Quebec market, efforts have been made in recent years to offer Select’s expertise to a larger community. By becoming an associate member of A2IM, the goal is to share a very efficient business model to new US partners. There’s a lot to learn from the unique French Canadian market.

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Posted in Member Services, Members Only by A2IM

NOTE: This event has been POSTPONED due to scheduling conflicts.

On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, A2IM will bring our members together at The Recording Academy NYC Chapter office (11 W. 42nd St, 27th Floor, NYC, map) for an educational and networking Tech Day event. At the end of the day, we will have a one hour beer & wine reception for our members to network on the eve of the Digital Music Forum East conference.

Schedule of events TBA.

A2IM’s New Media Committee plan our Tech Day events on a regular basis to bring together the best and brightest from music & technology companies to discuss the topics relevant to our changing industry. If you have not yet read the most recent white papers from this committee, you should do so prior to attending this event. You can find them all here on the A2IM website.

If you are a member of A2IM and would like to RSVP for this event, please email jen@a2im.org with the subject line “Feb 23 Tech Day RSVP.” We look forward to seeing you then!