A2IM: American Association of Independent Music

Posted in From The President, Press Releases by A2IM

Below is a press statement issued by Rich Bengloff and serviced by ShoreFire Media today commenting on a report issued by the IFPI highlighting that labels invest $5 billion per year on artists.

See the IFPI report here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On IFPI’s “Investing In Music” Report – Statement From A2IM President Rich Bengloff

A2IM President Rich Bengloff issued the following statement today:

A2IM applauds the IFPI’s “Investing in music” report for noting that “investing in music is the core mission of record companies and that no other party can lay claim a comparable role in the music sector”….and that “No other party comes close to the levels of investment committed by record companies to developing, nurturing and promoting talent. One of the biggest myths about the music industry in the digital age is that artists no longer need record labels. It is simply wrong. The investment, partnership and support that help build artist careers have never been more important than they are today.” (more…)

Posted in From The President, Press Releases by A2IM

To all-

A commerce goal of A2IM is to achieve economic parity for our music label members. We strive for that every day in many ways. The purpose of this e-mail is to discuss economic parity for our associate members, professional service providers which should be rewarded for their support and equitable treatment of our member community.

A2IM associate members like Pandora, to name one, which is by far the #1 webcaster in terms of non-on demand music streams in the U.S. (and not coincidentally, they play the largest percentage of independent music, almost 40%) paid approximately $28 million in sound recording royalties for last year and, via SoundExchange, delivers parity to indie artists and labels.

Conversely, there are services like LimeWire, Myxer and many more that, by the nature of their services, make it too easy for consumers to violate copyright and/or compensate independents in a sub-standard fashion or not at all. Many services promise “promotion” in lieu of compensation (as recorded music sales continue to plummet, in part due to these services). In some cases services may also use the guise of user generated content databases containing our labels’ artists’ music as an excuse for any infringements. These services know that many of our music label members do not have the time and capital required to monitor the web for infringement nor to take the subsequent legal action.

(more…)

Posted in From The President by A2IM

via FMQB:

The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a non-profit trade organization that represents the interests of the Independent music label community. The organization has been closely involved in a number of issues currently affecting the music industry. As channels of music distribution continue to open up online, A2IM has been at the forefront, making sure independent labels aren’t left behind. A2IM President Rich Bengloff recently spoke to FMQB about what the organization does for its members and some of the current issues facing independent labels.

How does the A2IM differ from the RIAA? From what I understand, it is similar in many ways, just on a smaller scale…
And with a slightly different structure. We do a lot of advocacy on issues, which is similar to the RIAA, and I’d say about 60 percent of the time we agree on issues. We’re very friendly with the RIAA, but we also have a lot of the same concerns as artists’ groups. I’d say about 40 percent of the time we’re on their side on issues. RIAA doesn’t provide member services, which is a big part of our mission in terms of educating our members, creating networking connections, providing services, etc.

(more…)

Posted in From The President by A2IM

Read: A Road Map For Indies (PDF)

(Published January 30, 2010 in Billboard Magazine)