A2IM: American Association of Independent Music

Posted in News by A2IM

You earn your living, feed your family, pay your rent or mortgage, etc. from there being a healthy music industry.  As such, we hope you’ll join A2IM’s ongoing CALL TO ACTION series and use the below quick and easy link to communicate your support for proposed legislation in Congress that we alerted you to last week.

Just click HERE and enter your home address and hit “send” and an e-mail will be sent to your Senators and Representative.

If you’ve written previously, we implore you to do so AGAIN!

Please help keep this going by writing today and by sharing this with your artists, managers, & friends so that Washington D.C. understands that independent labels and artists need legislative support so that we can continue running our businesses and investing in creating great new music.  This effort, in combination with messaging from our fellow creator community advocates, has resulted in over 50,000 letters reaching members of Congress in the last 12 months.

A2IM’s message has always been that we embrace technology and have numerous initiatives and events to help our members educate one another about ways to successfully adapt and maximize available revenues, but we also believe that the government should support creators’ rights and promote the value of music as a vital contributor to the U.S. economy.

In January, a new Congress convened and the legislative process began again. Fortunately, we’re building on momentum generated last year which included strong statements of support from President Obama’s administration in support of creators’ rights and the value of intellectual property and a push for helpful legislation from supporters of IP and creative works in Congress.  There is new legislation being readied for vote now and your congressional representatives NEED to hear from those most affected by the loss of revenues in the music business.

Posted in Advocacy, News by A2IM

A2IM previously messaged our community about the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (S.3804) when it was originally drafted and we want to make sure you’ve seen the news that it has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee UNANIMOUSLY!  There is still a long road ahead to get this bill to pass the full Senate and then have it presented to the House and hopefully get it passed into law but this Senate Judiciary Committee vote was a big step in the right direction for the creators community.  You can read Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy’s full remarks HERE.

We continue to urge our community to SPEAK UP regarding the value of music and all creative content and  to let our elected officials know that we are independent local businesses that provide jobs and support creators and that we need our government’s support to help combat the decimation of our business and the value of music.

Posted in Uncategorized by A2IM

The call to action we sent to you all on September 23, 2010 has moved us forward to a Senate vote this Thursday, see below! If you have not yet written your legislators please do it now!!!

Bill Targeting Rogue Pirate Sites up for Vote Thursday

Make your voice heard today!

Dear Copyright Advocates,

As promised, we seek to keep you updated with news from Capitol Hill that affects your rights as an artist or creator. Read on to find out more about a new bill that is targeting rogue pirate sites. And take this opportunity to make your voice heard!

On Thursday, September 30th, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on legislation that will target web sites that profit from infringing music, movies, books, images, software, and other creative works. These websites don’t give a dime to artists. The legislation is called ”Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act” or S-3804. It is sponsored by 16 Democratic and Republican senators and its chief sponsor is Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

Our online world is now polluted with professional, legitimate-seeming sites that offer a wide array of artistic works for free and are supported by ads sold on the sites. Sometimes these sites even charge subscription fees for access to creative works. NOT A DIME OF THAT MONEY ever reaches the artists who create the work, such as an independent filmmaker we blogged about recently or another independent filmmaker profiled today in The Los Angeles Times. These sites profit from theft, pure and simple.

The legislation would encourage online ad brokers, online payment processors (such as credit card companies) and ISPs to cut off the income flow that feeds this piracy. As comic book author and illustrator Colleen Doran said in her Creators Across America video, “These sites wouldn’t be around if not for the dough.”

A growing number of artists are banding together to support this legislation. Colleen has used her blog to promote the legislation (here and here). In addition, a coalition of artists has put together an online petition you can use to let your elected representatives know how important it is to keep rogue web sites from profiting from your work. As the petition notes: “The theft of copyrighted works like photography, music, movies, books, software and games is a devastating problem… This rampant theft inhibits the ability of American businesses to invest and innovate — and stifles the capacity of American artists and creators to earn a living, support their families, and invest in their own creative development.”

You might also want to let Senator Leahy know you appreciate the hard work he and his colleagues are doing on behalf of artists.

We’ll keep all of you informed as this legislative effort continues.

Best,

Lucinda Dugger

Director of Outreach

Posted in Advocacy by A2IM

In June we wrote you to ask you to speak out to your elected officials about how online infringements have hurt your livelihood and over 16,000 emails reached Congress members from all parts of our country imploring them to support America’s creator community.  We’ve heard that this was one of the most effective grassroots letter writing campaigns ever.

Well, it’s time to speak up again.

This week a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation that would give the Justice Department an expedited process for cracking down on rogue websites that are dedicated to making unauthorized copies of music available including the many foreign sites that have to date been outside our reach.  The Justice Department would target the most egregious pirate websites, go to a federal court with the evidence, and then seize the domain name.  Once a site has been seized, the Court would issue an order to intermediaries — such as ISPs, payment processors, Internet registries and registrars, advertisers, etc. — prohibiting them from doing business with such rogue sites.

Please click HERE to send an e-mail to your Senators and Representative and ask that they support this unprecedented legislation.  It’s quick and easy – just enter your home address and click “send.”

We’re asking that you participate but that you also please forward this to everyone you work with, to your friends, artists, producers…we all need to seize this opportunity to be heard and support this legislation.  Post it on your website, your Facebook and Myspace page, Tweet it…let’s be heard.

CNET called this bill, “one of the most ambitious attempts yet from the U.S. government to fight online piracy” and observed that “if the bill passes, it could mark the most significant antipiracy victory for the film and music industries in quite a while.”

So frequently, A2IM hears from members – middle class independent businesses from across our nation – asking how to combat this damaging distribution of their music.  Too often when the infringing site is based outside of the U.S. there is next to nothing that can be done.  This legislation would help address this problem.

You can be sure that the vocal support of our community – independent business people trying to make a living while protecting and creating jobs – is crucial to this effort.  While A2IM’s independent music label members are actively evolving our business models embracing technology and maximizing the opportunities the Internet provides to market our artists, we also know there are sites that solely seek to drive the value of music to zero.  We need the support of our government and stronger laws to prevent that from happening.  Given the state of the manufacturing and service industries in the U.S. it has never been more important that our government supports and protects the creators of intellectual property and those that invest in that creation.

Thank you for your support.

A2IM

www.a2im.org