In the lead up to the 12th round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in Dallas, Texas, A2IM joined, with other members of the Intellectual Property creator community of the U.S. Business Coalition for TPP, to work with the TPP Intellectual Property Task Force, in writing President Obama on the importance of securing a strong outcome on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property in the TPP negotiations. Read the full letter HERE.
Today a number of websites are shutting down in protest of proposed anti-piracy legislation. They are taking a unilateral action to make their content unavailable. However, under current law, A2IM members whose copyrights are infringed upon cannot take similar action. Our independent labels and their artists have no practical way of taking down illegal links to their music from rogue foreign websites accessed via U.S. search engines.
We urge these search engines to support U.S. content creators by working toward anti-piracy legislation acceptable to all. Let’s have a debate that genuinely acknowledges that the voices within our joint communities are deep, broad and diverse and let’s all agree that doing nothing is not an option.
The media has portrayed the issue as that of two giant industries (movies/music and technology) in conflict, as though this was a battle solely between very rich businesses. In fact, our members are small and medium sized independent businesses that invest in the creation of music and whose very existence is being threatened by the availability of illegal content on line. We look forward to solution oriented discussions among all parties. Learn more
There was an unfortunate turn of events for American independent labels and artists this past weekend when the Obama Administration announced they will not support the proposed PROTECT IP (Senate) and SOPA (House of Representatives) bills to reduce piracy related to overseas websites “dedicated to infringing on copyrighted material”. While this is a setback for those of us who know that mass distribution of unlicensed music is crushing our ability to make a fair living from our investment in the creation of great music, A2IM does take some optimism from the fact that the White House statement said “Let us be clear online piracy is a real problem that harms the American economy, threatens jobs for significant numbers of middle class workers and hurts some of our nation’s most creative and innovative companies and entrepreneurs.” The Obama administration still called for legislation this year that would give prosecutors and owners of intellectual property new abilities to deter overseas piracy.
Our view is we need help to reduce unlicensed music copyright access, especially that which occurs from overseas sources where we cannot get voluntary measures and best practices enacted like the “Copyright Alerts” program which the major ISP’s have embraced here in the U.S. or finger-printing and content ID blocking measures that good digital partners are starting to include as standard for their platforms. As our A2IM Billboard Op-ed had noted:
“If there are ways to strengthen these bills and ensure they are narrowly focused to target rogue sites, we are for that. No legislation is perfect, and improvements should be made where appropriate. But let’s have a debate that genuinely acknowledges that the voices within our entertainment family are deep, broad and diverse. And let’s all agree that doing nothing is not an option any Intellectual Property creators can live with.”
Our comments all along have been in support of the proposed legislation highlighting our unique community, separate from that of the mainstream music industry, tailored toward our community’s needs as small and medium sized independent businesses that invest in the creation of music. OUR KEY TALKING POINTS:
* The independent music community is impacted by the effect of illegal downloading, even more so in many cases than major music labels or movie studios because margins are so thin for independent labels — because we are not part of larger corporations which might be able to offset losses during leaner years, making a living becomes that much more difficult.
* Independent music labels embrace the Internet as the Internet has been the great equalizer… on the ability to market, promote, monetize and introduce new music. The Internet has opened up countless opportunities for us. Why would we do anything to jeopardize that? A2IM, on behalf of our member community has spent a great deal of time speaking with, hearing from, and reading testimony from legal experts, constitutional experts and technological experts that refute the mis-information campaign that has so many concerned that these bills would suppress free speech, legal innovation or the security of the Internet.
* The time and capital investment required for our community of like-minded, but proudly independent, small business people to monitor the web for infringement and take subsequent legal action simply does not exist. A2IM member music labels simply do not have the financial means or resources to house a stable of systems people and lawyers to monitor the Internet and bombard sites with DMCA takedown notices for seemingly endless illegal links to our music (especially when even successfully removing illegal links is temporary at best as almost all reappear often within seconds). We do not have the financial means to bankroll field offices in far-flung countries abroad with weak copyright laws. Our members have limited budgets, and whatever living they can eke out is often promptly reinvested back into finding the next new artist or the marketing campaign of an artist already on their roster.
As was noted by the MPAA “our industry not only fully supports free expression, our livelihood is built upon a vibrant First Amendment – it is the foundation of our industry and we would never support any legislation that would limit this fundamental American right. As had been made clear throughout the legislative consideration of SOPA and the PROTECT-IP Act, neither of these bills implicate free expression but focus solely on illegal conduct, which is not free speech. We agree with Secretary Clinton’s recent statement that “There is no contradiction between intellectual property rights protection and enforcement and ensuring freedom of expression on the Internet.” We also share the Administration’s desire to encourage innovation. The American businesses that are victimized on a daily basis by global Internet thieves are among the most innovative industries in this nation and we welcome the Administration’s support of these American businesses. Every day, American jobs are threatened by thieves from foreign-based rogue websites. This deplorable situation persists because U.S. law enforcement does not have the tools to fight back”
We welcome member comments on this issue.
A2IM articulates why independent labels and artists need the proposed legislation that will make foreign based rogue websites accountable under U.S. law. The Op-ed, which was published in Billboard yesterday, responds to the campaigns of misinformation on various blogs about the “evils” of SOPA/PROTECT-IP.
Read A2IM’s October 2011 Press Release applauding the U.S. House of Representatives Proposed “Stop Online Piracy Act”.
Alligator Records Founder/President and member of A2IM’s Board of Directors, Bruce Iglauer wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune, “Going After Digital Pirates”. Bruce’s piece, which stated his position supporting copyright protection, also came as a response to the proposed legislation, PROTECT IP and SOPA.
As you know A2IM supports proposed Congressional legislation (SOPA and Protect IP) that would reduce U.S, consumer access to overseas websites that traffic in unlicensed music distribution like MegaUpload and Rapidshare. Russian President Medvedev recently published an open letter to the G-20 economic group world leaders calling on the G-20 to renegotiate the entire existing legal framework for internet copyright protection. President Medvedev proposed a default system where copyright owners will be legally presumed to permit all uses on the internet unless they specifically notify the user, similar to the DMCA laws in the U.S. that have not been preventing unauthorized use. Last week we joined our creator colleagues in sending a letter to President Medvedev suggesting a different approach to encourage governments to ensure that their legislation prevents companies from building businesses or maintaining services based on providing access to infringing materials.
During November the creator community, led by the Copyright Alliance, of which A2IM is a member, has continued its support of the proposed Protect IP and SOPA legislations in Congress. Here is a recent Copyright Alliance Op-ed with includes A2IM board member Bruce Iglauer as one of the examples of the challenges entrepreneur creators face as a result of rogue websites that these proposed legislations hope to curb. A2IM will continue its advocacy effort and keep you informed.
