AFTRA Joins Music Community Leaders at Policy Summit
Music Forum Held in Miami
Community to Congress: Content Protection a Must
for New Digital Radio Distribution Services
WASHINGTON (September 7, 2006) – In the wake of a series of forums held across the country, leaders from the music community, including AFTRA National Executive Director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth, convened to develop strategies on a range of issues, including the inequity posed by new digital radio devices giving away copies of music without appropriate compensation to creators.
The music community leaders issued a joint statement:
“Digital audio (HD) broadcasts deliver near CD quality sound over the airwaves. The music community welcomes new technologies that bring music to consumers in high quality and convenient formats. However, this radio format also has the potential to allow unauthorized reproduction and distribution of near perfect copies of songs. We, as a community, stand together and call on Congress to protect the rights of creators and owners by ensuring content protection for new digital radio distribution services.”
The joint statement was developed after recent educational panel discussions in Nashville, Los Angeles, New York, and Miami among members of the American Association of Independent Music, American Federation of Musicians, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, American Society of Composers, Artists and Publishers, Broadcast Music, Incorporated, Church Music Publishers Association, Gospel Music Association, Harry Fox Agency, Jazz Alliance International, Music Managers Forum-USA, Nashville Songwriters Association International, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, National Music Publishers’ Association, Recording Artists’ Coalition, Recording Industry Association of America, Rhythm & Blues Foundation, SESAC, Songwriters Guild of America and SoundExchange. A subsequent discussion forum was held in Atlanta.
Representing AFTRA at the Music Community Forum held in Miami was Herta Suarez, AFTRA Miami Executive Director/South East Regional Director of AFTRA and Veronica Alsina, Performer/Local Board Member of AFTRA Miami. Also present at the meeting were top excutives and members of the recording industry in South Florida, including among others Emilio Estefan and musician Nestor Torres. Ms. Suarez’s statement at the meeting was very clear: “For the music industry to achieve true-lasting success, all the parties who create, produce, and bring the music to the public have to act in partnership with each other. New technology requires the development of a new structure that is fair to all parties. For recording artists, that means being able to make a viable income creating sound recordings."
In addition, Recording Arts Day on Capitol Hill®, the music community's annual advocacy day in Washington was held and organized by The Recording Academy, it highlighted the “audio flag” among several issues important to the music community and media workers in the United States and Canada joined together with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to mark Iraqi National Press Day as a Global Day of Solidarity.
