Music is my life. Sometimes I think it is as important as air, food and water. It sustains me and gives my life meaning. And, I am not alone.
This week more than 2,000 members of The Recording Academy will visit the home offices of their members of Congress—the largest music advocacy movement in history. Songwriters, performers, and producers will unite across the country to deliver a simple message: If you love music, you must support creators.
{mosads}I’ve been fortunate in this business. I have been blessed to work with some of the greatest artists, including Beyoncé, Sam Smith, Michael Jackson, Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5 and many others.
But over the last twenty years, I also learned how hard it can be for many music creators to be compensated fairly for their work. The music business has changed in many ways that are good for creators. We have more ways to connect with and grow our audience; fans can listen on multiple platforms; and music is everywhere. It’s mobile, it’s wireless and it’s digital. But in many ways, music licensing still operates under rules from a bygone era, from a time well before I was born.
Performers, the singers and musicians who bring music to life, are not compensated, not one penny, when their work is played on AM and FM radio. A $17 billion industry gets to use their work for free thanks to a loophole in the law. Songwriters receive below-market pay due to outdated rate standards and regulations. And producers have no recognition in U.S. law at all.
Even the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), adopted in 1996, is already woefully outdated. It was designed to help creators control use of their work in the digital music age. But for too many creators, it is a nightmare. Policing the entire Internet to file endless “takedown” notices is a full time job.
Like so many others who work in the creative arts, we recognize that we do not have a right to success. Success is something we only realize through our work, through our creativity, through our connection with an audience. But when we strike the right chord, when our music becomes part of your playlist, and when others create businesses that earn billions delivering our music to listeners, creators should join in that success.
For several years now, I have worked with The Recording Academy’s 20,000 members to educate members of Congress about the real world of music and how hard it is for creators. I think policy makers are getting it. I am sure they all love music, that is what they tell me. Everyone loves music.
This week, senators and representatives will hear that it’s time to act. The stage is set for the 115th Congress to support creators by fundamentally overhauling music law. Hearings have been held, arguments have been heard. It’s time to push aside cobwebs of old laws and legal rulings dating back 100 years and create a new music economy that values creators.
While I’m proud of my GRAMMY awards, the laws that govern music should not date back to the gramophone era. It’s time to update how creators are compensated by those who use our work.
Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins is a GRAMMY Award-winning producer and a member of The Recording Academy.
The views expressed by authors are their own and not the views of The Hill.