Ep. 52: An Update on the MMA

And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan

And The Writer Is

Music Creation, Artists, Music Interviews, Education, Interviews, Songwriters, Music, Songwriting

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2018

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

MMA Update: The laws for songwriters’ compensation have not changed since 1909. To put that in perspective, that’s four years after the Wright Brothers invented the airplane and 43 years before the invention of the television. It’s the people of that era, in those early Wright Brothers pictures that created the laws that govern how musicians get paid in 2018. That’s the equivalent of us deciding how people should get paid in 2127.

The MMA (Music Modernization Act) updates these laws so songwriters and artists can begin to get compensated fairly.

We now have 76 senators who are co-sponsoring the MMA with full support from DSPs, PRO’s, the recording AND publishing industry... everyone but Sirius XM Radio.

Sirius XM radio (owned by Liberty Media), is planning to make a last-ditch effort to derail the MMA. First, Sirius convinced Senators to add amendments/block Unanimous Consent. Those senators learned through billboards/shows/rallies that musicians are voters too. They flipped. Now Sirius is shopping for new Senators.

Sirius needs to be stopped and we need the songwriting community’s support to do so; social media posts, protests, and continued pressure on the senators to co-sponsor have worked so far. The clock is ticking. We have 2 weeks.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	May I have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get
0:08.0	10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride so you don't have to walk home in the brain again.
0:16.5	Trains now on Uber. T's and C's apply. Check the writer is I am your host Ross Golan. So normally this is a
0:38.5	podcast where I interview other songwriters and we talk about process and we talk about their life and
0:44.0	how they became a musician how they remain a musician and that kind of gets into
0:49.5	what we've been dealing with over the last couple months. The Music Modernization Act, the first major
0:56.7	legislation brought to Congress from both artists and songwriters ever in the history of the music business.
1:07.0	So first before we get to the history of that, I'd like to thank
1:10.0	NMPA, NSA, NSA, R-P-A, and Sona, along with all of you who have retweeted and
1:16.6	reposted and called your senators because you are making a difference and we have
1:21.9	made some progress. We don't have long so that's why I
1:25.2	wanted to explain how we got into this mess and how we're going to get out of it.
1:30.4	So let's go to the very beginning. It's
1:33.8	1909. Piano Company, Sioux songwriters. Why? Because
1:40.4	we provide the piano rolls and the sheet music and they say that we have too much power
1:45.8	so legislation is passed that says that a judge can decide how we get paid.
1:54.0	They get to, for all intents and purposes,
1:58.3	kind of guess as to what kind of royalty rate
2:01.4	we deserve and we've earned. So let's try to envision what is
2:06.3	1909? Nine is Theodore Roosevelt just finished his second term in office and William Taft becomes president.
2:16.2	The Wright brothers had just invented the airplane a few years before.
2:21.2	And this is 43 years before television.
	...

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