A2IM has joined 19 other major music industry organizations and over 400 songwriters, artists and managers to call upon the U.S Copyright Office to reform the misused "safe harbor" provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") and its broken "notice and takedown" system.
Read the full petition on A2IM's site.
"The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was a boon to artists and labels alike when it was enacted in 1998," said Richard James Burgess, CEO A2IM. "Unfortunately the systematic abuse of law makes it necessary for it to be rebalanced to lift the insurmountably one-sided burden that currently falls on music creators and copyright owners. We will not have a healthy creative community as long as organizations and individuals are allowed to profit from the use of unlicensed music. The seriousness of this problem is emphasized by the unprecedentedly unified response from all sides of the creative and copyright communities."
Designed for a dial up, pre-streaming and social media world, the DMCA's original purpose was to promote a healthier balance in the online music market, to allow nascent digital services to thrive while protecting creators rights, but the legislation has since become obsolete and shields companies who act in bad faith and draw profit on the backs of creators. "Safe harbors" have been wrongly expanded to protect businesses that use unlicensed music to draw in visitors and profit off them.
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The music community is united in calling for a re-examination of the DMCA and restoring the originally intended balance between digital services and creators, including polices for the modern Internet ecosystem on issues such as repeat infringer policies, "red flag knowledge" of infringement and appropriate "Standard Technical Measures" to address Infringement.
The united Music Community filing was submitted by: American Association of Independent Music (A2IM); American Federation of Musicians; American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; Americana Music Association; Broadcast Music, Inc.; Christian Music Trade Association; Church Music Publishers Association; Global Music Rights; Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.; Music Managers Forum - United States; Music Publishers Association; Nashville Songwriters Association, International; National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; National Music Publishers' Association; Recording Industry Association of America; Rhythm and Blues Foundation; Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists; The Society of European Authors and Composers.; SESAC Holdings, Inc.; and SoundExchange.
For more information, visit a2im.org.
