Say 'No Way" for a Pandora

Did you realize that Pandora is again trying to get your music for free.  So is YouTube and other media giants.  The rates they pay right now are ridiculously low because they take PROs to rate court and win low rates.  The Recording Academy and ASCAP have both introduced measure to congress and have successfully lobbied and fought in the halls of congress to prevent passage of bills that would devastate the music industry.

You can say no to Pandora.  You do not have to license your music to Pandora for use of your songs.  If you do not issue a license and you own the song, they are in violation of copyright laws.  Now lets get into some recent news about some major broadcasters paying performance royalties to artists.  I applaud this measure, because it is a step in the right direction.  But, it does not protect or compensate the songwriter.  Paying an artist for a performance only works if you perform your own songs.  What about that magical phrase "I got a cut with ..."?  You got a cut which gives you credibility as a writer, but what money do you get.  Well, if they sell you CD at concerts, and are legitimate business people that properly track sales, you get your writer's portion of the CD sales and iTunes downloads at 9.1 cents.  What about when they go get 10,000 CDs pressed and give them away to promote attending their concert where they get paid and you don't?  What about free downloads to fans they post on their website and radio plays?  What do you get?

I see paying the artist for the performance and not paying the writer as tantamount to the state sending child support payments for your children to somebody that rents property from you.  Yes, that sounds harsh, but think about it.  They have paid a license to use your song, but they can use your song to produce millions of dollars a year in revenue from concerts and merch sales, but the writer gets nothing.  Didn't you sit down and create the idea and sweat over creating scratch recording then pay for studio time or sit and make your own top bin recording?  Don't you deserve to get some of the pie?

Saying no to Pandora is just a start.  Get involved with a PRO like ASCAP, BMI, or SEASAC.  Joing Grammy 365 is a good step.  Send letters to you representatives in Washington, but most of all, get involved.  These slick executives are taking advantage of songwriters, especially independent songwriters.  It is like herding cats.   Songwriters like to concentrate on the creative, but normally get cut out on the business side of the industry.  Hey, it is your business, but now you know where I stand.

I testified for congress on a video interview at the ASCAP Expo, and I stood up for my rights.  I made things a little personal to Washington by making this case.  If I built a website and allowed people to read Barack Obama's book free of charge, all I would do is get banner ad money to support the site.  In a very short period of time, I would be arrested, put in jail, face criminal and civil penalties, and my website would be shut down.  Why is this so?  The publishers of his book have lobbyist and lawyers to look after their interests and are quick to use all of the remedies of copyright law.  Record companies and large music publishers also do the same thing looking out for their catalog.  Don't expect them to look out for your interests also, after all, you are competing with their artists for share of fans wallet.

I challenge each person that reads this blog to get involved, understand the copyright laws, and look at legislation that pertains to music.  Again, it is your business!

Roger

Dallas Songwriters, this is the last post as President for this term.  We will hold board elections tomorrow to find out who will be our next President.  I hope everyone got something out of last year with the variety of programs and workshops we had.  Numerous performance events and workshops added greatly over the year.  We started off January with Nancy Rynders talking about "Elements of a Good Song Lyric".  In February we had Emmy and Grammy award winning songwriter Barry DeVorzon.  He talked about his experiences and then demonstrated MasterWriter software for us.  In March we had a Skype session with Carly Simon and her son Ben Taylor (son of James Taylor) for what turned out to be a magical evening where Carly said "you are songwriters, play me some songs".  April was a fun evening with up and coming local artist, Zane Williams.  Zane played for us and talked about his formula for success.  In May, we took a new twist on Extreme Co-writes by using the melody for "Let It Be" and writing new words for the melody.  We had some interesting songs come out of that meeting.  Richard Chalk, Top Cat Records, delivered out May program with insights into his world of music for June.  Guitar legend and former John Denver guitarist Steve Weisberg came an spoke and played in July.  What a story he had to tell, and a great evening.  Mike Hall, from Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse, spoke to us in September about the local music scene ab=nd getting booked at local gigs.  In October we had another round of Extreme Co-writes, but this time with another twist.  I passed out slips of paper and told people to write down the line they would most want to hear in a song.  All the lines were written on the board, and the room was divided into two groups.  Each group had about an hour to use as many lines as possible to write a song.  It was amazing what songs came from that meeting.  November followed with local up and coming singer/songwriter Helene Cronin and her song Lucky Me that has been recorded by Nashville artists.

We had a blues workshop with local bluesman Hash Brown and participated in the Texas Independent Music Expo (TIME).  This year we took charge of the Wildflower Songwriters School and arranged for Beth Nielsen Chapman to lead the school.  We also manned the Acoustic stage at Wildflower and provided sound for the stage with many of our DSA members performing.

A 15 year old girl from Katy Texas took top honors in the DSA Songwriting contest and won a Taylor Guitar autographed by Beth Nielsen Chapman.  Beth also server as a judge for the contest this year.

We had our normal song swaps and open mics and added a showcase/open mic on the first Thursday at HalfPrice Books on Northwest Highway.

We had two members pass away in 2012.  Larry Dodge passed from complications from a fall, and Vern Dailey passed away having never fully recovered from surgery.  We have named our annual Songwriter of the year as the Vern Dailey Dallas Songwriter of the year in his memory since he took to honors so many years.  Vern will be missed.

Barbe McMillen brought her musical to stage and will be sending it out on the road to Austin before long.  We all wish her success in her musical.

Last but not least, James Pappas was recognized as the first Vern Dailey DSA Songwriter of the year for submitting the most songs to critique that took first or second place.  Congratulations to James and his hard work.

I am looking forward to 2013.  We have a new board with some returning and some new members.  Let's all find a DSA activity to get involved in this year.  Let's go out and have fun and write some hit songs.  Good luck Dallas Songwriters.