Award-winning American songwriters urge Congress to protect songwriters from further regulation
Award-winning songwriters will convene on Capitol Hill Wednesday, May 22nd to meet with elected officials as part of the annual American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) “Stand with Songwriters” Advocacy Day. They will urge Members of Congress to safeguard against further regulations that continue to threaten the value of their work.
“While technology has completely transformed the way we listen to music, those who create the songs we love are disadvantaged by laws that prevent them from earning fair compensation in the digital age,” says ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams, an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning songwriter. “To be effective, the regulatory system has to reflect the realities of today’s music marketplace. We urge our members of Congress to continue to protect songwriters and reject new, restrictive legislation.”
The shift to streaming has forced songwriters to work within an antiquated system that continues to over-regulate and undervalue their music. The passage of last year’s Music Modernization Act made strides in the right direction, but new pressures to introduce legislation that imposes additional regulations on songwriters threatens this progress. In their meetings on Capitol Hill, ASCAP members will urge policymakers from across the political spectrum to push back against these new limits on songwriters and provide music creators with a more flexible framework that can adapt to the realities of the modern music marketplace.
The meetings will follow Tuesday’s (May 21st) “We Write the Songs” concert at The Library of Congress, sponsored by The ASCAP Foundation. The event features performances by popular ASCAP members who will be introduced by Members of Congress, including Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s (“Our Lips Are Sealed,” “We Got The Beat”), Don Felder (“Hotel California”, “Victim of Love”), Felix Cavaliere (“Beautiful Morning,” “People Gotta Be Free”), Andrea Martin (“Breathe”), Kany Garcia (“Hoy Ya Me Voy”) and composer Siddhartha Khosla (television series This Is Us).
ASCAP songwriter and composer advocates on Capitol Hill will include Caffey and Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s, Felder, Cavaliere, Martin, Garcia, Khosla, Williams and ASCAP songwriter, composer and publisher board members Bruce Broughton, Desmond Child, Barry Coburn, Dan Foliart, James Kendrick, Evan Lamberg, Leeds Levy, Michelle Lewis, Irwin Robinson and Doug Wood.
