NMPA President & CEO David Israelite Testifies Before Congress on Music Licensing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / June 10, 2014
**Excerpt from Testimony Before the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet**
'The Committee is well aware there are two different copyrights involved in music: the copyright for the underlying musical composition, the half of the music industry I represent, and the separate and distinct copyright for any sound recording of that song.What is striking is just how differently these two copyrights are treated under the law and through government regulation.
First, copyright law contains antiquated regulations that unfairly distort the value of a songwriters’ work.
Second, if there is regulation, then at a minimum, songwriters deserve to be paid a fair market value. There is no intellectually honest objection to this point.
Third, Congress should reject any attempt to expand compulsory licenses. Any additional regulation could have long-term harmful consequences for creators.
…On behalf of America’s songwriters, I ask you to let them be paid fairly."
About NMPA: Founded in 1917, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) is the trade association representing American music publishers and their songwriting partners. The NMPA’s mandate is to protect and advance the interests of music publishers and songwriters in matters relating to the domestic and global protection of music copyrights.