In late May, music legends joined Members of Congress on Capitol Hill to celebrate the introduction of the RESPECT Act (H.R. 4772), a bill that would require digital radio providers to pay royalties to artists and record labels for all of the music they use, even if it was recorded before February, 1972. This was also the inaugural event of Project72, a campaign launched by SoundExchange with our partners to ensure fair pay for the legacy artists who recorded their music before the this date. Both the legislation and campaign continue to garner the support of artists, legislators and industry insiders alike.
As part of Project72, we asked Washington, D.C. and New York City-based artists what music means to them, and which legendary artists inspired their work. Their responses revealed just how important music is to our culture and history. From Donovan to Tom Petty to Miles Davis, the work of artists who recorded before 1972 still resonates with both musicians and fans, and influences the music of today. We need to support, protect and respect the work of all artists.
Tell Congress to #RespectAllMusic
Show your support for the RESPECT Act, and contact your member of Congress.
Legendary Artists
Show Support for Turtles Victory
In September, the 1960s band The Turtles won a critical legal victory in their lawsuit against Sirius XM. The Turtles sued because Sirius XM has taken the position that it doesn't need permission - and therefore doesn't need to pay for use of - pre-1972 recordings protected under state law, even though it does pay for post-1972 recordings that are protected by federal law. This relates to an issue that SoundExchange has long been fighting - the failure of some large digital radio services to pay for the use of such vintage recordings. We think Sirius XM's position is wrong as a matter of law, and definitely wrong as a matter of justice!
On the Hill & In the Know
Congressional Rewind: Abbreviated September Session
During the week of September 15, the House Judiciary Committee held two copyright hearings. The first hearing was part of the Committee's comprehensive copyright review and discussed a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that prohibits people from circumventing technical protection measures. This makes it illegal for pirates to even decrypt digital copyrighted works, often the first step before making an illegal copy. The second was an oversight hearing on the Copyright Office, where Maria Pallante, Register of Copyrights, testified. Pallante focused on bringing the Copyright Office into the 21st Century, with Committee Members agreeing that there is a need to update and modernize the Copyright Office.
Congress has now left town to focus on the November election. They will make their way back to Washington, D.C. after voters have their say, for one last shot at getting their business done before the 113th Congress comes to an end.
________
On the Hill & In the Know
SoundExchange Tells Congress: Fair Pay for All Music Creators, Across All Platforms
President and CEO Michael Huppe testifies before The House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet
On June 25, SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe testified on music licensing at the House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet. This was the second hearing the Subcommittee has held on the topic of music licensing this month. Joining Michael were singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams, Secretly Group co-founder and SoundExchange Board Member Darius Van Arman, RIAA Chairman and CEO and SoundExchange Board Member Cary Sherman, and executives from Pandora, SiriusXM, and the National Association of Broadcasters. The hearing explored a range of topics important to SoundExchange and its members. This marked the second time Michael has testified before the Subcommittee on music licensing issues (the first was a hearing in November 2012 that contributed significantly to the defeat of the Internet Radio Fairness Act - an intentionally misnamed piece of legislation that would have resulted in major cuts to digital radio royalties). Read More
Jon "Bowzer" Bauman Chair, Truth in Music Committee Vocal Group Hall of Fame
Truth In Music Bill Law in 33 States
California, Connecticut,
Colorado, Delaware,
Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts,
Maryland,
Michigan, Missouri,
Maine, Minnesota,
New Jersey,
North Dakota,
Nevada,
New Hampshire,
New York,
North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Road Island,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,
Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and
fully sponsored in
Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi &
New Mexico.
A great day for Truth in Music!
The Marvelettes saga is over! A "settlement" has been reached which is not exactly a "settlement," but rather the result of a court opinion that made a trial an academic waste of time and money with a foregone conclusion. This one-sided "settlement" clears the way for Katherine Anderson Schaffner and the Estate of Gladys Horton to register the name "The Marvelettes" on the basis of their superior rights in relation to longtime claimant and impostor group purveyor Larry Marshak. Marshak can now politely call his "product" "A TRIBUTE TO THE MARVELETTES" all in the same size type font, or my favorite, "Larry Marshak's Tribute to The Marvelettes" in which case "Larry Marshak's Tribute" has to be at least 75% of the size of "Marvelettes." There is also some financial consideration involved. The end.
Congratulations to the excellent lawyers at Reed Smith New York who handled this case pro bono, most notably lead litigator Kerren Zinner and her associates Pamela Schoenberg and Andrew Messite. Great thanks also to our longtime friend Darren Cohen who pursued The Marvelettes' goal at the Patent and Trademark Office for Reed Smith until Marshak filed suit in federal court, and his colleague, the great Steven Getzoff, father of the wondrous musician The-O. It was Steve who first took note of the Truth in Music law when it passed in New York and pressed for Reed Smith to help, pro bono, with the Truth in Music movement. Our gratitude to all at Reed Smith is boundless. And, as always, words can't express my appreciation for the advice and dedication of my friend and cohort Robert Nathan.
A quick followup to my last e-mail--- the long-running show at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas has been shut down as a result of the preliminary injunction vs. the Larry Marshak "Platters" and continuing woes re his "Marvelettes." Marshak has appealed the "Platters" decision, but the judge has vast discretion in granting an injunction and in our opinion it's unlikely she will be overturned. The show could conceivably reopen somewhere, but only with "Tribute" billing, which makes it an entirely different entity. There is at least preliminary reason to celebrate!!!
Simply put, we are winning!
July 27, 2012
TRUTH IN MUSIC is pleased to announce TWO recent major victories against impostor groups. In the Ninth Circuit, a series of decisions beginning with Reed v. Bennett have finally affirmed that Herb Reed was indeed the rightful owner of The Platters' mark, as well as "Herb Reed and The Platters" and "Herb Reed's Platters." As a result, the Ninth Circuit has begun to enjoin impostor groups using The Platters' name. Preliminary injunctions have been issued against the Larry Marshak group(s) and the Monroe Powell group. The "Wilson Williams and his Platters'" trademark registration has also been cancelled at the Patent and Trademark Office. The Marshak groups are required to be billed as "Larry Marshak's Tribute (or Salute) to The Platters" if they wish to perform at all. Watch the show at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas or this alteration in billing, if in fact this show continues at all. The public will no longer be deceived!
As I'm sure you all know, the great pioneer Herb Reed passed away in early June, but he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had won The Platters' name and that injunctions against the impostor groups were likely. His corporation, Herb Reed Enterprises, is able to continue his legacy and the legacy of The Platters with the proper quality control that the public deserves. Superb work was done on this caseby Herb Reed's manager, Fred Balboni, and Herb's lawyer Eric Sommers, as well as local Nevada counsel John Krieger. We at Truth in Music had always expressed confidence that an earlier unpublished Ninth Circuit opinion could be used to clarify the convoluted history of Platters' litigation, and in fact that was the case. After more than 50 years of litigation, the Platters' name has finally and clearly been returned to the person who named the group in 1953, and that is as it should be, in our opinion as well as the Court's! It should also be noted that Sonny Turner, who replaced Tony Williams as The Platters' lead singer in 1960, still performs under his own name, Sonny Turner, Former Lead Singer of The Platters, and now has a fair and level playing field on which to market his substantial talents, a playing field no longer littered with phony "Platters" groups deceiving the public as to their legitimacy and undercutting the authentic performers' fees. We anticipate that the preliminary injunctions described above will become permanent injunctions in due time.
The second significant development occurred in the Second Circuit with regard to The Marvelettes. Judge Denise Cote has opined that the rights of original Marvelettes Katherine Anderson Schaffner and the estate of Gladys Horton are superior to those of Larry Marshak, which should ultimately end Marshak's decades-old attempt to usurp The Marvelettes' name. Judge Cote wrote a sentence in her opinion that summarizes a central principle of our Truth in Music movement. She held that “a stranger to the creation of goodwill associated with a mark could not develop common law rights in the mark for live performances where the original owner maintains rights in the mark to market musical recordings.” The Truth in Music movement is all about fighting these "strangers," outsiders trying to prey on and cash in on famous names whose goodwill they had done nothing to create. Many conflicts in the world of musical groups can be defined as "internal disputes," and those are a very different matter in which no "strangers" are involved. The Truth in Music Law which we have passed in 34 states is designed to rid the musical landscape of impostor groups, of "strangers," not to settle internal disputes between parties who may have legitimately contributed to the establishment of the goodwill of that group name. Watch for significant changes likely to come soon in the status of The Marvelettes, as the excellent lawyers at Reed Smith New York, Kerren Zinner, Andrew Messite and Pamela Schoenberg, follow up on Judge Cote's decision.
As if these two tremendous developments weren't enough, there have also been some excellent responses recently from venues which had booked what we regard as impostor group shows. Twin River in Rhode Island turned a show into a "tribute" when the venue was not convinced the lineup in question could pass muster under Rhode Island's Truth in Music Law. Efforts by our great ally, New Jersey Deejay Corky Warren, yielded similar results with regard to a municipal show in Camden, New Jersey. It's worth noting that Singer Management v. Milgram has now been concluded in favor of the NJ Attorney General's Office. This Third Circuit opinion upheld the constitutionality of the Truth in Music Law, and the NJ AG's office is now once again unencumbered in its efforts to enforce this law in response to consumer complaints.
All in all, a remarkable period of progress for Truth in Music. We are succeeding in creating a fair and just environment for musical groups now and forever, in which impostors will be prevented from deceiving the public and the authentic performers will retain the legacy they worked so hard to create.
Jon "Bowzer" Bauman
Chair, Truth in Music Committee
Vocal Group Hall of Fame
The Federal Bill is fully sponsored and to be introduced in the Fall of 2009.
Progress for 2010 underway in Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Iowa,
West Virginia, Wyoming, & Washington DC.
IMPORTANT
UPDATE - July 4th 2009
Hello, everyone, and thank you for your efforts in the Truth in Music movement. Our bill will soon be law in 33 states, and the federal bill is on the immediate horizon. Our bill is now on the Governor's desk in both New Hampshire, which could not have been done without Lynda Tocci and Paul Pezzella, which completes the entire northeast, and North Carolina, which recently had what is in our opinion three impostor group shows polluting its concert calendar. Thus the total of 33, this session having also added Utah, Washington, Oregon, and Oklahoma. I'd like to thank Rep. Greg Hughes of Utah, Sen. Karen Keiser of Washington, Sen. Floyd Prozanski of Oregon, Rep. Mike Thompson of Oklahoma, Sen. Jackie Cilley and Rep. Bob Perry of New Hampshire, and Sen. David Weinstein of North Carolina for sponsoring our bill and shepherding its passage. Thanks also to their able aides and other invaluable personnel in these states-- especially John Elder in Washington, Val Hoyle and Juliana Greenlaw in Oregon, A.J. Mallory in Oklahoma, Will Craig, Patrick Murphy, Majority Leader Maggie Hassan and Senate President Sylvia Larsen in New Hampshire, and Amy Fulk and Will Quick in North Carolina. Most special thanks to my friend Ty McCartney of Utah, who, along with the beloved Elaine Makas of Maine, is individually responsible for helping us find a record number of sponsors!
Other major news is last week's opinion of the Third Circuit in Marshak v. Treadwell, which upholds contempt of court judgements against those responsible for many of the impostor Drifters groups, and reverses the District Court in once again requiring an accounting of the profits from their impostor group performances. This will damage these perpetrators of some of the most egregious impostor group scams where it hurts them the most-- in the pocketbook! Many of these same players have also been enjoined from misusing the name "The Temptations" and held in contempt of federal court in the Ninth Circuit. Congratulations to Cindy Salvo for her outstanding legal work in Marshak v. Treadwell.
In the midst of this long legal battle, where it's easy to forget in all the minutiae what brought us here in the first place, I was gratified when Judge Fuentes of the Third Circuit reminded us of the special place of music in our collective consciousness. In the first paragraph of his opinion in Marshak v. Treadwell, Judge Fuentes wrote (of the underlying case):
"Judge Politan enjoined Marshak and his company from marketing The Drifters anywhere – not On Broadway, not Up On the Roof, and not Under the Boardwalk."
I couldn't have said it better myself! It's been a great 2009 so far!!!
TRUTH IN MUSIC BILL ADVANCES
Dear Friends,
Here is a long overdue update on the excellent progress of the Truth in Music movement.
Perhaps the biggest news of all is the State of New Jersey’s huge win in the Third Circuit case, Singer Management v. Milgram. Some of the major promoters of what we believe to be impostor groups had sued the New Jersey Attorney General for attempting to enforce the state’s Truth in Music Law. Their main allegation was that the law was unconstitutional. Last week, Judge Dickinson Debevoise granted the State’s motion to have the case dismissed, thereby upholding the constitutionality of Truth in Music and insuring that we will not have to amend our language in any of the states we’ve passed. This also untied the hands of the NJ AG’s office and allowed them to take further action to enforce the law in the future. An upcoming show at the Atlantic City Hilton featuring what we believe to be impostor groups has been abruptly cancelled by either the hotel or the promoters!
There has been a bit of confusion about this court decision, created by a rather poorly researched article in the New Jersey Law Journal. This article completely misinterpreted Judge Debevoise’s opinion and in fact confused the impostor groups with the authentic artists. I’ve even had a couple of people contact me about the “major setback” they heard we had suffered, which was actually a major victory.
To clear up this confusion, I contacted the Editor-In-Chief of the NJ Law Journal, who was ultimately quite apologetic about the Journal’s misinterpretation of the opinion. He invited me to write a Letter To The Editor and promised to print it. It appears in this week’s edition of the New Journal Law Journal, and I reprint it here for all of you:
Dear Editor:
Respectfully, The Journal article about impostor musical groups, “Suit By Heirs to 1950s Musical Groups Moot as NJ Regulators Change Tune” is misleading from the headline on down. The proper headline would be: “Federal Court Grants NJ AG’s Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit Challenging Truth in Music Statutes.”
This was entirely a win for the “regulators,” for the authentic artists who are inductees of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and (especially) for the concert-going public which deserves better than to be duped by impostors. In our opinion, the plaintiffs in this lawsuit have never legally established themselves to be the “Heirs” to any “1950’s Musical Groups” and the Truth in Music Law we have championed in over 30 states is precisely designed to force groups like these, with dubious legal provenance, to put their cards on the table in court and prove their rights. Indeed, the “Elsbeary Hobbs Drifters,”whose claims you repeat and therefore give credence in the longer Law.Com piece, have already been disposed of in two published opinions (see Marshak v. Treadwell (1999, DC NJ) 58F. Supp.2d 551, affd. (2001, 3d Cir.) 240 F.3d 184). What’s more, in 2007, the principals and affiliates of plaintiffs in the current case were found to be in willful contempt of that permanent injunction by the same Judge Debevoise who dismissed the current case!
More thorough research and analysis on your part might have revealed this (as well as the same plaintiffs' injunction and contempt citation by Judge Feess in the Ninth Circuit with regard to their misuse of the name "The Temptations.") Judge Debevoise’s assessment in his 2007 contempt opinion was that the plaintiffs were carrying on an “elaborate shell game,” which perhaps continued with the apparently meritless current lawsuit. In any case, the current decision concludes that the Truth in Music Law is constitutional as written, that it is consistent and can co-exist with the Lanham Act, and that this is no longer a Federal issue. The decision dismisses plaintiff's suit with prejudice, and the AG's supplemental jurisdiction counterclaim without prejudice, thereby authorizing the Attorney General’s office to proceed with investigation and prosecution of impostor groups under NJ's Truth in Music Law.
Just to make it a clean sweep, the plaintiffs also lost their concurrent motion for attorneys fees.
Jon "Bowzer" Bauman
Chair, Truth in Music Committee
Vocal Group Hall of Fame Foundation
And so, as Singer Management v. Milgram passes into history, our movement goes forward to pass the Truth in Music Law in more states. Now that the constitutionality of the Law has been upheld, we will begin the federal effort as well. This will be a good public relations vehicle to educate the public if nothing else. We’ve always been certain that the most effective enforcement will come at the state, not the federal, level.
Despite the dramatic downturn in the economy and consequent shortness of funds, we have several states in progress in the 2009 legislative session. We have already been signed into law in Utah and Washington and Oklahoma and our current state total is 30!
New Hampshire should be completed soon, and Kansas, Oregon and North Carolina are in progress. Georgia passed one chamber and will complete next year in its two-year session, as will New Mexico and Arkansas. And we are close to sponsorship in Louisiana, which has a very late session that is just beginning. I hope to have passed all 50 states by 2011, 2012 at the latest.
In other enforcement news, we still await the results of an investigation and a projected hearing at the Nevada Consumer Affairs Division with regard to a show at the Sahara Hotel.
This would potentially impact the names “Cornell Gunther’s Coasters”, “The Platters” and “The Marvelettes”. The Governor of the state of Nevada has now called for the dismantling of the Nevada Consumer Affairs Division, which has obviously impacted their investigation.
We have no idea what will happen there, but trust of course that the state of Nevada will ultimately enforce its consumer laws in the proper fashion. Many fans in Nevada are very concerned about the lineage of the groups at the Sahara.
On the whole, it’s clear that the Truth in Music movement has had substantial impact on solving the impostor group problem. Venues and even agents are doing much better due diligence as to whom they hire and promote. Even some of the most hardened and greedy agents are now hawking “Tribute” shows instead of pretending they’re selling the real thing. We estimate that the impostor group business is down about 90% since the beginning of our effort.
Please continue to alert us to any dubious shows that come to your attention, and I promise to keep you updated in a more timely fashion. This volunteer work is a daunting task in a down economy when one is trying to maintain one’s own business, but it’s well worth it!
Also, if you can think of ways to help The Vocal Group Hall of Fame itself with its efforts to annex or relocate, please contact Bob Crosby at Crosby@vocalgroup.org
Jon "Bowzer" Bauman Chair,
Truth in Music Committee
Vocal Group Hall of Fame
MSNBC.com
Truth and Doo-Wop
Can't tell a fake from the original? How one man's campaign against musical
impostors might help.
By Jerry Adler
June 4, 2007 issue - Let us consider two great experiences of Western culture.
One is viewing "Girl With a Pearl Earring," by the 17th-century Dutch master
Johannes Vermeer,
which hangs in a museum in The Hague. The other is a
performance of "Up on the Roof" by the
20th-century R&B group the Drifters.
For that, you have many choices, including Bill Pinkney's Original Drifters and
Charlie Thomas's Drifters, various "cover" bands (which do their own versions
of classic hits), "tribute" bands
(which mimic the original performances
down to the white shoes) and a shadowy category of groups that perform under the original
names and may
benefit from the audience's assumption that at least one of the
elderly gentlemen on stage once
crooned the
selfsame lyrics on "The Ed Sullivan
Show." Fate decreed there would be only one Vermeer, but many
Drifters—and Coasters and Platters and other
rock groups from the era before MTV. "How many?" asks
Jon Bauman rhetorically."As many as you can pay for.
On New Year's Eve, one in every city."
Bauman is better known as "Bowzer,"
the T-shirted lunk from Sha Na Na
(the band in "Grease").
Now 59, he runs his own oldies shows and heads the
Truth in Music committee of
the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, crisscrossing the country at his own expense promoting
laws to penalize bands
who falsely advertise
a connection
to an earlier group.
Nine states now have such laws—New Jersey was the most recent—and bills are awaiting
signatures in seven more.
Impostors are "a form of identity theft," he says, "against artists whose music changed the world.
I look on this as an extension of the civil-rights movement."
To the dwindling cadre of doo-wop pioneers who can still snap their fingers without wincing, Bauman is a hero."Jon is a dedicated soul," says Herb Reed of the first group to call itself the Platters.
More than a half-century later Reed still
sings bass as part of a group descended from the original Platters
by a genealogy only slightly less convoluted than the
Plantagenets'. "Those impostor groups are destroying
the market for me," he says, competing for bookings by cutting
their prices, so that in his late 70s he's down
to a mere 180 dates a year.
But supporters of the Truth in Music bills are also positioning it as a consumer issue,
appealing to a quirk of human nature
that prizes authenticity above phenomenology. "Consumers are being confused," says Maxine Porter, manager of Bill Pinkney's
Original Drifters. "There's a history, a specific identity with a name, and all that is part of the consumer's decision-making process. " Economists struggle to understand this phenomenon.
"Even well-established art experts are at a loss to explain why a (perfect) copy is considered so much less valuable than the
original," Bruno S. Frey of the University of Zurich wrote in a 1999 paper. To return to Vermeer for a moment, most people will
never see the original "Girl With a Pearl Earring," but last week a new Vermeer museum opened in Delft containing only reproductions. Or if you'd like a
hand-painted copy on stretched canvas to "impress your friends," you can buy one online for as little as $155, compared with
$100 million for the original. You could probably tell them apart, especially if you chose to supersize your copy—the original is
just 16 by 18 inches, but you can have copies in sizes up to three feet by four feet. But would you be confident in your ability
to know which was the Vermeer? And if not, then does it matter?
For that matter, how many casual R&B fans could pick out an original member of the Coasters from a distance?
(That's a trick question; the last surviving original member, Carl Gardner, retired from touring recently after a stroke.)
Early R&B groups were mostly faceless voices on the radio, in part because record companies weren't eager to remind
audiences that their faces were usually black. And yet, in doo-wop as in painting, an undeniable aura clings to the authentic,
the genuine, the original. Which is why if you go to a concert by the faux Drifters or a performance by the Platters manqué,
you will always see, says Bauman, one guy in his 70s there so that you, the discerning doo-wop consumer, can nudge your
seatmate and say, "That's the real one!"http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18881824/site/newsweek/
Associated Press NY Law Targets Band Impersonators
By MICHAEL VIRTANEN 08.22.07, 9:20 AM ET ALBANY, N.Y.
Knockoff music acts that impersonate the real performers
can face fines up to $15,000
under a new law in New York.
"Music artists work for years to
build names for themselves in the entertainment industry," Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Tuesday
after signing the amendments to the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law. "We should not allow others to impersonate their work
and profit from that deception."
Called the "Truth in Music
Advertising Law," it prohibits
copycat performances that
attempt to cash in through false
and
misleading representations
like names, billings and
promotions similar to the
original artists. nforcement by
the state
attorney general's
office can bring civil
penalties ranging from
$5,000 to $15,000.
The measure was inspired when
well-known recording artists like
the Platters, the Coasters and the Drifters suffered
financial losses
when their acts and routines
were copied without permission, according to the governor's office.
The Drifters, a doo-wop vocal group, first formed in the 1950s at Atlantic Records, had a string of '60s hits
like "This Magic Moment" and "Under the Boardwalk," and an
array of members through
decades of recording and
performing. Several early
members are dead.
The legislation has been dubbed
the "Bowzer Bill" for Jon "Bowzer" Bauman of the band Sha Na Na
who has lobbied lawmakers in
Albany and other state capitals.
He says that while there are
Drifters, Coasters and
Platters
performing with an authentic recording member of the
band, there are many
others with none.
"There are some groups that have been really very heavily damaged
by this, for the most part the
groups that had
the most hit
records from the doo-wop era," Bauman said. "Unscrupulous people have abused those names and they
are putting out multiple impostor groups under those names.
We don't even know how
many there are."
The law requires performing groups to have at least one member of the recording group that they claim a connection
to and a legal right to
use the name. Or else they must label the production a "tribute" or "salute" or else own the
recording group's trademark or have
its authorization.
Sen. John Flanagan, a Long Island Republican who sponsored the bill, said that while some old hits
endure, the law should protect
both the band's reputation and
concertgoers from fraud. "Fans want to see the groups
they love and should get what they pay for," said Assemblyman
Peter Rivera, a Bronx Democrat
and another sponsor.
Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maine, South Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia, New Jersey,
Florida, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas and Nevada have enacted similar laws, according to the
Truth in Music Committee
of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame Foundation.
California and a
few other states are expected to follow shortly,
said foundation
President Bob Crosby.
"A lot of these groups have
spent their life savings chasing
the predators in litigation.
It's been really tough because there's
always another gig and the gigs happen faster than the litigation," Crosby said. "No one is in favor of fake groups except
for the impostors.
It's a form of identity theft."
The next step is enforcement, Bauman said. There are ongoing actions in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with one coming
soon in Nevada, he said. Attorney William Charron, representing Singer
Management and Live Gold Operations, obtained
a temporary restraining order Friday in a New Jersey federal court to block the attorney general from interfering with a
show at the Atlantic City
Hilton by their groups the Elsberry Hobbs Drifters, the Cornell Gunter Coasters and the Platters,
he said. They're scheduled to return
to court Sept. 7, seeking a
preliminary injunction.
"The arguments were constitutional, that our clients have valid
licenses to these trademarks," Charron said. He said the
law "has the potential for misuse.
That's where our clients find themselves unfortunately caught. They deserve to have
their
names cleared," he said.
Mary Wilson, left, an original member of the Supremes, and Jon "Bowzer" Bauman, former leader of Sha Na Na, testify on Thursday.
Photo by Gary Thompson.
Sonny Turner, right, of the original Platters singing group, testifies from Las Vegas during a teleconference meeting Thursday of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor in Carson City.
Photo by Gary Thompson.
CARSON CITY -- Bowzer broke into song before a Senate panel on Thursday.
Jon Bauman, better known as the former leader of the oldies group Sha Na Na, testified in
support of a bill that would make it a deceptive trade practice for musical groups with no
original members to pass themselves off as the Coasters, Drifters, Platters or others.
"Get a job," Bauman intoned, quoting the 1950s Silhouettes hit.
"For too many years, these impostor musical groups have been duping consumers out of
their
hard-earned entertainment dollars and cheating the pioneers of rock music out of their rightful legacy," Bauman told the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee.
Bauman was joined by Mary Wilson, an original member of the Supremes, and Sonny Turner,
an original member of the Platters, who testified from Las Vegas, in supporting Senate Bill 53,
dubbed the "Truth in Music" bill.
Wilson told lawmakers that at least five groups are performing as the Supremes. Breaking into song,
Wilson said she tells those groups: "Stop! In the name of love, before you break my heart."
The bill is intended to protect both consumers, who may not know they are buying tickets to
a fake group's performance, and artists who only have their legacy as performers to rely on
to make a living, Wilson said.
Turner continued the musical testimony in the hearing. "Only you, can pass this bill for us,"
he sang to the melody of the Platters' hit "Only You."
The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee passed the bill out with a few minor amendments,
including one making it clear that venues that offer such acts, including hotel-casinos, are not
responsible for any bogus act. The bill will have to pass both houses and be signed by the
governor before it becomes law.
Commerce Chairman Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, said the bill would become effective upon
passage and approval, to provide protection to the performers as quickly as possible.
Bauman, who is chairman of the Truth in Music Committee of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, said he is pleased with support
for the bill that the group has received from Nevada's casino industry.
"We're completely on the same page," Bauman said. "We're not interested in acting as if the venues are culpable here.
Because we feel that they are not."
The bill was introduced by Sens. Joe Heck, R-Henderson, and Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, on behalf of some Las Vegas
performers, including Wilson.
Bauman told the panel that the Truth in Music Committee has succeeded in passing similar legislation in nine other states
and is seeking approval in 12 more, including Nevada.
The bill would prohibit a group from calling itself the Drifters, for example, unless one original member of the group is part
of the performance. Exceptions would be made for groups clearly identifying themselves as a "tribute" band. Individuals
holding rights to a group name also would be exempted from the provisions of the bill.
Civil fines of $5,000 to $10,000, for violating a court order, could be assessed against promoters or groups failing to
follow the provisions of the law.
The attorney general's office had reviewed the bill and didn't foresee any additional costs associated with enforcing the
proposed law because the office already has a deceptive trade practices unit.
Bauman said the legislation has reduced or eliminated imposter groups in other states. It has succeeded by placing the
burden of proof on the imposter groups to show they can legitimately use a name, he said.
It has been effective because it allows an attorney general to stop a performance before it occurs to ensure there is a
legitimate right to the group name, Bauman said.
He described the phony groups as a form of identity theft.
Wilson, a Las Vegas resident, said she has spent millions of dollars trying unsuccessfully to prosecute fake Supremes
groups. Wilson, who does not own the Supremes name, tours as Mary Wilson or "Mary Wilson formerly of the Supremes."
Bauman said performers are backing the legislation because they have to compete for jobs against fake groups that
may charge $5,000 for a performance, while a group including original members might charge $20,000.
Wilson said there are more serious issues the Legislature needs to deal with, from homelessness to care for the elderly,
but the bill is important for performers.
"It is helping Americans who have given music to the world," Wilson said.
Also testifying from Las Vegas was 1950s music fan Donald Riggio, who said he knows which groups have a legitimate
claim to a group name and which are fakes because of his love of the music.
"I take it as a personal insult to my intelligence to have these fakers heaped upon me and the other members of the
sometimes unsuspecting audience without calling them what they are -- a tribute band or review," Riggio said.
No one spoke in opposition to the measure.
Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, said he was embarrassed that Nevada has not been at the forefront in protecting the
artists affected by imposter groups.
But Bauman said the effort to pass the law in Nevada was intentionally delayed until the organization could see how
well the measure worked elsewhere.
Nevada is an important state for such a law because of its prominence as an entertainment capital, he said.
"Existing law has proven to be completely ineffective in stopping the practice," Bauman said. "This is a grey area.
These people have learned how to work within existing law."
Jon 'Bowzer' Bauman (Chairman, Truth in Music Committee) addresses the
audience at
the
2004 Vocal Group Hall of Fame
Induction Concert about the
'Truth In Music Bill'.
The bill was created in order to protect artists from identity theft
and consumers
from imposter groups that illegally use the name of legendary groups
and artists.
For more information about
Truth In Music watch the video!
Truth In Music Legislation State By State Truth in Music has had an incredible legislative session which is not quite over. We are now law in 15 states-- New Jersey, Florida, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia, Maine, Wisconsin, South Carolina, North Dakota and Texas. The bill is on the Governor's desk in Missouri. New York and California have passed one chamber and should finish up shortly.
click on images Fake Doo Wop
Thank You - 20/20 ABC News.com
"Truth In Music" segment
MSNBC.com
Jon (BOWZER)
Bauman
Vocal Group Hall of Fame
TRUTH IN MUSIC
Committee Chairman
"Truth
In Music"
Has Arrived!
The Truth In Music Bill was
created to protect the artists
from Identity theft and to
protect the Consumer from
being
mis-lead to believe
they are seeing the legendary
artists that made the
hits
songs famous,
when in
fact
they are not.
The Truth in Music Law
is designed to stop unscrupulous
concert promoters from deceiving
the public with “impostor groups”
which have no connection,
legal or otherwise,
to the
authentic groups.
Fundamentally, this is a
Consumer Protection Bill,
as the public pays hard-earned
money to see a show and has
no idea
what it’s even getting.
The bill makes it mandatory
for a live performance to
include
at least one recording
member of the group who still
has the right to use the group
name or Trademark.
Otherwise, the act
must be billed as a “tribute”
or a “salute” so that the
public knows what
it’s paying for.
An ancillary effect of this
bill is to help the authentic
artists themselves, who have
been struggling for many years
to try to stop impostors to no
avail. The impostor groups
take their jobs, their money,
their legacy and their applause.
The bill is necessary because
existing law has completely
failed
to work and impostor
groups have multiplied. There
may be as many groups
of “Coasters” and “Platters”
performed nationwide,
often
at the same time in
different venues.
The bill
shifts the burden to those
groups to prove that they
actually have rights to
the
group names.
The specific guidelines the bill provides give clarity to venues
as to whom to book, and to
the state attorney general’s
office as to what constitutes
a violation. This is much more
efficient and cost-effective
than any other way of dealing
with this very specialized area.
Truth In Music Bill Law in 33 States
California, Connecticut,
Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey,
North Dakota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Road Island, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah,
Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and fully sponsored in
Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi & New Mexico.
The Federal Bill is fully sponsored and to be introduced in the Fall of 2009.
Progress for 2010 underway in Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Iowa, West Virginia, Wyoming, & Washington DC.
IMPORTANT
UPDATE
July 4, 2009
Hello, everyone, and thank you for your efforts in the Truth in Music movement. Our bill will soon be law in 33 states, and the federal bill is on the immediate horizon. Our bill is now on the Governor's desk in both New Hampshire, which could not have been done without Lynda Tocci and Paul Pezzella, which completes the entire northeast, and North Carolina, which recently had what is in our opinion three impostor group shows polluting its concert calendar. Thus the total of 33, this session having also added Utah, Washington, Oregon, and Oklahoma. I'd like to thank Rep. Greg Hughes of Utah, Sen. Karen Keiser of Washington, Sen. Floyd Prozanski of Oregon, Rep. Mike Thompson of Oklahoma, Sen. Jackie Cilley and Rep. Bob Perry of New Hampshire, and Sen. David Weinstein of North Carolina for sponsoring our bill and shepherding its passage. Thanks also to their able aides and other invaluable personnel in these states-- especially John Elder in Washington, Val Hoyle and Juliana Greenlaw in Oregon, A.J. Mallory in Oklahoma, Will Craig, Patrick Murphy, Majority Leader Maggie Hassan and Senate President Sylvia Larsen in New Hampshire, and Amy Fulk and Will Quick in North Carolina. Most special thanks to my friend Ty McCartney of Utah, who, along with the beloved Elaine Makas of Maine, is individually responsible for helping us find a record number of sponsors!
Other major news is last week's opinion of the Third Circuit in Marshak v. Treadwell, which upholds contempt of court judgements against those responsible for many of the impostor Drifters groups, and reverses the District Court in once again requiring an accounting of the profits from their impostor group performances. This will damage these perpetrators of some of the most egregious impostor group scams where it hurts them the most-- in the pocketbook! Many of these same players have also been enjoined from misusing the name "The Temptations" and held in contempt of federal court in the Ninth Circuit. Congratulations to Cindy Salvo for her outstanding legal work in Marshak v. Treadwell.
In the midst of this long legal battle, where it's easy to forget in all the minutiae what brought us here in the first place, I was gratified when Judge Fuentes of
the Third Circuit reminded us of
the special place of music in our collective consciousness. In the first paragraph of his opinion in Marshak v. Treadwell, Judge Fuentes wrote (of the underlying case)
"Judge Politan enjoined Marshak and his company from marketing The Drifters anywhere – not On Broadway, not Up On the Roof, and not Under the Boardwalk."
I couldn't have said it better myself! It's been a great 2009 so far!!!
Jon "Bowzer" Bauman
Chair, Truth in Music Committee
Vocal Group Hall of Fame
By Jennifer C. Kerr
The Associated Press
8:06 AM EDT, June 10, 2009
WASHINGTON
Which top-selling artist
purportedly had his new
single yanked from some
radio stations
playlists in
retaliation for
supporting
royalties
for musicians?
No one involved will name the recording artist,
but his no-play treatment by several radio
stations
is alleged in a
complaint filed with
the
Federal Communications
Commission and obtained
by
The Associated press.
It claims
recording artists
are being threatened and
intimidated.
In the filing, the musicFIRST
Coalition says the top-selling
artist -- there are hints it
could
be U2 frontman Bono -- recently released a new
album
and spoke during April
in
support of an effort
to
require radio stations to
pay musicians royalties
similar
to those paid
to songwriters.
Soon after, it said, "several
stations within a major radio broadcast
group notified the
artist's label
that they would
no longer play his single on
the air."Representatives
for
musicFIRST refused to
identify
the artist.
U2's album, "No Line on the
Horizon," was released in
March
with its leadoff single, "Get on
Your Boots."
In April, Bono issued a
statement
on behalf of
pay
for musicians, saying, "It's only fair that when
radio makes money by
playing
a recording artist's
music ...
the recording artist
should be compensated just
as songwriters
are already."
Calls and e-mails to a
spokeswoman for Bono were
not immediately returned.
The filing also alleges unfair treatment of other artists by
radio stations in Florida,
Delaware and Texas. It does
not identify any of
the stations
but accuses the stations of
unlawfully putting their own
financial interests above their obligation to serve the public.
The group asks the FCC, which regulates the public airwaves,
to investigate.
The controversy centers on regislation in Congress that
would require radio stations
to pay musicians royalties.
Satellite radio, Internet radio
and cable TV music channels
already pay fees to
performers
and musicians,
along
with
songwriter royalties.
AM and
FM radio stations
just pay songwriters, not
performers.
The National Association of Broadcasters opposes the bill,
called the Performance Rights
Act. The NAB says it amounts
to a tax
on U.S. radio stations
and threatens thousands of jobs.
The filing by musicFIRST,
made
late Tuesday, also said:
--A Delaware radio station
boycotted all artists affiliated
with musicFIRST for an entire
month.
--Before an interview, an artist
was pressured by a Texas radio station
to state on the air that
the Performance Rights Act
would
cripple radio stations.
musicFIRST Asks FCC to
Investigate Radio Stations
For Threatening Performers,
Refusing to Run Ads and
Misleading the Public Actions Violate Radio’s
Obligation to Serve the
Public Interest, Calling
Broadcast Licenses Into
Question
Washington, DC – The musicFIRST Coalition
(Fairness in Radio Starting Today)
today filed a formal request
that
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigate
and take action against radio
stations
for abusing their license
to
use the airwaves, a valuable
public resource.
The filing details how radio
stations across the country
refuse to air musicFIRST ads, threaten artists who support
the effort to create a fair
performance right on radio
and continue to run misleading
ads produced by the National ssociation of Broadcasters –
all in an effort to further
their
own private
commercial interest
at
the expense of their public
interest obligations.
“For more than 80 years
radio
stations have been
using the
work of artists
and
musicians
without compensating them,
now
they’re using the public airwaves unfairly for their
own self interest, ” said usicFIRST Executive Director, Jennifer Bendall. “We respect the
First Amendment rights
of
broadcasters to air their
views in
this and any debate, but hey’ve
crossed the line.
They have
engaged in a concerted effort to
promote their own
financial interests above
their
legal duty to serve
the public interest by
providing truthful
and
accurate information.”
Radio stations must ensure
that
their private interests, including
their private
financial interests,
do
not interfere with their
obligation
to serve the
public.
The musicFIRST filing
notes
that
the use of a
broadcast license to
further a licensee’s
personal economic
interest is
particularly
egregious
where it
results in
the
skewing
and distorting
of
a public debate.
“Time and time again we
have
been told ‘NO!’
by radio
stations
when
it comes to
airing our
side
of the debate,” said Bendall. “Many stations
are rejecting
our
ads
without
even reading
the script.
It’s
an absolute sham.
Ironically,
they are refusing
to take our
money at the
same time that
they cry poverty to avoid fairly compensating
artists for
the
music upon
which they
have
built their businesses.”
The ads and on-air
commentary unfairly prey
on the public’s fears by
calling it a tax, which
it’s
not, saying all the money
is going to foreign companies, which it’s not, and intimating
that this is
a racial issue by claiming
that there is no black representation in the process and that it will “murder black radio”
– again not true.
“Even more offensive is
the
effort to silence artists through
threats and retribution,” Bendall
said. “No one should ever
be
penalized for working
for what
they think is
right; for participating
in
the democratic process;
for
exercising their First Amendment
right to correct
a decades-old
wrong. But
that is just what these
radio stations have done.”
According to the musicFIRST filing,
one major radio group dropped a
top selling artist’s record after he
spoke in
support of performance
rights legislation.
The program
director of
a
Florida radio station
declined to add an artist’s
recordings to his station’s playlist because the artist
is listed as a
member of
the musicFIRST
Coalition.
another director of
programming told a representative
of two
prominent artists that
the
artist’s support for
the Performance Rights Act would save a “chilling
effect” on their
relationship.
And a Delaware radio
station
boycotted all artists affiliated with musicFIRST
for an entire month.
“These are the cases we
know
about,” Bendall said. “We can
only imagine what
may be
happening under
the
cover of
silence.”
musicFIRST is asking the
FCC
to investigate these actions,
find that the stations have violated their public interest obligations
and consider the broadcasters’ malfeasance in connection with
their license renewal.
musicFIRST
is also asking
the FCC to consider
this conduct
as part of its
overall
review
the length
of radio stations licenses, currently seven
years.
“Our message to the FCC
is clear,” Bendall said.
“We respect a broadcaster’s right to oppose the
Performance Rights Act.
But we
cannot tolerate broadcasters’ use
of the
public airwaves to stifle
debate, threaten artists
and
musicians and undermine the
public interest in pursuit
of
their
narrow, private
business interests.”
###
John Henkel Director of Artist Relations musicFIRST Coalition
410-491-2697
ESPECIALLY IF YOU BELIEVE that when you hear our songs on the radio we’re getting paid.
We’re not ! We don’t ! We Never have!
American musical artists
have Never been paid a
penny when radio plays their
music (and we know you,
the
fans, didn’t know that)!
All those songs you know and
love have NEVER earned a
cent for
any of us.
We need your help to
right this wrong.
This effects every artist/group/musician
all musical genres that
you’ve ever heard on any
AM and/or FM format radio
all of
your life and ours.
Station owners earn billions of dollars annually
from selling advertising space
on their stations that use our recordings as the basis of
their formats.
They get you fans, listening
so they can sell their ad air
based and selling you stuff.
They use our music to draw
you and the money
to them
and pay us
nothing!
Not
one
cent!
An aberration (a hiccup)
in the United States Copyright
Law, that was written in
1909 before recordings
were
important or available
and commercial radio
had not yet been invented or
the first broadcast of a human
voice was actually possible that’s never been corrected
is why we’ve been victimized
and it’s
not been
corrected
in
all
these years?
The simplest explanation
is that the Station Owners,
who by the way, pay nothing
to secure their broadcast
licenses from
the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) have become very
powerful
and important
to our leaders.
They have a strong trade organization/lobby group,
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). that has managed to prevent legislation
from ever getting far enough
along
to succeed.
Broadcasters believe they’re
entitled to use our talents to draw
in their advertisers, playing our music “free” of any sort of
payment to us though they earn billions in profits because of us.
They feel entitled though they
pay literally everyone else.
Radio pays millions to on air personalities, talking heads, sportscasters, announcers,
dj’s, engineers and don’t
forget the huge contracts
with major and minor league
sports teams to everyone
except us.
There are a few other countries
in the world who we’re just like
that don’t pay artists: Iran,
North Korea and China.
Every other modern country
in the world insures that broadcasters and others pay the recording artists when
their works are publicly performed or broadcast.
They uphold international
laws that do
not tolerate the use of an artist’s performance without compensation. American has NEVER ratified those treaties because of The NAB and it’s members
pressure
on our Congress.
No Treaty
No Rights -
No Money
WE CAN’T COLLECT
THE FOREIGN MONEY
THAT
SHOULD BE OURS EITHER.
Because there are no rights
in the United States, we’re being
cut out again. SO Not only don't
we get paid by U.S. radio stations, but the money collected around
the world for American artists
stays in those countries
NEVER BEING
PAID TO US.
We can’t collect any
of it
BECAUSE we don't pay their artists so U.S. artists lose
an estimated
$70-100 million per year..
THAT’S LIFE CHANGING
MONEY FOR
SO MANY OF THE OLDER ARTISTS AND THEIR
FAMILIES OR HEIRS.
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN
HELP AMERICAN ARTISTS RECEIVE “LIVE CHANGING MONEY” THAT
WILL FINALLY SECURE THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES FOR SOME
TIME
TO COME.
Please CLICK THE LINK
below to write a letter to your representatives in the House and
The Senate and President Obama telling them it’s important that
House Bill 848 and Senate
Bill 397 get passed now.
All you have to do is fill
in your zip code and it will automatically send letters
to your Senators and
Congressman.
We thank you in advance for
your support and assistance
in this quest. Your voice could make
all
the difference for
our voices,
how
amazing
is that.
April 20, 2009 – In a
statement released today
through
the musicFIRST Coalition,
U2 lead singer
Bono says that
while he appreciates radio, he
also
supports the creation of a
fair performance right on AM
and FM radio. The National Association of Broadcasters
had previously disseminated
an unrelated quote from the Irish rock band’s lead singer
to suggest that
he opposes
the creation of a fair performance right on radio
for
artists and musicians.
The Performance Rights Act
(H.R. 848, S. 379) will ensure
that artists, musicians and
rights holders are compensated
when their
music is used on radio.
The following statement
may be attributed to Bono-
"While we have many friends
at radio, and appreciate the many things that radio has done for our band over the years, we believe
it’s only fair that when radio makes money by playing a recording
artist's music and selling advertising, the recording artist should be compensated just as songwriters
are already.
This
is a principle accepted
by radio broadcasters in virtually every country in the world. The music business is
in a state of
freefall at the moment, and while, thankfully, this no longer really affects
us - there are many young recording artists out there
who can no longer earn a
living from the sale of their music, or from touring or selling merchandise...yet
they
remain a
vital part of radio playlists throughout
the USA. They should
not
be denied their fair share.
In this time of so much
positive change coming
from Washington, we hope
this bill will be embraced
and become the law."
People who love music
understand
that reativity,
talent and hard
work
are
required
to bring
it to life.
The goal of musicFIRST is
to
ensure that struggling
performers,
local usicians
and well-known
artists
are
compensated for their
music
when it is played both
today
and in the future.
Of all the ways we listen
to music, corporate radio
is the only one
that receives
special treatment.
For more than 80 years,
big
radio has had a
free pass
to play music
refusing
to pay
even
a
fraction of a
penny
to
the performers
that
brought
it to life.
music FIRST is committed to
making
sure everyone, from
up-and-coming artists to our
favorites from years-ago,
is guaranteed
Fair Pay
for
Air Play.
You can help by writing your
member
of Congress and
telling them that you support
musicFIRST’s effort to
make
a performance
right a reality
for
all
artists and musicians.
Radio’s promotional
value
is
on
the decline.
New music
distribution
platforms
such
as
satellite,
cable
and
internet radio –
provide additional
ways for
consumers
to enjoy music.
With
the exception of
AM
and FM radio,
each
platform
pays for the
recordings
they use
r
egardless
of any
promotion
that might
occur
as
a result, including broadcasters
who simulcast their programming
on the
Internet.
However,
the
bottom
line
is that
this is about simple
fairness:
the
artists who
bring the
music
to
life,
who attract listeners
to a
station,
and
who
make it possible
for radio
to
make money
by
selling advertising
deserve to
be
compensated
when a
radio
station uses their
music
to compensate itself.
Senate Judiciary Committee Okays Performance Rights Act
Bill will compensate artists and musicians for radio play
Washington, D.C., October 15, 2009 – Today the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Performance Rights Act (S. 379). The bill will close a loophole in copyright law that allows music radio stations to earn billions of dollars each year in ad revenue without compensating the artists, musicians and rights holders who bring music to life and listeners’ ears to the radio dial. A similar bill, H.R. 848, was approved earlier by the House Judiciary Committee. The following statement may be attributed to Jennifer Bendall, executive director of the musicFIRST Coalition:
“Today we are one step closer to righting a wrong that has existed since the early days of radio; one step closer to winning the fight for fundamental justice that has been waged by countless artists and musicians over the last 80 years.”
“We are grateful for the leadership of Chairman Leahy, Senators Feinstein and Hatch and other members of the committee. We look forward to working with them and Chairman Conyers, Representatives Issa and Berman and other members who understand the importance of creating a fair performance right on radio for America’s artists and musicians.”
“We are making unprecedented progress. Two congressional committees have now approved a bill to create a fair performance right on radio. We ask broadcasters and the new leadership at the NAB to join with us. Together we can create a performance right on radio that is fair to artists, musicians and rights holders, fair to other radio platforms that pay a performance royalty, and fair to AM and FM music radio.”
“Radio and music have a bright future together if the artists, musicians and rights holders who bring music to life and listeners’ ears to the radio dial are compensated fairly for their work.”
Click above to see segment at ABC News.com
Jon "Bowzer" Bauman Chair, 
MSNBC.com
