Tag Archives: music activism

Attention: AFM President Blasts NFL Super Bowl Halftime Kickback Scheme

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Unbelievable…! The National Football League (NFL) has reportedly asked potential Super Bowl halftime performers if they would be willing to pay the league to play at its big game. I can’t believe this?!

A couple of weeks I decided for myself not to play for free any more. Yesterday I found out that some major musicians might have played for free for the NFL’s SUPER BOWL HALF TIME event. This is a perfect example what happens in this music business industry, but on a higher and sophisticated level. In this case, much money is made by the NFL, and no money goes to the (major) performing artists who decided to play for free.

Even David Letterman made a joke about this news last night.

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Future of Music Coalition Newsletter: Important News!

Special Edition: Busiest Tuesday Ever | July 15, 2014

Greetings, FMC friends! In this quick update, we’re letting you know about two major happenings, adding up to one jam-packed day of music advocacy.

1. FMC to Tell Congress: Protect Artists’ Ability To Reclaim Rights

Over the past year, we’ve been watching closely as the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet has undertaken a systematic examination of US Copyright Law, including many topics important to musicians.

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Songwriters Are Losing $2.3 Billion A Year Due To Outdated Government Regulations/BuzzFeed

Post by trichordist

Right now a byzantine system is in place that not only dates back more than 70 years but also differs depending on the distribution platform. Traditional radio stations, for instance, pay royalties to the composer of a song, but not to the artist or band performing it — known in industry parlance as a performance right — if they are different. Sirius XM only pays royalties for songs released after 1972. Pandora does pay government-mandated royalties to songwriters but has been aggressively lobbying regulators to lower the rate in recent years. Use of music in both professional and user-based content on YouTube and other websites and in TV shows or commercials is yet another category of music licensing, with the difference being that it is free-market-based and not subject to government oversight.

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The Embodiment of The Musical Warrior: My Professional Relationship and Friendship With Sohrab Saadat Ladjavardi…And My Support of His Musical Activism

By Dawoud Kringle

There are times when the Designer of destiny makes a fortuitous decision on your behalf.

Photo by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Photo by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

I first met Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi in the lobby of a hotel where a mutual friend, virtuoso pianist David Cieri, was performing. We hit it off immediately; and both knew we’d met kindred spirits. The first time we’d played music together was in Ornette Coleman’s apartment. One of my life’s regrets was that I’d not recorded that session! It was marvelous.

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