today. There are fewer and fewer releases of records for music listeners - less innovation and less experimentation and, as a direct result, fewer opportunities for new talent. The reasons are not hard to understand. For example, in my field, the release of classical records is a highrisk affair. Industry studies show that less than 10% fewer earn money. If record companies cannot earn profits on the very small percentage of records that are commercially popular, they of classical records break even will cut back their risks on all other types of music. This is happening today. It will grow worse. The end result is fewer and fewer choices of music for the public, and fewer and fewer opportunities for creative talent. That is surely contrary to the public interest. It is also contrary to the goals of our copyright laws. - Congress should act now to protect the creative process and to harmonize artistry and technology. Both should be respected. Our citizens should be free to tape music in the privacy of their homes for their own use; they should have the maximum access to music in whatever form they prefer. That is good for the public, for the arts, and for the artists. We in the Coalition want to stimulate the broadest possible interest in music. At the same time, the creators of that music should receive fair compensation for their creative efforts. That is only fair. And it is the only way to assure that the constitutionally guaranteed protection of the copyright will function effectively and produce the desired result more music for more people. SAVE 888 Seventh Ave., 9th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10106 (212) 765-4350 Coalition to SAVE AMERICA'S MUSIC The Coalition to SAVE AMERICA'S MUSIC represents nearly 2 The objective of the music industry and our SAVE AMERICA'S - American Federation of Musicians (AFM), 1500 Broadway, American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (AFTRA), - American Guild of Authors & Composers (AGAC), 40 W. 57th Street, American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP), 1 Lincoln Plaza, New York, NY 10023, (212) 595-3050 Membership, 30,000. Founded in 1914 to license and collect fees for the rights to public performances of its members' copyrighted musical works, and to distribute such income. Black Music Association (BMA), 1500 Locust Street, Suite 1905, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), 320 W. 57th Street, New York, (more) -2 Country Music Association (CMA), P.O. Box 22299, Nashville, TN 37202, (615) 244-2840 -- Membership, 6,000, including international representation. Trade association dedicated to promoting and preserving country music through such activity as the CMA Awards Show and the Country Music Foundation. Gospel Music Association (GMA), P.O. Box 21201, Nashville, TN 37202, (615) 242-0303 -- Membership, 2,000, with international representation. Service organization whose purpose is to represent, promote and spread the word about gospel music, including presentation of the annual DOVE Awards. Music Publishers' Association of the United States (MPA), Nashville Music Association (NMA), 14 Music Circle East, Nashville, TN 37203, (615) 242-9662 -- Membership, 805 including 95 founding members. Trade association dedicated to represent all forms of music entertainment in Nashville. Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), 25 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37203, (615) 254-8903 -Membership, 2,000. Dedicated to the advancement of musical composition and the protection of member rights, it holds educational seminars and maintains a Hall of Fame. National Academy of Popular Music (NAPM), 1 Times Square, New York, NY 10036, (212) 221-1252 -- Membership, 350. Maintains Songwriters Hall of Fame, museum and reference archives on popular music, and annually elects members to Hall of Fame. - National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), 4444 Riverside Drive, Suite 202, Burbank, CA 91505, (213) 843-8233 Membership, 5,000. Involved in creative process of sound recording. Members, including singers, musicians, songwriters, composers and engineers, vote for and present annual GRAMMY Awards. National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), 1060 Kings Highway North, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034, (609) 795-5555 -- Membership, 500 retailers, rack-jobbers and independent distributors of sound recordings. Trade association founded in 1957 to protect the interests of the merchandising community and to promote the industry. Associate members include record companies and suppliers. (more) -3 - National Music Council (NMC), 250 W. 54th Street, Suite 300, New York, NY 10019, (212) 265-8132 Membership, 1,500,000 in 61 national music organizations. Umbrella organization chartered by Congress to function as an information and coordination service for members that include composers, lyricists, musicians, singers, teachers, publishers, music licensing groups and recording companies. - National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), 110 E. 59th Street, New York, NY 10022, (212) 751-1930 Membership, 275 publishers. Trade association representing publishers of American music, including fields of popular, classical, sacred, educational, concert, gospel and country music, collects and administers royalties through the Harry Fox Agency. - Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 888 7th Avenue, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10106, (212) 765-4330 Membership, 55 U.S. recording companies. Trade association founded in 1952 to work for the mutual interests and betterment of the industry. Activities include Anti-Piracy Intelligence Unit and certification of RIAA Gold/Platinum Records Award. - SESAC Inc., 10 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019, (212) 586-3450 Affiliates, 1,500. Licenses and collects fees for use of works of its 1,000 songwriters and 500 publishers, and actively promotes its membership. Society of Professional Audio Recording Studios (SPARS), 1400 North Crescent Heights, Los Angeles, CA 90046 (213) 656-9467 -- Membership, 100 recording studios, major manufacturers, record companies and producers. Trade association dedicated to excellence through innovation, communication and education. -30 Addendum American Society of University Composers Senator MATHIAS. Our next witness will be the inimitable Jack Valenti, accompanied by a panel of Charlton Heston, Jay Eliasberg and James Leonard. Mr. Valenti, do you wish to lead off for this panel? STATEMENT OF A PANEL INCLUDING JACK VALENTI, PRESIDENT, MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC.; CHARLTON HESTON, ACTOR, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, AND PRESIDENT OF THE SCREEN ACTORS' GUILD; JAY ELIASBERG, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, RESEARCH, CBS BROADCAST GROUP; AND JAMES R. LEONARD, VICE PRESIDENT, ROBERT R. NATHAN ASSOCIATES, INC. Mr. VALENTI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I will. 1 First, I would like to request the following documents be inserted in the record as part of my testimony. I am told that the committee prefers that I should make such request formally. These include a memorandum of constitutional law and copyright compensation prepared by Prof. Laurence Tribe of the Harvard Law School; the testimony of Donald Tatum, chief of the executive committee, Walt Disney Productions; the testimony of Judd Taylor, president of the Directors' Guild of America; the testimony of Jack Copeland, chairman of the copyright committee of the Training Media Distributors' Association; the testimony of Richard Orear, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners; and the testimony of Gene Allen, vice president, International Alliance of Theatrical Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada. Senator MATHIAS. Without objection, those documents will be included in the record. Mr. VALENTI. Following me, Mr. Chairman, will be Mr. Charlton Heston, for 7 years, president of the Screen Actors' Guild-and I need not tell you that that is a way station on the way to a higher position in our land; Mr. Jay Eliasberg, former vice president and director of research at the CBS Broadcast Group, and Mr. James Leonard, vice president of the Robert R. Nathan Associates, Inc. With that introduction, Mr. Chairman, I will now apply my stopwatch to begin my 5 minutes. Senator MATHIAS. I will call your attention to the fact that you have the green light, and your time is now running. When it gets down the end, the yellow light will appear, and when the red light comes on, you are going to get the gavel. CONSTITUTION GUARANTEES COPYRIGHT PROTECTION Mr. VALENTI. The constitutional platform, gentlemen, on which this entire issue rests is simply this-that creative property is private property, like land or your home or your car, and no one should have the right to use that property without compensating the owner or getting the permission of the owner. That indeed was the essence of the Ninth Circuit Court's decision, which confirmed the sanctity of private property, and all else that will be said here today, Mr. Chairman, is irrelevant to that central, dominating 'Previously submitted by Sidney J. Sheinberg of MCA Inc. and can be found on page 78. |