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pluralistic society, such as jazz, classical, gospel, folk, country, rap, and yes, even good old fashioned rock and roll.

By protecting our livelihoods, H.R. 3204 will provide the financial nourishment necessary to produce the quality and diversity of music we've all become accustomed to enjoying. Without this bill, our music industry could be on a downhill spiral that would result in a uniformity of music and career changes for songwriters, musicians, and performers.

Imagine this

-

without the protection this legislation

offers, the music community would surely lose more revenue from home copying at an ever increasing rate. This translates into fewer dollars available to invest in new talent. We could lose a whole generation of young songwriters, musicians and performers solely from lack of adequate protection for our copyrights. Record companies would be less willing, and much less able, to take chances on new talent.

Songwriters would be forced to write

only those songs that. they think would sell. Less popular genres of music, such as jazz, folk or classical, would fall by the

wayside. And, we'd all be bored and uninspired!

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, and members of this committee, you have taken the opportunity and provided the leadership necessary to prevent this dismal future by introducing H.R. 3204. Please now take the final step by enacting this measure as soon as possible so that American music, in all its richness and diversity, will be around for generations to come.

Thank you.

Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Nimiroski.

STATEMENT OF STANSON G. NIMIROSKI, VICE PRESIDENT AND MANAGER, SONY MUSIC PITMAN MANUFACTURING PLANT, PITMAN, NJ

Mr. NIMIROSKI. Mr. Chairman, my name is Stan Nimiroski, and I am vice president and manager of the Sony Music Pitman manufacturing plant in Pitman, NJ. I want to thank you for the opportunity to come before you today to offer testimony on H.R. 3204, the Audio Home Recording Act of 1991. Chairman Hughes, I was very proud to show you our facility and introduce you to our operation and our employees in Pitman, and I am pleased to be with you here today.

When one thinks of the music industry, he or she generally thinks of the stars, like Barry Manilow, and all the attendant glamour and glitz. I am here today to discuss another facet of the business and to represent the people behind the scenes who actually manufacture and distribute the music product we all enjoy.

I want to tell you briefly about the history and capacities of our plant and, more importantly, how this legislation benefits our end of the music business. The Pitman manufacturing plant first opened in 1960 and produced LP, longplay albums, until December 1986. This was one of the largest LP record manufacturing facilities in the world.

In our company, and particularly in our plant, we have always tried to move forward with new technology. When digital compact disks were first developed, we closed the plant, retooled our machinery, and began manufacturing in the digital arena with compact disks. Plant employment was approximately 400 people on January 1, 1987. Pilot CD plant production began October 1, 1987, and reached full production capacity in January 1988. Today, our plant manufacturers CD's at the rate of 50 million units annually, with a total number of 925 employees.

The Pitman plant not only manufactures the CD's but also packages and ships finished CD product to regional distributors and retail dealers all over the United States. Our plant is not an antique from the industrial age but, rather, a high technology, state-of-theart manufacturing facility. We work hard to ensure that our facility remains on the leading edge of production technology. For example, we have just announced a $30 million expansion. This expansion includes $10 million in facility work for plant renovations and $20 million in additional manufacturing equipment.

We also have a sister plant in Carrollton, GA, that currently manufactures audio cassettes, and another facility in Terre Haute, IN, that has just announced a similar expansion phase. And the same holds true for other record companies. Our industry employs tens of thousands of workers in the manufacturing end of the business, workers prepared to meet the technological challenges that we face today, as well as tomorrow.

This phase of expansion will allow us to increase our Pitman manufacturing capacity by an additional 24 million units annually, while adding approximately 100 new jobs. And it is anticipated that future expansion could add up to as many as 200 more jobs to our work force. With the passage of this bill and the introduction

of new audio formats, we could see even greater expansion. We expect this current phase to be completed within 8 months and we anticipate that the plant should be in full operation by the end of September.

Now to the effect this legislation would have on our operations. First, of course, is that by encouraging the cooperation between hardware companies and record companies on new digital formats, we will have more product to manufacture. In addition, technical measures will protect our original digital product from being cloned. Our plant will be able to manufacture CD's compatible with SCMS standards.

As a manufacturer, our prime concern is quality. We're extremely proud of the new prerecorded music we produce. We have quality control mechanisms in place to assure that consumers get the quality product they demand. When this legislation goes into effect, the high quality of our product will not be lost in any copying process, and there will be a well-deserved system to provide compensation to the creators and producers of music. For every copy made of a CD, that may be one less unit that will be manufactured at our plant. The seemingly innocuous problem of home taping, when amplified, threatens not just the artists' livelihoods but our jobs as well.

This new digital recording technology is phenomenal, Mr. Chairman. You saw first hand that we are able to rerelease, in CD format, old favorites that have been rejuvenated through digital remastering. The public wants this new, high quality. LP's and tapes in the analog format lose quality with the passage of time. Digital does not.

We are looking forward to making new digital formats available to the buying and listening audience. With the technical protection of SCMS and the royalty compensation system outlined in the legislation, we at the manufacturing end of the music chain feel that, finally, fair treatment will be accorded to all of us in the process, from songwriters and artists for their writing and singing talents, all the way down to my plant workers for their dedication to their own jobs in producing the highest quality of prerecorded music available anywhere in the world. And the fans-and that's who all of us are really working for, after all-can have the music in whatever format they desire.

On behalf of all of the employees at the Pitman plant, I want to thank you for taking the time to examine this legislation. I urge your swift enactment.

Thank you.

Mr. HUGHES. Thank you very much, Mr. Nimiroski. [The prepared statement of Mr. Nimiroski follows:]

STATEMENT OF STANSON G. NIMIROSKI

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

AND JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION

H.R. 3204: THE AUDIO HOME RECORDING ACT OF 1991

FEBRUARY 19, 1992

Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, my name is Stan Nimiroski and I am Vice President and Manager of the Sony Music Pitman Manufacturing plant in Pitman, New Jersey. I want to tell you briefly about the history and capacities of my plant and, more importantly, what this legislation will do for

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When one thinks of the music industry, he or she generally thinks of the stars, like Barry Manilow, and all the attendant glamour and glitz. I am here today to discuss another facet of the business and to represent the people behind the scenes who actually manufacture and distribute the music product we all enjoy.

In our company, and particularly in our plant, we have always tried to move forward with new technology. The Pitman plant manufactures CD's, as well as packaging and shipping to retail dealers and. regional distributors. Today, our plant manufactures CDs at the rate of 50 million units annually, with a total number of 925 employees. Our plant is not an antique from the industrial age, but rather a hightechnology, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. And we work hard to ensure that our facility remains on the leading edge of production technology. The same holds true for other record companies. Our industry employs tens of thousands of workers in the manufacturing end of the business, workers prepared to meet the technological challenges that we face today, as well as tomorrow.

For example, we have just announced a 30 million dollar expansion. This phase of expansion will allow us to increase our Pitman manufacturing capacity by an additional 24 million units annually, while adding approximately 100 new jobs. And it is anticipated that future expansion could add up to as many as 200 more jobs to our work force. With the passage of this bill and the introduction of new audio formats, we could see even greater expansion.

Now, to the effect this legislation would have on our operations. First, of course, is that by encouraging the cooperation between hardware companies and record companies on new digital formats, we will have more product to manufacture. In addition, technical measures will protect our original digital product from being cloned. Our plant will be able to manufacture CD's compatible with SCMS standards.

As a manufacturer, our prime concern is quality. We're extremely proud of the new prerecorded music we produce. We work very hard to assure that consumers get the quality product they demand. With this legislation, the high quality of our product will not be lost in any copying process, and there will be a well deserved system to provide compensation to the creators and producers of music. For every CD copied, that may be one less unit that will be manufactured at our plant. The seemingly innocuous problem of home taping, when amplified, threatens not just the artists' livelihoods, but our jobs as well.

The public wants this new, high quality. We're looking forward to making new digital formats available to the buying and listening audience. With the technical protection of SCMS and the royalty compensation system outlined in the legislation we, at the manufacturing end of the music chain, feel that, finally, fair treatment will be accorded to all of us in the process -- from songwriters and artists all the way down to my plant workers.

On behalf of all of the employees at the Pitman plant, I want to thank each of you for taking the time to examine this legislation. I urge your swift enactment. Thank you.

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