Advocacy

GRAMMY-nominated artist and Recording Academy Los Angeles Chapter Board member Sheila E. delivers her testimony August 2009 at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Performance Rights Act
Photo: Brendan Hoffman/WireImage.com

In 1998, The Recording Academy established an office in the nation's capital, seeking to amplify the voice of music creators in national policy matters. Today, The Academy's Advocacy & Government Relations office in Washington, D.C., is the leading representative of the collective world of recording professionals — artists, songwriters, producers, and engineers — through its GRAMMYs on the Hill Initiative.

In January 2009, the Recording Artists' Coalition became part of The Recording Academy's GRAMMYs on the Hill Initiative. RAC was founded in 2000 by Don Henley and Sheryl Crow to address legislative issues affecting the recording artist community and had worked closely with The Academy. The new alliance, in the words of the Washington, D.C.-based publication Congressional Quarterly, created a "supersized musicians lobby."

As a founding member of the musicFIRST Coalition, The Academy has taken a leadership role in the fight to expand radio performance royalties to all music creators. (Currently, the law gives traditional radio an exemption from paying featured artists, background singers, session musicians, and producers for use of their work.) Recording Academy members have testified before Congress, come to Washington to advocate and written thousands of letters to legislators. These actions have resulted in congressional hearings on this issue and significant progress on bipartisan legislation to create a fair performance right.

The 2010 GRAMMYs on the Hill events marked the largest-ever music advocacy presence in Washington, D.C., with nearly 400 people attending the GRAMMYs on the Hill Awards

ceremony honoring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and GRAMMY-winning musician Garth Brooks. The following day, another record number of music people attended the GRAMMYs on the Hill Advocacy Day. Nearly 250 Academy members gathered on Capitol Hill to hear remarks by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Kalpen Modi, associate director of the White House office of Public Engagement, and to lobby members of Congress and staff.

Through advocacy, education and dialogue, The Recording Academy protects the rights of music makers and advances their interests on important policy matters.

Programs include:

Advocacy

• GRAMMYs on the Hill Advocacy Day gives music professionals the opportunity to meet with national leaders in Washington. The GRAMMYs on the Hill Awards, held the preceding evening, honor a senator, representative and music creator
• Partnership with the Recording Arts and Sciences Congressional Caucus, which provides The Academy and caucus members with discussions, demonstrations and other events allowing opportunities for creators and legislators to learn from each other and jointly address the needs of the music community

Education

• Capitol Tracks, a regular publication for members of Congress, cultural stakeholders and Academy members
• The GRAMMY Town Hall, providing high-level panels that serve as an open forum for music professionals to address, hear from and question national political leaders

Dialogue

• The GRAMMY Industry Roundtable
• Music Leaders Retreat, co-hosted by Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow, giving the leaders of every major music association an opportunity to jointly address community issues in a closed-door working session

As advocacy continues to be a priority of The Recording Academy, music professionals are invited to be part of the fight for creators' rights.