Posts by Marco Foley

Independent music creator groups alert US congress to “black box” royalty issue

July 18, 2023

Music Creators North America has joined with MusicAnswers and eight other international music creator groups to alert the US Congress to the hundreds of millions of dollars in the The Mechanical Licensing Collective’s “Black Box”. Most of this was earned by independent music creators, but unless action is taken it will be heading to the…

MCNA submits comments on national priorities for Artificial Intelligence

July 7, 2023

Request for Information: National Priorities for Artificial Intelligence, US Office of Science and Technology Policy Comments of The Songwriters Guild of America, the Society of Composers & Lyricists, and the Music Creators North America Coalition The Songwriters Guild of America (“SGA”), the Society of Composers & Lyricists (“SCL”), and the Music Creators North America (“MCNA”)…

Hero of the Song – A songwriter’s perspective on the 2023 Ed Sheeran case

July 6, 2023

The following article was written by MCNA president Eddie Schwartz , a multi-award winning songwriter and president of the International Council of Music Creators (CIAM). This text originally appeared at www.ciamcreators.org. “In November of this year, one of CIAM’s sister organizations, Fair Trade Music International (FTMI), will for the first time honor individual music…

MCNA in Washington to discuss A.I. and the respect of music creator rights

May 10, 2023

Music Creators North America joined the Songwriters Guild of America and the Society of Composers & Lyricists were on Capitol Hill and at the US Copyright Office over the past two weeks passionately making the point to members of Congress and the Biden Administration that music creators support new technologies such as AI, but need…

Upcoming Event: Symposium on protecting free speech in the global music landscape

February 24, 2023

On March 3, 2023, MCNA board member, Charles Sanders, will be co-hosting an important symposium on political violence against music creators. The event is presented by the National Music Council of the United States and the the International Music Council and will be broadcast online. For more details, visit the symposium home page or review…

MCNA submits comments urging CRB to to reconsider royalty rates for music streaming

December 7, 2022

MCNA has joined with the Songwriters Guild of America, Inc., the Society of Composers & Lyricists, and the individual music creators Rick Carnes and Ashley Irwin, to submit comments to the Copyright Royalty Board regarding its proposed rule for subparts A, C and D the Phonorecords IV proceedings. The summary follows but the complete document…

Musical culture and economics rest on both speech freedoms and copyright protections

November 19, 2022

New York, November 19, 2022: With the suppression of artistic freedoms on the rise throughout the world, it remains clear that many governments continue to view the longstanding practice of lashing out against music creators to be an especially effective strategy in discouraging political dissent. That tactic has the dual intentions of silencing those voices…

Fair Trade Music releases songwriters’ guide to the MLC unmatched royalties issue

November 7, 2022

Fair Trade Music International has released an educational video to help music creators understand and address the MLC unmatched royalty issue. In this two-minute animation, we explain how these unclaimed royalties came about and describe what each creator can do to check whether part of this $400m+ belongs to them. The important message in this…

Digital Music News reports on CRB demands for transparency in streaming negotiations

October 19, 2022

Digital Music News has reported on detail within the Copyright Royalty Board’s recent decision to suspend procedures for adoption of statutory rates and terms until they receive full disclosure of any side deals between the so called “settling parties”. This came in response to the recent requests by songwriter George Johnson and MCNA. These parties…

MCNA thanks US Copyright Royalty Board for its positive response to calls for transparency

October 18, 2022

Music Creators North America is elated that the US Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has today responded positively to the filings by songwriter George Johnson and our organization, regarding the dire need for transparency in the mechanical rate setting process. Read this request in full here. The CRB has now ordered all participant digital music distributors…