Posts by Marco Foley

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…

MCNA requests settlement transparency in Phonorecords IV

October 5, 2022

Music Creators North America has written to to Chief Copyright Royalty Judges David Shaw, David R. Strickler and Steve Ruwe at the US Copyright Royalty Board requesting settlement transparency in the in Phonorecords IV process. The letter was submitted on October 4, 2022 and full content is shown below. It can also be downloaded as…

MCNA congratulates composer Maria Schneider on an important, incremental victory against YouTube

August 8, 2022

August 8, 2022, NEW YORK CITY: Music Creators North America (MCNA), the umbrella group and international representative for the independent songwriter and composer communities of the United States and Canada, is elated by the decision rendered this week by federal judge James Donato to allow the copyright infringement suit brought two years ago by composer…

“Poor planning by music streaming services does not constitute an emergency”

July 29, 2022

The following article was recently posted on the Copyright Alliance website and was written by CEO Keith Kupferschmid. The organization, of which MCNA is a member, represents the interests of authors, artists, musicians and many other individual creators. It is dedicated to advocating policies that promote and preserve the value of copyright. “Many years…

A full week of advocacy on behalf of music creators

June 20, 2022

Members of MCNA and our member organizations spent a a full week in New York recently to advocate for the rights and interests of songwriters and composers. This took place during A2IM’s Independent Music Week, the world’s largest independent music conference. The objective as always was to halt the mistreatment of music creators and authors…

Independent songwriter groups meet with BMG music publishing

June 6, 2022

Representatives of the independent American and global music creator communities led by the Songwriters Guild of America, the Society of Composers & Lyricists, and Music Creators North America met with BMG President Thomas Scherer and his team in Los Angeles last week to discuss mutual concerns regarding the future of the international music industry. The…