CALL TO ARMS: CA. SENATE BILL 1034 By Moses Avalon

Y'know how you're always complaining that the music biz is tough? Well, now is your chance to do something meaningful about it.

Next week, the California legislature is going to vote on a Bill, SB1034 which would require record companies to account accurately to recording artists. This is a major milestone in music industry evolution and your chance to be part of both history and artist's rights activism.

Don't sit this one out.

On this page is all the information you need to write your Senator and Assemblymen. It won't take but a few minutes and it will make a world of difference to the industry. Following my pro and con arguments for this Bill are step by step instructions for how to proceed, complete with a stencil and the exact letter I wrote, to make it real easy for you. Read both Pro and Con arguments and decide how you feel. THEN WRITE YOUR ASSEMBLYMEN AND SENATOR.

"But I don't live in California."

It doesn't matter. This will have far reaching effects across the industry. Besides do you think each Senator or Governor knows the name of all his constituents? No. And when you sign a recording contract, it will probably be governed by California law, like most are. So...

DO IT TODAY. THE VOTE IS ONLY A WEEK AWAY.

ARGUMENTS:

SB 1034 TITLE 10. RECORDING ARTIST CONTRACTS: "The obligation of a recording company to accurately account for and to pay royalties earned under a recording artist contract is a fiduciary duty."

PRO: Would give artists and songwriters a legal mechanism to sue labels if they are not complying and accounting accurately to their artists and to possibly have contracts voided if non-compliance is determined by a judge. Also, first time a Government agency takes a regulatory step towards recording artist's contracts.

CON: record companies claim this will increase costs, leading to less signings and it's possible that they may look to develop acts outside of California (remember it's a state Bill) However, even though this might only be a California law, the rest of the States often look towards California when ruling on entertainment related cases. So the ramifications for record companies could be quite big. Also, first time a Government agency takes a regulatory step towards recording artist's contracts.


INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut and past the following into a letter:

Dear Senator _______,

I am writing you to in regard to Bill 1034 which is up for consideration next week. I am a working (musician/songwriter/record producer/manager/music lawyer/etc) who will be directly affected by this vote. This bill is very important to me because (write a two sentence version of how you will effected by this. Don't get fancy. Stick to the facts!)

Please vote (yes/no) on this matter,

Thank you,

Your name and what you do in music.

HOW TO SEND IT:

Go to http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/defaulttext.asp. Click on "Find My District" and type in your address info. Another page then pops up that lists your State Senator and State Assemblyman, including contact info and a link to their website, if they have one.

YOU'RE ALMOST DONE

Now you want to send the same letter to the Legislature themselves. Here's how.

Go to:
http://info.sen.ca.gov/cgi-bin/pagequery?type=sen_bilinfo&site=sen&title=Bill+Information

In the search engine, type in Bill "1034" and under Author: "Murray," and click "enter."

When the engine finds the right Bill, on the top of the page click on "Comment."

Fill out the form and send the letter.

Also send a copy to Governor Gray Davis at: governor@governor.ca.gov and at State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

Or, if you're both ambitious and lazy you can use the string of address below and BCC to each Senator in California:

senator.aanestad@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Ackerman@sen.ca.gov, senator.alpert@sen.ca.gov, senator.ashburn@sen.ca.gov, jim.battin@sen.ca.gov, senator.bowen@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Brulte@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Chesbro@sen.ca.gov, senator.denham@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Figueroa@sen.ca.gov, senator.hollingsworth@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Knight@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Machado@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Margett@sen.ca.gov, senator.mcclintock@sen.ca.gov, Senator.McPherson@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Oller@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Poochigian@sen.ca.gov, senator.scott@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Sher@sen.ca.gov, senator.speier@sen.ca.gov, senator.alarcon@sen.ca.gov, senator.burton@sen.ca.gov, senator.cedillo@sen.ca.gov, senator.ducheny@sen.ca.gov, senator.dunn@sen.ca.gov, senator.escutia@sen.ca.gov, senator.florez@sen.ca.gov, senator.johnson@sen.ca.gov, senator.karnette@sen.ca.gov, senator.kuehl@sen.ca.gov, senator.morrow@sen.ca.gov, senator.murray@sen.ca.gov, senator.ortiz@sen.ca.gov, senator.perata@sen.ca.gov, senator.romero@sen.ca.gov, senator.soto@sen.ca.gov, senator.torlakson@sen.ca.gov, senator.vasconcellos@sen.ca.gov, senator.vincent@sen.ca.gov

YOU'RE FINISHED AND YOU HAVE NOW HELPED TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.


The letter I sent:

Dear Senator Scott,

I am writing you to in regard to Bill 1034 which is up for consideration next week. I am the author of two leading books on the inner functions of the music industry. They are required reading in over 20 schools currently. I also assisted our State Attorney General's office in their investigation of the record industry about a year and a half ago. .

I wanted to inform you that there are a great many people in this country and this district that will be affected by a positive vote on this Bill.

The hardest part of being a recording artist is getting paid for your work. This bill will require record companies, the most influential institutions in our industry, to be held to the same standards as manufacturers in other industries and result in artists getting their fair share of royalties, which they have had to fight for so long.

I urge you to vote yes to this Bill and encourage your peers to do the same. My district is rife with musicians songwriters and recording artists that would be very grateful.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions,

Moses Avalon

WHY ARE YOU STILL READING? DO IT NOW!!!

---

Moses Avalon is the author of the book Confessions of a Record Producer. This book is a must read for all artists to help them prevent getting ripped off right from the beginning by the people they thought worked for them.

Sounds too good to be true, what are the negative aspects of the bill?
Sure you say the bill is great, but is there anything in it that you have not covered?

Arguments of both sides can be read at http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_1001-1050/sb_1034_cfa_20030508_104324_sen_comm.html

Thanks

RIAA ‘rats-out’ SCUMBAGS: “artists/managers, promoters/artists, and artists/producers… television, movie and book industries”

(FROM
Recording Artist Contracts: Fiduciary Duty to Account for and Pay Royalty Earnings

http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_10011050/sb_1034_cfa_20030508_104324_sen_comm.html

(SPECIFICALLY
SB 1034 (Murray) Page 12

(QUOTE)
RIAA complains that SB 1034 arbitrarily singles out the artist-label relationship from a number of other similar marketplace relationships and punishes it with punitive legislation.
RIAA points out that contractual obligations to account can be found in a number of related relationships: artists/managers, promoters/artists, and artists/producers. Similarly, contractual obligations to account are commonplace in the television, movie and book industries. All of these relationships sometimes produce disputes.
RIAA contends that there simply is no evidence that the number or nature of disputes in these relationships are any different than those found between artists and labels.
(UNQUOTE)

HEY DMUSICIANS!!! WE SHOULD PUT TOGETHER A LIST of email addresses, phone numbers and adresses and keep them handy for

- US congressmen and senators
- State legislators
- FCC personnel
- AFTRA
- AFof M
- Copyright Office
- ????

this will help galvanize the movement - we can start a consistant campaign to educate about copyright reform.

why not juss look for the link to a website that lists all that, im sure there are hundreds...

I agree leflaw.....I'm all for that. I can help.

This is good but not good enough I want to shut them down completely and then start over from scratch.they have ruled far too long.

I would be surprised if this passed, but I folowed some of your suggestions. It is definitely worth a try. A very worthy cause. This is something that can benefit artists.

btw, would it be possible for me to get a free t-shirt,hat, coffe mug, and frisbee? Can I make copies and give them away for free?

It shouldn't be about the money. Just a thought. It would help spread the word about your cause in a way that wouldn't otherwise happen. It seems that would be agreeable since it isn't about the money anyway. I can help promote your website and efforts.

Of course this would be ridiculous, but I thought it might shed some light on why it is also ridiculous to expect art for free.

Joke 'em if they can't take a f*ck!

Seriously though, kudos on a beneficial grassroots movement. Things like this have more potential to bring about change than just pissing and moaning about copyprotection and RIAA tactics. Doing something about it is the best thing. Complaining doesn't do much, if anything. Good work George.

send the free stuff to my email address

Hello,
This is directive, just arrived back from the DCMA copyright hearings. George left early because of the BS that the RIAA said, and another friend left early also.
I was there the whole time, and have much to report.
GEORGE'S Speech will be up here soon.
STAY TUNED!!!!

I am going to send all stuff to George, and then you will hopefully get a FEEL of what we saw.
George walked out really MAD, and i stayed the whole time.
It was pretty sick, the RIAA Lawyers don't know much about technology, nor have YOUR best interest in mind. If you buy a CD from the Record labels, you only support there BS.
I'll say more later.
Thanks