A large group of music industry heavyweights are lining up to fight for reform of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which many feel doesn’t compensate artists fairly for online distribution of their music.
Big names like Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney and U2 headline the 180 recording artists and songwriters who will appear in an ad Tuesday calling for reform of the law, enacted in 1998. They are specifically trying to stop YouTube from using the DMCA to justify why the site is allowed to use artists’ music without it being considered copyright infringement.
The ad will say, according to Billboard, that the DMCA “has allowed major tech companies to grow and generate huge profits by creating ease of use for consumers to carry almost every recorded song in history in their pocket via a smartphone, while songwriters’ and artists’ earnings continue to diminish.”
Everyone involved with this project, the ad will say, are petitioning for “sensible reform that balances the interests of creators with the interests of the companies who exploit music for their financial enrichment.”
A few major labels — including Universal Music Group, whose contract has already expired — are currently in the process of negotiating new deals with YouTube, while the U.S. Copyright Office re-examines DMCA “safe harbor” provisions.
The House Judiciary Committee will also be taking a closer look at copyright law and the artists’ claim that YouTube’s free mode of delivery makes it harder to convince consumers to pay for content or sign up for subscription services like Apple Music or Spotify.
Last week, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor called YouTube’s business style “very disingenuous.”
“It is built on the backs of free, stolen content and that’s how they got that big,” Reznor said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “I think any free-tiered service is not fair. It’s making their numbers and getting them a big IPO, and it is built on the back of my work and that of my peers.”
The ads directed at getting Congress to support DMCA reform will appear Tuesday in Politico, The Hill and Roll Call, according to Billboard.
