Sean Paul joins calls for fairness from streaming platforms

Grammy winner Sean Paul was among the music creators who met with representatives on Capitol Hill on Thursday, at the Recording Academy's advocacy session.

The session hinged on protection for music creators and explored aspects of the American Music Fairness Act. If passed, the act would ensure the payment of royalties to artistes and producers when their music is played on the radio.

According to a release, this forum is "in support of legislation to protect and ensure fair treatment as the music community continues to recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic".

It added, "This effort comes on the morning after the 20th anniversary of the Grammys on the Hill Awards, Washington's premier annual celebration of music and advocacy, bringing together congressional leaders and music makers to recognise those who have led the fight for creators' rights."

Harvey Mason Jr, CEO of the Recording Academy, urged legislators to "join us in support of more equitable solutions that protect the creative community, ensure fair treatment for creators, and harness the power of music to reach across cultures in pursuit of peace". In a brief interview, Sean Paul expresssed his delight at being at the forum.

"It's good to know that your voice can be heard by the relevant people who can help to make the change," he said. "The message here is that the creators of the artwork ... music ... are not getting properly compensated due to laws that have not changed about streaming. The copyright laws need to be updated. So [this is] for us to tell a little story about how COVID affected us all, and for us to tell, from our perspective, how it feels to create something and have it taken away from us, and to be told how much it is worth. There is no other industry that that happens to."

SUPPORT

The Recording Academy stated that throughout Advocacy Day meetings, creators will urge support for several efforts, including those introduced by this year's congressional honourees.

"I am finding out that there are people who are songwriters who have billions of streams and they are literally making a couple thousand dollars, and that is grossly unfair. These content companies stream and they use it forever, and we as the creators are getting a chip. And we are just asking for a little bit better compensation because it is only right," Sean Paul added.

Another key issue that will be addressed on behalf of songwriters and composers is the fight for fair pay, the advocay group shared. Later this year, the Copyright Royalty Board will set the royalty rates that streaming services pay to songwriters, and tech companies are once again pushing to cut songwriter pay.