Grammy Creators Alliance adds star power to lobbying battle

Buried amid the pageantry of Sunday's Grammy Awards was an announcement likely to add more fuel to the fire in the fight between musicians and online music streaming services such as Pandora: the creation of a new coalition to advocate for better music royalties.

The Grammy Creators Alliance was announced during the ceremony by Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow and singer Jennifer Hudson. The mission of the new nonprofit is to lobby Congress "to ensure fairness for future generations of artists," according to its website. Primarily that will mean advocating for higher royalties when their music is streamed online or on satellite radio.

"What if we're all watching the Grammys a few years from now, and there's no Best New Artist award because there aren't enough talented artists or songwriters who are actually able to make a living from their craft?" Portnow said. "Could that really happen? Or more importantly, could any of us ever let that happen?" http://bit.ly/1zT2zW5

Music publishers and artists have long complained that royalties paid by services such as Pandora are too low. Pandora, for its part, has argued royalties are too high. A lawsuit brought by the company against the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers has so far failed to settle the dispute, with a federal judge ruling last year to leave current royalties intact. http://nyti.ms/TKl276

The Grammy Creators Alliance will bring star power to the lobbying battle, with founding members including such high-profile artists like Adam Levin, Alicia Keys, Lady Antebellum and Steven Tyler. The coalition will join groups like the National Music Publishers Association and the Recording Industry Association of America, the latter of which sued Pandora last year for refusing to pay royalties for songs recorded before 1972. (RIAA has a filed similar lawsuit against satellite radio provider SiriusXM.)

Opposing them will be tech industry associations such as the Consumer Electronics Association, which argues the current royalty system is outdated and forces Internet services to pay higher fees than their competitors. And a few days before Grammy Awards, Pandora announced it had joined the Internet Association, a relatively new trade group representing Internet-based businesses.

"Pandora's perspective will add tremendous value as we educate policymakers and advocate for policies that promote innovation and growth in the Internet economy," Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman said. http://bit.ly/1DFJMOR