Music stars Dave Matthews and Maren Morris are among the founders of a new group that will represent the interests of artists at the federal and state levels, the news site Bloomberg reported Monday.

Unlike other existing music industry advocacy groups, the Music Artists Coalition will focus solely on performers, songwriters and other music creators. The Recording Industry Association of America represents record labels. The National Music Publishers' Association represents music publishers and "their songwriting partners," according to NMPA's website. The Recording Academy—which presents the Grammy Awards—says it "represents the voices of performers, songwriters, producers, engineers and all music professionals."

"Artists don't really have a seat at any table," coalition co-founder Irving Azoff told Bloomberg. "Just the fact that we have a powerful group of people will scare everyone else to the table."

The coalition is currently in the process of hiring a lobbyist to represent artists in D.C. It has formed a list of the top concerns facing artists, including a legal fight by tech companies against a court ruling that boosted royalties for songs played over online streaming services. https://bloom.bg/2yo75Ci