year-plus existence, the Association of Music Producers (AMP) has already made its mark on several fronts. These include entering into a strategic alliance with the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (SHOOT, 4/14/00); successfully lobbying for the elimination of the so-called royalties cap (SHOOT, 10/16/98), which was at one time imposed by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP); and supporting the election of the first commercial music composer to the ASCAP board (SHOOT, 3/26/99).
Now another organization is bidding to make a positive impact on the music industry business scene. Comprised primarily of music libraries as well as music publishers and composers, the Production Music Association (PMA) is in a sense the pre-recorded production music counterpart to AMP. Launched last October, the PMA sees itself as complementing the efforts of AMP. In fact, several AMP members are also part of PMA’s rank and file. One such dual member is AMP’s West Coast chapter president Dain Blair, creative director/founder of Los Angeles-headquartered music and sound design house Groove Addicts. Blair has also come aboard PMA in his capacity as a principal in the Who Did That Music? Library, Los Angeles.
"There’s a place for both AMP and PMA, and there are areas where the two can work together to pursue common interests," relates Blair, citing ASCAP royalties reform as an example. Just as many spot music composers feel their work is undervalued in the ASCAP system, as compared to the work of their feature and other longform counterparts, so do music libraries feel that writers and publishers of background music, for example, are receiving short shrift.
In response to ASCAP’s recent rate decreases for theme and background music in television programs, the PMA filed a protest in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, this past May. The federal tribunal, known in the industry as "rate court," oversees ASCAP. Court approval of new royalties rate programs is required before ASCAP can institute them.
Though the judge rejected its protest, the PMA feels it gained the court’s ear and may have found a forum in which to voice future objections. While individuals have voiced their concerns in rate court, it’s believed that the PMA is the first organization representing a collection of music companies to do so. PMA board chairman Mike Dowdle, president of Salt Lake City-based Non Stop Music Library, feels that incurring the expense of legal counsel was worthwhile in this case.
"The rate court could prove to be a viable avenue for us to pursue some form of relief," says Dowdle. He explains that the Zomba Group of Companies, London and New York, spearheaded the PMA case in rate court. Zomba is a PMA member house. Paul Katz of Zomba’s New York operation serves as head of the PMA’s performing rights committee.
