In its relatively brief two-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, p. 1); successfully lobbying for the elimination of the so-called royalties cap (SHOOT, 10/16/98, p. 1), 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, p. 1).
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.
Implications
While PMA’s "rate court" action was in reference to weighting of royalties for background music in TV programs, it’s conceivable that the PMA will also advocate causes related to commercial music. This again underscores possible common ground between PMA and AMP.
The PMA has set an agenda that includes:
·Working with performing rights organizations, legislators, legal counsel and broadcasters to improve monitoring, reporting, collection and distribution of royalties and performance fees for its member companies.
·Providing its members with a forum in which to discuss common interests and develop methods of addressing concerns.
·Educating members and the marketplace about music rights and other issues affecting the commercial music library and publishing industry.
·And raising awareness of production music and enhancing the value of PMA members’ music through education, research and communication.
"The use of production [library] music is growing at an alarming rate, and the trend continues to spiral upward," says Dowdle. "We in the production music industry operate in an international marketplace in many arenas—music, advertising, broadcast, publishing, and film. The need for us to come together as an industry is imperative. The Production Music Association will be a forum that will allow us to do that."
Doug Wood, the earlier-alluded-to commercial music composer who’s on the ASCAP board, concurs that the PMA serves a distinct purpose. Though he is not a member of AMP or PMA, Wood—a partner in Port Washington, N.Y.-based OmniMusic—notes that just as AMP has given focus to jingle producers, PMA may provide focus relative to the needs of the pre-recorded music industry. Wood recalls that personalities and other stumbling blocks got in the way of past efforts to organize this segment of the music community. But "a new breed of music library people seems to have taken charge and sees the big picture, the greater good of forming an association," observes Wood, citing such PMA movers as Dowdle and Randy Wachtler, president/ CEO of 615 Music Library, Nashville, Tenn.
Dowdle adds that Non-Stop is another house with a foot in both the AMP and PMA camps. He notes that Randy Thornton, president of Non-Stop Productions, serves on AMP’s West Coast board. Non-Stop Productions, also based in Salt Lake City, is a sister shop to the Non-Stop Music Library.
At press time, the PMA had about 20 members—and counting. Its company rank and file includes: Non-Stop; 615 Music Library; Manhattan Production Music, New York; Megatrax Production Music, Hollywood; Killer Tracks, Hollywood; the aforementioned Zomba; VideoHelper, New York; Network Music, Inc., San Diego; SLP Productions, New York; and bicoastal Litchfield Entertainment. Membership in PMA is open to those companies, individuals and organizations engaged in the creation, publication, recording or use of production music.
The PMA board meets quarterly, and plans call for members to meet annually during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas.
Several of the aforementioned member companies also have a business relationship. For example, 615 Music Library, Manhattan Production Music, Megatrax, Non-Stop Music Library and VideoHelper recently teamed to form LibraryTracks.com, an Internet site that will provide assorted production music library services to a worldwide audience. Slated to launch this month, the site will use Microsoft ASF (audio streaming format) to allow visitors to stream, audition and digitally download available music. The LibraryTracks.com site will link to all five companies’ sites and the LibraryTracks.com search engine will operate across all catalogues. LibraryTracks.com will work with a technology provider to digitally watermark all music in the libraries for ease of performance and use reporting through ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. r
—additional reporting by Robert Goldrich
