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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sam Sokol
sam@lawmedia.net
(202) 748-5343
musicFIRST on the "mic" coalition:
"A new bottle for the same old artist-stiffing wine"
musicFIRST Executive Director Ted Kalo released the following statement in response to the "mic"
coalition announcement today:
"The supposedly new 'mic' coalition looks like little more than some of the world's biggest and
wealthiest corporations — and the trade associations they fund — hiding behind a new website and a
gauzy mission statement as they continue their campaign to deny fair pay to working musicians, to
stiff artists on AM/FM radio, and to ignore the pleas of elderly performers seeking their due.
"The mic group claims to support balanced solutions so that 'artists can be compensated' for music.
But you cannot pretend to support that while opposing an AM/FM performance right as mic member
the NAB most surely does. They claim to support innovation in how consumers find and access
music — but will they stand up for a level fair market value playing field so music services compete
on the merits, and not on the strength of their loopholes? They say they want the music ecosystem to
grow — should it grow enough to include artists like Percy Sledge, who we lost this month just days
after artists like Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello, and Duke Fakir called out mic members like Pandora
for refusing to pay him for his work?
"They can't hide their true agenda behind lofty statements of principle when their actions speak so
loud and clear. And they can't beat the people who create music and those who love it in the drive
for Fair Play Fair Pay."
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