Songwriters and composers are the people without whom the entire digital music industry would not exist. Without us, there are no lyrics or melodies to stream, download or trade. Without our music -- the music our fans want to listen to with the same passion we bring to the writing process -- there would be no reason for the new technology to exist, whether it be an iPod or a P2P enterprise.

The future of musical creativity depends upon strong copyright laws, those laws that enable us to make a living from our creative work. Yet, some of the business and technology interests that rely on our work for their business models are trying to weaken copyright laws.

Why are they doing this? Simple. They want to build their businesses and their profits by getting our music for free or for as little as possible. And you can bet that they have no intention of passing on the notion of “free” to their advertisers or consumers, our music fans.

What amazes me is how the technology interests and some misguided academics who support them, are trying to dupe creators with a campaign of total misinformation. They are trying to convince us that giving our music away to enterprises that plan to make a profit from our music is somehow in our best interest.

As creators and communicators, we have to call their bluff and redefine the terms of the policy debates. When they say, “content,” remind them it’s “our music.” When the enemies of copyright say, “file sharing,” ask them when “stealing” became “sharing.” When they say we have to “balance” copyright with the “public interest,” remind them that creators and the public are on the same page. Remind them what James Madison, the father of our Constitution, wrote about copyright protection: the property rights of creators and the public interest “fully coincide.” It is those who want to exploit our creative property for their own profit with whom we take issue.

As songwriters and composers, we have to be wary of the well-spoken hucksters out there trying to trick us out of the most fundamental right we have, the right to control the uses of our own work, and the right to be fairly paid for those uses.

We must continue to raise our own voices in defense of our own rights, especially at this crucial time when there is such heated interest in Congress and in the Courts about copyright protection and efforts are being made in Congress to undermine our rights and our livelihoods.

We must make it clear that we welcome technological innovation. ASCAP has embraced every new technological breakthrough that has allowed greater numbers of the public to enjoy our musical creations, but with one condition: that our members have the right to control the uses of their works, and the right to be paid fairly for the commercial exploitation of their music. In that sense, the Internet is no different from any other innovation that facilitates the public performance of our members’ music. Yes, we want it to work, and, yes, we believe our members should be compensated for the use of their music. ASCAP has been successfully licensing the performance of our members’ music online since 1995, and is the first U.S. performing rights organization to distribute royalties for performances on the Internet.

As music creators, we have the most to lose from an erosion of copyright protection. Whether you are a new writer just starting out or one of the most successful in your field, your future and that of all your fellow music creators depends on your helping ASCAP convey the right message to our lawmakers. With your help, ASCAP will remain the strongest leader in protecting your right to control your copyrights. Together, we can make our voices heard.

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