Paul Williams

The Creative Constant

A changing industry must not lose sight of creativity's essential contribution – and what creative people need to thrive

By ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams

The following editorial appeared in the September 12 issue of Billboard Magazine

I've been writing songs for most of my life. I know firsthand the many challenging steps it takes for a song to reach a wide audience of people. In the early years of my forty-plus years of writing I benefited from the care and expertise of a world class publisher, a record company that fostered the dreams and creative choices of their artists, and a publicity/promotion machine that made the consumers aware of what I had to offer. For many talented young writers beginning their careers today the landscape has changed dramatically.

Almost everything in the process is different. The recording of music, its delivery and promotion, the multitude of ways it can be enjoyed on a variety of wonderful devices make music available to a larger, more fractionalized audience. Business models continue to change as the world is able to access, discover and experience music like never before. The net is the brave new world and at every click of the mouse music scores the journey. As a result, billions of dollars change hands as companies and their executives attract investors, buyers, and advertisers. New devices and distribution models are introduced with increasing frequency while issues critical to the music industry are too often couched in oppositional terms, or too often oversimplified or discussed without regard to the artistic community. It's important to remember that at the headwaters of this grand revenue stream is the writer, perhaps working with headphones because there's a baby sleeping in the next room or a partner that has to get up for work in the morning. Let's continue to honor his or her gift by protecting the right of the music creator to make a viable living with their music.

What remains constant in this whirlwind of change is the art and craft of the creative process. Composers and songwriters have a unique gift – the ability to combine sparks of inspiration, imagination and life experience with talent, hard work, and often a little bit of magic, to create music that touches other people's lives. The music creators' gift is the engine that drives our industry. Its value should never be underestimated.

I am concerned that if music is not fairly valued or compensated, then a successful career in music will be increasingly out of reach. The viability of our industry, and in turn our greater economy, depends upon making sure that young creators have the opportunity to pursue music as a profession, not just a hobby or a vocation.

Today, new creators are expected to master much more than musical or lyrical skill to build a career. It is fast becoming a mandate that they master a host of technical tools not only to record their music, but to distribute and promote it as well. If you are a performer and a composer or songwriter, you can also throw publicist, promoter, merchandiser, webmaster, social networking expert and booking agent into the mix.

Today, like yesterday and one-hundred years before that, music creators need the space and support to free their imagination; to be open and available to that flash of inspiration when it comes out of the blue; to have stretches of time to push through the frustration when inspiration is elusive; to walk away from something, and then return again with a fresh set of ears. But they also must know that their creative work has great worth. Not just to themselves as artists, or to the people whose lives their music will enrich, but to the network of businesses whose bottom lines thrive on their creativity.

Given my vocation, it's not surprising that I often think in terms of themes and refrains. And one recurring refrain revolves around the letter 'C'. 'C' stands for many of the things that have made a difference in my life and career (this is where my work writing for the Muppets comes in handy). 'C' stands for collaboration, for community, for connection, for commitment, and yes, for copyright too – an essential protection that helps turn a passion into a viable living. It was important enough for Alexander Hamilton to include it in our constitution. Let's give it the attention it deserves today.

We must all work together to nurture and support a new generation of songwriters and composers and give them a realistic incentive to pursue a career. This starts with everyone in the distribution chain recognizing that the value of music should be measured at its source–in the act of its creation–when a spark can change the world.