NASHVILLE, TN. (GMA/ Gospel
Music Association) - While the Gospel
Music Association (GMA) is handing out its highest honors tonight in Nashville, the music being celebrated with Dove Awards will be stolen thousand of times through illegal peer-to-peer networks.
John W. Styll, president of the GMA and executive producer of the 36th Annual GMA
Music Awards, will remind the audience of artists, songwriters, musicians, producers and music fans at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, that gospel music has a great stake in the ongoing battle to eliminate music piracy, a fight currently being waged in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The text of Styll's comments:
"I'd like to pose a question: Is it wrong to take something that is not yours? Even a 5-year-old knows the answer: 'Of course, it's wrong.'
That is the bottom-line principle of music piracy. If you download music using the Internet without paying to do so, you are robbing its creators of the right to make a living-and that includes every artist nominated for an award tonight.
Every time you participate in file-sharing or connect with businesses who encourage and profit from such downloading, you are making an intentional decision to do something that is just plain wrong.
Yes, there are plenty of rationalizations: 'I don't do it that much.' 'It's just one song or one album.' 'That artist probably makes a lot of money.' Or the old standby: 'Everybody does it.'
But the truth is that 'millions of wrongs don't make it right.' What may appear to be free actually comes with a very heavy price. It cuts short the careers of artists and others who can't make ends meet. It hits record companies who don't have the money to invest in new artists because of the losses they experience every day through music theft. And ultimately it is an attack on all of us who enjoy music. As piracy increases, the financial resources to create new music decreases. And when new music is silenced, we all lose.
To those of you who work in the music industry, please know that the GMA is fully supportive of all efforts to protect what is rightfully yours. We pledge to continue to advocate on your behalf-both to the government and to the general public.
And to those of you who enjoy owning and listening to music, I make this appeal: I ask you to take a stand to protect the rights of the music community, including the artists whose music you are passionate about. Please, don't be a thief. Protect the music."
The GMA has been a vocal supporter of music industry efforts against music piracy. Last year, the GMA and Barna Research Group reported on a study which showed that nearly 80 percent of Christian teens were illegally downloading and copying music, a trend that has coincided with a downturn in gospel music sales.
The Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments in late March on "MGM vs. Grokster," the lawsuit brought by music and movie companies that will decide the legality of Internet file-sharing networks that let users exchange free copies of copyrighted movies and songs. The lawsuit was brought by 28 of the world's largest entertainment companies against the makers of the Morpheus, Grokster, and KaZaA software products. The entertainment companies petitioned the Supreme Court to take the case after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August that file-sharing companies are not liable for their users' copyright infringement. The decision upheld a lower-court ruling from April 2003.
Asking the Supreme Court to reaffirm the fundamental principles of the protection of private property, including intellectual property, the GMA joined the unprecedented coalition of movie and music organizations through the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in signing the friend of the court briefs filed for the Supreme Court case. The Supreme Court's ruling is expected in June.
The 36th Annual GMA Music Awards will be televised in national syndication in June by Central City Productions of Chicago, Ill., with an expected audience reach of at least 75 percent of U.S. television households. Top nominees for Dove Awards include Switchfoot, Casting Crowns, The Crabb Family, Michael W. Smith, MercyMe and Israel Houghton.
Founded in 1964, the 4,500-member Gospel Music Association is dedicated to exposing, promoting and celebrating the gospel through music. The GMA represents all styles of gospel music including contemporary pop, rock, urban gospel, praise & worship, Southern gospel, country and children's gospel music.
The GMA produces the GMA Music Awards, which recognizes achievement in all genres of gospel music and are voted on by members of the GMA.
