(Hypebot) – The non-profit Artist Rights Alliance (ARA) has named an advisory council. The 93 member Music Council will provide advisory input and support the awareness of key issues facing content creators.
Jason Isbell, Bette Midler, Cassandra Wilson, Duke Fakir, Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, T Bone Burnett, Sheryl Crow, Keb’ Mo’, Steve Earle, and Joan Osborne are among the founding members.
Artists’ Bill Of Rights
The ARA also released an Artists’ Bill of Rights that outlines fundamental principles and recommendations for today’s music economy. Highlights include fair pay from streaming services, copyright law, political participation, curbing industrial-scale piracy, and reining in big technology platforms that unfairly profit from music.
The ARA also opposes the Liberty Media / iHeartMedia merger.
Tools & Resources
In addition to its advocacy work, one of ARA’s key missions is to provide artists resources and tools. The ARA has set up a new website and artists’ forum to serve as an educational resource, advocacy platform, and meeting place for songwriters and performers to exchange information and organize grassroots activities at https://artistrightsalliance.org
“We are so grateful to our Music Council volunteers who will join with us to advocate for our peers in building a more compassionate and enduring music economy,” said artist member Rosanne Cash. “It has never been easy for independent musicians to earn a living, and it’s indescribably harder today in the current global crisis. We must work together to defend today’s hardworking musicians, and to protect the next generation of artists.”
Board member John McCrea of CAKE adds, “Even before the pandemic, the music economy was teetering on the edge. Technology companies prosper, while musicians are paid micro-pennies per stream, not to mention the loss of funds from touring. This crisis has laid bare what a slender reed our fellow musicians were hanging onto and calls upon us to get work building something new and more humane. ARA has always operated on an artist-to-artist model, connecting, engaging, and empowering each other built on the basic truth that no one will fight for you if you aren’t out there fighting for yourself.”
