NMC Statement on the burning of musical instruments in Afghanistan
Our colleagues at the National Music Council of the United States recently released the following statement. It follows BBC news reports of the Taliban burning musical instruments after claiming music “causes moral corruption”. We believe that the freedom to create…
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Independent music creator groups alert US congress to “black box” royalty issue
Fair Trade Music International has joined with MusicAnswers and eight other international music creator groups to alert the US Congress to the hundreds of millions of dollars in the The Mechanical Licensing Collective’s “Black Box”. Most of this was earned…
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Hero of the Song – A songwriter’s perspective on the 2023 Ed Sheeran case
The following article was written by FTMI board member Eddie Schwartz , a multi-award winning songwriter and president of the International Council of Music Creators (CIAM). This text originally appeared at www.ciamcreators.org. “In November of this year, one of…
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Fair Trade Music International signs on to Human Artistry Campaign
Fair Trade Music International has signed on as an official supporter of the Human Artistry Campaign, the international initiative advocating for AI use that empowers and supports human creativity and accomplishment. The campaign lays out seven core principles for artificial…
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Upcoming Event: Symposium on protecting free speech in the global music landscape
On March 3, 2023, FTMI board advisor, Charles Sanders, will be co-hosting an important symposium on political violence against music creators. The event is presented by the National Music Council of the United States and the the International Music Council…
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FTMI endorses comments urging CRB to to reconsider royalty rates for music streaming
Fair Trade Music International has endorsed a submission by the Songwriters Guild of America, Inc., the Society of Composers & Lyricists, Music Creators North America and the individual music creators Rick Carnes and Ashley Irwin to the Copyright Royalty Board…
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Musical culture and economics rest on both speech freedoms and copyright protections
New York, November 19, 2022: With the suppression of artistic freedoms on the rise throughout the world, it remains clear that many governments continue to view the longstanding practice of lashing out against music creators to be an especially effective…
Read More Fair Trade Music releases a songwriters’ guide to the MLC unmatched royalties issue
Fair Trade Music International has released an educational video to help music creators understand and address the MLC unmatched royalty issue. In this two-minute animation, we explain how these unclaimed royalties came about and describe what each creator can do…
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MCNA thanks US Copyright Royalty Board for its positive response to calls for transparency
Our international partners, Music Creators North America announced their elation today at the US Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) positive response to the filings by songwriter George Johnson and MCNA, regarding the dire need for transparency in the mechanical rate setting…
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