Archive:

Songwriters

African songwriter and recording artist Solange Cesarovna joins FTMI advisory board

12 Mar 2024

Appointment strengthens African representation and expertise on advisory team. We are honoured to announce that accomplished artist, lyricist and songwriter, Solange Cesarovna, has joined the Fair Trade Music International advisory board. Solange has played a pivotal role in establishing a…

FTMI welcomes Uruguayan songwriter Diego Drexler to advisory board

05 Mar 2024

Appointment adds Latin America expertise to international team. Fair Trade Music International is delighted to announce that renowned Uruguayan songwriter and recording artist Diego Drexler has joined its advisory board. Diego is a songwriter, recording artist, secretary general of the…

Grammy-winning songwriter Tiffany Red on the battle for equitable publishing

21 Feb 2024

“There are people with Grammys and plaques that can’t pay their rent … it means nothing.” In a video released on 19 February, Grammy-winning songwriter Tiffany Red laid out yet another challenge facing independent music creators today. During the 15…

Winners of FTMI Awards for outstanding contribution to music creator rights announced in Rio de Janeiro

09 Nov 2023

Cape Verdean songwriter Solange Cesarovna and German composer Jörg Evers are award recipients in 2023 10 November 2023 – Rio de Janeiro: Fair Trade Music International (FTMI) has announced Cape Verdean artist, lyricist and songwriter Solange Cesarovna and the late…

NMC Statement on the burning of musical instruments in Afghanistan

06 Aug 2023

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…

Independent music creator groups alert US congress to “black box” royalty issue

18 Jul 2023

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…

Fair Trade Music International signs on to Human Artistry Campaign

12 May 2023

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…

Fair Trade Music releases a songwriters’ guide to the MLC unmatched royalties issue

28 Oct 2022

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…

Independent songwriter groups meet with BMG music publishing

06 Jun 2022

Representatives of the independent American and global music creator communities led by the Songwriters Guild of America, the Society of Composers & Lyricists, and Music Creators North America met with BMG President Thomas Scherer and his team in Los Angeles…

Victory for music creators over frozen mechanical royalties

30 Mar 2022

Our colleagues in the U.S. reported yesterday that the country’s Copyright Royalty Board has rejected the proposal to freeze mechanical and download royalty rates made by corporate giants in the record and music publishing industry. These groups had argued that…