Brewing Up a Tea Party
Remember the Boston Tea Party? Over “No Taxation Without Representation?” It was basically a big riot the American colonists had because the English were imposing laws on them without giving them a seat at the table when the laws were developed and decided upon.
If there had been lobbyists back then, we wouldn’t have had a cry for votes and a big riot, we would have had a coalition, probably called the Coalition of American Colonists with an office in Boston and a field office in London. The Coalition would have voiced an opinion on behalf of all the colonists, some of whom would have felt that the Coalition leaned too far Tory, and maybe even would have uncovered some supposed evidence that the rent for the office in Boston was being paid by a shell company for the King, and then we would have the formation of the True Dirt Farmers of America, and probably a lot of pamphleting around the major cities.
At any rate, that’s how it works today. We may be on our way to another Boston Tea Party over the music distribution and royalty conundrum, or we may be on our way to an explosion of “educational” (which is code for lobbying) groups.
The latest new group is the Featured Artists Coalition. Although based in the UK, it includes international recording artists and has legal issues from both the UK and the USA on its priority issues list. Any performer is invited to join, and membership is free. Hmmm. . . . wonder where the finding is coming from? If tehy plan to do very much lobbying they will need to spend time collecitng input from members, developing statements, and travelling to hearings and meetings of the lawmakers. There’s going to have to be some money somewhere, but I agree with their statement that performers have not been well represented - if at all - in copyright discussions. It’s a necessary addition to an increasingly complicated discussion.
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