Protect the Future of Your Music: Help NSAI & Congress Fight Piracy

To most of us music is like air. It floats all around us as
we move from car to store to office to home. We really
don’t think about it much unless it’s really good or
really bad. But if we’re hiking up a beautiful mountain
trail, looking at a breathtaking view, and taking in the
sweet fresh pine scented air, we notice it’s special. It
moves us. If you hear “I Hope You Dance,” and your
little girl’s first ballet recital comes to mind, you
might tear up. If you hear “The Boys of Fall” coming
home from your son’s first high school football triumph,
you may get a lump in your throat.

A few decades back—within my memory, maybe not yours—our
air and water got pretty crummy in some places. In some
countries it’s still bad and getting worse. But in
America we got together and did something about it, because
our bodies and our spirits needed good clean air and water.
So we pitched in and made it happen.

There’s never been a time when the American spirit and
economy needed great songs and inspiring music and powerful
films and life changing books more. So we have to do the
same thing now, pull together to make sure the creators of
our precious intellectual property can survive. It’s both
an economic and a spiritual issue.

There is a bill before congress called the Protect IP
(Intellectual Property) Act. It allows our law enforcement
agencies to shut down the most egregious pirate websites,
who deal primarily in stolen American products, music and
songs. These sites fool Americans and others around the
world into thinking they’re paying for music when not a
penny ever comes back to the creators. And they profit from
American advertisers like cruise lines, lumber companies,
even the U.S. Postal Service! We must all ask our Senators
and Representatives in Congress to support the Protect IP
Act. It protects American jobs, promotes our creative
industries, and costs the taxpayers nothing.

The music business is less than half the size it was a
decade ago. Music has given me a wonderful career as a
songwriter and supported my family, but I don’t think it
would if I started over today. The unintended consequences
of technology have devastated writers’ and artists’ ability
to make a living.

The Internet is our superhighway for commerce, culture and
information. Its benefit to all of us is spectacular. But
we can’t let multi-billion dollar Internet companies
prevent us from making it a place that nurtures creativity
and innovation, just so they can make even more money. We
got together as a country and got a handle on making sure we
had clean air and water. It’s time for Americans to get
together and make sure we still lead the world in music and
films and books as well. Support the Protect IP Act. Call
or write your representative.



By: Steve Bogard
President of the Board – NSAI

About Author: Steve Bogard has written nine number one
country songs among 18 ASCAP or BMI award winners
including George Strait’s, “Carried Away” and “Carrying
Your Love with Me,” and Rascal Flatts’ career breaker,
”Prayin’ For Daylight.” Total sales of albums containing
Bogard songs are over seventy million units. He has had two
Grammy nominations for Best Country Song and has produced
nine major-label album projects for Arista, Virgin, Lyric
Street and Sony.

Several years ago Steve was elected to the board of the
Nashville Songwriter’s Association International and has
been NSAI President since 2006. He is currently working
closely with the NMPA, DiMA, the RIAA, BMI and ASCAP on
pending and future legislation affecting songwriters’
rights to digital income, covering subscription services,
tethered downloads, satellite radio devices, and future
digital uses of music. Steve is the witness representing
songwriters at the Copyright Royalty Board rate setting
proceeding.

Steve Bogard serves on the Board of Directors of the CMA,
the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation and
MyWerx, voted one of Billboard Magazine’s top ten tech
startups of 2010. A former Board Member of the Academy of
Country Music, Steve is a 1995 graduate of Leadership Music,
served on ASCAP’s Southern Writer’s Advisory Board, and has
hosted the ASCAP Song Seminar. He is a member of the ACM
and The Recording Academy.



What’s happening at NSAI:

Interactive Song Evaluations | NSAI offers you the opportunity to interact via Skype, with an NSAI Song Evaluator without having to leave your home. Visit the NSAI website to sign up today!

New Membership Applications are being taken through the end of the year. Decide today to invest in yourself and your music. Visit the NSAI website to join and get your music heard!

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