Songwriters Call On Senators To Support The Music Modernization Act During 'Stand With Songwriters' Advocacy Day

Award-winning songwriters will convene on Capitol Hill tomorrow, May 17, to meet with elected officials as part of the annual American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers' (ASCAP) "Stand with Songwriters" Advocacy Day. They will ask senators to cosponsor the Music Modernization Act, the bipartisan music reform bill that passed unanimously in the U.S. House of Representatives on April 25 and was recently reintroduced in the Senate.

"While technology has completely transformed the way we listen to music, those who create the songs we love are disadvantaged by laws that prevent them from earning fair compensation in the digital age," said ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams, an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning songwriter."With the Music Modernization Act pending in Congress, we stand at a critical juncture in our fight to protect the livelihoods of songwriters and composers. We urge our legislators to pass this important bill and give the music creators a chance to see the true value of their work."

For too long, songwriters have had to work within an outdated system that over-regulates and undervalues their music. The Music Modernization Act includes key provisions that should ultimately result in compensation that better reflects the true value of music. In their meetings on Capitol Hill, ASCAP members will urge policymakers from across the political spectrum to support this legislation and discuss how these reforms will provide music creators with a more flexible framework that can adapt to the realities of the modern music marketplace.

The meetings will follow tonight's "We Write the Songs" concert at The Library of Congress, sponsored by The ASCAP Foundation.The event features performances by popular ASCAP members who will be introduced by Members of Congress, including Johnt Austin (Mariah Carey, "We Belong Together,"), Brandy Clark (Miranda Lambert's "Mama's Broken Heart"), Mike Love (The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations") Michael McDonald ("Takin' It To The Streets."), Jason Mraz ("I'm Yours") and Suzanne Vega ("Tom's Diner").

ASCAP songwriter and composer advocates on Capitol Hill will include Austin, Clark, Love, Vega and ASCAP songwriter, composer and publisher board members Williams, Joel Beckerman, Richard Bellis, Bruce Broughton, Desmond Child, Dan Foliart, Dean Kay, James Kendrick, Evan Lamberg, Leeds Levy and Michelle Lewis.

About ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP's mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world's best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business - from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With 660,000 members representing more than 11.5 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com

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