35 STATES IN 35 DAYS: Copyright Alliance hits the road to talk with creators across America
July 26, 2010
WASHINGTON – The Copyright Alliance this summer will embark on an unprecedented 35-state road trip to meet creators at work around the country and talk with them about their endeavors and how copyright keeps them churning out the music, novels, photography and other works their fans love.
Executive Director Patrick Ross will document the road trip at the Alliance’s Creators Across America site,
www.copyrightalliance.org/creators. Launched in May, the site provides a snapshot of the creative diversity in all 50 states and tells the stories of individuals who depend on copyright protection to earn a living through a collection of statistics, videos and blogs.
“Too much of the conversation about copyright and its role in the digital age occurs in Washington among people who don’t have to meet a payroll and who haven’t devoted years and equity to honing a skill and building a business,” Ross said. “We are going to artists where they live and work. We’ll talk with them about their creativity, their jobs, the new opportunities of the digital age, and the increasing burden of protecting their work from theft.
“Creators are speaking out like never before about copyright in the digital age, and we are excited to meet with some of them and provide a platform for their stories.”
More than 12,000 creators signed a letter to President Obama and Vice President Biden last fall urging them to preserve artists’ rights when considering policies that might impact those rights. Hundreds more shared personal stories with the Administration’s new Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel, who sought public comment while she was crafting the nation’s first-of-its-kind strategic plan for enforcing American intellectual property rights.
MORE RESOURCES
Copyright Alliance letter from 12,000+ artists to President Obama and Vice President Biden:
http://www.copyrightalliance.org/letter/index.php
Copyright Alliance blog series highlighting artist filings with the U.S. IPEC:
http://blog.copyrightalliance.org/category/artists_speak_out/
Copyright Alliance YouTube channel of artist videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CopyrightAlliance
ABOUT THE COPYRIGHT ALLIANCE
The Copyright Alliance is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization dedicated to the value of copyright as an agent for creativity, jobs and growth. For more information, please visit http://www.copyrightalliance.org/.
Members of the Copyright Alliance include: American Federation of Musicians; American Federation of Television & Radio Artists; American Intellectual Property Law Association; American Photographic Artists; American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; American Society of Media Photographers; Association of American Publishers; Association of Independent Music Publishers; AT&T; Broadcast Music, Inc.; Business Software Alliance; CBS Corporation; Church Music Publishers Association; Directors Guild of America; Entertainment Software Association; Graphic Artists Guild; Langley Productions; Magazine Publishers of America; Motion Picture Association of America; National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR); National Association of Broadcasters; National Collegiate Athletic Association; National Music Publishers' Association; National Basketball Association Properties, Inc.; NBC Universal; News Corporation; Newspaper Association of America; Picture Archive Council of America; PPL and VPL; Professional Photographers of America; Professional School Photographers Association; Recording Industry Association of America; Reed Elsevier; SESAC; Software & Information Industry Association; Sony Pictures Entertainment; Time Warner; Universal Music Group; Viacom; The Walt Disney Company; and Writers Guild of America, West.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.copyrightalliance.org/
CONTACT: Gayle Osterberg, 202/669-0689