[FC-discuss] RIAA Astro Turfing

Thu Jan 15 15:54:27 EST 2009

Good points, Ben, I went back and forth on the issue of whether to call it
astro-turfing.

Maybe the astroturf isn't exactly shag deep (a low pile depth for those
carpet aficionados) but I have a hard time thinking of an organization like
the RIAA calling any campaign they organize "grass roots."

Wikipedia's grassroots defintion (had to look this up for myself):

A *grassroots* movement (often referenced in the context of a political
movement <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_movement>) is one driven by
the constituents
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituent_%28politics%29>of a
community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the
group supporting it is natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences
between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power
structures. Often, grassroots movements are at the local level, as many
volunteers in the community give their time to support the local party,
which can lead to helping the national party. For instance, a grassroots
movement can lead to significant voter registration for a political party,
which in turn helps the state and national parties.

And Astroturf:

*Astroturfing* in American English is a
neologism<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism>for formal public
relations <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations> campaigns in
politics <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics> and
advertising<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising>which seek to
create the impression of being spontaneous "
grassroots <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grassroots>" behavior, hence the
reference to the artificial
grass<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_turf>,
AstroTurf <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AstroTurf>.

The goal of such a campaign is to disguise the efforts of a political or
commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some political
entity—a politician, political group, product, service or event.
Astroturfers attempt to orchestrate the actions of apparently diverse and
geographically distributed individuals, by both overt ("outreach",
"awareness", etc.) and covert
(disinformation<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation>)
means. Astroturfing may be undertaken by an individual pushing a personal
agenda or highly organized professional groups with financial backing from
large corporations, non-profits, or activist organizations. Very often the
efforts are conducted by political consultants who also specialize in
opposition
research <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_research>.

I think the part that most throws this off is the fact that the RIAA is not
being covert. That's fine, but its still not a grass roots campaign, and I
do still think it reeks of astroturfing.

F

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On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 3:43 PM, Ben Miller-Jacobson <
bmillerjacobson at gmail.com> wrote:

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> To me at least, there doesn't appear to be anything definitively
> indicating that astro turfing is their sole intent. I may be misreading
> this and/or crediting them with too much honesty, but it sounded like
> they are at least in part trying to encourage the formation of their own
> real grass roots movement (which, of course, will be unsuccessful
> because people who aren't involved in the recording industry and care
> enough to pick sides would probably tend to side with us by a wide
> margin). Of course, how much support and encouragement does a grass
> roots movement has to get before it is  basically astro-turfing? The
> border can be blurry in such cases. Is it astro turfing, bad tactics
> based on false premises, or a mixture? Only time will tell, perhaps.
> Otherwise, I agree completely with your analysis of the situation.
>
>
>
> Fred Benenson wrote:
> > I just got this forwarded from a friend with a friend inside the music
> > industry.
> >
> > The basic story is the RIAA  + Co. is trying to astroturf support for
> > terrestrial radio royalties on recorded albums (radio stations already
> > pay ASCAP for song writing royalties but do not have to pay the record
> > companies who own the copyrights to the recordings of the songs, if that
> > makes sense.)
> >
> > For the last 80 years, the record companies were have been paying radio
> > stations (see: Payola) to play their music as it was their only form of
> > advertising for the physical records. Now that record sales are down
> > they see it as "unfair" and a "copyright law loophole" that radio
> > stations have never paid royalties to recording artists.
> >
> > If anything this demonstrates the obvious demand for freely licensed
> > media, and I think it presents a valuable example of why AM/FM radio
> > stations need to look into supporting artists that want their music
> shared.
> >
> > Also, broadcasters have an interest in keeping costs low and having to
> > pay a royalty rate (similar to how webcasters now must through
> > SoundExchange) would probably debilitatingly alter their business models.
> >
> >
> > F
> >
> >
> > ~~~
> >
> >
> > Subject:* Grassroots Campaign For Public Performance Right
> >
> > Dear Colleagues:
> >
> > As you may know, music companies do not get paid for the performance of
> > our recordings on terrestrial radio.  That means that despite all of the
> > hard work and financial investment that we put into these recordings,
> > from a radio perspective, the publishers are the only interested music
> > parties that get paid.  The United States is virtually alone in this
> > regard.  Record labels almost everywhere else in the world get paid for
> > the public performance of their recordings.
> >
> >
> >
> > Now, for the first time, it looks like we have a shot to change this
> > which could mean several hundred million dollars to our industry each
> > year.   Sony Music Entertainment and other record companies recently
> > joined with the artist community to launch a major campaign to convince
> > Congress to enact a "performance right" law in the United States,
> > ensuring that recording artists and labels will be paid a royalty when
> > our music is played on over-the-air broadcast radio.  Our effort made
> > substantial progress in 2008.  The musicFIRST Coalition - which includes
> > RAC, AFM, AFTRA, NARAS, the indies and major labels -- is organized and
> > funded (www.musicfirstcoalition.org <http://www.musicfirstcoalition.org>
> > <http://www.musicfirstcoalition.org/>).   Congress is starting to
> > understand that the current law is unfair, as most other developed
> > nations do have a broadcast performance right for artists and record
> > labels, and even in this country all other types of radio (satellite,
> > internet, and cable) do pay for the right to play music.
> >
> >
> >
> > 2009 is a critical year of opportunity in Congress, and we need to push
> > our campaign forward with everything we have.
> >
> >
> >
> > As you would expect, we face strong opposition from the broadcaster
> > lobby, which has political ties in every congressional district in the
> > country and has defeated similar legislation many times over the past 80
> > years.  To succeed in this campaign we need to ratchet up our grassroots
> > lobbying effort across the country so that the issue is seen as one
> > pitting a few broadcasters against a much larger and more determined
> > community of music professionals.
> >
> >
> >
> > This is where you come in.  The musicFIRST Coalition is creating a
> > number of local, grassroots groups around the country to show that there
> > is broad-based support for the performance right nationwide, and we have
> > been asked to help build a large membership roster for these groups.
> > Will you lend your name to this effort?
> >
> >
> >
> > As Sony Music employees you are eligible to join any of the following
> > groups:
> >
> >
> >
> > ·       Your local Chapter of the musicFIRST Coalition (for example, the
> > Miami Chapter), which is open to anyone supportive of the performance
> > right campaign
> >
> >
> >
> > ·       The Alliance of Music Investors, which is open to artists and
> > employees of any label, major and indie
> >
> >
> >
> > ·       Your local Coalition of Music Professionals, which is open to
> > anyone making their living in the music business
> >
> >
> >
> > We ask that you consider joining one of these groups.   Agreeing to do
> > so means lending your name to a committee that will write to Members of
> > Congress about this specific issue. You will be given a chance to review
> > drafted letters before they are sent, with an understanding that you'll
> > have 24 hours to respond by email if you do not want to be included as a
> > signatory on any particular letter.  You might also be asked to make an
> > occasional call or send an email to Members of Congress, if you are
> > willing.  Finally -- and only if you wish to participate -- there may be
> > a meeting or two with members of the relevant Congressional delegation
> > when they are in your area.
> >
> > If you are willing to help, please send an email to Deirdre McDonald,
> > our SVP of Industry and Government Relations, at
> > deirdre.mcdonald at sonymusic.com <mailto:deirdre.mcdonald at sonymusic.com>
> > <mailto:deirdre.mcdonald at sonymusic.com
> > <mailto:deirdre.mcdonald at sonymusic.com>>
> > .  Please include your current title and name as you'd like it to be
> > listed - as well as your home zip code (so we can identify your
> > Congressional Representative).   Unless you have a particular
> > preference, you will be assigned to the group(s) where you are most
> > needed so that we have a balance of majors, indies, unions and other
> > coalition members on each piece of correspondence.
> >
> > Please share this with your colleagues and ask them to participate as
> > well.  With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake we want to show
> > support from across our company in every location around the country.
> > Also, if you would like Deirdre to spend five minutes at your next staff
> > meeting discussing the campaign in further detail, she would be happy to
> > do so.
> >
> > To succeed in this campaign, we need everyone's help.  Please feel free
> > to call Deirdre at (212) 833-4202 if you have questions or concerns.
> >
> > Thank you so much for your help.
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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