"The Value of the
American Song"

ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman delivers opening remarks at Songwriter Night on Capitol Hill

It is hard to imagine how the history of American music in the Twentieth Century - the most popular music in the world - would have developed without the strong copyright protection we've had to preserve value and compensate the creator.

Imagine if Irving Berlin couldn't make a living from his music, and just gave it up.

Imagine if Duke Ellington couldn't make a living from his music, and just gave it up.

Imagine if Stevie Wonder couldn't make a living from his music and just gave it up.

While there have been challenges to copyright protection throughout much of the last 92 years, ASCAP, I'm proud to say, has remained vigilant in fighting for that protection. We continue to be engaged in helping you, the decision makers in Washington, strengthen your understanding and respect for our right as creators to make a living from our work.

I am pleased that we have with us tonight so many members of Congress and also some members of the ASCAP Board of Directors - which is made up of 24 members - 12 publishers and 12 writers, of which I am proud to be one — a songwriter.

I'd like to talk for a bit about the often invisible songwriter - either composer, lyricist or anybody who creates words or music…

• Whose staff is five lines on a page and whose bottom line is the note "e."

• Who at the end of the day may not have created something that you could sit on, drive or wear - but has nevertheless created something real, an unforgettable part of our lives, that is protected by U.S. Copyright Law.

• Who sits in front of a pad, a keyboard - (be it a PC or Steinway) waiting for the magic moment when flesh and blood digits hit that keyboard and create something called a song. Someone who faces an empty page and from the factory of his or her mind creates words and music that weren't there before.

• A song: Is there anything that evokes a time, a place, an event, more? We declare our love, we worship, celebrate events, march to war, bury our dead with songs.

A songwriter's voice — which is too often drowned out by those who would seek to infringe upon the rights of those who supply the "content" — which we are told is "king." as much as I bristle at the idea that "Moon River" or "You Are The Sunshine of My Life" are referred to as "content," there is no question that without the words and music created by the songwriter, there would be little to fill the ever-expanding universe of the Internet. I can truly say that songwriters have never written "content." Singers don't sing and musicians don't play "content." They sing and play songs.

Those of us who have spent our lives writing and publishing music understand the great debt we owe to America's lawmakers — past and present. Our founders, 220 years ago, had the foresight to include a provision in our constitution giving the power to Congress to grant "exclusive rights" to authors to promote the "useful arts." Personally, I view all arts as useful.

Over the years, there have been challenges in the courts and decisions rendered affirming the rights of America's creators to be compensated for the public performance of their works - a right enabling ASCAP to embark upon its task of licensing the music of its members and collecting the royalties due them.

Thirty-one years ago, Congress updated our copyright laws. It included a statement relevant to today's new technological world that would apply to performances on systems, and I quote: "not yet in use or even invented." Congress wisely predicted the future and that future is here.

We hope and trust we can always count on the support of Congress as you and we wrestle with the very complex challenges of today. The challenge before us, I believe, is to apply copyright law to this new digital environment and to apply it creatively, flexibly and fairly. We especially ask that you remember the value of the American song, and what it has meant to the country and the world. And when we speak of value, one of the great jewels of American music is the person we honor tonight: Stevie Wonder.


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