News

Issues surrounding the music industry are heating up, and most stories revolve around the record labels, musicians, congress, consumers, and music pirates. Often lost in the noise is the importance of another major player in the business: the technical folks who make recorded music happen.

To gain visibility, this group formed the Recording Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing (P&E Wing) in 2000 in an effort to provide an organized voice for the creative and technical members of the music industry. The organization says that in those two short years it has become a "driving force in creating and instituting important industry policies and initiatives and continues to play a crucial role in advocacy, royalty participation, standardization, preservation, and recognition of artistic achievement."

The P&E Wing says it has dedicated much of its resources to advocacy since its inception in 2000. That same year, members of the Wing backed the introduction of a bill establishing a National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress, which was the first nationwide effort to preserve American music recordings.

Earlier this year, the P&E Wing, on behalf of its 5000 US members, sent a letter to the House Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, calling on Congress to focus on the role of producers and engineers in the creative process and to address the interests of producers and engineers in copyright-related legislation (including webcasting royalties). The P&E Wing says the letter was co-signed by several big names in the music business and marked the first time producers were heard as "one voice" and recognized on Capitol Hill regarding a matter of public policy.

The P&E Wing says it is also spending its resources defending the intellectual property rights of its members by stressing the importance of producers and engineers in the industry, so that "all members of the recording community are duly compensated for their work, regardless of where or how that work is heard and/or distributed."

To that end, the organization's director, Leslie Lewis, says, "We've been trying to work with the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for more than a year regarding issues that affect the producers' and engineers' contractual share of webcast royalties. Through aggressive organizing, we've worked to ensure that producers will get paid the share of royalties to which they are entitled."

In addition to royalty concerns, the P&E Wing says it is also involved with working out standards for the recording community. It recently presented its Master Recording Delivery Recommendations at a summer trade show, providing recommendations for secure backup, delivery, and archive methodologies (both near and long term) for master recordings.

Other industry issues that have been recognized by the P&E Wing's membership as areas needing some standardization include 5.1 surround sound (including the disputes between the techniques and equipment used to create it, as well as the different techniques and philosophies for its applications) and the creation of a standard contract to help new producers understand the parameters of what they should expect as "newcomers" in the recording industry.

Finally, the organization has pressured the annual Grammy awards into creating more categories recognizing producers and engineers for their achievements. Efforts to date have resulted in 113 awards being presented to producers and engineers this year, a number that the group says reflects a 352% increase from just two years ago.