The man in charge of the Grammys says the time is right for US record companies to start finding their way into China and Chinese music but the issue of copyright and artists’ royalties has to be addressed directly.
In China to attend an unofficial ‘Night of Fortune-Grammy Superstars Concert,’ Neil Portnow, current president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), dropped by Beijing to discuss the upcoming show and his plans in China.
“This is my fifth visit,” Portnow said, explaining that he was first invited by pianist Lang Lang at the Beijing Olympics. “The Grammys are seen in 200 countries, so it’s not unusual.
“This is an amazing country, with so much culture, music and art, that we have to find a way to come together to celebrate them.” The Chengdu concert features such legendary luminaries as Leo Sayer, Michael Bolton and Yolanda Adams but Portnow stressed that, although all the artists were Grammy nominees, this was not an ‘official’ Grammy concert.
“I was invited to a Fortune 500 concert in Chengdu,” Portnow recalled. “When people found out, they decided to separately organize a concert for Grammy nominees and winners. It’s a beautiful opportunity to share music with Chinese artists.”
Asked for his thoughts on Chinese music, Portnow, dressed in a suit with his trademark owlish Lennon-style spectacles, cited Yo Yo Ma’s 17 Grammy awards and 23 nominations and described him as a “force of nature.” NARAS chief business development officer Branden Chapman added his thoughts on more modern styles, saying, “We’ve started to learn more about rock and pop. We paired Lang Lang with Herbie Hancock [at a concert], which showed American audiences how we can have cultural exchange with China.”
In a recent article for Politico.com, though, Portnow raised three key points as to why ‘creators’ (essentially, musical artists or those who create musical ‘content’) need copyright protection: “Creators should receive fair compensation for their work when it is exploited”; “A right is meaningless without reasonable enforcement”; “Freedom of expression depends on copyright.”
It’s a great case, but these points are still largely moot in China. In the US, there is a great deal of infrastructure to protect artists’ rights that doesn’t exist and, at the moment, there is no motivation to support one. At best, the system is pretty murky – nobody is clear who is being paid and how much for their content. Online content providers supposedly pay out royalties, but nobody knows the exact figures.
We asked Portnow if creative protection can exist in a copyright environment that is decades behind anything close to what the US has in place now?
“It’s a very important question and is a worldwide issue,” Portnow replied. “Here in China, the record from our viewpoint has not been wonderful. However, we’re seeing a change in attitude (see p. 32) and it’ll be interesting to see the Obama-Xi summit affects this issue – it sets the stage and tone for discussion at other levels of government.”
He offered a personal view as to why he sees this issue as important. Growing up in New York, Portnow played bass guitar in a high-school rock band, The Savages – they released the 45rpm ‘Cheating on me’/’Best thing you ever had’ on Red Fox Records but did not achieve serious commercial success – where he learned first-hand the importance of getting paid. “If I didn’t get paid, I would have had to do something else.
“Our artists have to get paid to do what they do or they have to do something else. If everybody has to do something else, it would be a very quiet world.”
Portnow sees better education – on the rights and wrongs of piracy – law enforcement, and co-operation with tech companies as being the three key solutions. “The public sometimes think the big stars have enough money. But the reality is, there are hundreds of other people involved – and if there’s no money being paid, how can they earn a living?”
But if China is potentially the world’s largest music market, you can bet that, when there is money to be made, the talent will quickly and surely follow.
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