VISIONARY - Music Inc. Magazine
VISIONARY - Music Inc. Magazine
VISIONARY - Music Inc. Magazine
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MUSIC ADVOCACY I BY GREG & GRANT BILLINGS<br />
NAMM, INDUSTRY VOLUNTEERS<br />
BATTLE COUNTERFEITERS<br />
Forty music retailers<br />
and suppliers joined<br />
NAMM in Washington,<br />
D.C., in mid-May<br />
to fight counterfeiting<br />
and promote music education.<br />
During the annual NAMM<br />
Advocacy Fly-In event, industry<br />
personnel had more than<br />
80 meetings with members of<br />
Congress and Department of Education<br />
officials. There, NAMM<br />
and its volunteers sought legislation<br />
to protect manufacturers<br />
and consumers from counterfeit<br />
products and made the case for<br />
stronger support of music programs<br />
in the pending Elementary<br />
and Secondary Education Act<br />
(ESEA) legislation.<br />
“NAMM could not have<br />
chosen a better time to be in<br />
Washington, D.C., this year to<br />
advocate for both music education<br />
and IP [intellectual property]<br />
issues,” said Rick Young, senior<br />
vice president of Yamaha Corp. of<br />
26 I MUSIC INC. I JULY 2011<br />
America. “These topics are on the<br />
minds of our elected representatives<br />
right now, and we may see<br />
some good movement on ESEA<br />
reauthorization and IP legislation<br />
in 2011 and 2012.”<br />
FIGHTING FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY<br />
Jim D’Addario, chairman and<br />
CEO of D’Addario, spearheaded<br />
the Fly-In’s IP advocacy efforts<br />
and said counterfeiters pose “a<br />
serious long-term threat” to his<br />
company’s brand equity.<br />
“Based primarily in China, the<br />
counterfeiters have gotten very<br />
good at duplicating packaging<br />
for products like ours,” he said.<br />
“Unfortunately, they have paid<br />
more attention to the ‘cover of<br />
the book’ and not the contents.<br />
The quality of strings they put in<br />
packages with our brand name<br />
and a made-in-the-U.S.A. marking<br />
is grossly inferior — in fact,<br />
defective. As these products make<br />
their way into markets around<br />
the world, they will erode our<br />
brand equity.”<br />
He added that this is a global<br />
issue that affects all music product<br />
companies, not just string<br />
manufacturers.<br />
“NAMM has always been focused<br />
on making sure that Congress<br />
recognizes the importance<br />
and value of music education<br />
to our industry and society as a<br />
whole,” said Barbara Wight, chief<br />
financial officer of Taylor Guitars.<br />
“This year, we added a second<br />
message about the importance of<br />
intellectual property protection<br />
and the role that IP plays in jobs<br />
and economic security for our<br />
industry. Both of these messages<br />
were heard loud and clear by our<br />
lawmakers.”<br />
CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT<br />
NAMM also got help from<br />
some big names, including<br />
former New York Yankee Bernie<br />
Williams, who joined in the<br />
NAMM’s advocacy team at this year’s Fly-In event<br />
advocacy process. Tony Bennett<br />
and Gavin DeGraw spoke about<br />
the importance of music and arts<br />
education at a reception co-hosted<br />
by NAMM and the VH1 Save the<br />
<strong>Music</strong> Foundation.<br />
“We had tremendous visits<br />
and speeches with Gavin De-<br />
Graw and Tony Bennett, who<br />
movingly lent their weight to<br />
our advocacy goals,” said Brian<br />
Reardon, owner of Monster<br />
<strong>Music</strong> in Levittown, N.Y. “But<br />
then Bernie [Williams] took to<br />
the podium — no bat, no guitar<br />
this time — just his words, and<br />
they will never leave me. As he<br />
stood before this room of NAMM<br />
delegates, congressional staffers<br />
and members of Congress, Bernie<br />
was reflecting on the day we had<br />
just completed. He adjusted the<br />
microphone and said, ‘Today, I<br />
have just spent one of the coolest<br />
days of my entire life.’ This<br />
four-time World Series champ<br />
and Grammy nominee expressing