[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 30, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1944-E1945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


        THE IMPORTANCE OF ROYALTIES--A SONGWRITER'S PERSPECTIVE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 30, 2001

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, today I am inserting into the Record a 
letter to me from Mr. Lamont Dozier, a fellow Detroiter who rose to the 
top of his profession as an award-winning songwriter, artist, and 
producer. In fact, Mr. Dozier has been so successful that his career 
has lasted for more than four decades, including a stint as a 
songwriter for Motown Records with the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland.
  That success, however, did not come easily. Most people usually think 
of the singer or group who performed the song, not the songwriter or 
composer who wrote it. We easily remember the Supremes and Phil Collins 
when we hear ``Baby Love,'' ``Stop in the Name of Love,'' or ``Two 
Hearts.'' But if we look closely at the liner notes on the albums for 
those songs, we see songwriting credits for none other than Lamont 
Dozier. The Supremes and Phil Collins could never have had those hits 
had it not been for Mr. Dozier and his creativity. In fact, through his 
artistic genius, we can understand the notion (to use the words of 
Frances W. Preston, President and CEO of Broadcast Music, Inc.) that 
``it all starts with a song.''
  In his letter, Mr. Dozier explains the importance of copyrights, 
royalties, and performance rights organizations. The Copyright Act

[[Page E1945]]

gives to songwriters the exclusive rights over the public performance 
and distribution of their copyrighted works--their songs--whether by 
traditional or more modern forms of transmission. That means that a 
songwriter gets paid every time a song is played publicly over the 
radio, television, or by some other means or sells via record or CD. 
Once an album no longer sells like it used to, the payments for public 
performances are the only money that a songwriter, like Mr. Dozier, can 
rely on.
  Because individual songwriters cannot possibly patrol all the 
communications media--radio, television, Internet, etc.--for 
performances of their work, they join performing rights organizations 
(i.e., BMI, SESAC, and ASCAP) to administer their rights. These 
organizations provide a ``blanket'' license for the performance of 
musical works for all types of transmissions and subsequently provide 
payments to songwriters. I am certain that Mr. Dozier speaks for many 
songwriters when he notes that he ``wouldn't be able to survive'' or 
support his family without the performance royalties.
  Mr. Dozier so eloquently describes the importance of intellectual 
property and royalties, that I felt compelled to make public his words 
so that, like his songs, everyone could benefit from them.

                                               September 28, 2001.
     Hon. John Conyers, Jr.,
     Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee, House of 
         Representatives, Rayburn House Office Building, 
         Washington, DC 20515
       Dear Congressman Conyers: I am writing this letter to you 
     on behalf of myself, along with millions of other songwriters 
     who have asked me to be their voice for certain judicial 
     matters regarding songwriters and performance royalties.
       As I am certain you are aware, I am a member of the Detroit 
     songwriting trio, Holland-Dozier-Holland, whose hit songs 
     were written in the 1960's, and those songs today, still 
     remain the tapestry of our country's music, as they are 
     referred to by millions of listeners, as ``feel good music'', 
     and right now more than ever, we all need ``feel good 
     music''.
       Along with the accolades, many awards have been given to me 
     for writing these songs that have in the past sold millions 
     of records, but the most important compensation I have 
     received, is the performance royalties, which through my 
     performing rights society, BMI, have been the life's blood of 
     me and my extended family.
       For over forty-five years, I have been a practicing 
     songwriter who has had some hit songs, and then who has not 
     had some hit songs. When record sales have dried up because 
     age plays a factor in product that sells, or incorrect 
     accountings from Record Companies prevent any payments, the 
     only money that I have been able to count on is from my still 
     current performance royalties which my family lives on from 
     check to check.
       Because I still write everyday, I still hope to have more 
     songs that will create sales and air plays, but in the last 
     several years I have not been lucky enough to make the charts 
     again. However, my older songs are still popular with 
     listeners around the world who choose to listen to certain 
     radio stations that still play these songs. If it were not 
     for those listeners, and BMI sending me those checks, I would 
     not be able to support my mother, brother and sisters in 
     Detroit, my wife and our three children, and to continue to 
     exist in this world with any dignity even though I am not as 
     in demand as a songwriter-producer today at age 60 as I was 
     back in the 1960's.
       If our performance royalties were taken away, it would be 
     in my mind and in the minds of my millions of colleagues, an 
     injustice in our legal system. For we have all worked for 
     years and years and years to provide our country and other 
     countries in the world with positive music to help enhance 
     their lives. Yes, we have been paid for our services, and 
     just like a pension, which a man receives for 40 years of 
     work on an assembly line at a factory, we, too, are due our 
     royalties . . . especially since the record sales, or as 
     referred to in the music industry, ``the mechanicals'' have 
     all but fallen through to nothing with new artist record 
     albums, with internet activity and the downloading of songs, 
     and just the fact that my songs appeal to a certain age 
     bracket of baby-boomers who may not buy the old time record 
     albums anymore, but who still like and enjoy listening to the 
     many radio stations that still play these songs.
       I am forever grateful to these radio stations, their 
     listeners, and to BMI, and to you Congressman Conyers, for 
     helping over the many years to see that songwriters like me 
     are still able to rely upon the earnings from our works to 
     support our families, for without these earnings, I wouldn't 
     even know what kind of job I could do, because all of my life 
     I have worked at being a songwriter, and ever since I was 
     able to get my family and myself out of the Jeffrey Projects 
     in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 16 years old, I have been 
     writing songs and making a living writing songs. Performance 
     income is now the only living that I do earn, although I keep 
     trying to write new songs and try to place them on the likes 
     of Britney Spears and Nsync and Whitney Houston, but perhaps 
     my time has been and gone, and younger songwriters, with 
     their mastery of song and productions, and with their ears 
     more to the streets, have captured these younger artists and 
     modern record companies run by young executives, who don't 
     even know my name hardly recall my contribution in music.
       Still, if it weren't for BMI and performance income, my 
     family would be destitute. We are not receiving any income 
     from mechanicals or sales, as one would call it, only air 
     play. It's not that I am lazy and just sit back and wait for 
     the checks. I try to earn money singing the songs I have made 
     famous for others, but the work is hardly there for a sixty 
     year old man who was never known as a singer, still I try. I 
     still spend money as a self-employed songwriter, in the 
     writing and recording of song demos for new songs and send 
     them out in the hope that someone will like the new ones 
     enough to record them in order to be able to be on the charts 
     again, have current hit songs, breathe new life into my 
     waning career, and have record ``mechanical'' sales and more 
     air play, as I still have three children to put through 
     school who live under my roof, and the usual lifestyle 
     responsibilities that every citizen of the United States has. 
     Perhaps my way of receiving my income seems ``glamorous'' to 
     those that don't understand the business that I am in, as a 
     still practicing songwriter. It is not glamorous to send out 
     several songs a month, and face rejection of those songs, to 
     hear back that you are ``old school'', and to still get up 
     every morning and sit down at the piano and come up with 
     pretty melodies and nice lyrics, and try try again!
       I am thick-skinned, but still it gets to me. If our 
     performance royalties were to be discontinued, I wouldn't be 
     able to survive, neither would all of the people I support, 
     and millions of families just like mine, who rely on their 
     life's works to provide income to them while providing 
     enjoyment to others. Without performance income and BMI, I 
     would be a man with no dignity, who would be homeless and 
     forgotten for my contributions to our country and my 
     contributions world-wide for the songs I wrote that broke 
     down racial barriers and touched people all over the world 
     who know how to sing the songs, even though English is not 
     their first language. This is what makes me exist, and it is 
     with this, that I am able to get up every morning, raise my 
     children to be people with integrity and to urge them to 
     contribute wisely to our country, It is going to take a lot 
     for each and every one of us to keep the faith, and to teach 
     the young ones to be strong and positive. I feel that my 
     music has done that for all of these years, and I feel that I 
     deserve to be compensated for my contributions to millions of 
     lives, even if they are not buying my old records, just 
     listening to my old songs on radio stations that play my 
     music.
       Again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking 
     the time to read my letter, and I hope that it will help you 
     in your crusade to enlighten those who need to know ``what it 
     is like to be a sixty year old songwriter'' who needs to live 
     on BMI performance income.
           Very sincerely yours,
                                            Lamont Herbert Dozier,
                                           Holland-Dozier-Holland.

     

                          ____________________