NAMM Members Storm Capitol Hill to Battle Counterfeiting and Lobby for Music Education

Recently, a record 40 NAMM Members traveled to Washington D.C. and held more than 103 meetings with Members of Congress to address key music products industry issues of stopping counterfeiting and strengthening music education. NAMM's annual Advocacy Fly-In was four days of education, training, meetings and special events to further the industry's interests.

On Tuesday of the Fly-In event, NAMM and the Department of Education hosted a ukulele and drum circle event celebrating and supporting national school music programs called "Strumming and Drumming for Music Education." DOE policy leaders Jim Shelton, Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Innovation and Improvement; Peter Cunningham, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach; as well as former U.S. Sec. of Education Richard Riley and jazz guitarist/New York Yankee great Bernie Williams were on hand to welcome the NAMM delegates and jam along to a fun ukulele-driven rendtion of "This Land is Your Land."

NAMM President Joe Lamond also presented the DOE with a commemorative patriotic red-white-and-blue-painted ukulele donated by NAMM Member Kala Musical Instruments in appreciation for the Dept.'s ongoing commitment to music/arts education. In accepting the ukulele on behalf of the Department, Cunningham said, "we are 50 million percent in favor of music and arts education in schools. We will work very hard to make sure America embraces the benefits of a full education that includes music and the arts." 

The event concluded with a performance by music students from George Fox and Lime Kiln Middle Schools reminding the NAMM Members and DOE staff of the importance of reaching their goal.

On Wednesday, after a day of Congressional meetings, NAMM, the VH1 Save The Music Foundation and DoSomething.org co-hosted a reception at the U.S. Capitol Building celebrating and supporting national school music programs. Multiple Grammy and Emmy-award winning artist Tony Bennett, founder of Exploring the Arts which provides support for the arts in NYC Public High Schools and the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens was on hand to discuss the importance of school music and art programs:

"We hope to see every public school in the United States have an art program," said Bennett. "And it will be the best thing that ever happened to the United States because the whole premise of art is to search for truth and beauty. And when you give that to the rest of the world, every country will respect us so much. And so I hope you'll help us with that."

Platinum Recording artist and VH1 Save The Music Foundation Ambassador Gavin DeGraw spoke passionately about the impact of a complete education including music and the arts.

"Preserving music in schools is about preserving our culture," said DeGraw.  "When I meet people, I don't share math problems with them. But I do share music because it connects us in a very deep and personal way." Former New York Yankee and Latin Grammy-nominated jazz guitarist Bernie Williams, who spent the day meeting with Members of Congress on behalf of this cause, added, "Music has had a very profound impact in my life.  I was able to incorporate the things I drew from music like dealing with stress, overcoming adversity, into my athletic training and my life.  I also believe that every kid should have the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument and that's why I'm here today."

NAMM Members who participated had good things to say about the experience.  On the Intellectual Property issue, NAMM Member Jim D'Addario took a strong leadership role and helped organize the groups to discuss the topic.

"We had a very dynamic and motivated group of NAMM members advocating on the intellectual property issue in Washington," said D'Addario.  "IP infringement is a critical issue facing all industries and we had virtually unilateral, bipartisan support during our more than 30 visits with Congressmen, Senators and their staff.  This year’s efforts focused around support for a new bill being introduced to streamline the prosecution process required to shutdown rogue websites selling counterfeit goods and/or downloading music, movies and other intellectual property without compensating the intellectual property owners.  As NAMM continues to develop its efforts in this area we hope to expand our advocacy to other initiatives that will help protect our country’s greatest assets—our ideas."

"NAMM's Advocacy Fly-In was empowering, enlightening and very worthwhile," said Lee Holtry, Fender. "The program allowed NAMM to demonstrate its awareness of economic and political developments impacting the MI industry - and their commitment to help members understand, and address those developments. The program is also testament to the value NAMM provides to its members.  By giving members a platform to participate in government, and to speak as one voice to its congressional representatives on issues of common concern, it raises the profile of the industry and the members within it.

"In my opinion, all the NAMM members and associates that attended, recognize that complaining about issues gets them nowhere," said Tom Dolan, QRS Music Technologies.  "So it’s either act or take what’s coming.  NAMM and the advocacy group allowed us to act efficiently, effectively and with one powerful voice. I believe we were heard and positive steps will be taken for our industry.  Thanks for the planning and hard work you put into this."

Cultivating government support of music and arts programs in U.S. public schools continues to be an important issue for NAMM Members and the groups who participated in Congressional meetings on this topic emerged hopeful and energized as well.

“NAMM could not have chosen a better time to be in Washington, D.C. this year to advocate for both music education and IP issues," said Rick Young, Yamaha. "These topics are on the minds of our elected representatives right now and we may see some good movement on ESEA reauthorization and IP legislation in 2011 and 2012. A passionate group of NAMM members supporting education brought our message to many members of Congress and our ongoing relationships should give us an important edge, as the reauthorization bill authors create clarity in the verbiage needed for the states and local areas to obtain funding for music education.”

"It's only my second year participating in the Fly-In and it's obvious that NAMM and NAMM members have done a tremendous job of creating a presence in our government," said Mark Despotakis, Progressive Music. "Not only are the advocacy messages that we brought to Washington helping my business and our entire industry, but the personal connections I made with those working in Congressional offices will only serve to help our business in many ways."

“This is the second year that I have participated in the NAMM Fly-In and both years have been amazing," added Barbara Wight, Taylor Guitars. "NAMM has always been focused making sure that Congress recognizes the importance and value of music education to our industry and society as a whole. This year we added a second message about the importance of Intellectual Property protection and the role that IP plays in jobs and economic security for our industry (as well as others).  Both of these messages were heard loud and clear by our lawmakers. NAMM did a great job of training us on Tuesday about both Intellectual Property protection and the status of music education. I felt really comfortable discussing both of these important issues with my Congressmen and I’m looking forward to staying engaged with them during this coming year.”

"I am so impressed with the energy in our group. We have quite a few NAMM members here for the first time and their passion is amazing," said Kevin Cranley, Willis Music Company. "The training on Tuesday was the perfect mix to allow us to have meaningful visits with our representatives.  I am hopeful that we can see immediate results with music education and intellectual property protection."

But the perfect summary of the energy, emotion and passion felt by all of the Fly-In attendees was captured by NAMM Member Brian Reardon, a first-time participant.

"Somehow our industry has this ability to amaze," Reardon said. "As Bernie Williams stood before the room of NAMM delegates, Congressional staffers, Members of Congress, etc., he was reflecting on the day we had just completed. He adjusted the microphone and said 'Today I have just spent one of the coolest days of my entire life.' This four-time World Series champ and Latin Grammy nominee expressing with complete sincerity that this experience of advocating on behalf of music education might very well have been his most meaningful life experience of all."