CPAC 2017 - Josh Kear

Busy day So I'm from Nashville, Tennessee, and I am a professional songwriter So I'm gonna start by doing what I do best. I'm gonna play you some music Incidentally these are songs I wrote otherwise this first one in particular would be a very odd cover tune Right now he's probably slow dancing with a bleach blonde tramp, and she's probably getting frisky Right now he's probably buying her some fruity little drink cuz she can't shoot a whiskey Right now he's probably up behind her with a full stick showing her how to shoot a combo And he don't know I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive Carved my name into his leather seat I took a Louisville slugger to both headlights Slashed a hole in all four tires Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats Picture-perfect memories scattered all around the floor Reaching for the phone cuz I can't fight it anymore And I wonder if I ever crossed your mind For me it happens all the time It's a quarter after one. I'm all alone, and I need you now I said I wouldn't call, lost all control, and I need you now And I don't know how I can do without, I just need you now I just need you now Oh, baby, I need you now Thank you very much. Many of you are probably wondering why I'm even on stage here today. I have no interest in running for political office, and I have no background in politics or government. What I do have is 21 years of expertise in the music industry. And I want to talk to you today about how outdated government regulations are creating challenges for American songwriters. You've probably never heard the name Josh Kier before today, unless you're a diehard country music fan, or you happen to be my mother. I'm perfectly content with that. Most professional songwriters I know happily create in the shadows of the spotlight. I wrote my first song at 13 years old because I had a crush on a girl next to me in an English class. I got my first publishing deal at 21, wrote thousands of songs, and became what in Nashville we like to call a 10-year overnight success. My first hit, my first number one hit, was Carrie Underwood's Before He Cheats, which I just played. Thanks. And that brought me my first Grammy Award. Thanks. My second number one was Need You Now with Lady Antebellum, and I've been extremely fortunate that my hard work has paid off so far in 11 number one hit songs. Things like Highway Don't Care by Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift and Drunk on a Plane by Dierks Bentley. But I may be a prime example of the end of a golden era of American songwriters. That's because songwriters are some of the most heavily regulated small business owners in the country. I say small business owners because while we may have publishers, all songwriters are self-employed. And yet, the heavy hand of government effectively sets the rates for 75% of the income that songwriters can receive. The problem is these government regulations haven't kept pace with big changes in the music industry, and that's making it harder and harder to make a living as a professional songwriter. Imagine a private property owner being told they can't negotiate terms in the free market because the government is setting those terms instead. It's the very definition of government overreach. You have... Thanks. You have to realize that songwriters are not the same as the artists that record our songs. There's no concert revenues, no t-shirt sales, no endorsement deals. We license our music through Performing Rights Organizations or PROs. And then we count on the royalties that come in when our songs are played or purchased to make a living and support our families. It used to be that you can make a decent living as a writer on the sales of albums or CDs. But these are relics of the past. We don't buy music anymore. We rent it. Today, everyone is streaming music, including me. But the laws that govern how songwriters are paid by streaming companies haven't kept up with that shift. And because of that, on average, it now takes about one million streams of a song on the top streaming services for a songwriter to earn just $125. If that sounds crazy, that's because it is. For instance, Need You Now was streamed 72 million times the year it became a hit. And as one of the four co-writers, because I wrote it with Lady Antebellum, I was paid $1,500. That's how much I made from streaming revenue on a song that went to number two on the pop charts, spent 14 weeks at number one on the adult contemporary charts, and won the Grammy for Best Overall Song of the Year. Now imagine what it's like out there for songwriters who don't have a huge hit on their hands. And that's why we need your help. In this country, the people who create books, TV, art, video games, you name it, they all get to sell their creative works in the free market, but not music creators. Because right now, the two largest PROs representing songwriters, ASCAP and BMI, operate under some of the oldest consent decrees that exist today. These laws were written in 1941 and haven't been updated since 2001, which is way before streaming took off and even before the iPod hit stores. So I'm here today because I believe American songwriters, composers, and publishers deserve to be paid fair market value for the use of our property, just like any other small business owner is for the use of their products. Music has been one of the hallmarks of American creative genius throughout our history. Stephen Foster, Tin Pan Alley, the Brill Building hits of the 1950s, straight through to the music that's pouring out of stereo speakers across the globe today. Our songs have always marked our country as the world leader in popular music. But our work as songwriters will continue to be undervalued until the government removes itself from our business process, gives songwriters more flexibility to negotiate, and lets the free market do its job. The future of American songwriters truly depends on it. Thank you all for your time.