Steven Tyler Pens Open Letter To Support Copyright Reform

Steven Tyler. Photo: Zack Whitford.

BMLG artist and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler penned an open letter featured on The Huffington Post, aimed at raising awareness for copyright reform and urging politicians to support fair pay for songwriters.

An excerpt from Tyler’s open letter:

The laws need to change. We have so many laws in America that control how we get paid for our music. Seventy-five percent of songwriters’ income in the U.S. is regulated by the government? Too much government intervention in art and music is a bad thing.

Just as my record label sister, Taylor Swift, wrote her letter to Apple in June, this is my open letter to everyone. We need change. Songwriters, producers and artists can’t survive on what they are being paid.

I received a real lesson on this a couple years ago when I started to look into laws surrounding copyright. I found out that there was an effort underway in Washington to strip certain important approval rights of artists and songwriters for derivative use of their work. When I heard about this crazy idea, I submitted an official comment paper to the folks in Washington D.C. along with a few of my friends like Don Henley and Joe Walsh of the Eagles, deadmau5, Britney, Dr. Dre and Sting explaining why this was a bad idea. It’s not about Wall Street derivatives; it’s about artists and songwriters losing control of their work and not getting paid fairly when it is used. More of the same, I thought. It taught me that creators have to be vigilant and fight for their rights.

Tyler also urged fans to join in the fight, by supporting copyright reform as well.

We know you love our music. Now is the time to show us some love by supporting the effort to reform outdated copyright laws, do away with government standard for artist compensation, and make sure creators are paid fairly when other business use our work.

For the full open letter, visit huffingtonpost.com.