Adam Schiff Touts 'Critical' Piece Of Proposed Legislation For Music Copyrights And Royalties

4 months ago

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) questioned witnesses about royalty payments.

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00:00Mr. Chairman, any chance I could follow up just briefly on the promotional issue?

00:04If you can be very brief, Mr. Schiff is waiting.

00:07Okay.

00:08Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:09I want to say we recognize there may or may not be promotional value in music that is

00:14played on AMFM, but this system takes that into account.

00:17It actually directs the rates that are to consider promotion.

00:20If the broadcasters believe the rhetoric that promotion is so valuable, then they should

00:25be confident that that would work its way out in the proceedings as a rate is set for

00:30this.

00:31Thank you, gentlemen.

00:32I now go to my colleague from California, Mr. Schiff.

00:34Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:37Thank you all for being here.

00:38Mr. and Mrs. Travis, I want to start by thanking you for sharing your story with us.

00:44I'm a proud co-sponsor of the American Music Fairness Act and a strong supporter of what

00:49this bill at its core stands for and what it means to creators.

00:55My district and the state of California is home to so many creators that rely, just like

00:59you do, on performance royalty payments every time their songs are played in restaurants,

01:04through streaming services and elsewhere, everywhere but on AMFM radio.

01:09I echo the sentiments of many of my colleagues that support this legislation, and I'm grateful

01:14that you took the time today to share the importance of this critical effort.

01:18I'd also like to take the opportunity to ask you a little more about your most recent song,

01:23Where That Came From, which you created using generative AI to create your voice, Mr. Travis.

01:32Can you share a little more about what that process has meant to you both, and specifically

01:37how you would feel if someone else used AI to recreate your voice without your permission?

01:43What is ownership of your ability, over your ability, and what should be your ability alone

01:51to train a generative AI model on your voice?

01:55What does that mean to you?

01:58I can tell you it was a very emotional thing for Randy to hear his voice again.

02:04We never thought we would.

02:07He went through every human emotion there was, just like he went through every human

02:13ability to create that song.

02:15Being in the studio with his musicians, with his producer, his piece of AI work was humanistic

02:27and artistic.

02:29And that's the difference in the good and the bad AI.

02:33It meant the world to me to hear his song again.

02:35Just a moment ago when Chairman Isaac played that, I thought I was going to break out in

02:41tears again, because just to hear that voice again after so many years, something you never

02:45thought you'd get to do, is very important to us.

02:49But the whole process was, like I said, it took 11 months.

02:55We were in brand new waters.

02:59We were treading in new waters.

03:00We didn't know exactly how this was going to happen.

03:04And in fact, when the final song was sent, after he and Kyle got through tweaking it,

03:12changing, you know, making sure it sounded like Randy Travis, they sent it back to the

03:17gentleman that created this AI platform.

03:23And they said, we never thought it could work this well.

03:27So it was kind of enlightening for a lot of us.

03:30And I apologize, I don't remember the other part of your question.

03:33Well, I guess the other part of my question is the flip side, and that is, what goes through

03:41your head when you contemplate others using AI to recreate your husband's voice without

03:48your permission, authorization, or compensation to produce songs you didn't write using melodies

04:00you would not condone, and what that means in terms of the dilution of your brand.

04:09It feels kind of like identity theft.

04:12It is intellectual property, the voice, the likeness.

04:17So it does feel like somebody has robbed you, because he has spent his whole life, since

04:24he was seven years old, making music, knew that's what he wanted to do.

04:29That's all he wanted to do.

04:31So when you hear somebody on the internet, or on your computer, and they're saying they're

04:38pretending to be Randy Travis, and it doesn't sound like Randy Travis, it hurts.

04:45And I think that that's what all artists feel.

04:48Like I said, just like you've been robbed, just like, it's identity theft, and it, there

04:55be laws that are in place to keep that from happening, which means consent, and compensation,

05:04and attribution, and provenance, so that it doesn't happen, and it's coming up so fast

05:09now that if we don't get on the front end of it, which I'm not sure we can at this point,

05:15but if we don't get in as soon as we can to protect the artist, not sure where we'll go

05:22from there.

05:24Well, thank you for sharing that, and Mr. Travis, I know I speak for many millions of

05:28people who are thrilled and grateful that you can continue to make new music.

05:36Thank you for that gift, and thank you for your testimony today.

05:39Thank you.

05:40I thank the gentleman, and I might remind all of my colleagues that Mr. Schiff has been

05:46a leader.

Adam Schiff Touts 'Critical' Piece Of Proposed Legislation For Music Copyrights And Royalties

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