The Music Publishers Association

All music lovers feed on the twin plants of creativity and technology. Now that may sound like some corporate dogma, but stay awhile and reflect on where we would be if people did not find inspiration for new melodies, beats, and styles? Consider life before recording became as affordable as it is today, bringing stage and chamber qualities in our homes, and even as we jog, walk, or whatever!

There has been a sea change in the fidelity of recorded music, and we are way better off compared to our forefathers, when it comes to accessing quality music of our choices. It is not always that performing art forms blend so harmoniously with science to make life better: painting, sculpture, and many traditional forms of crafts, have changed only marginally during the last 100 years, compared to the electrifying and beneficial changes in the world of music. This is no accident, but due to the conscious efforts of people in the business of publishing music.

The Music Publishers Association of the United States was formed even before the 19th century had ended, decades before transistors, magnetic recording surfaces, and the Beatles! We can walk around the block and pick up music from another age, genre or from an exotic land which we may never visit, at delightful prices, thanks in no small measure to this hard working and most focused body. The association brings together all important participants in the U.S. music industry, to provide superior service and values to consumers.

Though the umbrella body has its fingers in many pies, intellectual property and new technology are its primary concerns. The Music Publishers Association works ceaselessly to provide a supportive environment for the most talented artists, and advises them on technical aspects of the music business with which they tend to be unfamiliar. We music lovers are the top gainers of this effort, though it is not apparent every time we switch on a device to enjoy our favorite genres.

There are many parts to the activities of the Music Publishers Association with which we are not familiar, and in which we are disinterested as well, but staying away from, and actively discouraging piracy is one concern, which we have to share with music publishers in our own interest. Consider how countries such as China, which are havens for cheap and illegal copies of music, never produce anything original which you would like to hear!