MPG backs ?Give the Fans Credit? campaign

Following a three-year campaign to highlight the lack of credit information in the digital domain regarding the input of producers and recording professionals upon recordings, the MPG (Music Producers Guild) has received support from the US, with the Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing having now launched its own initiative to find solutions to this growing problem.

The MPG’s Credit Where Credit Is Due campaign focuses heavily on this issue and has already worked with PPL on drafting the Eligible Studio Producers Form that provides evidence of a studio producer’s performance at the time of recording, and has achieved success through the efforts of the MPG’s Mastering Group, which worked with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to create an industry standard for embedding ISRCs within digital music files.

Both of these initiatives mark key breakthroughs for all recording professionals. The new Eligible Studio Producers Form make it easy for producers to prove their contribution by archiving credits at the end of a recording session, while the EBU ISRC initiative makes accurate file identification and content tracking much simpler. Both developments are aimed at helping royalty agencies create more precise systems for payments, therefore safeguarding the incomes of all artists and copyright owners.

Producer and MPG member, Tommy D, who is spearheading the MPG’s Credit Where Credit Is Due initiative, says: “In this digital age, it is almost impossible to find out who produced a specific track or album, who engineered it or even which musicians played on it because there is no unified database of credit information relating to music production, performances and mastering. 98% of the record producers surveyed by the MPG expressed support for a unified database and believe this information should be incorporated as metadata and accessible to listeners of all future digital mediums. We are delighted that The Recording Academy is launching Give Fans the Credit as it adds weight to our own efforts and indicates serious international support for solving this problem.”

The Recording Academy’s campaign has the backing of a number of Honorary Ambassadors who will help further awareness of this important initiative. These include 12-time GRAMMY-winning producer T Bone Burnett; GRAMMY-winning songwriter Lamont Dozier; singer/songwriter/percussionist Sheila E; singer/songwriter Skylar Grey; five-time GRAMMY-winning producer/songwriter Jimmy Jam; two-time GRAMMY-winning producer/songwriter RedOne and three-time GRAMMY-winning producer Don Was.

Neil Portnow, president/CEO of The Recording Academy, says: "The staggering pace of digital innovation gives consumers access to more and more information, but in this case — digitally released music without liner notes — the music fan is getting less information. We can watch movies online with the credits included, and the same should be true for digitally released recordings. If music devices can access millions of tracks in the cloud, we’re confident we can find a way to acknowledge those who created the tracks here on Earth."

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