LOS ANGELES, CA – How I wish some of the bloggers who are so convinced the future of creative production requires reduction or abandonment of artists’ rights could travel in my circle and meet creators and promoters of creators who are in it for the love but also want to ensure they can keep sharing their talents and helping others. Here are three stories from my two days here, each remarkable in its own way (stay tuned for the last one to see a truly charitable heart at work).

I enjoyed seeing Juliette Tworsey and Jules Shapiro of Fire Bug (steam their new single “Dreaming of America”), who were kind enough recently to allow me to mention them in FCC testimony on the importance of artists’ rights in the digital age. They are so full of interesting and creative marketing and technology strategies, but they are working hard at earning performance income as well; I learned the two of them have a separate acoustic group that also is doing well. Of course, they wish they had more time to actually write, rehearse and record music, and they wonder what their economic future holds as music fans devalue economically the music they so cherish. (Ominously, we dined in the shadow of the now-shuttered Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard, an iconic record store; I remember buying Yes’ 90210 there in the glory days of the music industry.)

I met an advocate for actors who talked about how the vast majority of them make a modest income, just enough to get by. As piracy contributes to the reduction in investment in new motion picture and scripted TV projects, there are fewer casting calls. She said the result is that actors who are just hanging on are forced to take on employment that isn’t conducive to sudden disappearances for auditions or week- or month-long absences to go to a shoot. Essentially, when production slows and an actress isn’t getting enough income from her residuals, she may withdraw from the acting market and we won’t get to enjoy future work from her on screen.

And then there was singer/songwriter/creator Jacqui Hylton, who I met after speaking at a California Copyright Conference dinner. Jacqui is a busy woman. She runs The Power of Women in Music, which sponsors a series of concerts celebrating exceptional female musicians, including awards. The series also is a fund-raiser for non-profits for women and children such as The HerShe Group, which mentors young women in the foster care system. Another group for benefiting from the series is The Foundation for Special People, which works with children with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, down syndrome, autism and schizophrenia.

These people don’t spend their days posting comments on tech blogs about the evils of content cartels. They’re just trying to make it in a changing creative world. They are empathic. It’s not just about what they want and what they can do, they see the role they play in a creative community, in a culture, in a society. They want to contribute, and they are.

I thank them.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 11:41 am by Patrick Ross and is filed under FCC, copyright opponents, creators, culture, events, philanthropy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.