I know how quick the American Dream can disappear.
As an artist, I experienced going the extra mile to bring laughter to people and then quickly realizing that I was no longer in control after the curtain came down and the show had ended. People I trusted started to barter with my reputation and my earnings without my even being aware that this was going on. Plus, there is a certain danger of coming across the wrong way from the stage which can result in audience members hoping to level up with you later. Without the law to protect artists’ lives, danger exists. I think most artists can relate to this. Thankfully, we live in a country where we have a right to insist upon Freedom of Speech, a right to protect our property, and a right even to counteract someone who steals our belongings—or don’t we?
I have experienced theft and even being physically hurt and traumatized by an armed assailant. When I was 12 years old, an adult had me falsely accused and then illegally arrested at my school for something I didn’t even know was happening. The incredible feeling of hatred and outside control was awful. It took everything not to collapse. But, I returned to normal life simply by telling myself I counted. I had studied some of America’s Founding Documents, I knew that I had rights. However, it took decades to fully address this issue so that it was no longer affecting me socially and mentally.
It seems so many of us are called upon to do something right now to gain security.
Traditionally, art and music have been resources for society. These days, Americans are attending live music shows like never before.
What’s commonly not understood is the depths to which criminals go to gain control of the earnings of certain artists. The most telling example, right now, is the 2018 Music Modernization Act. It enables streaming companies to walk away with millions of dollars in income that the rest of the industry needs back in order to survive. This law was never put to the people to vote upon. It sailed through the House and the Senate in a matter of months.
How can things get this bad? Part of the problem is lack of publications that provide insight to moral choices artists deal with. There are so many elements to this. Day in and day out, most successful songwriters are approached something like seven times every day to make a new deal with something they have little or no control of due to earlier contracts binding them already. Imagine if every one of these people who wanted their own, new deal then walked away and told the press they were working with the artist? That’s how bad things have been in the music industry in the past. Lies and theft create rifts amongst bands. Families suffer terrible misfortunes from people playing with their family’s income stream from music.
All of this is to say that I created National Sounds as a conduit of information about the music industry from a moral stand-point. It’s my hope this will channel human rights abuses to the proper authorities: the people.
Protection of artists in music seems like the biggest gain from sea to shining sea.
I created National Sounds in order to enable Freedom of Speech inside the music industry. I am driven by a personal passion to help artists in music. These people have put so much of their hearts and minds into the society. I hope these articles help them relax rather than constantly worry about being stolen from. It keeps a world at peace, it seems, due to how much these people truly enter into every American’s day-to-day life.
Corinne Devin Sullivan with letters to Governors of fifty states calling for the end of the 2018 Music Modernization Act. Corinne works as Editor, Writer, Interviewer, sometimes photographer and everything else at National Sounds Publications.
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