Senator Jim Jeffords' historic decision to switch party affiliation has changed the leadership of the U.S. Senate. The Democrats now have a slim margin of 50 to 49. Party control of the Senate has never before been switched mid-session, and therefore many things are being worked out about Committee control and membership. However, it is clear that Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont will be the new Chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee, which oversees copyright matters. Leahy has a long record of supporting authors' rights, and was one of the principal speakers at the CISAC (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) Congress in 1994 in Washington, DC.

Congressional Agenda, 107^th Congress

The 107th Congress has introduced a variety of bills dealing with aspects copyright law. Most of the bills introduced, as drafted, do not represent substantive changes to current law - the sense of lawmakers across the board is that the current Copyright Law needs to be reviewed and examined before being altered. It has been universally acknowledged that the United States Copyright Law needs to be revised to reflect technological changes, specifically as they affect the use of music on the Internet. This leads to a number of challenges for American Performing Rights Organizations to face in the next year. As a consequence, they have held a number of high-profile hearings on the House and Senate sides of the Hill, hoping to educate themselves and others about the myriad of applications of United States Copyright Law.

Congressional Hearings

Online Entertainment: On Tuesday, April 3, 2001, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, United State Senate, held a hearing on: "Online Entertainment: Coming Soon to a Digital Device Near You". The hearing was chaired by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and fourteen people testified, representing many facets of the Entertainment Industry, including Hilary Rosen of the RIAA, Hank Barry of Napster, songwriter and performer Alanis Morissette, Jack Valenti of the MPAA, Don Henley of the Recording Artists Coalition, and many others. This hearing was set in the wake of the Napster ruling and the settlement of the MP3.com cases, and was immediately preceded by the announcement of the launch of "Duets" and MusicNet (the joint efforts of Bertelsmann, AOL-Time Warner, EMI in conjunction with RealNetworks, to bring a subscription music service to consumers over the Internet). The testimony presented attested to the importance of various types of current copyright law, and sought to educate lawmakers on technological advances and about the rights of creators. At the hearing, Senator Hatch stated that he did not feel establishing compulsory licensing of music on the Internet is necessary. BMI submitted testimony as part of the public record on this topic. You can read a transcript of the hearing at http://www.senate.gov/%7Ejudiciary/hr040301f.htm

Music On The Internet:

Music On The Internet: On May 17, 2001, The House Judiciary Sub-Committee on Courts and Intellectual Property held an Oversight Hearing on "Music On The Internet." Five people testified at the hearing, which was presided over by the Honorable Howard Coble (R-NC), Chair of the Sub-Committee. Rob Glaser, representing MusicNet and Real Networks presented the new Duets system that they plan to launch in August of 2001. Also testifying were: Edgar Bronfman, representing Vivendi International and the Universal Music Group, Robin Richards, representing MP3.com, songwriter/composer Michael Stoller, on behalf of the NMPA, and songwriter/composer Lyle Lovett on behalf of ASCAP. The controversy regarding which types of copyrights are affected by music downloads on the Internet is confusing to Members and the public. You can read a transcript of the hearing at http://www.house.gov/judiciary/4.htm.

David Arnold, Lulu, Don Black, Barbara Broccoli, Michael Wilson, and BMI's Frances Preston

Paul Curran, BMI's Frances Preston, Robin Gibb, and BMI's Phil Graham

BMI's Phil Graham, Steve Winwood, and BMI's Del Bryant

Two songs achieved an amazing 6 million plays: Sting's classic "Every Breath You Take" (EMI Music Publishing Ltd./Magnetic Music.) and "More" by Marcello Ciorciolini, Norman Newell, Nino Oliviero and Riz Ortolani. Sting also received two other awards in the 2 million plays category for "If Ever I Lose My Faith In You" and "Spirits In The Material World" (EMI Music Publishing Ltd./Magnetic Music).

Van Morrison was the only honoree in the 5 million plays category for his classic "Brown Eyed Girl" (Universal Music Publishing). Honorees in the 4 million plays category included John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney for "And I Love Her" (Northern Songs Ltd.). They also received a 2 million award for "Day Tripper" and a Pop Award for "Come Together". Other 4 million award winners were Barry and Robin Gibb for "To Love Somebody" (Gibb Brothers Music/BMG), and Claude Francois, Jacques Abel Jules Revaud and Gilles Thibaut for "My Way" (Eddie Barclay Editions [SACEM]/Jeune Musique Editions [SACEM]) recorded by Elvis Presley.

There were a total of seven winners in the 3 million performance category, including three for Steve Winwood: "Back In The High Life Again" (FS Ltd.), "The Finer Things" (FS Ltd.) and "Roll With It" (FS Ltd.); Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for "Honky Tonk Women"; Eric Clapton for "Tears In Heaven" (Warner/Chappell Music International Ltd.); Per Gessle for "It Must Have Been Love" (Jimmy Fun Music [STIM]) recorded by Roxette; and Sade for her smash hit "Sweetest Taboo" (Angel Music Ltd./Sony/ATV Music Publishing Ltd.).

Among those honored in the 2 million performance awards category were Sir Elton John, who scored three awards with "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" and "Little Jeannie"; LuLu, Billy Lawrie and Steve DuBerry for the Tina Turner recording of "I Don't Wanna Fight" (Chrysalis Music Ltd. and Famous Music); Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for "Brown Sugar"; John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney for "Day Tripper" (Northern Songs Ltd.); Sting for "If Ever I Lose My Faith In You" (EMI Music Publishing Ltd./Magnetic Music); Donovan Leitch for "Sunshine Superman" (Donovan Music Ltd.); Freddie Mercury for "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (EMI Music Publishing Ltd./Queen Music Ltd.), which also received a Country Award for Dwight Yoakam's recording of the song.

Beth Orton's "Stolen Car" (EMI Music Publishing Ltd.) was named College Song of The Year.

Pop Awards honorees included John Barry for "Millennium" (EMI United Partnership Ltd.) which was based on a re-recording of the string part from the James Bond movie theme "You Only Live Twice," and Roger Waters for the Class of 99 hit of "Another Brick In The Wall." Also honored were B*Witched members Lindsay Armaou, Edele Lynch, Keavy Lynch and Sinead O'Carroll for "C'est La Vie" (Bucks Music Ltd.). Gary Numan scored with "Cars" (Beggars Banquet Music Ltd.) on which he collaborated with Fear Factory, and Gavin Rossdale for Bush's "Chemicals Between Us." Noel Gallagher was a winner with "Cigarettes and Alcohol" (Creation Songs Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing) recorded by Rod Stewart, and John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney were honored yet again for Junior Vasquez's version of "Come Together" (Northern Songs Ltd.).

Sir Elton John and Tim Rice were also honored with a Pop Award for Sir Elton's collaboration with LeAnn Rimes on "Written In The Stars" (Happenstance Ltd./Sixty Four Squares Music Ltd.). Jorgen Elofsson received a Pop Award for the Britney Spears' hits "Sometimes" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy" (BMG Music Publishing Scandinavia AB [STIM]/Zomba Music Publishers Ltd.); Australian writer Pam Sheyne scored an award for Christina Aguilera's hit "Genie In A Bottle" (Appletreesongs Ltd. / Warner/Chappell Music Ltd.).

The world of country music honored Freddie Mercury with a Country Award for "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (EMI Publishing Ltd./Queen Music Ltd.) recorded by Dwight Yoakam and, as previously mentioned, the song also won an award in the 2 Million-Air category. The second Country Award winner was Steve Booker for "Somebody's Out There Watching" (Windswept Pacific Music Ltd.) recorded by The Kinleys.

The Dance Music Award went to Danski and DJ Delmundo for the Vengaboys smash hit "We Like To Party" (Violent Publishing BV), which also won a Pop Award. The Latin scene was also represented with a Latin Award going to Gianluca Grignani for "Mi Historia Entre Tus Dedos" (Universal Music Italia SRL [SIAE]).

Composer Richard Hartley was cited for his Emmy award-winning soundtrack of the American TV film "Alice In Wonderland."

The BMI Awards ceremony acknowledges the talents of British and European songwriters and composers whose works are represented by BMI in the United States. BMI is an American performing rights organization representing more than 250,000 American songwriters, composers and music publishers, and thousands of British and European songwriters and composers who license their works through BMI in the United States.

Twenty-year-old twin sisters (and co-founders) Edele and Keavy Lynch kicked things off at age three by accidentally setting the family car on fire. Self-proclaimed tomboys, the sisters grew up around cars in their dad's garage where Edele worked for a while changing tires. Fellow aspiring thrush Sinead O'Carroll dropped by to have her tires checked and checked into B*Witched instead. In her off-hours, Edele attended rough 'n' tumble kickboxing class, where she recruited her final member, fellow self-defense student Lindsay Armaou. The girls all reside in the same rambling house in England, and swear they only get on each other's nerves when someone returns a barren Frosted Flakes container to the pantry.

From the beginning, there was one thing that set the combo apart from its teen-pop contemporaries: They take a serious hand in their songwriting, and it has paid off. The first four B*Witched singles all entered the UK charts at #1, setting a record. Says Keavy: "A lot of people presume that just because you're a pop girl you don't take any real interest in your songs. But we knew we could write and we like to be a part of everything we can."