Leading Music Performers Bring Message of Copyright Awareness Week to National Audience

Leading Music Performers Bring Message of Copyright Awareness Week to National Audience

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Entertainers such as new Grammy-award winner John Legend, Sir-Mix-A-Lot, 3 Doors Down, and the Ying-Yang Twins are taking on a new mission -- helping young people understand the importance of copyright law in keeping cutting-edge music flowing.

They are participating in Copyright Awareness Week March 6-10 by making public service announcements on the protection of creativity to be broadcast on some 2,000 stations. Other special activities also are planned by The Copyright Society of the U.S.A. to "celebrate creativity" in the electronic age.

The society is building on its successful 2005 activities by expanding programs to educate young people about the value of copyright protection to both creators and consumers.

Artists also participating in the CAW public service announcements include Deborah Allen, Gavin DeGraw, Martina McBride, Paul Overstreet, and songwriter Leslie Satcher.

New performers sharing their ideas on copyright include gospel-inspired sisters Erica and Tina Atkins-Campbell of Mary Mary [with Grammy-nominated song "Shackels (Praise You)" as background], Sir Mix-A-Lot [with his hit song "Baby Got Back" as background], and the Ying-Yang Twins [with Grammy nominated song "Wait (The Whisper Song)" as background].

The copyright society is partnering for the second year with MENC -- The National Association for Music Education -- together with new teacher partners that include the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, the National Art Education Association and the National Council of Teachers of English. All teacher members of these organizations as well as any other teachers who are interested in participating are asked to teach students basic concepts of copyright and encourage an understanding of and respect for the rights of creative people provided by federal law.

New curriculum materials for teachers organized by grade level will be available on the Copyright Society's website at http://www.csusa.org/. When users arrive at the website, they are asked to click the CAW button. The materials have been written by a team of teachers and also include curriculums developed by the Business Software Alliance, the Entertainment Software Association, the Film Foundation and MENC together with ASCAP. Lesson plans will document the message that copyright is important not just to the creators, but also to consumers who benefit from the diversity of music, films, games, software and other products that reach the market because copyright law makes it possible to earn a living as a creator.

"We hope that the CAW website will become a focal point for teachers when it comes to education about copyright-- that's why we have been reaching out to many copyright industry trade groups to try to join forces in our efforts to educate students," said Monica Corton, chairperson of Copyright Awareness Week.

The sponsors of CAW 2006 are The Copyright Society, the Motion Picture Association of America, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, ASCAP, BMI, The Harry Fox Agency, Time-Warner, Inc, Bourne Co, Carlin America, EMI Music Publishing, Peermusic, and Shapiro Bernstein Music Publishers.

The U.S. Copyright Office, located in the Library of Congress, also is participating in Copyright Awareness Week. During that week, students may visit the Copyright Office and get an orientation on copyright both as users and creators.

The orientation will include seeing the Copyright Office exhibit, a brief history and overview of current copyright issues and a mini-workshop on how to register claims to creative works. To arrange for a visit to the Copyright Office, contact Peter Vankevich, head of the Copyright Information Section, at 202-707-0600 or pmva@loc.gov.

More information about copyright is on The Copyright Society website at http://www.csusa.org/ and the U.S. Copyright Office website at http://copyright.gov/.

For more information, call or email:
Janet Staihar, 202-237-2080
JStaihar@comcast.net

Source: Copyright Awareness Week

CONTACT: Janet Staihar, +1-202-237-2080, JStaihar@comcast.net, for
Copyright Awareness Week

Web site: http://www.csusa.org/
http://copyright.gov/

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