Testimony of Gordon Chambers

Before the New York City Council

In Opposition to Proposed Net Neutrality Regulations
November 20, 2009

Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Council, thank you for this opportunity to testify in opposition to
current proposals by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to expand and codify certain
“Network Neutrality” principals. Digital piracy has almost completely destroyed the profession of
songwriting, and is slowly destroying the music industry. Because the FCC proposed regulation would
enshrine the very rules that allowed this destruction of a valuable American cultural prize -- music -- I
strongly encourage the Council to avoid endorsing its enactment.

I would like to provide some specific examples of how digital piracy, facilitated by the Internet, has
decimated the music industry and the songwriting profession.

According to the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI), in 2000, global recorded
music sales were $30 billion. By 2008, these same global sales had fallen precipitously to $18.4 billion.1
This eight-year period coincides with the rapid expansion of unlawful file sharing. According to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, songwriter income dropped 32% between 2003 and 2006 alone (for the lucky
few who still had jobs). Every major music publisher has laid off at least half, and sometimes all, of their
songwriters in the ten years since piracy began to decimate the music industry.

The unfortunate reality of the current situation in the digital world is that online piracy of music is
rampant and undeniable. Such piracy has deeply and materially harmed the songwriter community. Yet
certain organizations specifically ask the FCC to prevent the companies that own these private networks
from addressing the problem of piracy.

Network neutrality supporters claim to want to fight piracy yet they do not propose a viable alternative to
the current legal regime that would curb the massive looting that has decimated the artistic community.
Most oppose proposals to enhance criminal liability or criminal penalties for copyright pirates and even
refuse to have the internet service of pirates temporarily suspended. Instead they suggest that ISPs
should “shame them” with warning letters. Songwriters believe it is foolhardy to trust the personal ethics
of thieves to solve the persistent problem of illegal downloading.

I and many of my fellow songwriters have chosen to live and work in New York because it is the center
of great American culture. Some of the best songs in the American Songbook were first written or first
performed in New York. I ask every Member of this Council to pay attention to what truly makes New
York unique and a world-class city: it is not the silicon-chip technology born out West that makes New
York great. Rather, it is the artists who live and work here who have made and will continue to make
New York all that it is. Please, don’t sell us out.

1
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the U.S. there has been a 25% inflation rate between 2000 and 2008, so not
only are songwriters receiving approximately only 60% of the revenues they received in 2000, but those reduced dollars today
purchase 25% less than they did in 2000. http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_statistics/index.html; www.bls.gov