Unclaimed Royalties: Best Practice Recommendations for the Mechanical Licensing Collective

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Unclaimed Royalties: Best Practice Recommendations for the Mechanical Licensing Collective united states copyright office Unclaimed Royalties: Best Practice Recommendations for the Mechanical Licensing Collective A REPORT Of ThE REgister Of cOPyRighTs July 2021 united states copyright office Unclaimed Royalties: Best Practice Recommendations for the Mechanical Licensing Collective A report Of ThE REgister Of cOPyRighTs July 2021 U.S. Copyright Office Unclaimed Royalties Best Practices ORRIN G. HATCH–BOB GOODLATTE MUSIC MODERNIZATION ACT Public Law No. 115-264, title I, § 102, 132 Stat. 3676, 3722–23 (Oct. 11, 2018) (f) UNCLAIMED ROYALTIES STUDY AND RECOMMENDATIONS.— (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the date on which the Register of Copyrights initially designates the mechanical licensing collective under section 115(d)(3)(B)(i) of title 17, United States Code, as added by subsection (a)(4), the Register, in consultation with the Comptroller General of the United States, and after soliciting and reviewing comments and relevant information from music industry participants and other interested parties, shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a report that recommends best practices that the collective may implement in order to— (A) identify and locate musical work copyright owners with unclaimed accrued royalties held by the collective; (B) encourage musical work copyright owners to claim the royalties of those owners; and (C) reduce the incidence of unclaimed royalties. (2) CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS.—The mechanical licensing collective shall carefully consider, and give substantial weight to, the recommendations submitted by the Register of Copyrights under paragraph (1) when establishing the procedures of the collective with respect to the— (A) identification and location of musical work copyright owners; and (B) distribution of unclaimed royalties. U.S. Copyright Office Unclaimed Royalties Best Practices ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report reflects the dedication and expertise of the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Copyright Office, in particular the team who produced it: Associate General Counsel Anna Chauvet, Assistant General Counsels Jason Sloan and John Riley, and Barbara A. Ringer Copyright Honors Program Fellow Cassandra Sciortino. Without their considerable efforts and keen understanding of the music industry this report would not have been possible. I am deeply appreciative of their tireless and thoughtful work on this project, which they were asked to undertake while simultaneously promulgating the many complex regulations necessary to implement the Music Modernization Act. I extend my gratitude to former General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights Regan Smith for her leadership during early stages of the project, including the public symposium and roundtables. I also thank former Assistant General Counsel Terry Hart for his contributions. Helpful proofing and citation assistance was provided by Attorney-Advisors Nicholas Bartelt, Joanna Blatchly, Mark Gray, Jalyce Mangum, and David Welkowitz, Barbara A. Ringer Copyright Honors Program Fellow Melinda Kern, and Paralegal Specialist Rachel Counts. Assistant to the General Counsel Meg Efthimiadis provided production support. I would also like to thank the many interested parties who provided written comments and participated in the public symposium and roundtables. Their broad-ranging and knowledgeable submissions were crucial to the formulation of the Office’s recommendations. Shira Perlmutter Register of Copyrights and Director U.S. Copyright Office U.S. Copyright Office Unclaimed Royalties Best Practices TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ i I. INTRODUCTION, STUDY HISTORY, AND BACKGROUND ............................ 1 A. Overview of the MMA and the MLC’s Duties ..................................................... 1 1. Introduction to the MMA and Study Background ....................................... 1 2. The MLC’s Duties .............................................................................................. 4 a) The Public Musical Works Database ...................................................... 4 b) The Portal ................................................................................................... 6 c) Education and Outreach ........................................................................... 7 d) Collecting and Distributing Royalties .................................................... 8 3. Holding and Distributing Unclaimed Accrued Royalties ............................ 9 a) Holding Royalties for Unmatched Works ............................................. 9 b) Distributing Unclaimed Accrued Royalties ......................................... 10 4. Reporting and Transfer of Royalties to the MLC for Historical Unmatched Uses ............................................................................ 11 B. Music Data Landscape ........................................................................................... 12 1. Types of Music Data ........................................................................................ 12 2. Data Flow .......................................................................................................... 16 3. Existing Music Databases ............................................................................... 19 4. Data Sharing ..................................................................................................... 21 II. GAO CONSULTATION AND UNCLAIMED PROPERTY OUTSIDE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY ............................................................................................ 23 III. BEST PRACTICES FOR THE MLC TO REDUCE THE INCIDENCE OF UNCLAIMED ACCRUED ROYALTIES ............................................................ 27 A. Education and Outreach to Copyright Owners, Administrators, Songwriters, and Others ........................................................................................ 27 1. Content .............................................................................................................. 30 2. Methods ............................................................................................................ 31 3. Evaluating Efforts ............................................................................................ 38 B. The Public Musical Works Database, the MLC’s Portal, and Registering and Claiming Works (and Shares) with the MLC ........................ 38 U.S. Copyright Office Unclaimed Royalties Best Practices 1. Finding Information ........................................................................................ 42 2. Providing Information .................................................................................... 47 3. Songwriter Access ............................................................................................ 49 4. Audio Access .................................................................................................... 51 5. Additional Functionality ................................................................................ 52 C. Data Quality ........................................................................................................... 54 1. Completeness, Accuracy, Currency, Conflicts, and Authoritativeness ............................................................................................. 56 2. Data Bifurcation ............................................................................................... 63 3. Standard Unique Identifiers ........................................................................... 64 4. Third-Party Data Sources ............................................................................... 66 5. Transparency .................................................................................................... 71 D. MLC Matching Practices....................................................................................... 71 E. Holding and Distributing Unclaimed Accrued Royalties ................................. 84 1. Holding Period ................................................................................................. 86 2. Market Share Calculation ............................................................................... 95 3. Advance Notice .............................................................................................. 102 4. Transparency .................................................................................................. 104 F. Ensuring Effectiveness .......................................................................................... 108 1. Measuring Success ......................................................................................... 108 2. Transparency .................................................................................................. 115 IV. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 117 APPENDICES: Appendix A: Federal Register Notices Appendix B: Commenting Parties and Symposium and Roundtable Participants Appendix C: Acronym Glossary U.S. Copyright Office Unclaimed Royalties Best Practices EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Passage of the Orrin G. Hatch—Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act (“MMA”) in 2018 substantially modified the compulsory “mechanical” license for making and distributing phonorecords of nondramatic musical
Recommended publications
  • Licensing 101 December 3, 2020 Meet the Speakers
    Licensing 101 December 3, 2020 Meet The Speakers Sushil Iyer Adam Kessel Principal Principal fr.com | 2 Roadmap • High level, introductory discussion on IP licensing • Topics – Types of IP – Monetization strategies – Key parts of a license agreement – Certain considerations • Licensing software, especially open source software • Licensing pharmaceutical patents • Trademarks • Trade secrets • Know-how fr.com | 3 Types of IP Patents Trademarks Copyrights Know-how (including trade secrets) fr.com | 4 Monetization Strategies • IP licensing – focus of this presentation – IP owner (licensor) retains ownership and grants certain rights to licensee – IP licensee obtains the legal rights to practice the IP – Bundle of rights can range from all the rights that the IP owner possesses to a subset of the same • Sale – IP owner (assignor) transfers ownership to the purchaser (assignee) • Litigation – Enforcement, by IP owner, of IP rights against an infringer who impermissibly practices the IP owner’s rights – Damages determined by a Court fr.com | 5 What is an IP License? • Contract between IP owner (Licensor) and Licensee – Licensor’s offer – grant of Licensor’s rights in IP • Patents – right to sell products that embody claimed inventions of Licensor’s US patents • Trademarks – right to use Licensor’s US marks on products or when selling products • Copyright – right to use and/or make derivative works of Licensor’s copyrighted work • Trade Secret – right to use and obligation to maintain Licensor’s trade secret – Licensee’s consideration – compensation
    [Show full text]
  • Calculating the Lessor's Royalty Payment: Much More Than Mere Math
    LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources Volume 6 Issue 1 Fall 2017 3-23-2018 Calculating The Lessor's Royalty Payment: Much More Than Mere Math Patrick S. Ottinger Repository Citation Patrick S. Ottinger, Calculating The Lessor's Royalty Payment: Much More Than Mere Math, 6 LSU J. of Energy L. & Resources (2018) Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/jelr/vol6/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Journal of Energy Law and Resources by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Calculating The Lessor’s Royalty Payment: Much More Than Mere Math Patrick S. Ottinger* TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction...................................................................................... 3 A. Preface ...................................................................................... 3 B. Basic Formula for the Calculation of the Lessor’s Royalty Payment ..................................................................................... 5 C. The Lessee’s Duty to Pay Royalty, and the Time for Payment ...................................................................... 6 D. Obtaining Information in Support of the Royalty Payment....... 7 1. The Check Stub................................................................... 8 2. Sophisticated Lease........................................................... 10 3. Online Data ......................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Converting Royalty Payment Structures for Patent Licenses
    THE C RITERION J OURNAL ON I NNOVAT I ON Vol. 1 E E E 2016 Converting Royalty Payment Structures for Patent Licenses J. Gregory Sidak* The parties to a patent-licensing agreement may choose from a variety of royalty structures to determine the royalty payment that the licensee owes the patent holder for using its patents. Three common structures of a royalty payment are (1) an ad valorem royalty rate, (2) a per-unit royalty, and (3) a lump-sum royalty. A royalty payment for a license might use a single royalty structure or a combination of these three structures. Converting a royalty payment with one structure into an equivalent payment with another structure enables one to compare royalty payments across different licensing agreements. For example, in patent-infringement litigation, an economic expert can estimate damages for the patent in suit by examining royalties of comparable licenses—that is, licenses that cover a similar technology and are executed under circumstances that are sufficiently comparable to those of the hypothetical license in question.1 However, licenses for a single patented technology might specify the royalty payment using different structures. One license might specifya per-unit royalty, a second might specify a lump-sum royalty, and a third might combine a lump-sum payment with a royalty rate. To analyze and compare the differ- ent royalty payments of those licenses, an economic expert or court must convert the royalties to a common structure. For example, a question related to the conversion of the royalty structure arose in August 2016 in Trustees of Boston University v.
    [Show full text]
  • Testimony of Jonathan Bender
    Public Version Before the UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT ROYALTY JUDGES Washington, D.C. In the Matter of: Determination of Royalty Rates and Terms Docket No. 16-CRB-0001 SR/PSSR for Transmission of Sound Recordings by (2018-2022) Satellite Radio and “Preexisting” Subscription Services (SDARS III) WRITTEN DIRECT TESTIMONY OF Jonathan Bender Chief Operating Officer SoundExchange, Inc. October, 2016 Public Version BACKGROUND AND QUALIFICATIONS I am the Chief Operating Officer of SoundExchange, Inc.("SoundExchange"), a position I have held since September 2011. In this role, I oversee the collection, processing and distribution of royalties for all types of seiwices eligible for statutory licensing, including the satellite digital audio radio services("SDARS") and preexisting subscription services ("PSS") at issue in this proceeding. The groups within SoundExchange that handle repertoire management, rights inanageinent, licensee management, data management, account services, and distribution services all report to me. Additionally, I oversee SoundExchange's technical involvement with licensees and assist with coordination of its systems requirements, development, testing and operations. In all, I have over 25 years of music industry business and management expertise, including senior operational roles at Concord Music Group, Universal Music Group, and EMI Music. I was senior vice president, operations, IT and digital development at Concord Music Group. Before joining Concord, I spent seven years with Universal Music Group, most recently as vice president, digital asset management and logistics. I also spent nine years with EMI Music, most recently as Director of New Technology. I hold a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
    [Show full text]
  • You're Invited to Play Your Part!
    ONLINE JAZZ PARTY & FUNDRAISER SPONSOR PACKAGES You’re Invited to Play your Part! The Nashville Jazz Workshop (NJW) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching people’s lives through jazz education and performance. For 20 years the NJW has delivered world class performances and music education to Nashville audiences and jazz fans around the country and the world. 2020 has been a challenging year for cultural institutions everywhere as they seek to fulfill their missions and remain financially viable. Fortunately, the internet has enabled the NJW to continue serving audiences and students – over 20,000 people have subscribed to the NJW’s YouTube channel to view live and archived performances and hundreds have enrolled in virtual classes since social distancing restrictions began in March. Jazzmania is the NJW’s annual jazz party and fundraiser. As a live event it has been “the jazz party of the year” and one of the city’s most engaging and fun charity events. As with other charity events, the event is moving online this year as a virtual event. On October 24, 2020 the Workshop will host Jazzmania as an online jazz party and evening of world class jazz performances. We will share our love of jazz, celebrate the Workshop’s 20th anniversary and ask our devoted fans to open their hearts and wallets to support the Workshop. The streaming event will also be targeted to a global audience, to build awareness of the NJW and engagement with jazz fans around the world. Proceeds from the event will support the NJW’s Music Education, Performance Series and Community Outreach.
    [Show full text]
  • Bandpage & Rhapsody Discover Major
    BANDPAGE & RHAPSODY DISCOVER MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN THE WAY MUSICIANS MONETIZE STREAMING Using Streaming Behavioral Data Is 10 Times More Effective Than Facebook at Driving Music Customers to Musician’s Stores San Francisco ­ August 19, 2015 ­­ BandPage, the central profile that over 500,000 musicians ​ use to engage and sell to hundreds of millions of fans, and Rhapsody, the music streaming pioneer, have announced the numbers from their recently launched partnership and the results are staggering. This partnership is focused around BandPage’s behavioral data algorithms which enable musicians to reach and connect with their biggest customers on streaming services. Over the first few months of the partnership, push notifications have been sent to thousands of consumers and the level of engagement on these notifications far exceeds typical click­through rates for other powerful platforms often used by musicians. On average, this click­through rate is twice as high as Google Search1, 10 times higher than average Facebook ads2 and over 50 times more effective than web display advertising.3 Click­through rate is a metric used by marketers to evaluate the relevance and appeal of a marketing message to a potential customer, in this case a music fan. Rhapsody leverages BandPage’s data analytics engine to identify super­fans, the artist’s most engaged and passionate fans. Based on real­time analysis at the time a Rhapsody user plays a track, a highly relevant push notification is sent to the fan with a message from the artist. These messages notify fans of special experiences available in that artist’s BandPage Store or let the user know if the artist is coming to their town to play a gig.
    [Show full text]
  • Traditional Funk: an Ethnographic, Historical, and Practical Study of Funk Music in Dayton, Ohio
    University of Dayton eCommons Honors Theses University Honors Program 4-26-2020 Traditional Funk: An Ethnographic, Historical, and Practical Study of Funk Music in Dayton, Ohio Caleb G. Vanden Eynden University of Dayton Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.udayton.edu/uhp_theses eCommons Citation Vanden Eynden, Caleb G., "Traditional Funk: An Ethnographic, Historical, and Practical Study of Funk Music in Dayton, Ohio" (2020). Honors Theses. 289. https://ecommons.udayton.edu/uhp_theses/289 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the University Honors Program at eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Traditional Funk: An Ethnographic, Historical, and Practical Study of Funk Music in Dayton, Ohio Honors Thesis Caleb G. Vanden Eynden Department: Music Advisor: Samuel N. Dorf, Ph.D. April 2020 Traditional Funk: An Ethnographic, Historical, and Practical Study of Funk Music in Dayton, Ohio Honors Thesis Caleb G. Vanden Eynden Department: Music Advisor: Samuel N. Dorf, Ph.D. April 2020 Abstract Recognized nationally as the funk capital of the world, Dayton, Ohio takes credit for birthing important funk groups (i.e. Ohio Players, Zapp, Heatwave, and Lakeside) during the 1970s and 80s. Through a combination of ethnographic and archival research, this paper offers a pedagogical approach to Dayton funk, rooted in the styles and works of the city’s funk legacy. Drawing from fieldwork with Dayton funk musicians completed over the summer of 2019 and pedagogical theories of including black music in the school curriculum, this paper presents a pedagogical model for funk instruction that introduces the ingredients of funk (instrumentation, form, groove, and vocals) in order to enable secondary school music programs to create their own funk rooted in local history.
    [Show full text]
  • Puzzles of the Zero-Rate Royalty
    Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal Volume 27 Volume XXVII Number 1 Article 1 2016 Puzzles of the Zero-Rate Royalty Eli Greenbaum Yigal Arnon & Co., [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj Part of the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation Eli Greenbaum, Puzzles of the Zero-Rate Royalty, 27 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 1 (2016). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj/vol27/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Puzzles of the Zero-Rate Royalty Cover Page Footnote Partner, Yigal Arnon & Co. J.D., Yale Law School; M.S., Columbia University. This article is available in Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj/vol27/iss1/1 Puzzles of the Zero-Rate Royalty Eli Greenbaum* Patentees increasingly exploit their intellectual property rights through royalty-free licensing arrangements. Even though patentees us- ing such frameworks forfeit their right to trade patents for monetary gain, royalty-free arrangements can be used to pursue other significant commercial and collaborative interests. This Article argues that modern royalty-free structures generate tension between various otherwise well- accepted doctrines of patent remedies law that were designed for more traditional licensing models.
    [Show full text]
  • A Hip-Hop Copying Paradigm for All of Us
    Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Pace Law Faculty Publications School of Law 2011 No Bitin’ Allowed: A Hip-Hop Copying Paradigm for All of Us Horace E. Anderson Jr. Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty Part of the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, and the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation Horace E. Anderson, Jr., No Bitin’ Allowed: A Hip-Hop Copying Paradigm for All of Us, 20 Tex. Intell. Prop. L.J. 115 (2011), http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/818/. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact [email protected]. No Bitin' Allowed: A Hip-Hop Copying Paradigm for All of Us Horace E. Anderson, Jr: I. History and Purpose of Copyright Act's Regulation of Copying ..................................................................................... 119 II. Impact of Technology ................................................................... 126 A. The Act of Copying and Attitudes Toward Copying ........... 126 B. Suggestions from the Literature for Bridging the Gap ......... 127 III. Potential Influence of Norms-Based Approaches to Regulation of Copying ................................................................. 129 IV. The Hip-Hop Imitation Paradigm ...............................................
    [Show full text]
  • Karaoke Book
    10 YEARS 3 DOORS DOWN 3OH!3 Beautiful Be Like That Follow Me Down (Duet w. Neon Hitch) Wasteland Behind Those Eyes My First Kiss (Solo w. Ke$ha) 10,000 MANIACS Better Life StarStrukk (Solo & Duet w. Katy Perry) Because The Night Citizen Soldier 3RD STRIKE Candy Everybody Wants Dangerous Game No Light These Are Days Duck & Run Redemption Trouble Me Every Time You Go 3RD TYME OUT 100 PROOF AGED IN SOUL Going Down In Flames Raining In LA Somebody's Been Sleeping Here By Me 3T 10CC Here Without You Anything Donna It's Not My Time Tease Me Dreadlock Holiday Kryptonite Why (w. Michael Jackson) I'm Mandy Fly Me Landing In London (w. Bob Seger) 4 NON BLONDES I'm Not In Love Let Me Be Myself What's Up Rubber Bullets Let Me Go What's Up (Acoustative) Things We Do For Love Life Of My Own 4 PM Wall Street Shuffle Live For Today Sukiyaki 110 DEGREES IN THE SHADE Loser 4 RUNNER Is It Really Me Road I'm On Cain's Blood 112 Smack Ripples Come See Me So I Need You That Was Him Cupid Ticket To Heaven 42ND STREET Dance With Me Train 42nd Street 4HIM It's Over Now When I'm Gone Basics Of Life Only You (w. Puff Daddy, Ma$e, Notorious When You're Young B.I.G.) 3 OF HEARTS For Future Generations Peaches & Cream Arizona Rain Measure Of A Man U Already Know Love Is Enough Sacred Hideaway 12 GAUGE 30 SECONDS TO MARS Where There Is Faith Dunkie Butt Closer To The Edge Who You Are 12 STONES Kill 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER Crash Rescue Me Amnesia Far Away 311 Don't Stop Way I Feel All Mixed Up Easier 1910 FRUITGUM CO.
    [Show full text]
  • Builders of Dreams
    THE MAGAZINE OF THE HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY University of California, Berkeley Nonprofit Organization Haas School of Business U.S. Postage 545 Student Services #1900 Paid Berkeley, CA 94720-1900 University of California, Berkeley BerkeleyHaasFall 2016 6 SUPERCHARGED 10 LESSONS FROM MT. EVEREST 16 A HEALTHY SUCCESS Quantifying the economic power of reliable Mountaineering illustrates the dangers of Albert Lee, MBA 04, helped make MyFitnessPal energy in developing nations groupthink for workplace teams the world’s leading fitness app · 2 · 1997 002 · 2 992 007 1 · 7 · 20 98 12 1 · · 2 2 0 8 1 9 6 1 · · E 7 M 7 9 April 28-30 B 1 A · 2 2 0 7 1 9 5 1 REUNIONREUNION WEEKENDWEEKEND Business Leaders of the Year 2017 BUILDERS Relive the best of your Berkeley-Haas experience! Catch up with classmates, listen to engaging lectures, make new connections, and bring your OF DREAMS family back to campus. Susan Chamberlin, MBA 87, and her husband, Steve, spent years planning new Everything you loved about business school—without the exams. structures and cityscapes. Now they’re redesigning the world of public education. haas.berkeley.edu/reunion #haasreunion #haasalumni Question the Status Quo Fall 2016 EXECUTIVE EDITOR FEATURES AND DEPARTMENTS The Beyond Yourself Issue Confidence Without Attitude Ute Frey UP FRONT MANAGING EDITOR Students Always Amy Marcott DESIGN Beyond Yourself Cuttriss & Hambleton, Berkeley STAFF WRITERS Berkeley-Haas alumni enjoy 15% off Laura Counts, Kim Girard, open-enrollment programs.
    [Show full text]
  • Abstract Jordan III, Augustus W. B.S. Florida A&M University, 1994 A
    Abstract Jordan III, Augustus W. B.S. Florida A&M University, 1994 A Study of Language and Ideology in Rap Music Advisor: Dr. O. Osinubi Dissertation Dated June 5,1998 This study examined the language of Hip-Hop songs and ideology of the artists as reflected through their songs. The study was based on the theory that Hip-Hop or rap songs are legitimate artforms because of their use of poetic elements such as figuration, figures of sound, symbolism, and ambiguity. The study recorded and interpreted the lyrics of a few current rap songs for the purpose of investigating their poetical and ideological elements. The researcher found signification battles by some rap artists as the best examples of songs which express the richness and complexity of Hip-Hop music. The researcher found that both Hip-Hop music lyrics and standard poetry have many similarities, but also have a few different features which enhance their uniqueness. The conclusions drawn from the findings suggest that the main reason many critics do not consider Hip-Hop or rap music an artform, is that they either compare the music to something extremely different, or they simply do not take the time to listen to its songs. Rap Music is an artform that expresses poetic elements and utilizes electronic devices, thus making it a Postmodernist popular artform. Through the research, the researcher showed that rap music lyrics also have intense meaning, just like poetry. 2 A STUDY OF LANGUAGE AND IDEOLOGY IN RAP MUSIC A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN AFRICAN AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES BY AUGUSTUS JORDAN III SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ATLANTA,GA JULY 1998 R -111 P-Jfl © 1998 AUGUSTUS W.
    [Show full text]