The RIAA

The RIAA provides a great deal of service to the music industry.  They work to protect the First Amendment rights and Intellectual Property of artists.  They provide licensing services, and work to stop music piracy.  The RIAA also tracks music sales for gold and platinum certification purposes.  The association has a wide array of services to help parents choose music that is appropriate for their children as well.

As someone who is interested in the concert promotion industry, the RIAA is very important to me.  Paying attention to data provided by the RIAA can help me to determine what artists are hot right now, and may be worth bringing to my area.  It can also alert me to any big events happening for an artist I have already booked, such as a newly certified gold or platinum single.  Having this information can help me to plan a more dynamo and exciting marketing campaign for an event.  Advertising an artist as platinum selling can generate more interest in them, and help to sell more tickets to their shows.

Another industry that I have a great deal of interest in is Artist Management.  I've always had a passion for promoting artists that I think deserve a shot at their big break, and the RIAA is a very valuable asset to these artists.  Their work to stop music piracy can help to save many small artists who are struggling because their music is being passed around on file sharing sites for free, when they are in desperate need of every penny that comes from the sale of their single or album.  These struggling new artists also depend on album sales to help generate more interest in their career, and piracy can do quite a bit to halt any momentum that they may be able to build.  They then become dependent on the reputation of their live show in order to garner interest from major record labels, but a lack of album sales, either digitally or standard, may make it difficult for them to book shows, as promoters have little interest in booking acts that can't sell albums.

The RIAA is a valuable asset to any recording artist, manager, or promoter.  Hopefully they continue their work, and focus their efforts on projects that benefit the artists they represent.

http://www.riaa.com