US: Artist Rights Alliance urges Big Tech crackdown

According to a report in The Hill, a trade group representing musicians and other content creators wants Congress to take in their perspectives as it investigates the effects of large tech companies’ market power.

The Artist Rights Alliance (ARA) sent a letter on Wednesday, July 31, to lawmakers leading an antitrust probe into Silicon Valley’s giants, raising concerns about how large internet platforms impact the music business.

“We have seen first-hand the damage wrought by the monopoly platforms using their market power to exploit outdated or misinterpreted public policy,” the group wrote in the letter. “If left unchecked, we fear they will squeeze the life out of American music and every other field of creativity and put the dream of earning a decent living out of reach for the next generation of creators. That is a matter of national concern.”

The ARA, which until recently was known as the Content Creators Coalition, sent the letter to Rep. David Cicilline (Democrat – Rhode Island), the chairman of the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, as well as the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, two agencies which are conducting their own investigations into how large tech companies wield their market power.

Cicilline’s panel has held two hearings in the investigation since launching it in June.