Washington, D.C.— Future of Music Coalition (FMC), a national non-profit research, education and advocacy organization for musicians, commends today’s Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, which invalidates a California statute prohibiting the sale or rental of violent video games to minors.
Media Access Project (MAP) filed an amici curiaebrief on behalf of arts organizations Future of Music Coalition, the National Association of Media Arts and Culture and Fractured Atlas. The brief argued that the broadly-defined California law was too vague and would have caused economic and expressive harm to independent creators.
The following statement can be attributed to FMC Deputy Director Casey Rae-Hunter:
“Preserving free expression in music and the arts is crucial to American culture and our creative economy. Today’s decision affirms that musicians and other creators must be able to follow their artistic vision and contribute to our national discourse.”
“In today’s technology-driven world, it is even more important that the speech of artists not be curtailed. Creators, particularly independents, depend on platforms like the internet to reach audiences, earn a living and enrich our culture. We thank Andrew Jay Schwartzman at Media Access Project for his diligence in defending these essential rights on behalf of today and tomorrow’s creators.”
Amicus Curiae Brief:
http://futureofmusic.org/filing/fmc-files-supreme-court-violent-video-games-case
Future of Music Coalition is a national non-profit education, research and advocacy organization that seeks a bright future for creators and listeners. FMC works towards this goal through continuous interaction with its primary constituency — musicians — and in collaboration with other creator/public interest groups. More