The Recording Academy's District Advocate Day is returning on Thursday, October 5th.
District Advocate Day, the largest grassroots advocacy movement for music and its makers, gives Recording Academy members an opportunity to visit the local district offices of their elected members of Congress and discuss the pressing issues facing the music community.
Last year, almost 2,000 Recording Academy members participated in District Advocate Day — making it one of the largest District Advocate Days to date. Over the course of the activation, Academy members reached 75 percent of Congress by meeting with nearly 200 congressional offices across 45 states.
Year over year, District Advocate Day has directly led to positive change for the music community. In 2022, Recording Academy members advocated for the passage of the PEACE Through Music Diplomacy Act, a bill designed to use music and music-related global exchange programs as a tool to build cross-cultural understanding and advance peace abroad. Just two months later, Congress passed the PEACE Through Music Diplomacy Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2023.
In 2020, Recording Academy members successfully urged Congress to provide billions in COVID relief for music makers and music small businesses when they needed it the most. And in 2019, the House of Representatives passed the CASE (Copyright Alternative in Small Claims Enforcement) Act just weeks after we advocated for it during District Advocate.
This bill, which passed the House of Representatives 410-6 before getting signed into law, created a small claims court for copyright cases — a huge win for artists who otherwise did not have the means to protect their work from infringement or theft.
This October, Recording Academy members will continue these efforts as they advocate for key issues facing the music community such as artificial intelligence and decriminalizing artistic expression.
Registration is open now until September 8th for all active members of the Recording Academy including Voting, Professional, and Student members. Members interested in and registering, or to learn more, can click here.
Even if you are not a member of the Recording Academy, you can still fight for creator’s rights by contacting lawmakers in support of music makers. We also encourage you to continue checking out our Advocacy page for additional ways to stay involved!
