2015 Articles

The Importance of Copyright Protection to Audio and Audiovisual Performers in the Digital Age

Masur, Richard

I have been a professional actor for forty-two years. I have worked in over a hundred theatrical and television films, been in several TV series and done scores of guest appearances on other TV shows. During those years I have also done dramatic radio works, TV and radio commercials, audio books and worked on and off Broadway.

Simultaneously, I served over twenty-five years as National President, Vice President and Board Member of Screen Actors Guild, and after our merger, as a Board Member of Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). SAG-AFTRA is a national labor union representing more than 165,000 actors, announcers, broadcasters, recording artists, background vocalists and other media professionals.’ We are the largest performers’ union in the world, and we exist to protect the economic and artistic rights of media artists in motion pictures, television, sound recordings and most other forms of media.