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[[image - BMA logo]]
Black Music Association
Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, Calif.
May 23-27, 1981

innerVisions
Black Music Association Volume 2, No. 1 September, 1980

BMA Second Annual Conference Highlights

It was at the spectacular black-tie awards banquet hosted by CBS Records, which honored President and Mrs. Carter for their cultural contributions, that the new BMA officers were announced.

LeBaron Taylor, Vice President and General Manager, Divisional Affairs, CBS Records, was named the new President of the BMA, while Kenneth Gamble assumes the position of Chairman of the Board, and Edward W. Wright, Vice Chairman of the Board. Also elected as new BMA officers are: Ewart Abner, Executive Vice President; Rod McGrew, Secretary; and James Tyrell, Treasurer.

The newly appointed members of the Board of Directors are: Performing Arts Division - Betty Wright, Ewart Abner, Teddy Pendergrass and George Schiffer; Communications Division - Robert Law and Dorothy Brunson; Marketing & Merchandising Division - Ray Harris and Skip Miller.

The award presented to President and Mrs. Carter, while Patricia Harris, Secretary of Health and Human Services, delivered a message on their behalf.

More than 800 people from the music and entertainment arts industry attended the recent 4-day Second Annual Black Music Association (BMA) Conference in Washington, D.C. (June 26-30).

GENERAL SESSIONS

In the opening General Session, hosted by RCA Records, Kenneth Gamble gave the Welcome Address and set the tone for the Conference stating, "This is to be a very serious and spiritual Conference. We want to concentrate on taking care of business to try to resolve some of the problems and create better opportunities for all of us in the music industry."

Walter R. Yetnikoff, President, CBS Records Group, delivered the Keynote Address pointing out that, "Black Music grew from an industrywide three percent of the market to its current 14 percent share. In dollars, Black Music increased tenfold - from $50 million annually in 1970 to $500 million last year...Black Music is indeed SOUND FOR THE 80s."

Washington, D.C. Mayor, Marion Barry, welcomed the Conference attendees to Washington and proclaimed June as Black Music Month in the District of Columbia.

"What is BMA?," an audio visual presentation produced for BMA by RCA Records, displayed an overview of the music industry from the 1920s to the present, highlighting the formation of the BMA and its activities to-date.

Joe Cohen, Executive Vice President of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), along with Calvin Simpson, Jr., President of Simpson's Wholesale, Inc. presented NARM's "Give The Gift of Music" campaign with an emphasis on the importance of Black Music as a part of this new industry-wide campaign.

The panel entitled, "What Is Black Music?" was co-chaired by James Tyrell, President, T-Electric Records and George Ware, BMA Communications Board Member and Consultant. Panelists Oscar Brown, Jr., songwriter, playwright, producer and performing artist; Alan Lomax, Folklorist and Anthropologist, Library of Congress, Columbia University; and Dave Clark, National Director of Promotions for Malaco Records presented historical, anthropological and cultural points of view on the subject. 

Stevie Wonder joined members of the Black Leadership Forum: the Honorable Julian C. Dixon, Congressman, Treasurer, Congressional Black Caucus; Maudine Cooper, Vice President of the National Urban League; the Honorable Walter Fauntroy, Congressman, Chairman, Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Dorothy Height, President, National Council of Negro Women; M. Carl Holman, President, National Urban Coalition; Reverend Jesse Jackson, President, Operation PUSH and Eddie Williams, President, Joint Center for Political Studies, at the Sunday General Session and breakfast.

Each member of the Black Leadership Forum defined how the information, programs and objectives of their organizations can be made use of by BMA.

Wonder cited unity as an essential beginning of an organization and stated that BMA members should be invited to the meetings of other black organizations. 

Alexis Herman, Director of Women's Bureau, Department of Labor, also gave brief remarks on the importance of organizations working together.

The Gospel Keynoters made a special appearance, courtesy of Nashboro Records, in a tribute to gospel music. 

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[[caption]] GLENDA GRACIA, Executive Director [[/caption]]

Black Music: THE SOUND TO COUNT ON

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