Artists Form Pac To Fight Censorship, Noise Laws

Pearl Jam, already a protest voice against alleged price fixing for rock concerts, is an early contributor to a new political-action committee dedicated to defending the rights of artists and listeners.

Newly filed records in Seattle and Olympia show the Seattle-based rock group has contributed $2,500 toward JAMPAC, the Joint Artists' and Music Promotions PAC. Among the PAC's principal officers is Krist Novoselic, bass player with Nirvana.

Novoselic came up with the name JAMPAC as having "a good feel to it" after supporters vetoed ROCKPAC, said Robert Taylor-Manning, who heads the Washington Music Industry Coalition, a not-for-profit group with which JAMPAC is associated.

"It's not Pearl Jam's PAC," Taylor-Manning said. "They happened to be there first with the biggest check." Other bands are likely to show up in future filings, he said.

Pearl Jam stopped touring last summer in protest over what it claimed were monopolistic practices by TicketMaster to keep concert fees unreasonably high. It filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, and its members testified before a House subcommittee.

Yesterday, Taylor-Manning said he planned to make a formal announcement soon about the new PAC, who's behind it, and which candidates and causes it will back.

The coalition, with several hundred members, was formed about three years ago in response to the state's so-called erotic-music law that banned distribution, sale or display of sound recordings deemed obscene.

Coalition members, contending the law was a misguided attempt to solve a social problem by censoring artists, successfully challenged the law in court.

But state legislators have persisted with new "harmful to minors" statutes that essentially take the same approach, Taylor-Manning asserted. He said that, at the state level, JAMPAC would help fend off such efforts, including a recent attempt to override Gov. Mike Lowry's veto of erotic-music legislation.

JAMPAC also filed public-disclosure forms with the Seattle city clerk's office, Taylor-Manning said, because the coalition is concerned with a number of City Council actions he contends have unfairly targeted local artists and the music industry.

He said those actions include the council's ban on posters on City Light poles, a move some said severely damages the ability of small bands and clubs to advertise.

He also criticized an effort by Seattle City Councilwoman Sherry Harris to reform the noise ordinance to "limit how loud the amps can go.

"They want to keep everything quiet and clean," Taylor-Manning said. "They want to make it more like Singapore than the Seattle I know - a wide-open town full of political debate and artistic expression."

An aide to Harris said the councilwoman is trying set a standard so there's some predictability to enforcement. "A lot of these bars would welcome this," the aide said.

But in general, Taylor-Manning contended, the city "continues to treat Seattle musicians, recording studios and listeners as the ugly stepchild. . . . The city doesn't recognize that we contribute to the economy."

Taylor-Manning said JAMPAC will examine City Council candidates - five seats are up this year - to decide who to support. The PAC also might take stands on local and state ballot initiatives, he said.