The preliminary ballot for the 2015 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards (Hawaiʻ's  GRAMMY®) is out!  Ballot voting sheets were mailed today to all voting members of the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts (HARA) – they’re due back March 13, 2015.

See the preliminary ballot below, or go to the HARA website and click on the link to the PDF file on the home page under the article entitled “38th Annual Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards Preliminary Vote”. There is also information there about the new voting procedures.    

NOTE: The entries on the preliminary ballot are not Nā Hōkū Award “nominees” – only those who receive enough votes to be placed on the final ballot are considered “nominees.”

Good luck to all who entered!

Hawaiʻi musicians! The following email from Attorney Bill Meyer, who specializes in entertainment law, was  sent to all members of the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts today. It concerns  an important piece of legislation that will be heard here in Hawaiʻi this Wednesday. Please take the time to read his email - and his testimony and supporting documents, attached below -  and attend the hearing if you can. You can also submit testimony in support of the bill online at the link in his email.

February 23, 2015

Aloha Music Friends,

I write to advise you that there is an important bill (SB1287) which will be heard before the Senate Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Commerce and Consumer Protection this coming Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. in Room 016.

SB1287 would recognize, for the first time in the State of Hawai`i, that Sound Recordings fixed prior to February 15, 1972 carry the full panoply of copyright rights including the right of public performance.

As many of you know, songwriters in the United States and abroad have long enjoyed a right of public performance in the songs they write. Accordingly, when their music is played in public places the songwriters are entitled to compensation which is generally collected through the various performance rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI and SEASAC. However, American recording artists and their record labels, unlike their counterparts in most other developed nations, have never enjoyed a full public performance right in the sound recordings they create. (A limited public performance right does exist under federal law in connection with the digital transmission of sound recordings.) In the past this manifestly unfair treatment of recording artists and record labels was justified on the basis that free radio and other play essentially advertised the sale of records. However, that view is now archaic in light of recent technological advances and changes in how people access and enjoy recorded music. Today, record sales in the form of CDs are in steep decline and are anticipated to all but disappear in the years ahead. Digital downloads are following suit as consumers abandon “ownership” of copies of music in favor of convenient and cheap “access” to music. As a result, revenue from digital music “sales” continue to fall as a percent of total music revenues while “license fees” (both statutory and negotiated) from music subscription and non-subscription services are sharply rising. The bottom line is that the old justification for not paying public performance fees in connection with sound recordings simply no longer exists.

It is now time to right a longstanding wrong and recognize, under Hawai`i law, that Sound Recordings carry the full panoply of copyright rights including the important full right of public performance. Passage of SB1287 would confirm that right.

I have attached hereto for your consideration my public testimony in support of SB1287 which sets forth a detailed analysis of the legal issues at play here. I respectfully ask that you review this material and that you support the passage of SB1287. In so doing you will be recognizing the value of Hawai`i’s musical heritage and you will be supporting Hawai`i’s older recording artists and their heirs.

You may submit testimony in support of SB1287 online by going here: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?bill&billnumber=1287&year=2015

Of course, I encourage everyone to support this measure by coming to Wednesday’s hearing and testifying in person. Additionally, I encourage you to become familiar with your legislators which are supporting this measure, and in the process Hawai`i’s creative community, and that you remember them when election day comes around.

Please forward this email to YOUR music friends! Thank you!

Very truly yours,
Bill Meyer

William G. Meyer, III | Principal – Intellectual Property
Main 808.540.2400 | Direct 808.534.4412 | Fax 808.694.3055
Pioneer Plaza – Suite 1800 | 900 Fort Street Mall | Honolulu, HI 96813

At long last, multiple Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award-winning slack key guitarist Kawika Kahiapo has released a solo album which showcases his prowess in that specialized genre, unique to Hawai’i. Released on December 29, 2014, Hoʻomaluhia is primarily an instrumental album and features seven original and five cover songs, including the instrumental version of Jack Johnson’s award-winning song “Constellations,” from Johnson’s double platinum “In Between Dreams” album. Kahiapo taught Johnson both how to play slack key guitar and the special tuning that was used for this song, and Johnson plays alongside Kahiapo on this track. Also on the album is “Moe’s Lullabye,” a song Kahiapo wrote for Johnson’s son Moe. The one song with vocals is Kahiapo’s take on a cover of the classic “Koke’e” by his friend the late Reverend Dennis Kamakahi.

A few of the original songs on the album include “Honu,” which was inspired by the sight of forty-plus honu (Hawaiian sea turtles) feeding on limu at the reef shoreline during Kahiapo’s stay at a beach house near Laniakea, also known as Turtle Beach. “Kealohi” was written for a small peninsula known as He’eia State Park, an ancient sacred site on the windward side of O’ahu. After composing “Moon Rising,” Kahiapo wanted to use a portion of it on a documentary video he co-produced, and while looking through his home for a nose flute he was hoping to use to set the mood, he found one that happened to be in the key in which he wrote the song.

Although the winner of numerous awards (including three Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards in 2007 with his former group Kaukahi for their debut album "Life in These Islands"; he was featured on the GRAMMY® award winning album "Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key"; and he was the recipient of the “Slack Key Artist of the Year” award), Kahiapo has never before released an album that highlights his much-sought-after mastery of slack key guitar. His passion for the art began as a child, when he was influenced by world-renowned slack key master Gabby "Pops" Pahinui, who frequented the casual “garage parties” held at the Kahiapo family home. He continued to perfect his skills, broke into the professional music scene at age 17, and never looked back. To date he has contributed his talents to over 80 recording projects and has collaborated and performed with artists from the internationally acclaimed Jack Johnson to fellow GRAMMY® Award winner Cyril Pahinui; the Sunday Mānoa’s Palani Vaughan, and many, many more. He is a fixture at slack key festivals all over the U.S. and abroad, and the demand for both his slack key and vocal talents has expanded to the recording of numerous jingles and theme songs for radio and television ads.

Hoʻomaluhia was produced by Kahiapo and recorded over a period of ten years, beginning at the same time he was in the studio recording the award-winning Kaukahi album, “Life in These Islands”. The album was recorded at Jack Johnson’s Mango Tree Studio, Rhythm and Roots Recording Studio, and Rendezvous Recording Studio. It was engineered by Chris Lau and Pierre Grill.

The CD is currently available at Me Ke Aloha, and digitally online at CD Baby. Wider release through other online and retail outlets will follow.