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The article about the Washington Area Music Association (“What’s WAMA Worth?” 10/2) was a very biased piece of journalism that unfairly damages the reputation of a venerable D.C. cultural organization.
WAMA is a membership organization, yet the article did not quote a single member. The author criticizes WAMA for not equally representing all genres of music, yet he fails to cite an example of WAMA turning anybody away. The article faults WAMA for not embracing every single aspiring musician in the city, never mentioning that the organization does not have even one full-time employee. The author even questions Tony Gil’s sweep of last year’s Wammies, despite making it clear that this artist hustled the most.
WAMA exists to provide opportunities for its members, and those who put more time and effort into the organization get more out of it. WAMA can assist artists and venues that wish to promote recordings and performances under its umbrella, but the burden still rests with those artists and venues to get the ball rolling.
In short, the City Paper portrays WAMA as a much larger and more influential institution than it is, and faults it for failing to deliver on promises that it has never made, all the while downplaying the organization’s many contributions to the local music scene.
President
Songwriters Association of Washington
Falls Church, Va.
via the Internet