The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors, which the RIAA say "create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legally sold recorded music in the United States." RIAA has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The RIAA was formed in 1952 primarily to administer the RIAA equalization curve,^{[citation needed]} a technical standard of frequency response applied to vinyl records during recording. The RIAA participates in the collective rights management of sound recording. The association is also responsible for certifying Gold and Platinum albums and singles in the USA.

The RIAA lists its goals as:

Cary Sherman has been the RIAA's chairman and CEO since 2011. Sherman joined the RIAA as its general counsel in 1997 and became president of the board of directors in 2001, serving in that position until being made chairman and CEO.

Sasha Alexander (born Suzana S. Drobnjaković ; May 17, 1973) is an American actress. She is best known for several roles, including Gretchen Witter, the sister of Pacey Witter on Dawson's Creek; NCIS Special Agent Kate Todd in the first two seasons of NCIS; as Lucy in Yes Man (2008); and as Catherine in He's Just Not That Into You (2009).

She currently stars as Chief Medical Examiner Maura Isles on the Turner Network Television series Rizzoli & Isles.

Alexander was born Suzana S. Drobnjaković in Los Angeles, California, to a Serbian father and an Italian mother^{[citation needed]} . She began acting in school productions in the seventh grade. She also was an ice skater but had to stop due to a knee injury. She continued acting through high school and college, and then moved to New York to act in summer stock and Shakespeare festivals. She graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television before going on to have a successful acting career in both TV and film.

Alexander was a regular on two short-lived series: the medical drama Presidio Med and ABC's twenty-something drama Wasteland. She achieved widespread media attention and critical praise when she appeared on the fourth season of Dawson's Creek as Gretchen Witter, dating the title character, and in an episode of the short-lived Fox comedy series Greg the Bunny, playing the part of a lesbian TV Guide reporter and shared an onscreen kiss with Sarah Silverman. Alexander has also appeared in the films Lucky 13, and All Over the Guy as well as He's Just Not That Into You, the independent movie The Last Lullaby, and Yes Man starring Jim Carrey.

Angela Michelle "Angie" Harmon (born August 10, 1972) is an American fashion model and television/film actress. She became a well-known model before gaining international fame for her roles in Baywatch Nights and Law & Order.

She currently stars as Detective Jane Rizzoli on the television series Rizzoli & Isles.

Harmon was born in Highland Park, Texas, the daughter of Daphne Demar (née Caravageli) and Lawrence Paul "Larry" Harmon, a hospital information-network executive in Dallas. Her mother is of Greek descent and her father is of English and Cherokee Native American ancestry. Both of her parents were models in the 1970s. They divorced in 1982, and her father later remarried.^{[citation needed]} She is not related to actor Mark Harmon.

Harmon worked as a child model and in 1988, won a Seventeen modeling contest. She attended Highland Park High School until 1990, where she was a member of the Highland Belles. One of her fellow students was Stephanie March of Law & Order: SVU who was a sophomore when Harmon was a senior. She won a Spectrum Model Search contest shortly afterward, subsequently pursuing a successful modeling career and becoming well known in the early 1990s. She worked as a runway model for Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani, and Donna Karan and appeared on the covers of ELLE, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire. She is signed with IMG Models in New York City.