Back From the Big Apple

Audience converges on panelists at "What's the Future for Musicians?" — NYC.

We just wrapped up our events at The Public Theater in New York on October 6, both of which went extremely well. It was a long day for staff, what with our "What's the Future for Musicians?" seminar and "Creative License" panel discussion taking place essentially back-to-back (with an awesome cocktail party in between). Still, it was a blast, and attendees were excited about the range of information offered in both the presentations and breakout sessions.

"What's the Future for Musicians?" kicked off at noon with the "Music 2.0" segment, which featured a brief overview about new models for promotion and distribution by FMC's Kristin Thomson, followed by an in-depth panel discussion with some of the sharpest minds in music, technology, artist advocacy and public relations.

Attendees also learned about the critical issue of health insurance for musicians at a discussion led by Alex Maiolo of FMC's Health Insurance Navigation Tool (HINT). A lot of great info was presented by panelists who do work around the issue, or have been personally affected by it.

The breakout sessions were a hit, with eventgoers participating in informal, face-to-face conversations about new revenue streams, podcasting/webcasting, international touring, funding opportunities and more.

We wrapped up "What's the Future for Musicians?" with a net neutrality presentation by FMC's Michael Bracy, which segued into a policy overview that brought perspective on issues of concern to musicians, labels, broadcasters and fans. You can check out complete programming descriptions here.

After a heady policy discussion, folks usually require refreshment, so we took a break for a cocktail party and finger-foods. Then it was time for "Creative License: A Conversation About Music, Sampling and Fair Use," which got underway around 7 PM.

The discussion featured moderator/media professor Kembrew McLeod and interviewees/panelists Steve Stein (aka Steinski of Sonic Boom), musician/composer/educator T.S. Monk, producer/label chief El-P and American University Professor Peter Jaszi. The back-and-forth was fascinating — the only problem was that we didn't have quite as much time as we might have liked. Thankfully, we'll be doing more events about sampling in the near future, in advance of the fall 2009 publication of Creative License — a book co-authored by McLeod.

A huge and hearty thanks to all of our sponsors and partners who made these New York events (and the previous one in Chicago) such successes. We'll be posting audio and visual archives of the presentations and panels as soon as possible, so those who couldn't make it can see (and hear) what they missed.

Next up, our D.C. Policy Day, which is set February 11 2009. Stay tuned for more info on that event!