Podcast Interview with Entertainment Attorney Josh Wattles on FMC's Artist Principles

Back in April, FMC released the "Principles for Musician Compensation in New Business Models” (or “Artist Principles”) — a set of guidelines for ensuring creator compensation in an evolving music landscape. Crafted by artist advocate Ann Chaitovitz with input from over a dozen industry experts, the Principles represent a first step in ongoing discussions about musicians’ revenue streams. You can read the document (and a handy point-by-point translation) here.

One of the main reasons for drafting this item was to get a conversation going with some of the smart people in the music world about what they think are the most important issues facing artists in the digital age. While we don’t expect these principles to be embraced by everyone, we do want to makes sure those with something to add to the discussion had a forum in which to do so.

This installment is an interview with Los Angeles-based attorney Josh Wattles, whose years in the copyright and entertainment fields have awarded him with an insider's perspective (and no shortage of opinions). Wattles talks to FMC about what he would envision in a pro-artist document, and makes some provocative statements about what the role of a record label should be in today's music marketplace.

Check out the MP3 of our conversation, and stay tuned for more podcasts in this series.