FMC Policy Summit: Oct. 4-6, 2009 - We want your input!

We know it’s Monday morning and everything, but we at FMC are unusually giddy. No, it’s not that triple-shot espresso — although that feels pretty good, too — we’re just excited about FMC’s 2009 Policy Summit, which takes place at Georgetown University on October 4-6.

Now, we know that’s a ways off, but you’ll definitely want to get it on your calendar. This time around, we’re inviting visionary speakers to wax philosophical about where this “music-in-the-digital-era” stuff is heading. We’re talking sky-is-the-limit, future-forward stuff, here — the kind of thing you probably won’t find at other music conferences. Of course, we’ll also be zooming up on the specific issues that impact artists and fans in a changing policy environment. And we’re currently testing some new social media tools to maximize interactivity before and during the conference. Then there’s the full day of practical, musician-oriented programming for all you real-world artists.

And we want YOUR input! We’d love it if you could spare about a minute of your time (literally, like 60 seconds) to take a five-question survey about our Policy Summit, and FMC events in general. It’s a great way for previous attendees to give feedback, and those who haven’t been to our conferences can plug in, too. Your survey answers are anonymous and confidential, but if you give us your e-mail address (don’t worry, we’re not spammers), we’ll automatically enter you into a raffle to win one complimentary registration to the event.

Remember, you can take this survey in about the amount of time it takes to figure out the next MP3 to play. (Or maybe flip the vinyl?) Head here to chime in.

FMC Events: 2008 and Beyond!

It's usually around now that we begin talking about our annual Future of Music Policy Summit, but this time, we're changing things up a bit. Since there’s a Federal election set to take place in November, we decided to organize a few smaller, more focused events in the fall, while gearing up for more policy-related programming early in 2009.

Because last April’s “What’s the Future for Musicians?” seminars in upstate New York went so awesomely, we thought it would be a good time for another road trip. FMC and our whip-smart associates will be in Chicago and New York City this fall for two more information-packed forums for musicians, indie labels and fans.

Attendees will learn about a range of internet-based promotion and distribution options, how to navigate the health insurance landscape, the importance of open internet structures, local arts funding opportunities and how copyright law and business models affect musician compensation.

Not good enough? There will also be special conversations featuring prominent music minds, breakout sessions, and everybody’s favorite — cocktail parties! It’s a great chance to get the latest music-tech-policy scoop, interact with the experts, and exchange ideas and perspectives with other musicians, labels and fans. You could call it networking; we call it good times!

The Chicago seminar will take place on Monday September 22 at the Old Town School of Folk Music. The NYC forum will be held at the Public Theater on Monday, October 6. Admission for each event is $25, though a limited number of musician scholarships are also available for both events. We recommend registering early since space is limited.

What’s the Future for Musicians: Chicago
Monday, September 22, 2008 12:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, IL

Event site
Register
Apply for a scholarship
Press credentialing
Help us spread the word

What’s the Future for Musicians: New York: Monday
October 6, 2008, 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Anspacher Theater at the Public Theater, New York, NY

Event site
Register
Apply for a scholarship
Press credentialing
Help us spread the word

FMC will also be organizing another event in NYC in October or November, date and venue to be determined. “Creative License: A Conversation about Music, Sampling and the Law” will present a robust but balanced conversation about the legal and social challenges posed by music sampling, and the sample license clearance process — hot topics in this Girl Talk era.

FMC goes back to the future with our Washington, D.C. Policy events slated for 2009. Hot on the heels of the national election, we’ll be holding a Policy Day at the National Geographic Society on February 11. The one-day forum will look at how changes in the policy landscape might impact the music community. Later in ’09, we’ll host our multi-day Policy Summit, which will shed even more light on the issues that are emerging as music promotion and distribution moves to a global, digital platform. Stay tuned for more info on all of our upcoming events.

Complete Policy Summit media coverage

We previously posted a few of the articles generated by our Policy Summit, but here is a complete rundown of the summit coverage for your reading pleasure.

News from FMC's Policy Summit

Not to brag, but our annual Policy Summit went off very well this week with speakers such as Sen. Byron Dorgan, Copyright Office head Marybeth Peters, musician Bob Mould and a raft of really other great and insightful people. Here's some of the coverage, so if you missed it you can catch up on some of the proceedings. We will have podcasts, as well as some audio and perhaps video forthcoming of the summit.

Rob Pegoraro over at The Washington Post's Faster Forward blog has a good run down of Day 1 of the summit.

If you want to see what the summit looked like, Todd Beals has posted a number of pictures on his Flickr account. You can go here to find it.

Bonus coverage: It's not about the summit, but interesting nonetheless. The Freakonomics guys at the NY Times talk with music industry heavyweights about the future of the industry.