FMC's South-By Drop-By

South By Southwest has rightfully earned its reputation as one of the most raucous music conferences in the country. Held yearly in Austin, Texas, SXSW is an over-the-top celebration of music, booze, and networking that can take a while to recover from (in a good way). In between the live sets and Tex-Mex, there's also panel discussions about where this whole music dealie might be headed.

FMC is no strangers to these discussions, having been going to SXSW for years. This year saw FMC technologies director and founding Board member Brian Zisk appearing on two panels — "Fan Based Marketing" and "Policy Trainwreck: How Copyright Law Failed the Digital Age," while FMC General Counsel and co-founder Walter McDonough spoke at a discussion called "Is Collective Licensing for P-2-P File Sharing a Future Source of Income for the Music Industry?"

The latter just got written up by Wired's Eliot Van Buskirk, who called it "among the more interesting panels I've attended." We can see why. In addition to Walter, the conversation included FMC advisory board members Sandy Pearlman, Jim Griffin and Rick Carnes, as well as entertainment lawyer Dina LaPolt.

Pearlman is a legendary producer whose visionary predictions about the music industry have a tendency to become focal points well after they're originally introduced (case in point: collective licensing, which he was talking about at the beginning of the decade.) Is Sandy the Nostradamus of music? Well, he does sometimes speak in prose, but we're not ready to call it either way.

In addition to his work with FMC, Walter is also an entertainment attorney in Boston, a professor of copyright law at Suffolk University Law School, and a SoundExchange Board member. (Walter moderated one of the most feisty and interesting panels at our February 2009 Policy Day — check out video and audio archives here.)

Jim Griffin is managing director of OneHouseLLC, and is currently working with Warner Music Group to help universities and then ISPs license music so that college kids can download tunes (without getting sued) for a small monthly fee. Proceeds would be split among rightsholders, but as LaPolt puts it, "the devil is in the details." In other words, this subject is gonna be debated for a while yet. For its part, FMC hopes that this system — if implemented — properly compensates musicians. We'll keep continue to keep our eye on this and other developments in how artists would get paid in emerging digital models.

Rick Carnes is the president of the Songwriters Guild of America, and often appears on panels to discuss the impact of filesharing on his profession, as well as offer his views on possible solutions.

So yeah, there's some brains there.

SXSW often archives panel discussions; our advice for the curious is to keep checking their site. In the meantime, you can read Buskirk's take on the collective licensing discussion. (We also think it's time to get Walter and Brian on another podcast interview, so watch this space!)

If you're interested in music and technology issues (and why else would you be reading this?), you won't want to miss Brian's next SanFran MusicTech Summit, which takes place at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco on May 18, 2009. SFMT brings together the best and brightest developers in the music/technology space, along with the musicians, entrepreneurial business people, press, investors, service providers, and organizations who work with them at the convergence of culture and commerce. Space fills fast, so get your tickets now!

HINT at SXSW — Podcast Interview with Alex Maiolo

Just wanted to let all you Austin-bound peeps that Alex Maiolo, project coordinator for FMC's Health Insurance Navigation Tool (HINT), will be at South By Southwest this year, rocking out and spreading the word about this free service for musicians.

What's this HINT thing all about? Well, it's an information resource for musicians to learn about their health insurance options. After scheduling an appointment on the HINT website (which also contains lots of useful, musician-friendly info), artists get a call from health insurance experts Alex or Chris Stephenson, who'll go over an individual's options on case-by-case, state-by-state basis. Alex and Chris are also indie musicians — no stuffed-shirt nerditude here, just solid, (and free!) info.

So, as we were saying. . . Alex will be at SXSW this week, talking to musicians and managers about HINT. He probably won't have time to do one-on-one sessions, but if you're in Austin and want to to catch one of his informal group chats, shoot him an e-mail here.

Oh, and we almost forgot — Alex recently talked to us about HINT, why health insurance is important to musicians (even if you think you don't have time to learn about it), and why Austin during SXSW is probably the most unhealthy place in the world. Fun as hell, though. Check it out here.

SXSW Flashback!

A little while ago, we posted a recap of FMC's adventures at this year's South By Southwest. You may recall us mentioning a panel called “Mobility, Ubiquity and Monetizing Music,” which was moderated by FMC Board member Bryan Calhoun and featured advisory board members Jim Griffin, Peter Jenner and Sandy Pearlman, as well as entertainment attorney Dina LaPolt and Eric Garland, founder of BigChampagne.

Discussion centered on the much-talked about "music access charge," which would allow file-sharing through licensing agreements between content holders and Internet Service Providers. Digital music pioneer Griffin is currently working with Warner Music Group on this concept, and Jenner — who has managed such acts as Pink Floyd and Billy Bragg — seems friendly towards the idea. But noted rock producer and McGill University professor Pearlman suggested that any and all attempts to preserve intellectual property and copyright will be rendered moot by technology — probably within the next decade.

In other words, it was a fascinating conversation. Click here to watch a clip, courtesy SXSW's archives. You can also check out FMC's Michael Bracy moderating the panel "Selling Music as a Service," which featured experts like Matthew Adell of Napster, Vicki Nauman of Sonos, David Pakman of eMusic and Tim Quirk of Rhapsody. We hope the SXSW folks make the full videos available soon.

And stay tuned for our chat with Peter Jenner; part of our ongoing Podcast Interview Series.

Bye-Bye, South By!

FMC staff just got back from several whirlwind days in Austin where we experienced the music and madness of South By Southwest.

We had a blast, and even managed to accomplish a few things in between the rocking and partying.

FMC's Michael Bracy moderated the panel "Selling Music as a Service," which featured experts like Matthew Adell of Napster, Vicki Nauman of Sonos, David Pakman of eMusic and Tim Quirk of Rhapsody.

The panel sparked discussion about how difficult it is to get rights cleared for digital streams/downloads, and the differing license requirements from service to service and country to country. Also addressed was the conceptual leap consumers have to make between "owning" versus "renting" digital music, with Rhapsody’s Tim Quirk emphasizing that subscription services give listeners access to all the music they can listen to, whenever they want to, for one price. For real music fans, access to millions of tracks means all they have to spend is their time. In contrast, users of eMusic and Napster currently have universal portability because their content is downloaded rather than streamed. Fascinating stuff that inspired extended discussion on what the future of musical discovery might be.

FMC co-founder and "serial entrepreneur" Brian Zisk moderated the lively "Resolving Webcasting Fees" panel, which saw John Simson of digital royalty distribution organization SoundExchange discuss the pros and cons of percentage vs. fixed webcasting royalty rates with smaller online broadcasters. Nothing really got resolved, but the conversation remained civil and, dare we say, hopeful.

Meanwhile, FMC's Health Insurance Navigation Tool (or HINT) worked the convention center like Lucy from the Peanuts, staking out a table and talking to all passers-by. Our resident health insurance expert (and musician) Alex Maiolo was on hand to raise awareness about the importance of health insurance for musicians, and conducted dozens of free, one-on-one consultations with artists about their options.

Deputy Director Jean Cook pulled double duty as an FMC representative and a performing artist. Jean played several gigs in Austin, including sets with the Waco Brothers, Jon Langford and a special guest appearance with Langford alongside the Sadies. She was probably pretty beat by the end of the weekend, but busy is good, right?

Communications Director Casey Rae-Hunter ran around to various showcases and tried to sneak Rock the Net materials on merch tables. Well, first he asked politely. Thanks to the bands (including Boston's Pretty & Nice) who cleared some space in support of net neutrality.

Events organizer Chhaya Kapadia attended lots of panels and performances, and got to reunite with musicians who attended our annual Artist Activism Camp, including Patrick Hallahan and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. Other AAC alumni were in Austin as well — Tom Morello and Kimya Dawson played the "Body of War" show, and Mike Mills rocked with R.E.M. at Stubb's on Wednesday night. Mills supposedly namedropped FMC in an on-site radio interview, but we can't seem to find the archived audio. Can anyone assist?

Finally, FMC advisory board members Sandy Pearlman, Peter Jenner and Jim Griffin appeared on the well-attended "Mobility, Ubiquity and Monetizing Music" panel, which discussed, among other things, how rights holders can get paid in the brave new digital world. Our newest board member, Bryan Calhoun, did his best to keep things reined in as moderator. FMC’s Kristin Thomson remembers being one of about twelve attendees at a panel during SXSW 2003, Sandy Pearlman first started promoting this idea.. Now, with five years of germination, the concept of monetizing the millions of music transactions has finally gained some momentum and a much higher profile, though a workable solution has yet to be reached.

Here's a link to some pics Chhaya took of the action.

Thanks, Austin. See you next year. . .

FMC at SXSW

A small delegation of Future of Music Coalition staffers will be descending upon Austin next week for the city's annual South By Southwest festival. If you're not already familiar with "South By," you're probably reading the wrong blog. Let's just say it's where the indie music world comes together to rock, party and participate in panels. We'll be doing a little of all three.

On Thursday, March 13, FMC Policy Director Michael Bracy will moderate a panel called "Selling Music as a Service." The discussion also features Matthew Adell of Napster, Vicki Nauman of Sonos, David Pakman of eMusic and Tim Quirk of Rhapsody. Later that night, Michael will be roaming around the Misra Records showcase at Friends.

FMC's Health Insurance Navigation Tool (HINT) will be in full effect, with musician and health insurance expert Alex Maiolo hanging out at the Convention Center to set up free consultations about health insurance options. If you want to schedule something in advance, shoot an e-mail to hint@futureofmusic.org.

A few FMC staffers will attend meetings with managers to talk about issues including artist activism and future music structures. We're also planning to reconnect with the musicians who have been part of our annual Artist Activism Camps in New Orleans.

Look for us at the Bloodshot Records BBQ at Yard Dog on Friday, March 14. We'll be raising awareness about our Rock the Net campaign as we generally "pig" out. Communications Director Casey Rae-Hunter and Events Organizer Chhaya Kapadia will also be hitting select showcases and passing out RTN schwag — if you want us to swing by your gig, drop an e-mail to casey@futureofmusic.org, and we'll try to work something out.

FMC Deputy Director Jean Cook will lend her musical talents to various performers throughout the festival. We'll tell you who, exactly, once we find out.

It's looking like we'll be pretty tired the following Monday.