Local Independent Promoter Sues Live Nation

A recent development in the Live Nation antitrust saga hits close to home for those living here in the District of Columbia (that’s Washington, folks). I.M.P. Inc., an independent DC/Maryland concert promotion and event production company, recently filed an antitrust suit against Live Nation. Owned by Seth Hurwitz and Rich Heinecke, I.M.P. Inc., operates the famous 9:30 Club in Washington, DC and Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

I.M.P. claims that Live Nation has unlawfully acquired a monopoly over the national market for live music. They assert that over the years, Live Nation has acquired practically exclusive control of national concert promotions and venue services, and is now threatening to extend their control to ticketing, concert merchandising and artist management. These latter allegations seem to reference the proposed Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger currently being reviewed by the Department of Justice for possible antitrust concerns. (FMC recently asked those on both sides of the merger to give us their opinions; you can read the results here.)

According to I.M.P., Live Nation threatens to “knock Merriweather out of business or force the owners of Merriweather to engage Live Nation to manage this venue.” I.M.P. is suing for treble damages — a legal trick that would allow the court to award three times as much in damages in order to punish the Live Nation for willfully violating the law.

This suit is not Live Nation’s first brush with antitrust allegations. In 2001, Denver independent concert promoters Nobody In Particular Presents (NIPP) filed suit against radio conglomerate Clear Channel (which at that time owned Live Nation), claiming Clear Channel illegally reduced the airplay of artists that NIPP booked for their concerts. NIPP and Clear Channel settled in 2004. Now the company is back in the legal spotlight due to the proposed merger with Ticketmaster.

What do you think about the proposed Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger? Feel free to let us know in the comments.

Who Needs Earth Day When There’s Record Store Day?!?

Although many independent and mainstream music stores have closed over the years due to a decline in CD sales and general economic turbulence, there are those shops that have dug in their heels in the face of an increasingly technology-driven music industry. These survivors took part in the second annual Record Store Day, held this past Saturday (April 18) in stores all across the nation.

For those unfamiliar, Record Store Day is celebrated yearly on the third Saturday of April. On this fine day, the country’s independently owned record stores to come together with artists to celebrate the dazzling dance of music and commerce. This year, top acts like Franz Ferdinand, Erykah Badu and Ani DiFranco all gathered to pay homage to their hometown record stores while others like Bruce Springsteen, The Smiths and Modest Mouse offered limited special-edition vinyl releases for the occasion. As music junkies, we get pretty psyched about this “holiday,” so we figured we'd give you a little recap on how things went down in the District.

DC staples such as CD Warehouse, Crooked Beat Records, Melody Record Shop and Smash! all opened their doors to throngs of music fans who lined up hours before opening to get their hands on exclusive releases from their favorite artists. Melody Records, for instance, offered limited-edition seven-inches from the likes of Green Day and Jane’s Addiction, as well as reissues (although if you weren’t there early enough you could forget about those). Other treats included goodie bags filled with indie samplers, gift certificates, posters and discounted CDs.

Despite the success of Record Store Day, it’s still tough out there for music sellers. Just a couple of weeks ago it was announced that DC staple DJ Hut (known for their extremely awesome vinyl collections) will be closing its brick-and–mortar shop at the end of this month to become a strictly online record store. This trend has become all-too familiar to music fans these days.

On the upside, reports are suggesting that because of Record Store Day (and all of those cool exclusive releases) traffic and sales volume this year will eclipse the previous event. Which is very good news for independent retail owners (and musicians). Who says Christmas only comes once a year?

New LPFM Legislation to be Introduced

It was only a matter of time before the new Congress saw the reintroduction of a pro-Low Power FM bill. If passed, this legislation would create opportunities for hundreds more community radio stations in cities, towns and suburbs across the United States. The House of Representative's new Local Community Radio Act represents a strong step forward towards this goal.

FMC has long advocated for LPFM (and non-commercial, community radio in general) as an alternative to the homogenized playlists often heard on hyper-consolidated corporate radio. LPFM in more areas would be a tremendous boon to local and independent artists who typically find themselves shut out from area commercial stations. We figure that if more people had the chance to hear the talent in their own backyards, it might even have a positive effect on local economies.

But LPFM isn't just good for musicians — new low-power licenses would make radio station ownership possible for schools, churches, labor unions, local governments, emergency providers and other nonprofit groups, who could use the public airwaves to directly communicate with their local community.

Tomorrow (February 25), members of Congress, public interest advocates and community organizations will hold a national conference call to discuss the reintroduction of the bipartisan Local Community Radio Act. The sponsors of this legislation, Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) will join the call to explain the details of this bill. Here's the details:

WHAT: National Conference Call on Community Radio Legislation
WHEN: Wednesday, February 25 12 p.m. ET
WHO:
Rep. Mike Doyle
Rep. Lee Terry
Cory Fischer-Hoffman, Prometheus Radio Project
Shawn Campbell, Chicago Independent Radio Project
Michael Bracy, Future of Music Coalition
Ben Scott, Free Press
*** Call this number: (888) 792-8352 Call-in Code- 87422899 ***

The last time LPFM legislation was introduced, it won nearly 100 co-sponsors in the House. The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) and co-sponsored by then-Senator Barack Obama, unanimously passed out of the Commerce Committee. The Senate is expected to reintroduce a new version of the bill in the near future. We'll keep you updated!

Local is the New Global

Today's blog post was co-authored by FMC intern Daniel Eno, based on a bit of pondering by FMC Events Organizer Chhaya Kapadia.

Do you ever get nostalgic about cruising the racks at your local record store? Do you ever feel that, while it may be infinitely more convenient and even a couple dollars cheaper to buy an album off of iTunes, it’s nice to know your purchase helped keep your neighborhood shop up and running? What if you could combine the convenience of online purchasing with that warm feeling you get from supporting your local music-slingers?

One of our favorite broadcasters, Seattle’s KEXP, wants to help you do just that. The station has integrated a new feature into their online streaming radio that provides a means to buy local without having to leave the comfort of your computer keyboard.

Like other internet stations, KEXP's live stream features links to places to buy almost any tune that catches your ear. But in addition to the standard Amazon and iTunes links, KEXP also points to local record shops that will deliver the album right to your doorstep. Webcasters like KEXP have helped make broadcasting global, so it’s cool that they’re giving local listeners a way to buy music in their own backyard.

It's not clear how much new business this feature has generated for local shops, and maybe it amounts to nothing more than a kind gesture on the part of KEXP. Still, it's not hard to imagine that this sort of service might be implemented on the sites of other stations around the country. Stores like New York City's Other Music offer high-quality digitized versions of their awesome underground music collection, but as far as we know, there’s no online radio component — at least not yet. It would be interesting if the mass consumer movement toward online shopping turns out to be what saves local record shops. It’s a nice thought, anyway.

FMC believes that the future of music is inextricably tied to sustainable cultural communities. This is why we support localism on the public airwaves by fighting the forces of consolidation and encouraging community radio initiatives like Low Power FM. The internet has its part to play, too – better broadband penetration and open structures that let artists (and smaller retailers) compete on a level playing field with the big companies is essential to a legitimate digital music marketplace, local and otherwise. It’s like one hand washing the other, or whatever other metaphor you want to use.

KEXP’s local purchase feature also fits nicely with Seattle’s “City of Music Initiative,” a mayoral effort to promote the city as “home to musicians, live music and music business.” We hope more burgs follow Seattle’s lead in the name of regional diversity and sustainable cultural commerce.

Back From Buffalo

A full house at FMC's most recent event.

FMC staff recently returned from Buffalo, NY, where we hosted a free forum called "What's the Future for Musicians?" Aimed at local artists and labels, the all-day seminar featured panel presentations and discussions on a range of subjects, including online promotion and distribution, access to media outlets such as radio, compensation in a digital age and protecting net neutrality. Health Insurance Navigation Tool (HINT) guru Alex Maiolo was also on hand to talk about the importance of health insurance to musicians.

The seminar is part of a four-city series designed to educate New York State musicians on these crucial and timely issues. Other stops include Rochester, Syracuse and Albany. We'll be appearing in those burgs on April 28, 29 and 30, respectively.

Click here for more info on each event.

Prior to the Buffalo forum, FMC Education Director Kristin Thomson gave a great interview on local NPR affiliate WBFO. Click here to stream or download the session.

Check out the Buffalo page for a full list of presentations and a photo slide show.

If you're an NYS musician, be sure to sign up for the next forum in or around your city. Remember, it's free!

"What's the Future for Musicians?" — New York State Music Education Seminars

We've been meaning to make mention of a series of exciting (and free) events we're co-hosting in New York State throughout the month of April. But we've been so busy planning that we almost forgot to blog about them. Here's the official skinny:

Today’s music landscape is filled with both excitement and foreboding. With so many new technologies and ways to promote and distribute music, how do performers, composers, songwriters and independent labels know how to participate, who to trust and what is most effective?

FMC is partnering with American Federation of Musicians locals and other artist organizations around New York State to host free, daylong forums in Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany throughout April 2008.

These free seminars are designed educate musicians and label owners from a range of genres – classical, jazz, rock, folk and hip-hop – about the critical issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy, with the goal of better preparing musicians to participate in the issues that affect their livelihood.

The first of these events takes place in Buffalo on Wednesday April 2, at Livingston Hall (inside Kleinhans Music Hall). Click here for more information, and to RSVP.

Visit the main website to check out dates and programming for all of the events.

Hope to see you there!

Is the local music scene dying?

HarDCore. South Bronx hip hop. Delta Blues. The history of music is often defined by geographic scenes. A group of artists trading ideas, playing in the same bands, and listening to the same concerts has often gone on to create whole new genres of music. But in the age of globalization and the Internet, is the local scene going by the wayside? That question is at the heart of an interesting article on the ABC News web site.

The writer Michael Smith argues that the local music scene is not dead, but the old notion of a scene is undergoing a major transformation.

"The new local scene is a global music scene," said Chris Douridas, a DJ for the taste-making radio station KCRW, which also webcasts to a global audience. No one is a bigger advocate for finding music on MySpace than Douridas, who frequently scours band pages and sifts through mountains of emails from bands who want to be played on his show.

This way of doing things is a big shift away from the old idea of local music scenes, which Douridas characterized as areas where college radio and local print media would support local bands, who would all play the same venues and frequently swap members (think of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Temple of the Dog in Seattle). From that joint attention, a band could get picked up by national labels and radio.

These days, it's a free-for-all.

"You can vault over a scene," Douridas explained. "We're playing a band called 'Detective Byron,' from Sweden. I have no idea how they're thought of in their local community. They could just be making great records, and maybe they don't have a live show presence. I'm just reacting to the records they've made."

The lesson, it seems, as most bands are learning is that you can't ignore the changes that the Internet, Web 2.0 sites, and net neutrality have brought to music.

One interesting aspect is what impact the globalization will actually have on the artistic process. On the one hand, the cross pollination of thousands of local music scenes is exciting. On the other hand, will the "local flavor" that has created distinct musical movements like the San Francisco Sound or the South's Crunk be a thing of the past. In other words, are we headed for an era of the McDonaldization of music?