We're still reeling from the awesomeness that was yesterday's DC Policy Day (Feb. 11, 2009). If you couldn't make it or weren't able to catch the live webcast, you can see archived video of all the panels below (just click "On Demand"), or at web.illish.us.
Stay tuned for pictures and more!
Tomorrow, FMC will be presenting our annual DC Policy Day at Grosvenor Auditorium at National Geographic Music and Radio and National Geographic Live! Before the big event, we wanted to tell you about our Policy Day partner National Geographic’s recently launched record label, National Geographic Music.
The label will record, release, promote and distribute modern music from around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Africa. The newly formed imprint plans to represent genres ranging from African pop to Arab classical.
National Geographic Music will be distributed through INgrooves — a digital media distribution company based out of San Francisco that provides clients with marketing, promotion and sync licensing. The label will also operate National Geographic’s Cinema Ventures; feature Films, Kids Entertainment and a radio division.
National Geographic Entertainment, the umbrella of National Geographic Music, is headed by David Beal — a speaker at tomorrow's Policy Day. He'll appear on our Fair Trade Music: Toward a Legitimate Digital Music Marketplace panel.
Online registration for Policy Day is now closed, but we'll be accepting walk-ups. If you can't make it to DC, you can watch a live webcast of the event here.
This post is part of a series on DC Policy Day, which takes place on Wednesday, February 11 at National Geographic's Grosvenor Auditorium in Washington, DC. Read previous entries here.
Alec Ounsworth is the lead singer and songwriter of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah — the posterboys of indie success in the digital era. Alec was a participant in FMC’s most recent Artist Activism Camp in New Orleans, and will be on hand for DC Policy Day this Wednesday, February 11. So let us tell you a little story about a college kid in a band who cut out the middleman and sold thousands of CDs with no label backing.
Born in Philly, Alec Ounsworth’s interest in music began when he was encouraged by his mother to learn the piano and later guitar. By the age of 17, he was writing and recording his own demos. In 2004 he formed Clap Your Hands Say Yeah with bassist Tyler Sargent, keyboardist Robbie Guertin, drummer Sean Greengalgh and Tyler’s guitarist brother, Lee Sargent.
Before long, the Brooklyn-based group had begun to generate some serious buzz. Their self-titled debut was released in 2005 without the benefit of label backing — how’s that for indie CYHSY had minimal expectations when they started selling the record through their website, yet within a few months it had sold a startling 25,000 copies. Did we mention that this was all done with out ANY label backing or distribution?
Accolades from MP3 blog sites and a Best New Music review from Pitchfork Media — which Alec calls the group’s “defining moment — followed. As of today, CYHSY have sold over 200,000 CDs and have had the likes of David Bowie and David Byrne attend their often sold-out shows.
This kind of DIY success story isn’t likely to happen for every band, but one thing is for sure: CYHSY wouldn’t have been able to move this many “units” without a level online playing field. Net neutrality — the principle that protects the open internet — allowed Alec and co. to reach their fans directly on the same “series of tubes” that iTunes and Amazon use. (Click here to for more info about why net neutrality is so important to musicians.)
Of course it takes a lot of time and envelope licking to deliver CDs to your legions of fans without any help. So for 2007’s Some Loud Thunder, CYHSY signed a distribution deal with the UK label Wichita Recordings. So far so good: the song “Satan Said Dance” was one of Rolling Stone’s top 100 songs of the year and was featured in the second season of “The Office.” The band also released Live at Lollapalooza 2007, a digital-only live album available through iTunes.
Alec will appear on the “Fair Trade Music: Toward a Legitimate Digital Music Marketplace” panel with CD Baby founder and moderator Derek Sivers, National Geographic Entertainment President David Beal, music manager Peter Jenner and Justin Ouellette, CEO & founder of Muxtape at DC Policy Day 2009.
Time is almost up for online registrations — head here to reserve your spot now!
This post is part of a series on DC Policy Day, which takes place on Wednesday, February 11 at National Geographic's Grosvenor Auditorium in Washington, DC. Read previous entries here.
Way back in March 2008, 25 year-old graphic designer and photographer Justin Ouellette unveiled Muxtape — a gloriously simple online music service that quickly endeared itself to music fans around the world.
Based on the old-school cassette mixtape, Muxtape 1.0 was a user-friendly, clutter-free website that let users upload their own playlists using music from their own collections, to be streamed by others. "[Muxtape's] intended purpose is to introduce you to new music that you would then hopefully go and buy," Justin said at the time. The idea caught on incredibly quickly, with 8,685 registered users in the first day, and 97,748 in the first month. The facilitated music discovery, and everyone seemed to love it.
Well, maybe not everyone.
Pretty much from the moment the site went live, Justin received notices from the RIAA (the trade group that claims to represent the US recording industry) and the major labels about infringing content. The RIAA asked Justin to remove a handful of specific mixes, and he complied. Not long after, Justin entered negotiations with the majors to find a way for Muxtape to continue while providing compensation to copyright holders. (You can read the story in Justin's own words here.) Although the negotiations had their hiccups, Justin was certain the negotiations were taking place in good faith and that the terms for a legit Muxtape might eventually be agreed upon.
(Re)enter the RIAA. Justin hadn't heard from them in a while, which he chalked up to the negotiations with the majors, Then, in August 2008, he received notice from Amazon Web Services (who hosted Mutape's files and servers) that he had one business day to business day to remove all the songs on his site or have the Muxtape servers shut down and all data deleted. Still thinking it was some kind of misunderstanding, Justin hastily tacked up a not about “a problem with the RIAA," and the site went dark. And it stayed that way until recently.
And so I made one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever faced: I walked away from the licensing deals. They had become too complex for a site founded on simplicity, too restrictive and hostile to continue to innovate the way I wanted to. They’d already taken so much attention away from development that I started to question my own motivations. I didn’t get into this to build a big company as fast as I could no matter what the cost, I got into this to make something simple and beautiful for people who love music, and I plan to continue doing that. As promised, the site is coming back, but not as you’ve known. I’m taking a feature that was in development in the early stages and making it the new central focus.
In case you were wondering if anyone from the urban/electronic music community would be at our upcoming DC Policy Day, no worries — production legend and FMC advisory board member Hank Shocklee will be ready to represent in Washington on Wednesday, February 11.
A Long Island native and two-time Source Magazine “Producer of the Year,” Hank is currently president of Shocklee Entertainment — a music, film media and technology info portal through which users can exchange information and discover valuable tools to advance their own careers.
Hank revolutionized the sound of hip-hop with his production unit the Bomb Squad, introducing the world to Public Enemy with their 1987 debut, YO! Bum Rush the Show. Hank’s deft touch helped elevate the role of the producer in hip-hop music — after Hank and the Bomb Squad hit the scene, it was no longer just about the MC. Hank’s unique production style became a cornerstone of the classic Public Enemy sound, and paved the way for a whole new generation of producers from the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA to Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg.
During his rise to prominence, Hank also extended his production skills to such artists as Madonna, Janet Jackson and Peter Gabriel. He’s also scored and produced film soundtracks for movies like Juice, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Dangerous Minds and most recently, American Gangster — which earned him a Grammy nod.
Currently, Hank is working on a series of projects that he calls the Future Frequency. “I’ve always had a good sense of where entertainment needs to go next and right now I’ve honed in on the next dimension of sight & sound,” he says. Hmm, if you add “mind” to that mix, you’d be in the Twilight Zone! Bad jokes aside, we’re psyched to have Hank at DC Policy Day — he’s got a brilliant mind for media issues, and brings a whole range of perspectives often lacking in the stuffy world of public policy.
Hank will join moderator and FMC Technologies Director Brian Zisk, Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott, New America Foundation’s Sascha Meinrath (one of Ars Technica's "Tech Policy People to Watch") and Consumer Electronics Association Senior Vice President, Government Affairs Michael Petricone for the “Broad-band: Internet and Spectrum Policy and the Creative Class” panel. The conversation will examine how broadband policy intersects with intellectual property concerns and other issues likely to be tackled by policymakers in 2009. The clock is ticking on registration — reserve your spot now!
DC Policy Day
When: Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Time: 9:00 AM — 6:00 PM with cocktail party to follow from 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Where: National Geographic Music and Radio and National Geographic Live!
Registration: $50 through February 9 11:59 pm ET.
Registration with 6.0 CLE credits: $200 through February 9 11:59 pm ET.
Onsite registration and onsite CLE sign-up will also be available.
This event has been approved in Virginia for 6.0 hours of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit. Additionally, CLE credits from Virginia can be claimed in the states of New York, California, Delaware (additional fees apply), North Carolina, Pennsylvania (additional fees apply), and West Virginia.
Have you already registered but want to upgrade your registration to qualify for CLE credits? Click here to upgrade.
Can't make it to Washington, DC? This event will be webcast live on February 11.
Ars Technica just published a who's-who list of rising tech-policy stars that includes four individuals who'll be appearing at our DC Policy Day at National Geographic's Grosvenor Auditorium on February 11:
Michael Copps, Acting Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Julius Genachowski may be the president's pick to serve as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but make no mistake that Acting Chairman Michael Copps is fully prepared to hold down the fort until the Chairman is confirmed...
Sascha Meinrath, Research Director, Wireless Future Program, New America Foundation
Before joining New America Foundation in 2007, Sascha Meinrath previously worked as a policy analyst, telecom consultant, and community organizer. The skills he developed in those three different roles undoubtedly have influenced his current work as research director at New America's Wireless Future program where he and Michael Calabrese are striving to reform US telecommunications policy, particularly spectrum access, one challenging step at a time...
Ben Scott, Policy Director, Free Press
As the chief DC lobbyist for Free Press, the advocacy group behind the Save the Internet and Stop Big Media campaigns, Ben Scott keeps a watchful eye on the country's telecom and media giants—and he's ready to react when he disagrees with them...
Gigi Sohn, Co-founder and President, Public Knowledge
A perennial presence on the tech policy scene, Gigi Sohn is a force to be reckoned with. She is the face—and voice—of Public Knowledge, the nonprofit interest group she co-founded in 2001. If there's a policy debate involving consumers' digital rights, you can bet Sohn will be involved to make sure PK's concerns are heard...
We definitely have an interesting Policy Day panelist to tell you about today: legendary manager and artist advocate Peter Jenner (you can listen to an earlier FMC podcast interview with Peter here).
Hailing from across the pond (that’d be the UK), Peter serves as Emeritus President of IMMF (International Music Managers’ Forum) — an organization that represents worldwide music managers and their acts. Comprised of fifteen managers’ forums around the world including France, New Zealand, South Africa and Norway, this organization aims to ensure the respect and rights of a global community of managers and talent.
Peter’s story kicks off when he became the 21 year-old Lecturer at the London School of Economics. His four-year stint ended when he resigned to manage a daring young band that had caught his ear. That group was Pink Floyd, who subsequently went into "interstellar overdrive" (that one's for the fans!). Peter’s voice can even heard on Floyd’s 1967 song “Astronomy Domine” from the classic album Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
It was during this time that Peter and his business partner Andrew King formed Blackhill Enterprises and began putting on free concerts in London’s Hyde Park, which concluded with the famous Rolling Stones appearance in 1969 (the group’s first gig following the death of founding guitarist Brian Jones). From there, Peter went on to manage a long list of successful acts such as The Clash, Ian Dury, Robyn Hitchcock and Baaba Maal. Peter currently represents British folk firebrand Billy Bragg.
Peter is doggedly persistent in his fight for musicians' rights, and is a true artist champion. He also embraces technological change, particularly when it comes to creators getting paid. He’s been a strong advocate of the “music access charge” — a small fee on consumers’ internet bill that would let them legally obtain music from file-sharing services. (FMC hosted some of the earliest discussions of this idea at our 2004, '05 and '06 Policy Summits.) Peter's background in artist rights and representation makes him particularly well-equipped to understand the benefits and challenges of implementing such a plan.
Recently, a proposal was floated by the government of the Isle of Man — a small island in the Irish Sea — to allow the Isle’s 80,000 citizens to download unlimited music from P2P services for a nominal fee from their internet service provider. (The Isle of Man has a forward-looking history when it comes to technology; it was the first place in the world to offer 3G cellular service and broadband is available in every home.)
When asked what his role in all of this is, Peter says, “I’m an evil genius. I’m Doctor Strangelove.” (He’s actually a consultant.) Although the music access charge currently faces opposition, Peter believes it might eventually become commonplace. “If it happens, it sets a huge precedent,” he says. “If the sky doesn’t fall in it becomes more and more possible for the record companies to see it as a way to bring in revenue.”
He dismisses claims that an ISP surcharge would set a permanent price for digital music, calling it “absolute f**king nonsense.” (In a British accent, of course.) “By that logic, it means that if you listen to radio you won’t buy another record,” he says. “That’s what they said about cassettes; Disney said it said it about the VCR. It’s probably what the stagecoach companies said when the trains came along. If they’re clever they’ll figure out how to work with the new technology.”
Peter stresses that this structure would not upset existing digital music services and their own artist compensation mechanisms. “This is only an access charge for non-commercial use — commercial services will have to pay extra,” he explains. “The service providers, the ISPs and the music providers should all benefit from developing new services and new commercial services. This should make licensing very much easier; currently there is not a sensible licensing system. The dam is bursting — the industry can’t go on living a fantasy.”
So why the Isle of Man? “Because they wanted to do it,” Peter relates. “They already have a really strong tech infrastructure, and they hope people come in and try new services. They wanted another string to their bow.” (The Isle of Man is well known as a online gambling destination and tax haven.)
Peter will appear on a Policy Day panel called “Fair Trade Music: Toward a Legitimate Digital Music Marketplace” alongside David Beal (President, National Geographic Entertainment), Alec Ounsworth (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), Justin Oullette (founder of Muxtape) and moderator Derek Sivers (founder, CD Baby). The conversation will focus on how technology is changing the marketplace and the ways to ensure fair compensation to creators.
This is just one of several fascinating panels at Policy Day 2009. The clock is ticking on registration — reserve your spot now!
DC Policy Day
When: Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Time: 9:00 AM — 6:00 PM with cocktail party to follow from 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Where: National Geographic Music and Radio and National Geographic Live!
Registration: $50 through February 9 11:59 pm ET.
Registration with 6.0 CLE credits: $200 through February 9 11:59 pm ET.
Onsite registration and onsite CLE sign-up will also be available.
This event has been approved in Virginia for 6.0 hours of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit. Additionally, CLE credits from Virginia can be claimed in the states of New York, California, Delaware (additional fees apply), North Carolina, Pennsylvania (additional fees apply), and West Virginia.
Have you already registered but want to upgrade your registration to qualify for CLE credits? Click here to upgrade.
Can't make it to Washington, DC? This event will be webcast live on February 11.
June Besek and Kembrew McLeod at FMC's "Creative License" panel discussion.
Regular readers might already be familiar with media professor and documentary filmmaker Kembrew McLeod. A longtime FMC associate, Kembew is the co-author of our upcoming book Creative License, which examines the issue of sampling through extensive interviews with artists and producers on all sides of the debate. Look for it on Duke University Press in fall 2009.
Last year, Kembrew moderated an FMC-organized panel discussion called "Creative License: a Conversation About Music, Sampling and Fair Use," which took place at The Public Theater in New York City on October 6, 2007. (You can check out archived audio and video from the discussion here.) Before that, Kembrew helped facilitate a Chicago talk featuring original members of Public Enemy and journalist/Media Assassin Harry Allen. Co-hosted by FMC and Pitchfork Music Festival, "It Takes a Nation of Millions" commemorated the 20th anniversary of PE's album of the same name — an important piece of hip hop-history that also happens to contain tons of samples.
Kembrew talks about the tensions between intellectual property and sampling in this episode of "Media Minutes" — a podcast series from non-profit media reform organization Free Press. Hip-hop in particular has been stifled by current copyright law, Kembrew says. "We can look to the relatively recent past to see what the detrimental effects of overzealous copyright protections are," he explains. "You're either within the law, or can pay for the law, basically, or you're an outlaw."
(This episode of "Media Minutes" also features Sascha Meinrath of New America Foundation talking about the importance of broadband expansion.)
The world of sampling and hip-hop is further explored in Kembew and Benjamin Franzen's upcoming documentary, Copyright Criminals: This Is a Sampling Sport. You can check out the trailer here.
Stay tuned for our own discussion with Kembrew as part of FMC's Podcast Interview Series!
With DC Policy Day around the corner, today we decided to keep it local and introduce fellow Washingtonian Bryan Calhoun — Vice President, New Media and External Affairs at SoundExchange and FMC Board member.
Bryan is no stranger to FMC events; he’s been one of our most captivating panelists at past gatherings. He’s also the founder/CEO of Label Management Systems and the Music Business Toolbox — a music business and marketing solutions company based out of Atlanta, Georgia. This service is designed to help indie musicians and record labels compete on a level playing field with the majors by providing tools to efficiently run their operations and market their releases.
Over the course of 15 years in the music business, Bryan has worked with hip hop icons such as Kanye West and Ludacris — in fact, he was previously the Chief Operations Officer for West’s Good label. Bryan has also pulled stints with Warlock Records, Red Distribution and Relativity Records, with a focus on concert promotion, marketing, A&R and radio promotions. So you can see why we’re psyched to have him as a guest panelist next week.
At Policy Day, Bryan will join Michael Bracy (FMC Policy Director), Peter Gordon (president, Thirsty Ear Recordings), Brian Austin Whitney (founder, Just Plain Folks), Parul Desai (Associate Director, Media Access Project), Randy Hawke (Operations Manager, Mid-West Family Broadcasting) and Frannie Wellings (Legislative Assistant, Senator Byron Dorgan) on the “Adjust Your Dial: Radio for the 21st Century” panel. This in-depth conversation will look at some of the key issues facing the FCC and Congress and their potential impact on the music community.
Still not registered? Get to it!
Info | Schedule | Register | Musician Scholarships | Tell Your Friends!
DC Policy Day
When: Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Time: 9:00 AM — 6:00 PM. with cocktail party to follow from 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Where: National Geographic Music and Radio and National Geographic Live!
Registration: $50 through February 9 11:59 pm ET.
Registration with 6.0 CLE credits: $200 through February 9 11:59 pm ET.
Onsite registration will be available as well.
This event has been approved in Virginia for 6.0 hours of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit. Additionally, CLE credits from Virginia can be claimed in the states of New York, California, Delaware (additional fees apply), North Carolina, Pennsylvania (additional fees apply), and West Virginia.
FMC's Jean Cook rocks out with the Waco Brothers
Here at FMC it's pretty much all DC Policy Day all the time. We're hustling to make sure the event — which takes place on February 11 at National Geographic here in Washington — is the best it can be, and we're feeling pretty good about it! On the FMC blog (which yer readin' right now), we've been giving you the inside scoop on some of the fabulous panelists and speakers. (Basically what we're saying is that you should register now!)
But let's take a break from all that a minute. We just posted our own pictures from the Big Shoulders Ball: Chicago Celebrates Change concert back on Inauguration Eve! Head to the FMC Flickr page for more shots by our intrepid photographer Caroline Deutermann.
There's been a lot of back-and-forth about lately about the proposed stimulus package for our ailing economy. It's also been said that you can judge a country's overall health by how it values the arts. Shouldn't any attempt at economic recover include the people who contribute to American culture?
That's precisely what Americans for the Arts — a 45 year-old nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in the US — is advocating for. In a January 25 article in the New York Times, AFTA president Robert L. Lynch says “the artist’s paycheck is every bit as important as the steelworker’s paycheck or the autoworker’s paycheck.”
Arts groups are urging federal departments like Transportation or Labor to factor culture into their financing. A transportation enhancement program, for example, could pay artists for related public artworks; through the Labor Department displaced arts professionals could receive new training to stay in the work force. “Every one of these places is a vehicle through which the money is going to flow, and we want to make sure the arts is part of it,” Mr. Lynch said.
FMC Education Director Kristin Thomson recently put together a short presentation about how being a music junkie in the digital age doesn't necessarily mean owning stacks and stacks of CDs or having gazillions of MP3s cluttering up your hard drive. Not that there's anything wrong with that — but the point is that these days, you've got options.
Kristin's been obsessed with music since, well, forever, and she's got a massive LP collection to show for it. Which is totally cool, but not always convenient. In the clip below, Kristin explains how the future of music might be more about "access" than collecting physical product (or even audio files):
Look for more micro-presentations on all kinds of interesting subjects in the near future!
Rick Carnes of SGA
Next up in our “Meet the Policy Day Panelists” series is Rick Carnes. Hailing from Nashville Tennessee, this multi-platinum selling songwriter is currently president of the Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) and has written tunes for Sony Music International, Elektra Asylum Music and Peer Music International. (He's also on the FMC advisory board.)
The Songwriters Guild of America was founded in 1931 with the mission to help advance, promote and benefit the profession of songwriters. SGA offers services for both the developing and professional songwriter, including online and offline classes, in-depth song evaluations, contract reviews, royalty collection, catalog administration and more.
Carnes’ calling kicked off when he narrowed his job choices down to schoolteacher, guitar player or wallpaper hanger. Naturally, he chose to hang wallpaper, which led to him meeting his wife Janice. The two began performing duets, which ultimately led to Rick becoming a hit songwriter. Not your typical vocational path, but what musical career is typical?
To date, Carnes has written Number One hits for Reba McEntire (“I Can’t Get the Blues No More”) and Garth Brooks (“Longneck Bottle”). His credits also include three Top Ten hits for the Whites, as well as songs written for Dean Martin, Alabama and Conway Twitty. All told, Carnes has helped to sell more than 20 million records with tunes he has either written or co-written.
On February 11, Carnes will participate in our D.C. Policy Day on a panel called “Copyright and Innovation in the Digital Age,” which also includes Zahavah Levine (Chief Counsel, YouTube),
Steve Marks (Executive VP and General Counsel, RIAA), (Hal Ponder Director of Government Relations, American Federation of Musicians), Gigi Sohn (President, Public Knowledge) and Walter McDonough (General Counsel, FMC).
If you’re a musician or songwriter wondering how technology and copyright law might impact your own career, you’ll definitely want to attend. And if you act now, you could get in for free — a limited number of musician scholarships are available. Click here to apply!
Derek Sivers
With so many cool and interesting panelists on board for our upcoming DC Policy Day (February 11!) it’s hard to choose which guest to be more excited over. That said, there is one speaker that every musician attending should take special note of: Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby and the mind behind DIY music info hub Sivers.org.
For those of you who don’t know, Sivers founded CD Baby in after quitting his job at Warner Music to become a full time musician. Instead of trying to score a record deal and conventional distribution, Sivers began selling his CD on his personal website. Soon he was helping his musician friends do the same, and CD Baby was born. Since those humble beginnings, the site has grown to include more than 267,000 acts, sold more than five million CDs to online customers and has paid more than 98 million dollars directly to artists (whoa!).
No doubt those are impressive numbers. But in 2008 Sivers decided to move on from CD Baby in order to focus on informing and inspiring indie musicians at Sivers.org. (Did we mention that prior to all of this he toured with the circus as a ringleader/musician? And that he's never tried coffee?)
So with CD Baby, Warner Music and the circus behind him, this FMC Board member following through with his mission. Through his website, Sivers offers numerous projects to help out the everyday musician trying to pursue their art and hopefully earn a buck.
From his free e-book full of tips on how to successfully promote your music to MuckWork, a concept involving the outsourcing of promotional and design chores, Sivers is always dreaming up ways to help musicians become more empowered and self-sufficient. Particularly interesting is his grassroots music biz documentary, which lets musicians interview magazine writers, club promoters and radio programmers (to name a few) to better understand the how the gears turn.
Sivers will be moderating a panel at Policy Day ’09 called “Fair Trade Music: Toward a Legitimate Digital Music Marketplace,” which also features legendary British manager and artist advocate Peter Jenner and Pandora founder Tim Westergren (they’ll be joined by one more soon-to-be-named individual). Expect a fascinating conversation about new applications and technologies that help musicians promote and sell their music, and how policy decisions affect the viability of these sites and services.
As always, we’ll be offering a limited number of musician scholarships to Policy Day; click here to apply!
You might have run across the handful of articles in the last day or so about online "predictive" radio service Pandora adding audio ads. This move is no doubt an attempt to develop a sustainable revenue stream for Pandora's free services (the company also offers yearly ad-free subscriptions for $36).
We at FMC are big Pandora fans, and we know we're not alone. It's a good bet that the service's regular users will continue to support it, largely due to Pandora's easy-to-use and highly addictive architecture that allows listeners to customize any number of "radio stations" based on their musical preferences. But we'll have to wait and see.
Pandora founder founder Tim Westergren said that ads would only appear once every two hours, which is nowhere near the level of interruption heard on commercial terrestrial radio. Westergren has been front-and-center in the ongoing webcasting royalty rate negotiations, claiming that the rates set forth by the Copyright Royalty Board in March 2007 would drive Pandora and other online broadcasters out of business.
In our original response to the CRB decision, FMC “urge[d] the parties to work together to strike a balance that recognizes the value of webcasting, but also properly compensates artists, performers and labels for uses of their work." We also voiced our support for a Public Performance Right for terrestrial radio, which online broadcasters pay but over-the-air stations do not. (Check out FMC Executive Director Ann Chaitovitz's January 7, 2009 Huffington Post Op-Ed and our Performance Right Fact Sheet to learn more.)
Negotiations between labels, artists, big and small webcasters and SoundExchange (the organization tasked with collecting and distributing royalties from online broadcasting) continue. This FMC post from September 2007 helps explain what will happen should all parties come to an agreement.
In related news, we're thrilled to have Tim Westergren confirmed as a panelist at our upcoming DC Policy Day on February 11, 2009 at the National Geographic Society here in Washington. You'll wanna think up some good questions and reserve your spot now! A limited number of musician scholarships are still available; head here to apply.
Pitchfork has an awesome review of the Big Shoulders Ball: Chicago Celebrates Change, the Inauguration Eve concert held at the Black Cat in D.C.
Hosted by Windy City club the Hideout and, ahem, "community organizers" Interchange, Big Shoulders boasted a kick-ass lineup that included Andrew Bird, Tortoise, the Waco Brothers, Ken Vandermark, Sally Timms, Jon Langford, Icy Demons, Freakwater and more. Suffice it to say, we were thrilled to be the co-beneficiaries (along with the Chicago Public Schools marching bands program) of such an awesome and historic event.
We'll be posting our own pictures once our hangovers subside. . .
If you've been following FMC's work, you've no doubt heard us talk about the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) — a forward-looking non-profit organization that represents a broad coalition of independent labels.
A2IM has gone to bat on a number of important issues, including making commercial radio friendlier to independent artists — an effort FMC wholeheartedly supports. In fact, we recently collaborated with A2IM on a report about how indie labels are still having difficulty getting airplay on commercial radio a year after the "Rules of Engagement" with major station groups. (These voluntary agreements were a result of 2006-2007 payola investigations; for more info see our Payola Education Guide.)
On January 15, A2IM President Rich Bengloff published "An Indie Music Memo to the FCC: We Need a Level Playing Field Too" at the Huffington Post. The article calls on the Commission to recognize the indie sector's contribution to the music economy (around 30 percent of all domestic music sold), and says that access to the digital marketplace is crucial to indie artists and labels. That means net neutrality — the principle that protects the open internet — must be preserved. (For more info on net neutrality and the music community, visit FMC's Rock the Net page.)
Bengloff also underscores the need to properly compensate musicians for their creative efforts:
Everyone who embraces the digital model now has access to a global market and can compete. Intellectual Property in general, and music specifically, are big contributors to our economy -- and to our culture. Making certain that open and fair access to market is maintained while supporting fair compensation for the use of music is the worthwhile and achievable goal.
Check out this six-minute panel preview from web.illish.us Episode III: Kiss My RSS! It's about about "How Internet Culture Interacts with the Music Industry," and features Cee Knowledge (Digable Planets), Rich Medina (DJ/Poet/Producer), Anthony Tidd (musician/producer), Montez Roberts (engineer "The Studio") and moderator Andy Hurwitz (Ropeadope Records). Cick here for full panelist bios.
web.illish.us represents a partnership between FMC and realizePhiladelphia to educate the entire web population about the importance of net neutrality — the principle that protects the open internet. Proceeds from the series go to FMC's Rock the Net campaign.
"Kiss My RSS" will be webcast live from Silk City in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Jan 21. The event represents participatory democracy and how blog culture interacts with social and political issues and entertainment. Music lineup:
Oscillations Quartet
Jef Lee Johnson
Doomstone (by Grimace Foundation)
Click here for artist bios.
Watch the full length panel on the web.illish.us live webcast in between musical sets. Or even better, attend in person!
Current Federal Communications Commission Chair Kevin Martin just announced his resignation from that agency, which wasn't entirely unexpected. Martin will step down on Inauguration Day (January 20), and then join DC-based nonpartisan think tank the Aspen Institute.
Martin's predecessors at the FCC — Democrats Reed Hundt and William Kennard and Republican Michael Powell — were each Aspen Institute Fellows following their tenure at the Commission.
Martin's leadership of the FCC was sometimes controversial, particularly in matters relating to media ownership and the regulation of the cable industry. Yet many found Martin's stint to be less troubling than that of his immediate predecessor Michael Powell, who unsuccessfully pushed for further deregulation of media, including radio. FMC worked alongside other groups in both the 2003 and 2007 media ownership proceedings to hold the line on radio station ownership, urging the Commission to uphold its stated commitments to localism, competition and diversity on the dial.
It was recently announced that Julius Genachowski has been chosen by President-Elect Obama to head the FCC. A tech-policy veteran, Genachowski will likely have different views than Martin on key issues like media ownership and net neutrality.
To learn more about how changes in the policy landscape could impact the music community, check out our third D.C. Policy Day — which takes place at the National Geographic Society in Washington on February 11, 2009. Musician scholarships are available — click here for more info!
Yes indeed, the sure-to-be amazing Big Shoulders Ball — which takes place on Inauguration Eve at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C. — is sold out.
In case you're all, "Big Shoulders Wha?" here's the skinny:
On Monday January 19, Chicago's Hideout Club and Interchange will host "The Big Shoulders Ball: Chicago Celebrates Change." The show features Windy City talent like Andrew Bird, Tortoise, Waco Brothers, Eleventh Dream Day, Jon Langford, Sally Timms, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Ken Vandermark, Freakwater, Icy Demons and Judson Claiborne. There are also some non-Chicago musicians playing — D.C.’s Ted Leo just got added, and FMC Deputy Director Jean Cook will also be sitting in with an act or two.
Proceeds from will go to the Chicago Public Schools marching bands program and FMC. If you already bought a ticket, we’ll see you there! If not, well. . . maybe next inauguration?
We were psyched to read the New York Times Magazine article on Andrew Bird that ran a short while ago. Andrew has a new album that comes out the day after the Black Cat show, which also happens to be Inauguration Day. Hmm, a Chicago musician releases an album on the day a fellow Chicagoan becomes President. . . sounds like some kind of strategy.
Either way, we're psyched to see him and all the other acts on Monday night!
