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Missed the musician seminars? You can catch up with our podcasts and webcasts and fact sheets and handouts online. Or, better yet, come to the next Musicians Seminars in New York City and Chicago this fall. Musician scholarships are now available! "What's the Future for Musicians" in Buffalo, April 2. Photos by Josh Spaulding

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 partnered with AFM locals and other musician organizations around New York state to host free, day-long forums in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany in April 2008. These free seminars were 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.

Panels on: the range of new technologies available to musicians how musicians can use emerging technologies to promote and distribute their work the state and federal policies that are affecting how musicians access media, and how they will be compensated in the future With breakouts and roundtables on: working with ASCAP/BMI/ SESAC/SoundExchange online/internet marketing new tools to promote jazz/classical/new music the basics of podcasting/webcasting New York State initiatives and funding opportunities health insurance for musicians

The events were free and open to the public.

These events were made possible by a grant from the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

FMC: Building a Musicians' Middle Class

Eight years ago, Future of Music Coalition was conceived as an organization that would work to build structures to create a musicians' middle class. It was clear to us that, while the music industry has made a handful of artists very wealthy, the vast majority of musicians live gig-to-gig, unable to afford the basic protections and securities of life that allow them to continue making their art and, equally important, without a way to educate themselves to break out of this cycle.

Since our 2000, we have focused on elements that would allow musicians to better participate in the issues that affect their livelihood: encouraging the development of digital distribution models that reduce costs and increase connections between musicians and their fans; examining new business models that create more equal partnerships between creators, labels and consumers; fighting against payola and media consolidation that reduce artists' chances of radio airplay; advocating for net neutrality provisions to ensure that all Internet traffic is treated equally; and helping musicians navigate the often-confusing world of health insurance coverage. We want musicians' labor to be valued, we want them to be compensated for their work, we want them to understand how the myriad laws and regulations affect them, and we want them to have access to basic health insurance and medical services.

About FMC Events

Since 2001, FMC has organized seven Policy Summits and two DC Policy Days in Washington, DC, each bringing together a spectacular mixture of technologists, attorneys, musicians, managers and industry leaders for discussions about the most compelling music/technology/policy matters. In October 2006 we held our sixth annual Policy Summit in Montreal, Quebec in partnership with McGill University's Schulich School of Music and Pop Montreal where, over the course of three days, 120 panelists and 550 participants debated the issues that are emerging as music promotion and distribution moves to a global, digital platform. In September 2007, the Future of Music Policy Summit returned to Washington, DC. For updates about FMC events, subscribe to our newsletters.