On Monday, March 4, Maria Pallante, head of the US Copyright Office, delivered a speech at Columbia Law School called “The Next Great Copyright Act”, in which she argued that a comprehensive overhaul of our nation’s copyright laws is long overdue. Her remarks drew immediate attention in creative communities and beyond, and the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet promptly scheduled a hearing so Pallante could present her case. The discussion highlighted several issues that we’ve been tracking for years, including the performance right for sound recordings on terrestrial radio, “safe harbor” provisions in the DMCA, orphan works, and many more.

Naturally, we were on-hand to observe the proceedings. You can check out our report (and watch the archived video) here. 

It’s important to keep in mind that nothing moves quickly in the world of copyright, so almost all of the issues brought up will take some time to resolve — and that’s depending on Congress’ appetite for addressing them at all. That said, we are encouraged that Pallante recognizes the need to have copyright laws that reflect the common interests of creators and the public, while being better adapted to our times. As these conversations continue and changes to the Copyright Act are proposed, we’ll be carefully monitoring the debates and making sure that musicians have a place at the table.

This weekend, the National Conference for Media Reform comes to Denver, Colorado for three days of art, activism, and all-around awesomeness. It’ll tackle some of the biggest issues, defending public media, fighting media consolidation, and preserving an open internet. 

FMC’s Communications Associate Kevin Erickson will be moderating a session about what policies best protect creativity in an internet age, with an emphasis on musicians taking an active role on the issues that impact their livelihood. And FMC Policy Director and co-founder Michael Bracy will moderate a panel on the connections between music and activism.

Musicians will be well-represented at the conference including many longtime FMC allies, such as Kimya Dawson, Hank Shocklee, members of Devotchka and Flobots, and more!  On site-registration is still available and parts of the program will be streaming live online; check out the full details at http://conference.freepress.net

In case you missed it, our old pal Tim Quirk and his team at Google Play recently released a short documentary about the artist activism retreats we produce with Air Traffic Control, . It’s humbling to realize that we’ve now hosted eight of these retreats since Hurricane Katrina, and this video (featuring Thao Nguyen (of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down), Spank Rock, Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, and more) truly captures how transformative they can be.

In a widely expected move, Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, announced in March that he was stepping down from the post he had occupied since 2008. The FCC has jurisdiction over a whole host of issues, from net neutrality to diversity in media, to regulation of media consolidation, so you can bet that the decisions made by Genachowski’s replacement will impact musicians in many ways. You can read our statement on Genachowski’s departure here — stay tuned to FutureBlog for the latest developments.

You can always contact us at suggestions [at] futureofmusic [dot] org if you have any questions.