Late on Wednesday, news broke that despite the petition bearing over a million signatures presented to the FCC in January, Chairman Tom Wheeler is now circulating draft rules that would allow Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to charge those offering content online a higher fee for priority delivery, establishing a two-tier Internet that could disadvantage smaller operators. That’s bad news for artists, indie labels, and other innovators, as Interim Executive Director Casey Rae explains: 

Make no mistake, these proposed rules are not ‘net neutrality.’ This is the moment when the regulatory agency with a mandate to promote competition and diversity did just the opposite. The Internet in America will now be carved into a fast lane for well-heeled corporations and a dirt road for everyone else.

A free market based on competition and entrepreneurship depends on the ability for anyone to bring the next great product, idea or innovation to the marketplace. A society that respects its creators must not place access to culture in the hands of just few massive companies. These proposed rules not only don’t go far enough to safeguard consumers, they actively marginalize smaller and independent voices.

Artists, developers, culture workers, media-makers, nonprofit organizations, community, civic and church groups must tell the FCC that this isn’t good enough. We need real rules of the road for ISPs to guarantee that creative expression and entrepreneurship can thrive in the online ecosystem. FMC and our allies look forward to making this case in the upcoming rulemaking after May 15.”

Mark your calendar with that date, because we’ll have opportunities for you to take action—both online and offline—to tell the FCC to do the right thing. In the meantime, you can check out media coverage of our statement in SPIN, The Nation, and Colorlines.

Are the recent court battles about PROs, blanket licenses, and rate setting on internet radio making your head spin? In an op-ed for Billboard, FMC’s Casey Rae sheds some light on some potential benefits of consent decrees for smaller independent publishers and songwriters as internet radio grows in popularity.

You can also hear from Casey in Eric Harvey’s exhaustively reported feature story on streaming music for Pitchfork.

FMC is excited to partner with the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) on a new two-day workshop for musicians on the Business of Music. The June 21-22 workshop, modeled on CCI’s Business of Art workshop series, focuses on the unique needs and challenges of working musicians and will connect attendees with industry experts to explain the tools and considerations crucial to entrepreneurial success and independence in today’s music marketplace. FMC staff and guest experts represent all facets of the industry and will lead participants in learning key business skills to help advance their art, develop ideas and increase financial independence.

Registration must be completed through CCI’s website - the current early bird registration rate ends May 31st. Scholarships for this workshop are available! Los Angeles artists may be eligible to receive tuition reimbursement through the Creative Capacity Fund. Full details are on the CCI website - scholarship applications must be completed by May 15, 2014.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, IP, & the Internet continued its comprehensive review of the Copyright Act this past month with another pair of hearings. The most recent hearing covered the topics of cultural preservation and reuse of copyrighted works, including orphan works. Before that, the subcommittee covered the topic of notice-and-takedown provisions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If you’ve ever wanted to watch a member of Congress ask a Grammy-winning composer about soundtracking cat videos on YouTube, you’re in luck!

The next hearing hasn’t yet been announced, but you can always find full details about past and future hearings, including video, written testimonies, and FMC’s recaps on our House Copyright Review Timeline page.

If you’re interested in improving the DMCA notice and takedown process, you don’t have to wait for Congress to take action. The Dept. of Commerce is convening a multistakeholder forum on May 8 in Berkeley, CA to help craft some collaborative best practices to make the process less cumbersome and more effective for rightsholders and service providers alike (you can also participate remotely via webcast/teleconference). We especially encourage indie artists and labels with experience sending or receiving takedown notices to get involved in the process and make your voices heard.

Similarly, the Dept, of Commerce is seeking feedback on other topics from their Green Paper on digital copyright issues, and is hosting public roundtables in Nashville, Cambridge, Los Angeles, and Berkeley. It’s an opportunity to give your input on issues ranging from the legal framework for remixes, to digital first sale, to statutory damages for infringement. Here’s the details. 

FutureBlog is your destination for analysis of the latest news in music/tech/policy; here’s a selection of our recent posts:

Could Pono Be Good News for Musicians?
Pono, the Toblerone-shaped personal hi-res audio player backed by Neil Young and    endorsed by a gaggle of high-profile rockers recently completed a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign.  But what might it mean for musicians?

Rep. Conyers Introduces Bill to Preserve & Promote Jazz
It’s been said that jazz is “America’s greatest gift to the world.” So it’s only right for America to preserve and protect that gift for generations to come. That’s the goal behind H.R. 4280, the National Jazz Preservation, Education, and Promulgation Act of 2014.

Label Battles Remixed: EDM in the Era of Consolidation
It used to be that music biz execs rejected your album because they “didn’t hear a hit”. In a new twist, EDM Producer Kaskade reports that his latest LP was initially rejected by his label because it wouldn’t land licensing income from “beer commercials & movie singles.”. 

Major Labels vs. Pandora (Or: Why We Can’t Have Nice Things)
A new lawsuit targets leading Internet radio service Pandora for playing sound recordings made before February 15, 1972. But if the labels are so keen to make sure that performing artists (or their heirs) are being properly compensated, there’s a better way to do it: federalize the copyright in pre-72 sound recordings. 

Four Lessons From Record Store Day
Since Record Store Day got started in 2008, annual LP sales have shot up over 600%, topping six million units annually and helping many indie retailers stay afloat. What can the industry learn from this surprising development?

This Is What It Sounds Like When Pigs Fly
Last week, Prince proved once again that he hasn’t run out of ways to shock us, by signing a new deal with his old nemesis Warner Brothers Records. It’s because of an important provision in copyright law that allows artists to reclaim their exclusive rights after 35 years.

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to check out and “applaud” our Knight News Challenge entry in partnership with CASH Music. We’re delighted to announce that we’ve made it to the semifinals round! We’ll keep you posted on how things develop, but for now, here’s some thoughts about why sustainable digital tools are so important to musicians.

The SF MusicTech Summit will take place May 20 in San Francisco and brings together visionaries in the evolving music/business/technology ecosystem, along with the best and brightest developers, entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, journalists, musicians, and organizations who work with them at the convergence of culture and commerce. There will be panels, parties, presentations, elevator pitch and speed networking sessions, and tons of opportunities. View the current list of speakers and attendees! For more information, please visit http://www.sfmusictech.com and use code “FoM ” for $25 off your ticket.

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