We are pleased to announce that Ann Chaitovitz has been named our next Executive Director. Ann replaces co-founder Jenny Toomey, who was recently appointed Program Officer for Media and Cultural Policy at the Ford Foundation. Big shoes to fill, but we know she’s the right person for the job. Ann brings more than 15 years of experience in artist rights, copyright and new media technologies to her new role at FMC, which she will assume on February 4, 2008.

A graduate of New York University School of Law, Ann most recently worked at the Office of International Relations at the US Patent and Trademark Office as a copyright expert. There, she helped formulate US Government positions on domestic and international copyright matters and was a member of the US delegation to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Previously, Ann was the National Director of Sound Recordings for AFTRA, where she managed all national and international copyright and recording artist issues. She has also served on the boards of SoundExchange and the Alliance of Artists and Record Companies and was in Leadership Music’s class of 2004.

Many of you will also know Ann from of our Policy Summits, where she has made many appearances as a panelist, including last September, where she interviewed Marybeth Peters from the US Copyright Office.

Please join us in giving Ann a hearty welcome, and in wishing Jenny well in her new endeavors.
FMC press release on Ann’s arrival

Nothing pleases us more than seeing musicians helping other musicians. So we’re excited to announce two shows to aid New Orleans artists in need.

"Musicians Bringing Musicians Home III" is a benefit concert co-organized by the Future of Music Coalition and Air Traffic Control to raise money for Sweet Home New Orleans. The show takes place at the New Orleans House Of Blues on Thursday, January 10 at 9:00 PM.

The concert comes at the end of FMC & ATC’s annual Artist Activism Camp, which brings together established and emerging artists to discuss best practices for artist advocacy. During the two-day meeting, musician activists go on a tour of New Orleans, visiting the Ninth Ward and hearing from some of the city’s musicians about the efforts to revitalize their music community.

Scheduled to perform are Nellie McKay, Jon Langford & Sally Timms of The Mekons, Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket, Charles Bissell of The Wrens, Kimya Dawson (who recently contributed eight songs to the hit movie Juno), Timothy Bracy of the Mendoza Line, Janet Bean of Freakwater and members of Bonerama. The show is a benefit for Sweet Home New Orleans — a coalition of non-profit organizations that helps find affordable housing and provides rental assistance for musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Tickets are $10 and available at the House of Blues website or by calling 504-310-4999.

The following night - January 11 -indie-rockers OK Go reunite with New Orleans’s funk-rock favorites Bonerama for a show at Tipitina’s. The two bands recently collaborated on an EP - You’re Not Alone - to benefit Big Easy music legend Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, who lost everything when Katrina destroyed his longtime Lower 9th Ward residence. You’re Not Alone adds a brash, unmistakably New Orleans swagger to OK Go’s infectious rock, and will be released in February. Tickets are $15 and available here.

Can’t make it down to the Big Easy? OK Go and Bonerama will perform another benefit for Al "Carnival Time" Johnson at Washington D.C.’s 9:30 Club on February 2. Tickets for that show are available at http://www.930.com.

FMC’s Policy Summit 2007 brought together technologists, attorneys, musicians, managers and industry leaders for conversations about music in an increasingly globalized and digital world. If you missed the event (or want to relive it), you can now check out archived podcasts and webcasts for each panel and discussion. Head here to get started.

Speaking of Al, we’re happy to report that our December 1 "Hope for Home" benefit house party raised more than $20,000 for Al "Carnival Time" Johnson and Sweet Home New Orleans! The Washington, D.C. shindig - which took place at the home of Eric and Sharapat Kessler - included a performance by Mike Mills of R.E.M., who played both with Al and did an opening set of his own.

Joining Mike onstage for part of his set was none other than FMC’s Jenny Toomey. She even got to sing back up on the R.E.M. classic, "Don’t Go Back to Rockville," which references nearby Rockville, MD.

Al brought a taste of the Big Easy to delighted partygoers, whom he entertained with his easygoing brand of R&B. A particularly powerful moment occurred when Al cut short his Katrina-inspired number "Lower 9th Ward Blues," as he choked up with emotion. He brought the mood back up with a feisty version of his Mardi Gras anthem "Carnival Time."

In addition to the fine music and food, there was a silent auction featuring signed collectables from Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and My Morning Jacket.

Thanks to Sweet Home New Orleans, co-hosts Eric Kessler, Michael Petricone, Mike Mills, and everyone that attended or donated to the cause.

Read articles about the event in The Washington Post’s Reliable Source column and DCist. Check out some photos from the party taken by Caroline Deutermann.

FMC is pleased to once again to participate in the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ conference "Presenting America: New Ground," which takes place January 11-15, 2008 at the Hilton New York and Towers.

On Friday, January 11 at 3:30 PM, Ann Chaitovitz and Jean Cook will take part in a panel called: "I Need Permission To Do What? Basic Intellectual Property Issues for the Digital Age."

On Monday, January 14 at 8:30 AM, grab a cup of coffee and join Ann, Jean and Kristin Thomson for "Media Ownership Matters!" - our annual policy update for musicians, agents, managers and arts advocates.

Insurance expert (and musician) Alex Maiolo, will also be on hand. Alex manages FMC’s HINT project, which offers free health insurance advice to musicians, Alex will be at Arts Presnters on Sunday, January 13 starting at 9:30 PM, ready for personal appointments with any musicians or managers seeking advice about health insurance. Email him at hint [at] futureofmusic [dot] org if you’d like to get on his schedule.

We hope that you can join us at the event! Learn more about the conference and the specific panels at: http://www.artspresentersconference.org/

On Tuesday, December 18, the Federal Communications Commission voted to lift the 32 year-old ban on common ownership of newspapers and broadcast outlets in the country’s 20 largest cities. There had been plenty of public (and Congressional) protest leading up to the decision, but Chairman Kevin Martin kept the rule changes on the fast track.

The changes weren’t as drastic as many had feared. The new rules allow a newspaper to merge with a TV or radio station only if the publication is not among a city’s top four and there are at least eight independent media voices in the market. Still, many expressed concerns that these changes may pave the way for further consolidation. A few last-minute adjustments were made to tighten the loopholes that could allow room for cross-ownership in smaller markets, but it remains to be seen whether or not Congress will move to reject the new rules.

FMC is pleased that the radio station ownership caps were not touched. Currently, a single company can own up to eight stations in a single market, depending on how many other stations are operating in said market. Some were predicting that Martin would move to relax these rules to allow for further concentration of ownership. This would lead to even greater homogenization of playlists and prevent many artists from being heard on the airwaves. Although we’d love to see a rollback to pre-1996 Telecommunications Act levels, the door to increased consolidation seems to be closed, at least for the time being.

The Commission also seems increasingly committed to Low Power FM. On November 27, the FCC moved to limit the number of stations that can be owned to one per organization, giving existing LPFM stations some protection in interference issues with full power stations, and prohibiting the use of repetitive/automated programming. The FCC also reiterated its support for Congress lifting the third adjacent channel ban, which is a very affirmative step towards the long-term goal of having LPFM stations available in more populated areas. These decisions on LPFM will hopefully lead to more locally oriented music and news options in our nation’s cities.

For more info on low-power radio, read FMC’s LPFM Fact Sheet.

To learn more about radio consolidation, check out our 2006 Radio Study.

FMC blog posts about media ownership.

In addition our new Executive Director, FMC is announcing a couple of changes to our Board of Directors. Policy Director Michael Bracy was recently appointed Board Chair, and music industry entrepreneur Bryan Calhoun of Label Management Systems was unanimously approved as our newest board member. Check out our list of board members and staff here.

FMC co-founder and Technologies Director Brian Zisk is hosting the SanFran MusicTech Summit, which promises to bring together some of the sharpest minds in the music tech development space to talk about the ever-evolving field with musicians, entrepreneurs, businesspeople and other groups involved with technology and culture. Speakers include representatives from such companies as Yahoo, YouTube, MusicIP, Pandora, Jambase, and SomaFM, with more to come.

The event takes place on Monday, February 25, 2008, at San Francisco’s Hotel Kabuki. Contact Brian Zisk at brian [at] sanfranmusictech [dot] com or click here for more information.

Yes, we’re aware that 2007 is officially over, but better late than never right? Here are FMC’s staff faves for last year, musical and otherwise:

Jean Cook, Deputy Director
(Top Nine)

Jacques Torres’ Wicked Ways Haven Bar
Dirty Projectors’ Rise Above
Young Jean Lee’s Songs of the Dragon Flying to Heaven
Bill T. Jones’ "Chapel/Chapter"
Lars Von Trier’s Dogville
Larry Keigwin + Co at the Skirball Center in NYC
Solar de Santa in Santa Teresa, Rio di Janiero, Brazil
Deerhoof, live in Pontiac, MI
"The Wire"

Kristin Thomson, Education Director

10. Ken record #2, Silky Smooth Destruction, in the can!
09. Courtney Bennett, uber-assistant, summer 2007
08. OK Go’s rocking outfits on their visit to Capitol Hill, July 2007
07. Decemberists with orchestra at Mann Music Center, July 2007
06. In the dance party pit at the Man Man show at Pop Montreal, October 2007
05. Liz Mitchell and friends playing with Levon Helm at Kids Ramble,
Woodstock, July 2007
04. Our "South Philly estate," now with garage and garden
03. Sonos + KEXP-FM + Rhapsody + Pandora = music lovers’ best friends.
02. Arcade Fire show at the Tower, March 2007. One of the best shows ever.
01. My boys: Bryan and Riley

Chhaya Kapadia, Events Organizer
(In no particular order)

Spoon @ 9:30 Club on Oct 23
Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter by Josh Ritter
Trapiche Gamboa in Rio, Brazil on Nov 8
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Uma Batida Difirente by Bossacucanova
Brandi Carlisle @ 9:30 Club on Sept 28
Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney (1997)
Game Theory by The Roots (2006)
My insanely awesome group of friends

Michael Bracy, Policy Director
(in no particular order)

Hoyas in the Final 4
Redskins in the playoffs
Al "Carnival Time" Johnson and Mike Mills at FMC "Hope for Home" event
The Hold Steady and Art Brut at 9:30 Club
(tie) I’m Not There and Juno
(tie) Eliza’s slick fielding, Sophie’s dance recital and Owen’s blistering line drives
PJ Harvey: The Piano
"30 Rock"
2008 Presidential campaign
(tie) Jenny Toomey to the Ford Foundation and Ann Chaitovitz to FMC

Casey Rae-Hunter, Communications Director
 (stream-of-consciousness)

Getting married to my best friend
Joining FMC
No Country for Old Men & Sweeney Todd
Valet - Blood is Clean
Led Zeppelin reunion bootlegs - I’m 15 again!
Rhapsody - great to listen to at work
First on the block with an iPhone. (Too bad the price dropped by $200 a couple of months later)
"The Wire"
Mammatus - The Coast Explodes
Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig III audio plug-in

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

Thanks,

Jenny Toomey
Ann Chaitovitz
Michael Bracy
Walter McDonough
Brian Zisk
Kristin Thomson
Jean Cook
Casey Rae-Hunter
Chhaya Kapadia
Alex Maiolo

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