In the last newsletter, we gave you some early info about FMC’s Policy Summit 2009, which takes place at Georgetown University in DC on October 4-6. Well, we’re thrilled to announce that registration has officially opened, with early-bird discounts!
Registration page

As always, a limited number of scholarships are available to working musicians so they can participate in these important conversations.
Musician Scholarships

At Policy Summit 2009, music, technology, policy and law are going “back to the future.” It’s been nearly a decade since Napster changed the game for virtually everyone in the music ecosystem, so it’s a good time to look back on lessons learned — from public policy’s impact on media and technology to as-yet-unresolved licensing and copyright concerns. And we’ll also be looking forward: this year’s event will feature unique presentations from a range of visionaries about where we go from here. Attendees can expect practical, musician-focused workshops, keynotes from leading artists, managers and policymakers and inspired panel discussions with the sharpest minds in the music/technology space. All this plus cocktail parties, movie screenings and a rock show!

Head to the official Policy Summit 2009 page to reserve your spot at what will surely be the most significant music conference of the year.

We’re also excited to announce the launch of FMC’s new website. This isn’t just a fresh coat of digital paint, either — it’s a top-to-bottom overhaul. We’ve always prided ourselves on the content on our website. But after a decade of education, research and advocacy, things had gotten a little, well, cluttered. Now, the site has been redesigned so you can quickly locate a specific issue. Or, you can simply pick a thread (or “tag”) and explore. And don’t worry about updating your bookmarks, because we’ve kept the same address: www.futureofmusic.org.

You’ll immediately notice that current issues and events are right up front, so you can learn more about FMC’s latest activities with one click. We’ve also incorporated FutureBlog into our new site’s main page — no more going to a separate URL for breaking news. Multimedia content like our podcast series and YouTube videos also get prominent position. And best of all, each item is cross-tagged, so you’re never far from more info on any relevant issue, project or campaign.

It’s also much easier to follow FMC through our various social networks: we’ve got a Twitter feed on the left hand side of the main page, and on the right navigation bar, you’ll see a handful of icons that will help you “friend” us on sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and MySpace. Check out the “About” tab on the header pull-down menu for a quick overview of our mission and history as well as other ways to get involved. (We especially encourage you to sign up to be part of our “Virtual Street Team” in the Volunteer section.)

FMC staff would like to thank the staff at Canary Promotion + Design and our tireless Education Director Kristin Thomson (seriously, when does she sleep?) for the incredible amount of work they put in to making this re-launch possible.

We welcome your feedback on the new site; e-mail nicole [at] futureofmusic [dot] org or casey [at] futureofmusic [dot] org to let us know what you think.

www.futureofmusic.org

Newsletter subscribers have already received a personal e-mail from FMC Communications Director Casey Rae-Hunter about our “July Giving Campaign,” so we won’t bug you… other than to say thanks for the tremendous response! We know that times our tight for almost everyone, and we’re bowled over by your generosity. It’s truly moving to see so many of you contribute whatever you can to our fight to ensure a bright future for musicians and fans. We take your support seriously, and promise to keep working as hard as we can on behalf of artists everywhere.

If you missed the original call to contribute, you can still make your tax-deductible secure donation here.

And thanks again from all of us at FMC!

Back in May, we told you about “Same Old Song: An Analysis of Radio Playlists in a Post FCC-Consent Decree World” — a data-driven study that analyzes radio playlists from 2005-2008 to determine whether the policy interventions resulting from the recent payola investigations have had any effect on the amount of independent music played on terrestrial radio.

On July 1, we released a New York State-centric version of “Same Old Song,” which comes to a nearly identical set of conclusions as the original report. Why did we crunch the data for NYS stations? Because that’s where the payola investigations started.

In July 2005, then-New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced the results of the Office’s examination of the relationship between major labels and commercial broadcasters. By investigation’s close, the four major record labels and two radio station groups paid fines totaling more than $35 million.

The Attorney General’s office then sent its evidence to the Federal Communications Commission. Two years later, in April 2007, the FCC issued consent decrees against the nation’s four largest radio station group owners — Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Citadel and Entercom. In addition to paying fines totaling $12.5 million, the station group owners also worked with the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) to draft eight “Rules of Engagement” and an “indie set-aside” in which these four group owners voluntarily agreed to collectively air 4,200 hours of local, regional and unsigned artists, and artists affiliated with independent labels.

The New York State edition of “Same Old Song” focuses on playlist data from 52 music stations licensed in New York State, broadcasting in a variety of formats, from 2005-2008. Like the earlier, national study, the new report shows that playlist composition has remained remarkably consistent over the past four years, with almost no perceptible change in the amount of non-major label songs being played on the NYS stations owned by Clear Channel, CBS, Citadel and Entercom. These results underscore what FMC discovered in our first report, as well as the results of a fall 2008 member survey done by A2IM: indie label access to airplay remains difficult, despite policy interventions in 2007 designed to open up the airwaves for more diverse content.

You can check out “Same Old Song: NYS Edition” here, in both full report and Executive Summary form.

And the original “Same Old Song” report can be viewed here.

Speaking of “Same Old Song,” the report’s author, FMC Education Director FMC’s Kristin Thomson, gave an interview on the Mediageek Radioshow on July 9.

Mediageek is a weekly half-hour syndicated public affairs radio program covering grassroots and independent media, hosted and produced by Paul Riismandel at WNUR 89.3 FM on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Mediageek can be heard throughout Chicago and the northern suburbs, and also on the web.

Listen to the Mediageek interview with Kristin here.

Low Power FM stations are micro-broadcasters that operate at about 100 watts and cover a 3-7 mile range. So why are they so significant? For one, a lot of American towns and cities lack a truly community-based alternative to the homogenized programming common to commercial radio. More LPFM stations would mean more opportunity for local and indie artists who have little chance of cracking commercial station playlists. LPFM also provides an important forum for civic debate, cultural communication and public safety information. To learn more, check out our LPFM fact sheet, or all our LPFM tagged items.

FMC supports lifting unnecessary restrictions on LPFM stations in more towns and cities across the country. We’ve brought artists like Nicole Atkins to Capitol Hill to talk about the importance of quality local broadcasting, and recently launched our “I Support Community Radio” campaign, which features video testimonials from a range of artists including Saul Williams, the Indigo Girls and Kronos Quartet.

On Monday, July 20, our friends at Prometheus Radio Project took action to raise awareness about LPFM among policymakers. Click here to learn more about their efforts.

Regular readers of FMC’s FutureBlog know it’s a great way to stay on top of the issues at the intersection of music, technology, policy and law. The last couple of weeks have been particularly eventful — here’s some recent highlights:

Agreement Reached on Webcasting Royalty Rates
On July 7, news broke that “pure play” webcasting services (i.e., the bigger online broadcasters who earn the bulk of their revenue through their services) reached an agreement with SoundExchange — the nonprofit organization that collects and distributes the digital public performance royalty on behalf of performing artists and sound copyright owners (usually the labels).

Julius Genachowski confirmed as FCC Chair
The Senate voted on Thursday, June 24 to confirm Julius Genachowski — President Obama’s nominee to lead the Federal Communications Commission. This is widely viewed as an important development in maintaining open internet structures and furthering the deployment of broadband.

More FCC nominees at the Senate
While most the country has been occupied with the Sotomayor confirmation, we at FMC have also been keeping our eyes on another nomination process — namely, who will fill a pair of important Federal Communications Commission posts.

DC Independent Concert Promoter Sues Live Nation
I.M.P. Inc., an independent DC/Maryland concert promotion and event production company, recently filed an antitrust suit against Live Nation. Owner Seth Hurwitz and Rich Heinecke, I.M.P. Inc., operates the famous 9:30 Club in Washington, DC and Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

Just Plain Folks Announces JPF Music Awards Nominees
Just Plain Folks (founded by FMC advisory board member Brian Austin Whitney) is an online (and real-world) community comprising more than 51,500 songwriters, recording artists, publishers, record labels, producers and other music “folks.” The JPF Awards Show — the largest indie awards event on the planet — takes place on August 29 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Wanna dig deeper? Have a look at the FutureBlog archives.

On July 8th, (2009) FMC Communications Director Casey Rae-Hunter participated in the “HealthCare Remix” Discussion on Reform at the Service Employees International Union in Washington, DC. Casey talked about the issue of health insurance and musicians — specifically, our Health Insurance Navigation Tool (HINT), a free service that provides musicians with one-on-one info about their health insurance options. After scheduling an appointment via the HINT site, musicians will receive a call from one of our health insurance experts, who happen to be musicians themselves.

Also on the SEIU panel: Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor, member of A Tribe Called Quest and diabetes patient; Ms. Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey, J Dilla’s mother; Dr. L Toni Lewis, President of Committee of Interns & Residents/SEIU; Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Hip Hop Caucus.

Expectedly, much of the conversation was on the heartbreaking side — particularly when Ma Dukes spoke about her son, producer/artist J. Dilla, who died in 2005 from complications stemming from Lupus. While health insurance reform is definitely something that should be on the table, understanding your current coverage options is key to making informed decisions.

To learn more about musicians and health insurance, and to schedule a FREE one-on-one consultation, check out Get the HINT.

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

Thanks,

Jean Cook
Michael Bracy
Walter McDonough
Brian Zisk
Kristin Thomson
Casey Rae-Hunter
Chhaya Kapadia
Nicole Duffey
Alex Maiolo

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