Future of Music Coalition

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Future of Music Coalition (FMC) is a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit organization supporting a musical ecosystem where artists flourish and are compensated fairly and transparently for their work.

FMC works with musicians, composers and industry stakeholders to identify solutions to shared challenges. We promote strategies, policies, technologies and educational initiatives that always put artists first while recognizing the role music fans play in shaping the future. FMC works to ensure that diversity, equality and creativity drives artist engagement with the global music community, and that these values are reflected in laws, licenses, and policies that govern any industry that uses music as raw material for its business.

FMC on Twitter

@matthewstoller We see so much weird stuff. This is next level weird.

10 hours 13 min ago
This thread was written about that first Bandcamp Friday of the pandemic, before we knew how much damage our indust… https://t.co/ee6GIz9LS0

13 hours 44 min ago
@jherskowitz This is true, with the caveat that a lot of past independent activity wasn't getting tracked and there… https://t.co/vQmc6isdwj

13 hours 47 min ago
@dada_drummer @davidclowery That's understandable, but if the economic and operational impact (and indeed the part… https://t.co/Y2xwqc04GF

16 hours 6 min ago
@dada_drummer @davidclowery What were those?

16 hours 9 min ago
@dada_drummer @davidclowery Understandable. So why would Disney's position on the creation of a new royalty right… https://t.co/HJwdAmq6z8

16 hours 17 min ago
@dada_drummer @davidclowery Even in contexts where control doesn't exist (eg compulsory licenses for songwriting) i… https://t.co/zt9fjwj1Xy

16 hours 24 min ago
@dada_drummer @davidclowery If you're thinking that whether a change to the royalty regime is harder or easier on t… https://t.co/4uuZZjgMMW

16 hours 30 min ago
@dada_drummer @davidclowery ...well, the ability to do that still rests on copyright, at least in the US. (which d… https://t.co/Qd89kDCUui

16 hours 40 min ago
@dada_drummer @davidclowery And to whatever extent artists decide collectively or individually to withhold their la… https://t.co/G6kUbMOY9D

16 hours 47 min ago

FutureBlog

New website coming soon

We’re always looking to create a better future, but as you can see this website is stuck in the past. Our new site is coming very soon—we’re in the processing of archiving our legacy assets and once that’s complete ,we’ll be launching a new mobile-optimized site with information about FMC’s current activities, including recent work on broadcast policy, antitrust, unemployment, health care, and more.

And we’re excited to celebrate 20 years of fighting for musicians!

Policy Priorities for 2019

Happy New Year!

FMC’s preparing to launch a new, mobile-optimized website with a focus on making it easy for musicians and fans to take action. While we’re working to get that up and running, here’s a quick update on what we expect to be tackling in Washington DC in 2019. read more

What’s going on with healthcare, and what does it mean for musicians?

It’s often challenging for musicians to try and keep track of all the policy issues that can potentially impact their lives and livelihoods. In the unprecedented day-to-day chaos and unpredictability of our current unconventional political environment, it can be even harder.

So here’s a quick update on one of the most important issues facing musicians, some questions answered, and some thoughts about what may lie ahead.

by Kevin Erickson, National Organizing Director

On Friday, March 10, 2017, news broke that a band called Soviet Soviet had been barred from entering the US and forced to fly back home, cancelling a US tour that included Austin’s SXSW festival. In the wake of recent controversy about language in SXSW’s performance agreement, the news created a flurry of outrage and panic, and quite a bit of misunderstanding. Here’s our attempt to answer all your questions:

by Kevin Erickson, National Organizing Director

One week before thousands of music/film/technology fans descend on Austin for the annual SXSW festival, controversy has erupted over provisions in the performance agreement required of all artists. On Thursday afternoon, musician Felix Walworth of the band Told Slant tweeted a screenshot of contractual language and the caption, “After looking through this contract sent to me by sxsw I have decided to cancel Told Slant’s performance at the festival.”

Walworth’s tweet quickly went viral, and since then, media outlets picked up the story, and an array of musicians (including some good friends of FMC) escalated the pressure with an open letter demanding that this language be dropped.

We’re still trying to make sense of this story, but here’s some questions and answers.

Current Features

FMC on Twitter

FutureBlog

New website coming soon

Policy Priorities for 2019

What’s going on with healthcare, and what does it mean for musicians?

More immigration confusion as Italian band is denied entry to US

What's The Deal with SXSW's Artist Contract?

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