The following electronic primer is an attempt to get you
acquainted not only with some of the panelists and their organizations,
but also with current technology news and studies that will be discussed
throughout the summit. Hopefully this information will help further
your participation in discussions. Don’t be overwhelmed by the
amount of content; we just like to be thorough.
Sunday, May 2
Panel
1: Numbers, Numbers, Numbers
Good data is essential for both proper business planning and
the creation of sensible policies. But who has the data? Who
owns the data? How do musicians and citizens access data, and
how does data influence business decisions and policy debates?
This panel brings together representatives from collection agencies,
academics and researchers who rely on data to compensate artists,
or to illustrate the effects of current technologies, policies
and business models on musicians and citizens.The impact
of file sharing on the music industry, as well as musicians,
will be discussed.
Jim Griffin CEO, Cherry Lane Digital/Pho (moderator) Ron Gertz President and CEO, Music Reports
Stan Liebowitz Professor of Economics, UT Dallas
Mary Madden Research Specialist, Pew Internet & American
Life Project John Simson Executive Director, SoundExchange
Koleman Strumpf Associate Professor, Department of Economics,
UNC Chapel Hill
Related Reading
Music Downloading, File-sharing and Copyright
An August 2003 report from Pew Internet and American Life Project
finds that a striking 67% of Internet users who downloaded music
say they do not care about whether the music they have downloaded
is copyrighted. http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=96
Survey finds 14 percent of Internet users say they no longer
download music files
A more recent survey from Pew Internet and American Life Project
(April 25, 2004) finds that that 14% of online Americans say
that at one time in their online lives they downloaded music
files, but now they no longer do any downloading. http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=122
The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales
On March 29, Koleman Strumpf (UNC) and Felix Oberholzer-Gee
(Harvard) released a report that found that illegal peer-to-peer
filesharing has had little effect on CD sales. "We find
that file sharing has no statistically significant effect on
purchases of the average album in our sample,” states
the report. “Moreover, the estimates are of rather modest
size when compared to the drastic reduction in sales in the
music industry. At most, file sharing can explain a tiny fraction
of this decline.”
By Koleman Strumpf and Felix Oberholzer-Gee, March 2004 http://www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers/FileSharing_March2004.pdf
A Heretical View of File Sharing
What if the music industry is wrong, and file sharing is not
hurting record sales? A new report suggests just that.
By John Schwartz New
York Times, April 5, 2004
Maybe the Music's Just Lousy?
The recording industry insists that CD sales are off because
everyone's online stealing the music. Now a study comes along
saying that piracy has little, if anything, to do with stagnant
sales. Wired,
March 31, 2004
About Music Reports
MRI maintains one of the largest databases of music copyright
information (Songdex
Database) in the world and has developed proprietary systems
to identify copyright ownership, clear and license musical content,
track music use, calculate license fees and royalties and generate
statistics on music use across various media.
About SoundExchange
SoundExchange is a nonprofit performance rights organization
jointly controlled by artists and sound recording copyright
owners through an 18-member board of directors with nine artist
representatives and nine copyright owner representatives. SoundExchange
has been designated by the U.S. Copyright Office to collect
and distribute statutory royalties to sound recording copyright
owners and featured and nonfeatured artists. More about SoundExchange’s
royalty distribution model here: http://www.soundexchange.com/royalty.html
Panel
2: The Business School of Rock
Most artists would rather be plucking strings than plugging
numbers into a Quicken file, but as the music landscape changes
it's more important than ever that performers take control of
their own business affairs. This panel brings together managers,
musicians, and label owners to talk about the benefits and drawbacks
of treating your band, or your artistic self, as a business
entity -- from managing your catalog and keeping track of revenue,
to getting your own health insurance policy.
Kristin Thomson Organizer, FMC (moderator)
Kim Coletta Desoto Records and band Jawbox Dave Frey Manager, Silent Partner Management Pat Irwin member of B-52's, film/TV music composer Alex Maiolo Co-owner, Lee Moore Insurance Brian Austin Whitney Founder, Just Plain Folks Shoshana Samole Zisk Attorney and Business Affairs, George
Clinton Enterprises
Related Reading
The Future of Music? As new technologies and economics shake out the music business,
hitting the road and making personal contact are more important
than ever
By Fiona Morgan Durham
Independent Weekly, February 17, 2004
SoundExchange: what is it, how does it work, and why should
musicians join? Neeta Ragoowansi SoundExchange John Simson Executive Director, SoundExchange
Broadcast and Indecency: an update about Congress and
the FCC's recent crackdown on broadcast "indecency".
What legislation is being proposed, and what could be the effect
on musicians and performers? Ann Chaitovitz National Director of Sound Recordings,
AFTRA
Panel
3: This Panel Kills Fascists
Woody Guthrie was so convinced about the power of music to bring
political change that he wrote "This Machine Kills Fascists"
on his guitar. During the November 2003 Tell Us the Truth Tour,
eight musicians took to the road to play music and educate audiences
about media consolidation and American trade policy. In so doing
they extended the rich history of music and politics, yet the
first question they were asked by journalists was "why
be political?" From the gospel fuel of the civil rights
movement to the rock and roll psychedelia of the 60s anti-war
movement, from the anti-commercialism of punk to the anti-racism
and class consciousness of Rap and hip-hop…FMC knows music
and politics go together like peanut butter and chocolate. This
panel will remind us why.
Jenny Toomey Executive Director, FMC (moderator)
Danny Goldberg Chairman and CEO, Artemis Records
Paul Metsa musician/organizer, Raven Records
Alexis McGill Political Director, Hip Hop Summit Action
Network
Michael Muniz Director of Latin Organizing, AFM Jay Rosenthal Attorney, Recording Artists' Coalition,
Berliner Corcoran & Rowe, LLP Pat Thetic Anti-Flag/Punkvoter.com
Related Reading
Dispatches from the Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen
Spirit
A book by Danny Goldberg (2003). Here's
a description from Amazon.com
The long battle Goldberg helped wage against Tipper Gore over
rock lyrics in the 1980s underscores many of the book's themes,
such as the disconnect between politics and popular music and
the "arrogant sense of entitlement" among many powerful
Democrats and leftists, which alienates young voters. The author's
own record label, Artemis, has sparked controversy, releasing
both the Steve Earle song "John Walker's Blues," which
infuriated conservative pundits, and Cornel West's rap album,
which Harvard president (and former Clinton treasury secretary)
Larry Summers said "embarrassed" the university. More
on Danny Goldberg's website
Special
Interview
Rob Glaser CEO, RealNetworks will be interviewed by
Walter Mossberg Personal Technology Columnist, Wall Street
Journal
Related Reading
Putting the Bite on Apple
RealNetworks wants to cut a digital music deal with Apple, according
to a memo leaked to The New York Times. If it doesn't get one,
it's threatening to go running off with Microsoft. Wired,
April 16, 2004
Real offers new tech, song store Net multimedia company RealNetworks announced a sweeping
overhaul of its digital audio and video software Wednesday,
along with a digital song store aimed to compete with Apple
Computer's leading iTunes service.
By John Borland
CNET, January 7, 2004
Panel
4: The Celestial Jukebox: Fact, Fiction, Future?
2003 was another exciting year for legal digital downloads,
with the launch of the iTunes Store (and its many imitators),
Real's purchase of Rhapsody, the rebirth of Napster and rampant
rumors about the debut of Microsoft's competing music store.
2003 also saw a revitalized critique of these emerging technologies,
with some continuing to say that these legal stores will never
be able to compete with the plethora of free music available
on P2P networks, either on price or on sheer depth of catalog.
This panel takes a look at the ups and down of music’s
holy grail: the digital marketplace.
Brian Zisk Technologies Director, FMC (moderator) Kevin Arnold Founder, IODA (Independent Online Distribution
Alliance) Charlie Chan musician John Flansburgh Musician, They Might be Giants Tim Quirk Executive Editor, Music, Real Networks and
band Too Much Joy Derek Sivers president and programmer, CD Baby Holmes Wilson co-founder, Downhill Battle
Related Reading You've got sales The record industry is slowly embracing the Internet's innovative
-- and lucrative -- potential
By Greg Kot Chicago
Tribune, March 28, 2004
Legal P2P networks gaining ground While peer-to-peer piracy continues to grab the entertainment
industry's attention, a few technology companies are gaining
headwind, using almost identical means to distribute legal downloads.
By John Borland CNET
News, March 11, 2004
Power Players: Big Names Are Jumping Into the Crowded Online
Music Field "There are about three times as many music stores as
there need to be," said Josh Bernoff, an analyst with Forrester
Research.
By John Schwartz and John Markoff New
York Times, January 12, 2004
Music site tries floating price tags A little known online music store called MusicRebellion
is experimenting with a new pricing system in which most songs
start out costing a dime, and their prices fluctuate from there
based on customer demand.
By John Borland CNET,
January 8, 2004
An Independent's Guide to Digital Music IODAlliance.com
An Interview with Independent Online Distribution Alliance Future of Music Coalition,
September 2003
An Interview with Digital Rights Agency Future of Music Coalition,
September 2003
Panel
5: Get In the Game (the Legislative Game, that is)
We all recognize that the only way that artists are guaranteed
to lose in the policy arena is if they fail to fully engage
in the process. But what does that mean? What issues should
artists and the music community be most concerned about in this
critical year? And, most importantly, how can artists and music
fans maximize their effectiveness in Washington, DC? A panel
of advocates, policymakers and artists will explore both the
policy challenges facing the music community and strategies
for truly making a difference.
Michael Bracy Government Relations, FMC (moderator)
Ann Chaitovitz National Director of Sound Recordings, AFTRA Daryl Friedman Senior Executive Director, Washington
DC Operations, Recording Academy John Gray Political Director, Free Press Marcus Johnson Jazz Musician and CEO, Three Keys Music
Hal Ponder Director of Government Relations, AFM Rachel Welch Democratic Counsel, Senate Commerce Committee
Related Reading
Lawmakers Form Caucus to Protect Artists' Rights Co-chaired
by Reps. Bono and Hoyer, the caucus will seek to advance and
protect the rights of musicians, songwriters, singers, producers
and other recording professionals. Tennessean.com,
April 20, 2004
Record Companies' Improper Accounting Practices and Bill
SB 1034 AFTRA,
March 2004
Transcript: Bill Moyers Interviews FCC Commissioner Michael
Copps PBS.org,
May 3, 2003
Panel
6: State of the Union
At every Future of Music Policy Summit, we ask a panel of experts
to address the fundamental question: What is the State of the
Union? From peer-to-peer file sharing and the related lawsuits,
to the emergence of legal download channels, to the media reform
movement and the continued mobilization of musician's rights
organizations, artists, policymakers and industry are working
overtime to adjust to a fluid marketplace. What accomplishments
should be celebrated? Where is there work yet to be done? For
the fourth year running FMC asks: what does 2004 hold in store
for musicians, consumers, and the music community?
Jim Griffin CEO, Cherry Lane Digital/Pho (moderator) Mike Dreese CEO and Co-Founder, Newbury Comics Peter Jenner Sincere Management and Chairman, AURA and
Chairman, IMMF Gary Shapiro President and CEO, Consumer Electronics
Association Cary Sherman President, Recording Industry Association
of America (RIAA) Tina Weymouth & Chris Frantz Talking Heads/Tom
Tom Club
Related Reading
Pessimism Can't Keep Music Down Despite what you may hear from the major record labels,
music isn't dead yet. In fact, folks at the South by Southwest
conference say it's alive and kicking. Katie Dean reports from
Austin, Texas. Wired,
March 19, 2004
So not intimidated
Dorm downloaders aren't fazed by recent lawsuits, they've just
sharpened their skills.
By Patrick Day Los
Angeles Times, February 15, 2004
Record Stores: We're Fine, Thanks The recording industry may protest, but some owners of independent
music stores say file trading is good for business. Katie Dean
reports from the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. Wired,
March 20, 2004
Requiem for the Record Store: Downloaders and Discounters
Are Driving Out Music Retailers By David Segal Washington
Post, February 7, 2004
Just Say 'No' to Record Labels Rock veterans Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno are launching
a provocative new musicians' alliance that would cut against
the industry grain by letting artists sell their music online
instead of only through record labels. Associated
Press/Wired, January 26, 2004
Dumptruck reissue conjures up the record industry's ugly
past
There's no question that these are not the best of times for
aspiring rock and pop musicians. Many have detailed the plight
of musicians trying to land or even retain major label contracts
at a time when media consolidation has resulted in fewer labels
offering fewer contracts to a narrowing range of artists. This
drumbeat of dire tales may have created the impression that
the record industry has never been more inhospitable to aspiring
young talent. But it's worth remembering that the industry's
"good old days" were often just as awful.
By Rick Reger Chicago
Tribune, January 13, 2004
Panel
7: Alternative Compensation Systems
Peer-to-peer file sharing is, technically-speaking, a simple
and inexpensive way to distribute and share music. But since
peer-to-peer emerged, many in the music/technology space have
pondered this thought: Is there a way to transform this mechanism
of open sharing into a mechanism of the open market? This panel
looks at a number of developing proposals about how revenue
could be generated, collected, and distributed to artists and
rights holders from sharing on P2P networks.
Joseph Gratz Law Student, University of Minnesota (moderator)
Chris Amenita Senior Vice President, ASCAP Enterprises Group
William Terry Fisher Professor of Law, Harvard Law School Robert Kasunic Principal Legal Advisor, US Copyright
Office Jessica Litman Professor of Law, Wayne State University Neil Netanel Professor of Law, UCLA and University of
Texas Sandy Pearlman Vice President, Media Development, Multicast
Technologies
Related
Reading An Alternative Compensation System Terry
Fisher
Impose a Noncommercial Use Levy to Allow Free Peer-to-Peer File
Sharing Neil
Netanel
The Answer to Piracy: Five Bucks?
Here's a bright idea from a digital rights group: Get music
file sharers to pay $5 a month on top of their ISP fees to compensate
the artists. Of course, the music industry hates it.
By Katie Dean Wired,
February 26, 2004
Solving the P2P "Problem" - An Innovative Marketplace
Solution Robert
Kasunic
Marvin Center Room 309: Radio update:
An update on FCC happenings, Low Power Radio & webcasting Pete Tridish Prometheus Radio Project
Court Is Urged to Change Media Ownership Rules Broadcasters and public interest groups on Wednesday urged
the federal appeals court here to order the Federal Communications
Commission to rewrite its new rules that govern the size and
reach of the nation's largest media conglomerates.
By Stephen Labaton New
York Times, February 12, 2004
The airwaves are yours, so speak up
Susan Ives San
Antonio Express-News, January 24, 2004
Marvin Center Room 310: Copyrights and
Copywrongs: what does the tension
between copyright extension and the creative commons mean for
musicians and creators? John Flansburgh Musician, They Might be Giants
Bill Thomas Fitch Thomas Management Siva Vaidhyanathan Assistant Professor, Department
of Culture and Communication, New York University
The sessions will be 45 minutes long and run concurrently in
meeting rooms over at Marvin Center. First come, first serve
seating.
Panel
8: Synergies or Antitrust: How does consolidation affect artists
and citizens?
The music industry is indicative of a broad societal paradox:
even as new technologies decrease the cost of production and
distribution of music, more and more of the music and entertainment
business is owned by fewer players. On one hand, independent
content flourishes in ways never before possible. On the other
hand, millions of citizens have protested the current ownership
structures where a handful of vertically integrated corporations
already sell tickets, promote concerts, program radio, own newspapers,
television stations, record labels and movie studios, and invest
heavily in emerging technologies like satellite radio and the
web. Has the increasing scale of these corporations allowed
for the flowering of independent content? Or are we tilting
dangerously toward a world where corporate control could stifle
creativity, culture and political discourse?
Thomas Frank Author and Editor, The Baffler (moderator) Wayne Crews Vice President, Regulatory Policy, Competitive
Enterprise Institute
Neil Glazer Director of Business Development and General
Counsel, Madison House/SCI Ticketing
Thomas Hazlett Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy
Research
Seth Hurwitz Owner, IMP/9:30 Club Chellie Pingree President and CEO, Common Cause
Jim Winston Executive Director, National Association of
Black Owned Broadcasters
Coleman Criticizes RIAA’s Renewed Efforts to Crackdown
on P2P Users Through the Courts January
21, 2004
Panel
9: Into the Grey
During the "Illegal Imagination" panel at the 2003
Policy Summit, artists and copyright experts discussed the ways
that extensions of copyright law and the prohibitive licensing
fees might limit creativity. In February 2004, DJ Danger Mouse
took Jay-Z's Black Album and mixed it with The Beatles' White
Album to create…The Grey Album. The album, which the DJ
created and released without seeking consent from the copyright
owners, was barely made available before DJ Danger Mouse received
cease and desist letters from the Beatles' label, EMI. Clearly
these laws are not limiting creativity, nor are they impeding
circulation, but they are making it impossible to circulate
this type of creativity legally. What is lost and gained
in the mash-up phenomenon? Shouldn’t artists have the
right to control the tracks they've created? Is there a way
to harness the current mash-up enthusiasm to serve artists and
culture?
Walter McDonough General Counsel, FMC (moderator) David Carson General Counsel, US Copyright Office Christian Castle Senior Counsel, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer
& Feld LLP Barton Herbison Executive Director, Nashville Songwriters
Association International
Siva Vaidhyanathan Assistant Professor, Department of Culture
and Communication, New York University Suzanne Vega ASCAP songwriter, performer
Silver, Brown, Gray: Jay-Z Every Which Way With no expectation that their remakes would be commercially
released, many remixers ignored the thicket of copyright negotiations
that govern the use of samples from old albums. Jay-Z has now
been matched to everything from the Beatles to Bjork, Metallica
to Curtis Mayfield, techno blips to string quartets.
By Jon Pareles New
York Times, March 7, 2004
Stay Free!/Illegal Art told to "cease and desist" EMI sent out a cease and desist notice to Stay Free!/Illegal
Art and about 150 other websites this week, claiming "willful
violation of [copyright] laws." EMI wanted to prevent Grey
Tuesday, an online protest of Capitol's attempt to squash Dangermouse's
"Grey Album," from taking place. February
25, 2004
Defiant Downloads Rise From Underground More than 300 Web sites and blogs staged a 24-hour online
protest yesterday over a record company's efforts to stop them
from offering downloadable copies of "The Grey Album."
By Bill Werde New
York Times, February 25, 2004
Grey Album Fans Protest Clampdown
Critics of the music industry's copyright rules stage an online
protest. About 200 websites will post DJ Danger Mouse's popular
remix that combines The Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's Black
Album.
By Katie Dean. Wired,
February 24, 2004
Copyright Enters a Gray Area
The Grey Album, which mixes music from the Beatles' White Album
with lyrics from rapper Jay-Z's Black Album, is being hailed
as a classic. EMI thinks it's a classic, too -- a classic case
of copyright violation.
By Noah Shachtman Wired,
February 14, 2004
Panel
10: Gazing Into the Crystal Ball
At the end of our two days, we turn away from the question of
what should happen to the question of what will
happen. From the FCC's efforts to address localism in media
and expand Low Power Radio, to the widely accepted notion that
a new Telecommunications Act is on the horizon, our panel of
policy experts will share their perspectives on where these
policy trends are heading and the impact that these decisions
will have on the music community.
Michael Bracy Government Relations, FMC (moderator)
Lee Carosi Majority Counsel, Senate Commerce Committee
Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN)
Adam Eisgrau Executive Director, P2P United
Cheryl Leanza Deputy Director, Media Access Project
Chris Murray Internet and Telecommunications Counsel, Consumers
Union
Gigi Sohn President, Public Knowledge
House panel approves copyright bill A House of Representatives panel has approved a sweeping
new copyright bill that would boost penalties for peer-to-peer
piracy and increase federal police powers against Internet copyright
infringement.
By Declan McCullagh CNET,
March 31, 2004
Do you have suggestions of articles that you’d like added to
this list? Please contact ccf@georgetown.edu and we’ll be sure
to add them on.
