We’re here in sunny Austin for SXSW! Just a few minutes ago, we saw a fascinating panel called “The Cloud vs. the Paradise of Infinite Storage.” Some real brainiacs on this one, let us tell you. The discussion featured FMC board and advisory board members Bryan Calhoun and Sandy Pearlman, the brilliant Eric Garland from Big Champagne, Mike McGuire from Gartner Research, Wayne Marshall of MIT and WayneAndWax and Peter Biddle, one of the first authors to describe the “Darknet” — a closed private network of computers used for file sharing.

The discussion was a continuation of a breakout session hosted by legendary rock producr/manager Sandy Pearlman at our most recent Future of Music Policy Summit. Consider this our “executive summary.” read more

You may recall our post from a while back about popular mashup artist Girl Talk, where we noted all the clearance and licensing hoops he’d have to jump through for his records to be 100 percent legal. Our takeaway? The current sample license clearance process is likely too time-consuming and cost-prohibitive for Girl Talk to make his art legit.

According to some press accounts, Girl Talk and his label, the aptly named Illegal Art, believe that his work is legal under the fair use principle — meaning, there’s exceptions within US copyright law that could protect him from being liable for infringement.

In the wake of major court rulings, there are those who have argued that current fair use exceptions aren’t enough to deal with the realities of our tech-driven, networked era. Some, in fact, suggest we need a legislative fix. read more

For those of you who watched the Grammy Awards on Sunday night (and apparently there were more of you this year than any year since 2004), you may have had a feeling of déjà vu when you saw virtually the same group of stars that clustered together in 2009, 2008, etc. Does this perhaps remind you — at least a little — of the 1993 film Groundhog Day? You know, like Bill Murray’s character hearing “I Got You Babe” every morning?

Now, if you happen to want to hear the same song at the same time every day, that’s fine with us. But sometimes it’s fun to let the needle find a new groove.

Today happens to be Groundhog Day, which is why we bring it up. And if the modern artist or fan feels like they’re “stuck in a loop” when it comes to music on commercial TV and radio, who can blame them? Perhaps the industry is a bit like the groundhog, who hopes that if it waits long enough, springtime will finally arrive. But what if it’s already here? read more

In 2006, OK Go’s video for “Here It Goes Again” — also affectionately known as “the treadmill video”— became a web sensation. By decade’s end, it had been viewed approximately 50 million times — no small feat for a homemade clip. Although the video made its biggest splash on sites like YouTube, many fans embedded it on their personal pages and social networks. At which point “Here It Goes Again” went viral, increasing the band’s exposure on a global scale and boosting the band’s record sales (and the bottom line of their major label, EMI).

Fast-forward to 2010. OK Go releases its newest album, Of the Blue Color of the Sky, still on the EMI imprint. To coincide with its release, the band creates another insanely clever and watchable video, this time for a tune called “This Too Shall Pass.” Rinse and repeat, right?

Not so fast. read more

Future of Music Coalition is once again curating a number of conversations at the annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference in New York City, January 8-12, 2010. Join us for sessions on the issues at the intersection of arts, technology and law; media, copyright and technology; and health insurance for creators.

To attend these sessions you need to be registered for the Arts Presenters conference. Click here for registration details. If you are an artist and would like to attend these sessions only and will not go to the APAP conference, email us at nicole[at]futureofmusic[dot]org

Head to FMC’s official APAP page to see the discussions and presentations we’ll be offering. read more

Will MOG be the service that makes streaming subscription take off in the US market? That’s the question music industry observers are asking today, as the web-based streaming/recommendation music service unveils its buzzed-about monthly streaming subscription service. One thing’s for sure: you can’t beat the price. MOG is charging a mere 5 bucks a month for streaming, on-demand access to a huge catalog of music, all legally licensed from record labels and publishers. MOG is also letting potential customers try the service for free, for one hour.

Read on for our take on “cloud music” and what it might mean for artists and the industry. read more

We just received word about a brand-new nonprofit organization in Canada called Clinique juridique des artistes de Montreal, or CJAM. For non French-speakers, that translates to the Montreal Artists Legal Clinic.

Read on for more info about this org and American groups that offer similar services. read more