Frequent postings from the FMC staff about the issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy.
Just Announced: Musicians Bringing Musicians Home VI
We’re incredibly excited about the latest Artist Activism Camp (our sixth!) and its live benefit concert finale, Musicians Bringing Musicians Home. This year’s event, which takes place at One Eye Jacks in New Orleans on Friday, March 26, 2010.
Joining FMC and Air Traffic Control this year are Ryan Dobrowski + Israel Nebeker (Blind Pilot), Rebecca Gates, Thao Nguyen (Thao with the Get Down Stay Down), Toshi Reagon, Matana Roberts, Jill Sobule, Jon Theodore (One Day As A Lion), New Orleans’ very own Bonerama and more.>
Musicians Bringing Musicians Home is the celebratory finale of our sixth three-day activist retreat, where artists from around the country come to talk about best practices for positive social change. Since the Gulf Storms of 2005 Artist Activism Camp has brought more than forty musicians from around the country to New Orleans to tour affected neighborhoods, visit with the city’s notable musicians and community leaders and participate in strategy sessions about integrating activism and philanthropy into their musical lives and careers. read more
FMC's Alex Maiolo talks Musicians and Health Insurance
Alex Maiolo has worked with The Future of Music Coalition for almost nine years, primarily focusing on the health insurance crisis as it relates to the working musician. In addition, Alex plays in various bands, including the psych-pop outfit Violet Vector & The Lovely Lovelies and ambient/clo-core staple Hi Fi Sky. He is a partner with an insurance agency in the Carrboro/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. Insurance as it relates to the artist, studio owner and musician is all part of a typical day’s tasks.
[Cross-posted at KnowtheMusicBiz.com]
You don’t have to be a news junkie to know that the health care debate has been heating up in recent months. With all of this back-and-forth, it’s easy to forget that this is about getting more people covered. And musicians are one portion of the American public that could definitely use some help.
My name is Alex Maiolo, and I’m the project manager for Future of Music Coalition’s Health Insurance Navigation Tool (or HINT, for short). I’m also a musician. Like everyone at FMC, I’ve seen too many of my peers have to deal with unforeseen health calamities without the benefit of insurance. read more
Even Better Than the Real Thing? Virtual Bands and the Future of Music
Today’s post is by FMC intern Peter Haugen, who has a penetrating mind for all manner of speculative musical phenomenon!
It’s Friday! Can’t think of a better time to speculate on the future of… you guessed it.
While flying cars and jetpacks have yet to become a practical reality (but let’s not give up hope!), a recent YouTube video serves as a reminder that, musically speaking, the future is closer than we think. If you haven’t seen this video yet, try listening to the first two minutes with your eyes closed.
OK, from an sonic standpoint there is nothing particularly revolutionary about it: a piano with some violin accompaniment. Then you open your eyes to see there is no one sitting behind the piano! Duped! Of course, player pianos date back to the late 19th century, but no one would ever confuse a piano roll with actual playing by Rachmaninoff. That is, until Zenph Sound Innovations came along and found a technological way to mimic the performance dynamics of this late maestro.
You gotta wonder far can this technology be taken. read more
Erin McKeown on the Public Performance Right
Intro by Michael Bracy, Policy Director, Future of Music Coalition
Image credit: Nancy Palmieri
Those who have followed FMC’s work over the past decade know that we’ve been strong supporters of establishing a public performance right for terrestrial radio. Why? Because compensating performing artists directly for the use of their work is simply the right thing to do. (Check out our Public Performance Right fact sheet to learn more.)
On March 3, I spent a couple of hours on Capitol Hill with one of our favorite artists, the wonderful and talented Erin McKeown. As luck had it, we were able to attend a news conference hosted by the MusicFIRST Coalition that featured Dionne Warwick and top leaders from the civil rights community, all of whom endorsed legislation for a public performance right.
We thought it would be great if Erin could weigh in on how she views the issue as a working musician. Take it away, Erin! read more
