With concert giants Live Nation and AEG based in Los Angeles, there’s little room for an independent promoter to maneuver. Yet Mitchell Frank and his Spaceland Productions have managed to thrive.

Putting on shows under the Spaceland brand since March 1995, Frank hosts concerts at just three Silver Lake and Echo Park venues — Spaceland, the Echo and the Echoplex. That would seem to put Frank below the radar of most major operations, but in the wake of the Department of Justice giving the green light, albeit with concessions, to a merger between promoter/venue owner Live Nation and ticketing agency/management firm Ticketmaster Entertainment, Frank suddenly finds himself in the unenviable position of making money for the competitor.

The Washington, D.C.-based Future of Music Coalition, a non-profit education and advocacy group for musicians, does not have a stance on the merger, but director Michael Bracy is encouraging the industry to be vocal. The Department of Justice is currently receiving comments on the ruling, as it will for close to another 60 days.

“This is an important time to get on the record, particularly for those who feel it didn’t go far enough,” Bracy said. “Speak now, or forever hold your peace.” read more

Net neutrality isn’t just an issue for policy wonks and communications lawyers, and the boys from R.E.M. want the FCC to know just how crucial a neutral ‘Net remains for artists of all stripes. Or, to put it another way: it’s the end of the world as we know it (without network neutrality).

The effort to get bands involved in the process has been an ongoing one for the Future of Music Coalition, which is behind the latest push to have artists weigh in before the comment period closes soon. The Coalition has put together a very nice tool for crafting and submitting comments to the FCC—and it has the great virtue of providing guidance without offering a form letter as an option. read more

The Future of Music Coalition is collecting network neutrality shout-outs from musicians, including R.E.M., Pearl Jam and Dead Prez among others, on a new Web site, http://futureofmusic.org/fccopeninternet.

The group has long supported codifying network neutrality principles (it launched Rock the Net in 2007). The FCC’s Democratic majority is proposing to do just that in a proposed rulemaking launched in October. read more

The Future of Music Coalition has a small boatload of classy crossover music groups sending letters to the Federal Communications Commission in support of tougher net neutrality rules. They include R.E.M., the woodwind quintet Imani Winds, and the Kronos Quartet.

Future of Music has a whole web page dedicated to helping musicians file comments with the agency on the issue. The guide comes complete with the do’s and don’ts of FCC feedback. “Comments like ‘Comcast sux!’ may be funny but are not helpful in the FCC crafting better policy, so try to make your critiques productive,” FOM warns. read more

The Future of Music Coalition is collecting network neutrality shout-outs from musicians, including R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Dead Presidents, and others on a new Web site.The group has long supported codifying network neutrality principles ( it launched Rock the Net in 2007). The FCC’s Democratic majority is proposing to do just that in a proposed rulemaking launched in October. read more

Within the music industry, the health care debate is being watched closely. The lack of access to affordable health insurance has been a persistent problem among artists for decades. According to a Future of Music Coalition poll, 44 percent of musicians go without insurance, almost three times the national average. It’s not that musicians are a singled-out minority, it’s just that so many fall into the cracks—chasms, really—in this country’s health care system. According to a 2008 government census, nearly 60 percent of people in this country are insured through an employer; most full-time musicians are essentially self-employed. More than 18 million of the uninsured are between the ages of 18 and 34; so are most aspiring rockers. The vast majority of the uninsured make less than $75,000 a year; ditto for all but the most successful artists. Then there are plenty of artists among the 12.6 million people in this country who are denied coverage based on a preexisting condition. read more

The music industry continues to search for a sustainable long-term model for the digital age. Recently, industry leaders, musicians, and policy makers gathered to search for innovative solutions at the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit in Washington, D.C.

“It’s chaos, the music industry right now,” said Greg Kot, music critic for the Chicago Tribune, during a panel discussion. “But chaos is not necessarily a bad thing.”

Nowadays, musicians have the option of signing to a label (large or small), relying on outside investment, or finding the time, energy, and money to manage everything themselves—the do-it-yourself approach. Convincing fans to microfinance their efforts is a fourth possibility, and a bit riskier. Each choice comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Speaking at the conference, Emily White of Whitesmith Entertainment emphasized that what’s best for an artist depends on a number of factors, including where artists are in terms of their careers and where they ultimately want to be.

In other words, just because independent musicians now have the power to tap into the global marketplace from their laptops doesn’t mean that the “middle man” is obsolete. On the contrary, White pointed out that having to constantly promote and market one’s own music takes a great deal of effort and leaves less time to focus on actually making music. It is probably a task better left to others. read more

In 2008, the idea of another subscription-only music service was enough to get your knickers in a torrent. Sure Rhapsody was doing well, but they’d been around for forever and in 2008, freemium was the music model du jour. With a year to reflect, co-founder of the Future of Music Coalition and longtime San Fran Music Tech Summit organizer Brian Zisk tells us what it takes to survive in today’s music environment.

In August 2008, ReadWriteWeb asked What Would the Perfect Streaming Music Service Look Like? While Pandora, Imeem and Muxtape were mentioned, services like MOG’s All Access, Spotify and Rdio hadn’t even been hatched. Given what appears to be a major shift in the industry, we asked Zisk to weigh in on some of these upcoming features. read more

It’s time to change the tune on health insurance.

In January 2008, Drew Glackin, multi-instrumentalist and bassist for Bloodshot Records’ band The Silos, died at 44 of an extremely treatable disease because, like so many working musicians, he couldn’t afford (or thought he couldn’t afford) health insurance.

To ease the financial burden on his family, Drew’s bandmates and peers did what they could: they organized and performed at a handful of benefit shows that honored Drew’s memory and raised a bit of money.

More recently, Bloodshot band The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir had a serious van accident in which most members were injured. Five of the six had insurance, but their bills are nonetheless mounting due to out-of-pocket costs and loss of income. Once again the music community has rallied behind artists in need.

Yet the never-ending story of artists putting on concerts to help ailing peers is a tired tune. After the money has been counted, the guitars packed away and the amps rolled back to the van, we still have the same basic problem: Not enough musicians are insured.

A 2003 survey of 2,700 U.S. musicians conducted by Future of Music Coalition found that 45 percent lacked adequate health coverage. The reasons are not entirely unexpected: In addition to cost, many musicians put off getting health insurance because they assume it’s unattainable or they don’t know where to start. Many think it’s something that they can’t afford now and will have to wait and get later. But that “later” can come pretty quick if your tour van hits a patch of ice. read more