From now through August 31, Future of Music Coalition, the Artists’ Health Insurance Resource Center (AHIRC) and Fractured Atlas are joining forces with artist service organizations across the country to take the pulse of the artist community regarding access to health insurance via an online survey.

Prior surveys have found that artists of all types are less likely to be insured than the general working population. With the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this year and next, we want to know: how many artists are presently insured? What are the factors that make it difficult to get insured under current conditions? 

This is a critical moment to capture some baseline data from US-based artists about your access to health insurance.

If you’re an artist of any type, we urge you to take this 10 minute survey. Your participation will be both anonymous and confidential.

We’re also hoping you can help us spread the word about the survey and encourage your artist friends to participate. Post a message on your website/blog, Facebook or your Twitter feed. We want THOUSANDS of musicians, dancers, filmmakers, actors, visual artists and literary folks to take the survey so we can understand the true scope of the issue in the artist community. And stay tuned for survey results in September 2013.

How are musicians and songwriters compensated when their music is played on the radio, sold on digital platforms, webcast or streamed on interactive services?

We know it’s hard to keep everything straight. That’s why last month we released a set of infographics that illustrate how the money flows from various services back to US-based musicians and composers/songwriters. To our surprise and delight, this infographic has been quite popular, with mentions on CD Baby, Hypebot and Digital Music News, to name a few.

Many FMC fans, from artist managers to journalists to music biz educators, have been asking us to make a version of this chart they can hang on their walls as an easy reference. That’s why we’re making a limited-edition poster version of this infographic, and we’re taking pre-orders now through IndieGogo.

This is an unfunded project, so only your support will guarantee that we make a printed version. Pre-order a poster today, and encourage others to do the same. Even better, add on a few more dollars to ensure that FMC can continue our vital work for musicians.

The Future of Music Summit is three months away! This year’s event will happen over two jam-packed days on October 28 and 29 at Georgetown University here in DC.

As the only conference that focuses on the connections between musicians and fans, policymakers and academics, legal experts and technologists, media professionals and entrepreneurs, we’re putting together a stellar lineup with a truly diverse range of perspectives that you won’t want to miss. The Future of Music Summit goes beyond the typical conference fare to highlight the experience of the musicians, songwriters and composers whose passion and creativity fuels the entire ecosystem.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the first word on early bird registration rates! If you just can’t wait, check out the the video archives from last year’s event.

In case you missed it, here’s some of our recent musings on FutureBlog:

Does Spotify Make Sense For Non-Superstars?
Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich recently made waves by pulling their material from Spotify’s on-demand streaming service, arguing that the business model doesn’t currently work for new artists.  We took this opportunity to evaluate the streaming model, and consider some ways that streaming services could better serve the needs of musicians.

What Does Jay-Z’s New Album Tell Us About the Future of Online Privacy?
Samsung’s partnership with rapper Jay-Z for the release of his new album has been a hot topic, even overshadowing the album itself, at a time when consumers are expressing concern about how their personal data is used by services and advertisers.

France’s ‘Three Strikes’ Is Out
As France abandons and amends a controversial set of anti-piracy measures in favor of a system closer to the United States’ new Copyright Alert System, we assess what it may mean for future copyright-enforcement efforts.

White House Announces Best Practices on Combatting Ad-Supported Piracy
This month, a group of leading online ad-servicing companies publicly committed to a set of best practices crafted by the White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) aimed at reducing so-called “ad-supported piracy” online by stemming the flow of advertising dollars to operators of sites principally dedicated to copyright infringment. Is it a step in the right direction?

Copyright On The Curve
Last month, we unveiled our Music & Money quiz, as both a fun way to test your understanding of music business structures and a serious research project to see where knowledge gaps lie. We’re already learning a lot from your responses; take a look at some preliminary results, find out what music biz questions stump even the experts, and if you haven’t yet, take the quiz and see how you measure up!

Our own Jean Cook will be a featured speaker at the inaugural CASH Music Summit on Thursday, August 1 in Portland, Oregon. In addition to a great lineup of presenters and a unique dialogue-focused format, we are told there will be pizza! For more information, check out their site.

Looking for a stylish way to support our work? We’re having a summer clearance on our comfy FMC t-shirts. While supplies last, you can get one for $10, or 2 for $15. 

We’re seeking interns for the fall semester working out of our Washington DC office.  Think you’ve got what it takes? Check out the current openings. Deadline for the fall term is August 2, 2013.

You can always contact us at suggestions [at] futureofmusic [dot] org if you have any questions or feedback.