Since 2001, FMC has organized six annual Policy Summits to address the critical issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy. After a stellar event last October in Montreal and our DC Policy Day in May, we’re bringing it back to Washington, DC for our 7th Annual Policy Summit, which will take place at George Washington University’s Betts Theatre from September 17-18, 2007.

FMC welcomes keynote speakers

Sen. Byron Dorgan

and

Sen. Ron Wyden

Programming Highlights

FMC’s Jenny Toomey will welcome attendees to the Policy Summit, backed by New Orleans musician Al "Carnival Time" Johnson.

Marybeth Peters, Register, US Copyright Office, will participate in a special conversation with USPTO’s Ann Chaitovitz about her 40 years at the Office, and the impact of new technologies on the copyright system.

Attorney Rosemary Carroll, musician Bob Mould and Mac McCaughan, musician and co-owner of the independent label Merge Records - home of Arcade Fire, Spoon, M. Ward and others - will be joined by top names from law and technology to debate the state of the music industry.

Top representatives from some of today’s most innovative music services - Pandora, Rumblefish, Eventful, and Echomusic - will discuss the technologies that are empowering musicians and bringing artists and fans closer together.

International experts, including CISAC’s Director Eric Baptiste, Sarah Faulder from MCPS-PRS, RealNetwork’s Tim Quirk, DiMA’s Jon Potter and CMRRA’s David Basskin will tackle global licensing issues.

A star-studded list of panelists will debate about how broadband policy impacts musicians: Ben Scott from Free Press, Peter Gordon from Thirsty Ear Records, Jason Oxman from CEA, and Tim Wu from Columbia Law School.

Pho founder Jim Griffin will moderate a panel about how ubiquitous wireless access may impact the music and broadcast industries. The panel includes Ralph Simon from the Mobile Entertainment Forum, attorney Whitney Broussard, Microsoft’s Skip Pizzi, and others.

A three-part track on how musicians can better use technologies, with special sessions on social networking and blogging, podcasting, and DIY licensing.

We’re also thrilled to be working with Smithsonian Global Sound on an 4-part track on access to culture on Tuesday afternoon, jam-packed with some of the most interesting names in the field including Smithsonian Global Sound, American Folklife Center, Metabrainz, IODA and National Geographic. The session will start with a presentation by Dan Sheehy, director of Smithsonian Global Sound, followed by a talk by Peter Alyea from the Library of Congress’ music preservation division, a panel on orphan works, and a panel on how technology is improving access to culture.

And that’s not all. The Summit also includes panels about performance royalties, the state of retail, the new viability of niche musical genres, the sample license clearance process, major label contracts in the digital age, and a policymakers roundtable that includes some of Capitol Hill’s top staffers.

Check out the program details here | Register online now

Confirmed Panelists

Peter Alyea Digital Conversion Specialist, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound, Library of Congress

Paul Anthony CEO, Rumblefish

Eric Baptise Director General, CISAC

David Basskin President, Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency

David Beal President, National Geographic Music and Radio

Richard Bengloff President, American Association of Independent Music (A2IM)

Mario Bouchard General Counsel, Copyright Board of Canada

Michael Bracy Policy Director, Future of Music Coalition

Rudy Brioche Legal Advisor, Federal Communications Commission

Whitney Broussard Partner, Selverne, Mandelbaum & Mintz

Jennifer Buzzell Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Strathmore Arts Center

Bryan Calhoun Label Management Systems

Rosemary Carroll Partner, Carroll, Guido & Groffman, LLP

Ann Chaitovitz Attorney-Advisor, US Patent and Trademark Office

Brian Dear Founder and Chairman, Eventful.com

Corey Denis Vice President, reapandsow.com

Mike Dreese Co-founder and CEO, Newbury Comics

Jonathan Eaton Musician, Spinto Band

Sarah Faulder Public Affairs Director, MCPS-PRS

David Freedman General Manager, WWOZ Jazz and Heritage Station

Peter Gordon President, Thirsty Ear Records

Jim Griffin CEO, Onehouse

Peter Gutmann Member, Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice

Wayne Halper Attorney, Law Office of Wayne Halper

David Harrell Musician, The Layaways and blogger at digitalaudioinsider.com

E. Michael Harrington Professor of Entertainment and Music Business, Belmont University

Henry Harris President, Spiritco1 Christian internet radio

Michael Hausman Manager, Michael Hausman Artist Management

Ariel Hyatt Founder, Ariel Publicity

Richard Jankovich Musician, Burnside Project and Director of A&R and Licensing, Rumblefish

Peter Jaszi Professor of Law, Faculty Director of the Glushko-Samuelson IP Clinic, American University

Robert Kaye Mayhem & Chaos Coordinator, MusicBrainz

John Kellogg Assistant Chair, Music Business/Management, Berklee College of Music

Jon Kertzer Senior Music Programmer, Zune/Microsoft

Lady Kier Musician and DJ

Nick Krill Musician, Spinto Band

Sharky Laguana Musician and Founder/CEO, Mixpal/Bandago

Chris MacDonald General Counsel, Association of Music Podcasting/Indiefeed podcast

Josh Madell Co-owner, Other Music

Rachel Masters Director of Business Development, Ning

Mac McCaughan Musician and Co-owner, Merge Records

Walter McDonough General Counsel, Future of Music Coalition

Charlie McEnerney Producer + Host, Well-Rounded Radio

Kembrew McLeod Author, documentary filmmaker,Professor, University of Iowa

Oliver Metzger Policy Planning Advisor, US Copyright Office

Mark Montgomery CEO, Echomusic

Bob Mould Musician

Franz Nicolay Musician, The Hold Steady, Anti-Social Music

Jason Oxman Vice President, Communications, Consumer Electronics Association

Skip Pizzi Manager, Technical Policy, Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division

Lou Plaia Co-Founder / VP Artist Development, Reverbnation.com

Patricia Polach Attorney, Bredhoff and Kaiser, Counsel for AFM

Jonathan Potter Executive Director, Digital Media Association

Tim Quirk Executive Editor, Music, RealNetworks

Jessica Rosenworcel Senior Communications Counsel, Senate Commerce Committee

Mike Schmidt Office of Senator Feingold (D-WI)

Ben Scott Policy Director, Free Press

Rachel Segal Marketing Manager/Artist Relations, MusicIP

Daniel Sheehy Director and Curator, Smithsonian Global Sound

Molly Sheridan Managing Editor, NewMusicBox.org, Producer, counterstreamradio.org

Ralph Simon Chairman Emeritus and Founder, Mobile Entertainment Forum

John Simson Executive Director, SoundExchange

Gigi Sohn President, Public Knowledge

Atesh Sonneborn Associate Director, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Michael Taft Head of the Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center

Anastasia Tsioulcas Classical music columnist, Billboard

Marcy Rauer Wagman Program Director, Music Industry, Drexel University, CEO, Mad Dragon Unltd.

Tim Westergren Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Pandora

Tim Wu Professor, Columbia Law School

Billy Zero Program Director, XMU, XM Satellite Radio

Brian Zisk Technologies Director, Future of Music Coalition

Register today!

Seating is limited in the theater so act now to guarantee your space.

Regular Registration: $199
Student Registration: $139

Click here for secure online registration
See all the registration options and student rates here

Parties!

It’s not all policy talk. Start your Summit off right by joining us for FMC’s annual Pho welcome dinner on Sunday, September 16. All panelists, attendees, staff and volunteers are invited to join us for tasty Pho soup and conversation. It’s hands down the best way to get to know panelists and participants. More details here. RSVPs go to Chhaya Kapadia at chhaya [at] futureofmusic [dot] org (chhaya@futureofmusic.org)

On Monday, September 17, join us after the programming in the Grand Ballroom on the 3rd floor of the Marvin Center for a cocktail party hosted by the Consumer Electronics Association, with a performance by Al “Carnival Time” Johnson.

On Tuesday, September 18, we’ll close off the Summit with a cocktail party hosted by Microsoft in the Grand Ballroom on the 3rd floor of the Marvin Center.

Scholarships for Working Musicians

Every year, FMC offers scholarships to make sure that musicians are not left out of the music/technology debate. Thanks to some generous contributions from foundations, technology companies, sponsors, and musician advocacy groups, 80 musicians are able to attend this Policy Summit for free.

As of today, only 8 scholarship opportunities are still available. If you’ve been meaning to apply, now is the time. Musicians: go here to apply.

Volunteers

We’re looking for volunteers to assist in a variety of capacities, and 10 hours of volunteer time gets you into the Summit and all its jam-packed craziness for free!
Details about volunteering

More on the website

Programming overview
Confirmed panelists
Suggested hotels
Press credentialing
Volunteering

Still not convinced? Here’s why you should attend our Policy Summit

"…a kind of Geneva where all sides in any number of contentious music industry fights can get together and play nice for a few days. Even more importantly, it offers pinstriped Washingtonians a rare opportunity to hear musicians articulate their concerns in person instead of relying on competing lobbying groups that claim to espouse their interests." Washington Post, 2004

"…the coalition’s organizers are due a great deal of credit for representing a constituency that is often invoked by others but not represented."
Washington Post, 2004

"As independent artists develop and discover shortcuts to get their music out in spite of an inequitable and often corrupt industry, conferences like the FMC’s go a long way toward providing them a map." Village Voice, 2005

"You know the time between when a record leaves the artist’s hands and before it gets to listener’s ears? The Summit covers everything that happens in between."
Pitchfork, 2005

Please plan to join us us this year for another spectacular event!

"The Future of Music Coalition’s annual policy summits are where chain links meet cuff links as musicians and songwriters press the issues — and the flesh — with the political powerbrokers who help determine their future." Washington Post, 2004

Sponsors

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts

Programming Partner

Partners

October 3-7 | Montreal

October 3-6 | Montreal

Are you a musician who has been been meaning to get health insurance, but you just don’t know where to start? Our Health Insurance Navigation Tool (HINT) provides free telephone consultations and musician-friendly advice on our website.

To better understand what HINT is all about, watch this video chat with HINT Project Director, Alex Maiolo, who explains how the program works and how it can help you.

It’s been hard to miss the news coverage over the last few weeks of the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. If you’ve been wondering what you can do to help the ever-persevering citizens of New Orleans, take a trip down to the legendary Tipitina’s for a benefit concert by the Indigo Girls, with all proceeds to go to Sweet Home New Orleans.

Sweet Home New Orleans is a coalition of non-profit organizations that helps find affordable housing in New Orleans and provides rental assistance for Katrina displaced musicians, Mardi Gras performers and other traditional New Orleans artists.

Tickets for the September 16, 2007 concert are only $20 and are available at the Tipitina’s website.

FMC is looking for a Communications Director to work in our Washington, DC office to develop and implement a comprehensive communications plan for FMC. This position is open until filled. See a full description of the position here.

We’re also looking for a few good interns for this fall in the Washington, DC office. Interning at FMC is a great opportunity to work on many of the projects we have going including Rock the Net, event organizing and many other projects. This unpaid position runs from September through December and is open until the position is filled.

You can learn more about both positions here: http://www.futureofmusic.org/about/positions.cfm.

The FCC is holding its fifth official public hearing on media ownership issues in Chicago on Thursday, September 20. These hearings represent your chance to comment publicly on the FCC’s ongoing proceedings on the regulations that govern radio, TV and newspaper ownership.

The hearing will be at Dr. King’s Workshop at 930 East 50th Street (corner of South Drexel Blvd.), Chicago, IL from 4-11 pm. Sign up on the Free Press website to receive updates on the hearing directly via email.

To bring together the Chicago musical community in support of stricter ownership rules, FMC is hosting a party at Delilah’s on the evening of September 19, 2007 featuring musician/artist Jon Langford (Mekons) and FMC’s own Outreach Director Jean Cook along with local DJ’s representing the hip-hop community.

If you’re in the area, please come down and say hello. Delilah’s is located at 2771 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL.

You can always send us notes at suggestions [at] futureofmusic [dot] org. And we hope to see many of you in two weeks in Washington, DC.

Thanks,

Jenny Toomey
Michael Bracy
Walter McDonough
Brian Zisk
Kristin Thomson
Jean Cook
Chhaya Kapadia
Alex Maiolo
Courtney Bennett

Donate to the Future of Music Coalition
Secure online donations are accepted at any level at https://www.futureofmusic.org/donate.cfm