On Tuesday, April 12, FMC is hosting a one-day DC Policy Day, where we will apply a laser-beam focus on four critical topics emerging in the Courts, Congress, and at the Copyright Office: digital audio broadcasting and the future of radio, low power FM and community voices, health insurance and musicians, and Copyright in the Courts and Congress including the discussions about the Grokster case and orphan works. Please join us if you can, and spread the word!

What: Future of Music DC Policy Day
Where: Kaiser Family Foundation’s Barbara Jordan Conference Center
1330 G Street NW, Washington, DC
When: Tuesday, April 12, 2005, 10 AM to 6 PM

The Policy Day will feature keynote speakers FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein and Representative Diane Watson (D-CA) as well as a diverse selection of panelists, including:

Claudia Bach AdvisArts Consulting
Ann Chaitovitz National Director of Sound Recordings, AFTRA
Jeffrey Cunard Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP
Berkley Etheridge Vice President, National Music Publishers Association
Adam Forest Executive Director, Fractured Atlas
Mitch Glazier Senior VP, Government Relations, RIAA
Jim Griffin CEO, Cherry Lane Digital
Joseph Kluger President, Philadelphia Orchestra
Mila Kofman Assistant Research Professor, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute
Alex Maiolo Partner, Lee-Moore Insurance
Chris Mays VP and Program Director, KMTT Seattle
Matt McConville musician, Annapolis Musicians’ Fund
Margot Nassau Royalties and Licensing Manager, Smithsonian Folkways
Nan Rubin Community Media Services
Hannah Sassaman Organizer, Prometheus Radio Project
Jule Sigall Associate Register for Policy & International Affairs, US Copyright Office
John Simson Executive Director, SoundExchange
Gigi Sohn President, Public Knowledge
Dave Ulmer Director of Marketing, Media Solutions, Motorola

A complete list of panels and a schedule is available here

Space is limited so reserve your seat now! The suggested donation for attending the event is $25. Student and musician scholarships are also available on the website.

Food! Drink!

As has become tradition with our Policy Summits, we’re working on arranging a pre-panel Pho dinner at Nam Viet in Arlington, VA on Monday, April 11. This is a great chance to meet panelists and other attendees while eating delicious Vietnamese fare. We’re also expecting to walk over to the bar/restaurant Red Sage after the panels conclude on Tuesday for a few drinks. Details for your social calendar will be posted to the website as we confirm them.

Music!

If you’re in DC a few days early, be sure to check out the festivities associated with the Six Points Music Festival, being held April 7 – 11 and showcasing over 40 artists at 13 venues in Virginia, DC, and Maryland.

FMC is also proud to be working in collaboration with the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival to produce two panels that focus on the issues at the intersection of music and film: one on soundtracks and one on rights clearance for creative works used in documentaries and films.

Confirmed panelists include:

Rick Karr Cultural Correspondent, NPR News
Orlando Bagwell filmmaker and Program Officer, Media, Arts and Culture, The Ford Foundation
Peter Jaszi Professor, American University School of Law
Rena Kosersky Music Supervisor for documentaries
Jeff Tuchman Documentary producer/director/writer, Documania Films

…with many more in the works

Both panels will be held in the main room of the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, NYC starting at 1 PM on both April 27 and April 28. Tickets are $20 and are available on the Tribeca website

More info about the Tribeca panels is available here

Our signature event will be held in September this year, putting us in just after Bumbershoot and just before CMJ. We already have many panel and panelist ideas percolating, as well as new opportunities to expand the programming and bring in more musical components. At this point, we hope you will mark your calendars and make plans to attend.

On March 25, 2005, FMC, AFTRA and AFM filed joint comments in the Orphan Works proceeding at the US Copyright Office. Our comments said that the US should adopt a modified version of the Canadian Unlocatable Copyright Statute to allow creators and the public to use copyrighted works that are unavailable because the Copyright owner is either unidentifiable or unlocatable. We also suggested that uncollected royalties should be used to finance a Heritage Fund that will advance the preservation of copyrighted materials for the cultural and public good. In addition, we asked the Copyright Office to issue a notice of inquiry examining the status of out-of-print sound recordings, something that’s particularly important for musicians whose prior albums may not be available for sale. The entire document is here

We will also be submitting reply comments before the May 9 deadline.

700+ Orphan Works Comments Filed at the Copyright Office
The U.S. Copyright Office has posted the orphan works comments that were submitted. Over 700 comments were submitted in total. The CO will be accepting comments in direct reply to these through May 9.
By Gavin Baker, BoingBoing, March 30, 2005

Lessig Blog
The 711 unique comments submitted to the Copyright Office on the "Orphan Works" question have been posted. This is a fantastic response.
By Larry Lessig, March 30, 2005

Joe Gratz Blog
Joe has posted several entries documenting the filing process. He has even corrected the Copyright Office’s link system on his site.
By Joe Gratz, March 30, 2005

If you haven’t already heard, on Tuesday, March 29, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in MGM v. Grokster. The major record labels claimed that peer-to-peer file-sharing technologies (P2P) should be liable for the copyright infringement of their individual users. The P2P companies argued that if they were to be held liable for infringement, the currently open door of technological innovation would be left barely ajar.

By all accounts, the Justices were prepared and familiar with the complex issues at stake in the case and asked probing questions of both sides. According to a number of folks in attendance, Justices were particularly concerned about the hypothetical inventor – the “guy in the garage” – who may not move forward with an invention if he/she might be sued for its use in infringing copyrights, no matter the intent of the invention.

FMC has avoided taking a side in this case because we recognize that musicians hold a whole range of opinions about copyright, file-sharing and the internet. Look no further than the online survey that we did in 2004 with the Pew Internet and American Life Project, in which 2,700 musicians were asked a range of questions on these issues. It was clear that musicians have embraced the internet as a way to create, promote and distribute their work. But when it came to file-sharing, about a third of artists were supporters of P2P, about a third were opposed to P2P, and about a third were unsure.

Pew Study here

A sampling of musicians’ comments on file-sharing here show the range of opinions

Clearly, this case has generated a lot of news, as well as some predictions about the outcome:

Lively Debate as Justices Address File Sharing
The much-heralded Supreme Court showdown in the Grokster case between old-fashioned entertainment and newfangled technology found the justices surprisingly responsive on Tuesday to warnings from Grokster…that a broad definition of copyright infringement could curtail innovation.
By Linda Greenhouse, New York Times, March 30, 2005

The Grokster Case’s Silent Majority
Using no more than my laptop and any one of a hundred cheap or free online services, I can be recording studio, record label, music store and marketing machine.
By Chris Anderson, LA Times, March 30, 2005

Camping Out for the Grokster Case
Forget Star Wars premieres. A seat at the MGM Studios v. Grokster Supreme Court hearing Tuesday morning was the hottest ticket in town.
By Katie Dean, Wired, March 29, 2005

My Day with the Supremes
Bottom line on Grokster: I think the Court is likely to affirm the basic idea of Sony – that you can’t sue a manufacturer or distributor of a technology for copyright infringement if the technology has non-infringing uses. But I also think they will remand and allow the RIAA to pursue a claim for "active inducement" to infringe based on Grokster’s conduct.
By Harold Feld, WetMachine Blog, March 30, 2005

Not an iPod
Grokster and StreamCast Networks are two of the latest Napster-like file-sharing companies to send copyright holders into a tizzy — and with good reason.
Editorial, Washington Post, March 30, 2005

It was back in February 2000 when Jenny and Kristin took the overnight train to Boston to attend the first Signal or Noise conference. When they arrived they wrote “I know Ben Morgan” on their nametags, which they hoped would assist them in meeting two people they only knew from their postings on Ben’s Musictech email list: Brian Zisk and Walter McDonough.

Brian was easy to find. In attendance with his father, he cheerfully introduced himself and we had a lively discussion about his webcasting company Green Witch. But it wasn’t until the end of the first round of panelist presentations that we figured out who Walter was. After what sounded like informed statements from various record industry folks, moderator Charles Nesson looked around the room for questions from the audience. A tall redhead asked for the microphone, who then delivered a blistering critique. Then, instead of dismissing his argument, Professor Nesson invited this provocateur to JOIN the panel, where he then proceeded to shred the other panelists to pieces with his legal knowledge. It was none other than Walter McDonough.

Fast-forward five years to Signal/Noise 2, which will be held on Friday, April 8 at Harvard where both Jenny Toomey and Walter McDonough will serve as panelists. Also in attendance will be FMC’s Research Director Peter DiCola, Technologies Director Brian Zisk and Shoshana Samole Zisk. If you want to get their attention, try writing “I know Ben Morgan” on your nametag and see what happens.

Registration for this event is $20. Go here to sign up! http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sn/register. For more information about the conference’s location, schedule and participants, please visit http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sn/schedule.

As mentioned in the past few newsletters, Congress has been very busy trying to curb “indecency” on broadcast TV and radio. On February 16, 2005, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation that sharply raised fines on TV and radio stations and entertainers who violate decency limits on air. Penalties had been $32,000 for a station and $11,000 for a performer. That has now been lifted to $500,000 for the station and the performer.

The Senate is poised to consider its own version of legislation, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act (S. 193). Introduced by Sen. Brownback (R-KS) and co-sponsored by Sen. McCain (R-AZ) the bill currently does not contain fines on individual performers and announcers.

Many music organizations, including FMC, have been working hard to ensure that the Senate does not pass a bill with fines on individuals and maintains that position if the bill goes to conference with the House. On March 9, FMC sent a letter to the Senate articulating our concerns about the unintended consequences of indecency legislation.

Now it’s your turn. AFTRA has set up a letter-writing campaign that urges the Senate not to include fines on performers in this bill. Go to this website to customize a letter and it will be delivered post-haste to your representatives.

Related:

Congressman Counters Anti-Indecency Legislation
Rep. Bernie Sanders has introduced the Stamp Out Censorship Act of 2005, a bill aimed at curtailing efforts to extend indecency regulations to satellite and cable providers.
By R&R, March 28, 2005

Cell Phone Songs Prompt Control Questions
The rush is on to deliver music and video to mobile phones, with wireless providers and device makers jockeying for position to grab their share of the payday, all parties mindful of the surprising billions being spent on musical ringtones.
By Bruce Meyerson, Associated Press, March 27. 2005

LPFM Station Welcomes Voices Not Often Heard
Its organizers hope to allow access to the media to those who might not be given such access by a commercial station.
By Pamela Martineau, Sacramento Bee, March 29, 2005 (registration reqd)

Rockers Flex BitTorrent’s Muscle
With MTV and VH1 now crowded with programs like Date My Mom, The Ashlee Simpson Show and Celebrity Fit Club, there’s little room for music videos, especially from independent artists.
By Katie Dean, Wired, March 23, 2005

David Byrne launching internet radio station
Musician and artist David Byrne, known most widely as co-founder of the Talking Heads, has just launched an internet radio station that streams the music he digs.
By Xeni Jardin, NPR’s Day to Day, March 28, 2005

You can always send an email to suggestions [at] futureofmusic [dot] org with your comments.

Thanks as always,

Jenny Toomey
Michael Bracy
Walter McDonough
Brian Zisk
Kristin Thomson
Peter DiCola
Wendy Harman

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