Future of Music Coalition - Policy Day 2009

The Future of Music Coalition is a group dedicated to education, research, and advocacy for musicians. In an effort to sort through the quagmire of confusion these days over rights, intellectual property and the effects of new media, the group conducts Policy Days, discussions between representatives of many of the major players. The 2009 Policy Day certainly brought together a wealth of ideas and personalities, though no grand conclusions.

Having attended the event in 2007, I was excited to see how the debate had developed. But this was not a day that would focus on great strides and progress. The last two years hadn’t seen much to report, though there was a lot of optimism that the new administration will bring change (a somewhat familiar theme).

So the discussion was more theoretical. When you stand at the beginning of a new era, hoping for change, the question is: what kind of change are we looking for?

Then the problem –- who should determine what changes we need?

It seemed like every discussion, whether it be on a panel about Radio in the 21st Century, Broadband Access, Copyright in the Digital Age, or Fair Trade Music, the lines were being drawn. Each party, whether they represent artists or rights holders or the media, is out to protect their own territory. No one wants to give up any ground, and everyone feels attacked, either by one of the other groups or by the media itself and its capabilities.

Over the course of the day it became apparent that there was no single solution for this problem, but that changes had to be made in order for things to move forward. What those changes are will remain to be seen, as the balance of power shifts and new voices become heard.

Radio in the 21st Century isn’t just what you get on your alarm clock in the morning. It also concerns satellite broadcasting, HD Radio, and the Internet, and the lines being drawn between these divisions cause their own problems. Terrestrial radio’s exemption from paying performance rights is generally challenged by musicians as well as satellite and online broadcasters as an unfair advantage. However, in the panel itself, the discussion centered less about who was paying what and to whom, but the battle over what we, the listeners, are actually hearing.

Peter Gordon, president of the independent label Thirsty Ear, asked the big question -– “If you can go to any city in America and hear the same thing over and over again, is radio really accomplishing anything?” Radio has moved from being a local, small-scale media to being as mass-produced as cable television -– playlists that exist cross-country, syndicated DJs who speak for all time zones.

Article Author: Claire Marie Blaustein

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