George(s) Lessard on Tue, 2 Jan 2001 18:52:32 -0500


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Syndicate: Future of Music Coalition conference in DC on 1/10-1/11


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent:      	Tue, 2 Jan 2001 08:44:15 -0800 (PST)
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To:             	politech@politechbot.com
Subject:        	FC: Future of Music Coalition conference in DC on 1/10-1/11
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2001 00:03:42 -0800
From: Brian Zisk <zisk@well.com>
To: declan@well.com
Subject: Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit Conference

Hello Declan,

Hope you're doing well. We launched the Future of Music Coalition a 
few months ago, and now we're having a Policy Summit conference on 
January 10th and 11th at Gaston Hall, Georgetown, Washington D.C. I 
was thinking that the info (on the organization, as well as on the 
conference) might be of interest to the Politech readership. All 
sorts of  unique and interesting discussions will take place, (a 
schedule of panels can be found at 
http://www.futureofmusic.org/images/FMCtrifold.pdf) such as Eric 
Scheirer moderating a panel with Leonardo Chiariglione the Executive 
Director of SDMI, Edward Felton of Princeton University, Jack Moffitt 
the Icecast Open Source Streaming Media Project leader, and Ron Sobel 
who was at ASCAP for 16 years. Hope that you'll be in D.C. and able 
to attend,

All the best,

Brian Zisk

Technology Director at The Future of Music Coalition

http://www.futureofmusic.org


"No longer will corporate media and big money frame the terms of the 
discussion as we draw together the strongest voices in the Internet 
and independent music community to reframe these questions with a 
clear-eyed focus on the interests of the artists."   - Jenny Toomey, 
Future of Music Coalition


WHY THE FUTURE OF MUSIC COALITION WAS ORGANIZED

Most media attention focuses either on the exploitation of artists by 
the major labels or on the exploitation of artists by Internet 
applications that encourage unauthorized copying.  Artists are 
presented with a false and unnecessary choice, support traditional 
notions of artists' rights and be called a money-grubbing luddite; or 
support new technology solutions and be accused of  ignoring the 
plight of those artists left behind. This rhetoric  pretends to speak 
for the artists, but in effect just continues to  promote the 
viewpoints of moneyed interests like The Record Labels or The 
Technology Companies while it obscures some of the more promising new 
possibilities.

The Future of Music Coalition is organized to address pressing 
music-technology issues and to serve as a voice for musicians in 
Washington D.C. where critical decisions are being made regarding 
musicians' intellectual property rights without a word from the 
artists themselves.

PRESSING AREAS OF CONCERN FOR THE FUTURE OF MUSIC

	1. PIRACY AND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION - The Future of Music 
Organization is founded on the belief that creation is valuable and 
should be compensated. Here we are speaking of both musical creation 
and technological creation. By drawing together advocates for 
musicians' rights and innovators in Internet technology, we will work 
to move the discussion away from the narrow privacy vs. piracy 
discussions that dominate the general media, toward practical 
solutions leveraging the strengths of digital download technology on 
behalf of the artists.

	THE FUTURE OF MUSIC encourages the development of innovative 
Internet 		music business models to guard the value of 
musicians' labor and ensure that artists will continue to be paid for 
their compositions and performances despite drastic changes in 
methods of distribution.


	2.  RIAA CONFLICT OF INTEREST  - In one of the most 
frightening developments, the RIAA is attempting to form a business 
called "SoundExchange" to collect and distribute webcasting 
royalties. While there is clearly a need for an organization, the 
Future of Music has no confidence in the RIAA's ability to represent 
the voice of musicians or to collect and distribute artists' 
royalties from the major labels who fund the RIAA. The RIAA is a 
trade organization that is funded by the major record companies - the 
same corporations traditionally known to exploit its musicians.  The 
RIAA simply cannot be trusted to serve two distinct masters - the 
record companies and the artists.

	THE FUTURE OF MUSIC advocates for an impartial and 
accountable organization to guard the value of artists' webcasting 
royalties. By standing in opposition to the RIAA, it gives voice to 
the concerns of musicians who are simply not represented by an 
organization whose core mission is promotion and protection of the 
record industry agenda.

	3.  SDMI (SECURE DIGITAL MUSIC INITIATIVE) - While SDMI 
members bicker and veto proposals based on the personal financial 
interests of their multi-national corporations, consumers are 
presented with narrow, confusing options that alienate them and thus 
do more to promote piracy, which becomes the only viable mode of 
digital transfer for the great majority of the world's existing music.

	THE FUTURE OF MUSIC believes SDMI is a perfect example of 
what happens when industry attempts to legislate technological 
advances without the crucial input of independent musicians and 
programmers.

********************************************************************************

THE FUTURE OF MUSIC POLICY SUMMIT

Help create the Future of Music!

The Future of Music Coalition is hosting their inaugural Policy 
Summit Conference on January 10 & 11, 2001 at Georgetown University 
in Washington D.C. Featuring Orrin Hatch, Chuck D, Kristen Hirsch, 
Dave Allen (formerly of Gang of Four/now of Intel) and a few hundred 
other musicians attending (and performing), leading technologists 
(like Vorbis's C. Monty Montgomery), legal thinkers (like Jay Cooper 
and Fred Von Loehman), academic luminaries (like Columbia's Eben 
Moglen, Berkeley's Pamela Samuelson, and Harvard's William Terry 
Fisher), music industry leaders like Ted Cohen, Chris Amenita, and 
Michael Greene, and the legislators themselves, this is will likely 
be the most influential meeting on behalf of the artists for quite 
some time. People from across the country will come together to 
advocate on behalf of artists and to educate lawmakers (and each 
other) about technology, copyright, and the future of music. Limited 
seats are still available, including a few more artists scholarships, 
press passes, and student discounted tickets.

Hope to see you there.

http://www.futureofmusic.org

http://www.futureofmusic.org/images/FMCtrifold.pdf



-- 

Brian Zisk

http://www.futureofmusic.org




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