Earlier this week the Future of Music Coalition (FOM) hosted their 2009 Future of Music Policy Summit. The three-day conference was held on the Georgetown University campus in Washington DC, and boasted a variety of music-related events, panel discussions, and keynote speeches. Through my internship with the Copyright Alliance, I was fortunate enough to attend the summit and listen in on many of panel discussions on both Monday October 5th, and Tuesday October 6th. As a first-timer to the summit, and an avid music listener with a long-time interest in the industry, I found the experience to be extremely enlightening.

Over the course of just two days at the summit, I was exposed to some of the greatest minds in music, technology, and policy. Panelists and speakers included: Mac McCaughan, co-founder of Merge Records and member of the band Superchunk; Bertis Downs, R.E.M. advisor; Senator Al Franken, former Saturday Night Live actor/comedian and newly elected Senator from the state of Minnesota; Mike Mills, bass player of the band R.E.M.; Julius Genachowski, FCC Chairman; Johanna Shelton, Senior Policy Counsel & Legislative Strategist for Google Inc.; Patrick Ross, Executive Director of the Copyright Alliance; Wayne Kramer, guitarist; among many others.

One of the things that struck me most about my experience at the FOM Policy Summit, was how extremely diverse the panelists and speakers were. It surprised me to see and understand how many stakeholders are actually in the future of the music industry and its successes. Sometimes, as a fan, it is easy to forget how many people actually work towards providing us with the vast array of entertainment we consume on a daily basis. Beyond the musicians and singers, there are also managers, tour operators, sound recording technicians, media and technology specialists, lawyers, writers, elected officials, and many others who directly affect the quality and distribution of the music we live our lives to.

This also got me thinking about the role of copyright in music, something that was discussed quite a bit over the course of the three-day conference. As I looked around Georgetown University’s Gaston Hall, I was able to see clearly how many people have a vested interest in the continuing success of this singular art form. These individual stakeholders are just a small representation of the many US citizens that are members of the copyright industry as a whole. It is no surprise that the internet, and its ability to share just about anything in an instant, is continuing to play an increasingly large role in our lives. As this incredible technology evolves even further, it is important to remember how far the reach of the copyright industries really is, and consequently how essential the protection of copyright is.

The overriding theme of this year’s summit was analyzing how far the music industry has come since the digital music boom almost a decade ago, and discussing the next steps for digital music in the decade to come. As expected, there were some very strong and very varied opinions about how digital music should be made available, and how artists should ultimately make their living. Despite the often heated debates, I thought it was great to see so many intelligent, powerful, and opinionated people in a room together. Conversation, debate, and collaboration are key elements for any sort of development. In a time of such dramatic technological change, I found myself thinking that these discussions were indeed steps forward for the music industry.

I feel lucky to have been able to attend such an interesting and educational conference. I very much look forward to watching the evolution of the music industry in the coming years, and seeing what creative progression in the digital age will look like.

For anyone interested in the music industry and its complicated relationship with technology, I highly recommend keeping an eye out for one of the Future of Music Coalition’s events!

-Chelsea Lee Richardson

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 4:16 pm by Chelsea Richardson and is filed under FCC, culture, events, internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.