Coalition of Independent Music (The Future of Music) - Is This the Answer for the Indie Artist?

Interview with Justin Jouvenal - Communications Director

Most independent artists struggle with getting exposure like radio airplay, mass distrrbution, etc.  And unless they are signed to a big label, rarely do the masses hear about them at all.  Sure, with MySpace and CD Baby and the plethora of digital distributors like iTUNES, the playing field hasn't capsized, and these musicians do have their small fan base.  But will the playing field for Indie artists ever rival that of the signed artist on a major label?  Will the Madonnas and Beyonces of the independent world ever reach the fame they so justly deserve?  

Annie De Franco and Prince are the only independents that come to mind.   They are the rare few who have superceded the norm.  De Franco burst onto the music scene and exemplified nonconformity; Prince used to be with a major label and is now an Indie artist.  They both sell a lot of CDs and concert tickets—not the norm for the Indie artist.  So, it was very refreshing to speak with a representative (Justin Jouvenal) from a foundation (The Future of Music) that is interested in helping those "underdogs" of music.  

How did the Coalition of Independent Music / Future of Music get started?

The future of music was started seven years ago by Jenny Toomey (executive director), and Michael Bracy (policy director).  Jenny Toomey ran a record label back in the 90s, called Cold Machine records, which was based in Washington, D.C.  They produced many of the Indie rock bands in the area, and she came out of that experience, wanting to tackle issues that affected independent musicians and local artists.  She got together with Michael Bracy and Kristin Thomson (deputy executive director).  She also ran Cold Machine in 2000, and they decided to form the Future of Music Coalition to focus on music, technology, and policy issues, things catering to the interest of independent musicians.  There wasn't really a voice out there that represented independent musicians on policies and technology issues, so they sort of wanted to step up, and the Future of Music Coalition became that.

What year was this?

This was in 2000, when the group was actually formed.

They wanted to focus on some issues that the independent musician goes through?  What are some of those issues?            

Radio consolidation is a big issue for independent artists.  For many years, independent artists have been virtually banned from the air waves.  Unless you are a hugely successful band signed to a major label with a lot of financial backing, it's really hard to get play on the air waves.  So one of the major issues worked on was payola—one of the reasons that you don't hear a lot of independent artist on the air.  

Explain what "payola" is?

Record labels paying radio stations to play their music.  We were instrumental... and the FCC investigation of Clear Channel, as well as a number of other big broadcasters over the last several years...  This culminated in a settlement earlier this year.  Clear Channel and the other broadcasters agreed to play more independent music and put in place some rules that would basically end payola.

Yes, that was a big deal.

Yeah, that was one of our major issues.  You know, we also worked on getting to interact with [the radio stations]—that is one of our major campaigns right now.  Other than that, it's musicians and record labels coming together to support net neutrality.

I am not familiar with net neutrality.

What's great is that the Internet is an open entryway. Anyone could just log on, and if you're a small band, you could post your songs.  If you're a small record label, you could post your band's albums.  The big telecoms want to change the way the Internet is structured.  They set up what we call a "fast lane" on the Internet, and they want to charge website concept providers to have their website downloaded faster.  So if you are able to afford these fees, you will have a website that downloads fast.  If you're not able to afford these fees, then there is a fear that they're going to be so high that independent musicians and independent labels and music download services like CD Baby won't be able to afford the fees.  These record labels and bands will be relegated to the slow lane on the Internet.  The major labels and services like iTUNES would join faster speeds.  This is a big fight that is going on right now.  Supporters of net neutrality are really across the board for groups like moveon.org, and as far to the right as the Christian Coalition.  There are a lot of groups that are really worried about that.  So far, the campaign launched in May, and we've had 511 bands sign up, 143 record labels, and hundreds and hundreds of fans have agreed to be part of the coalition.  

As part of the coalition, are there petitions, or are they just speaking out and boycotting?

Well, right now we do have a petition that people can sign.  We're pushing the FCC to enact rules making net neutrality the rule of the Internet.  We're also pushing Congress to enact Legislation.  We have a website which is our main organizing tool:  futureofmusic.org/rockthenet.  This is where bands can sign up.  One of the interesting features allows them to sign up for the campaign, and when they play a show, there is a map on the homepage where bands could list their shows.  So if you look at it, there's a picture of the United States and hundreds of push pins [in the map] where supporters of net neutrality are playing shows all across the country.  Some of our founding supporters are REM, Pearl Jam, Death Cap for Cutie, Sarah Laughton, The Donnas, and the Kronos Quartet.  We have artists that come from a wide spectrum and the music industry supporting our campaign.

I guess the desired effect is to just speak out to the point where it would stop whoever's in charge.  And who specifically is in charge of trying to do away with net neutrality anyway?

It's the big telecom companies:  Verizon. Comcast, etc.  They've been talking about this for a long time, and they see a big payday there if they act as traffic cops.  All they really do right now is deliver the Internet to your house.  They are basically in charge of setting up all the pipes through which all the Internet content streams to various people.  They realized that they could make a lot of money if they set themselves up as the traffic cops of the Internet.  They would control how people access a website.  They could charge websites and set up a toll booth that controls how people access websites; and by creating this whole move, they could charge websites for faster download speeds.

What's so great about the Internet is that it is open, democratic, and anyone could log on, from the smallest blogger to the hugest media empire like FOX, and post their content and have anyone across the Internet access that content equally fast.  That is the great principle of the Internet—one of the greatest democratic (creative) institutions going.

I see what some of your immediate goals are, like payola and Clear Channel, that is huge, and net neutrality needs to be preserved; but with indie musicians, do you think that at some point the playing field will ever be level?

That is our hope.  That is the work that we engage in everyday.  We had some great successes like the payola settlement, which we won.  We feel like the music Industry plan towards the biggest players were chipping away at that.  If we keep working at it, we could definitely welcome the playing fields for indie musicians, smaller artists, and local artists.  I guess it is a question of time and effort before we make these changes.  Basically, what I want to do is make the music industry more equitable for indie artists.  We want them to be able to afford a middle class living.  We want indie artists to pay a mortgage on a house, to be able to get health insurance.  It's putting in place the structures that will allow indie artists to survive ... and arrive.

With the coalition do you have special advice or tips for indie artists, on how they could get their music played on the radio stations?

It is still in the early stages, but Clear Channel and several of the other major broadcasters have agreed to play 4200 hours of independent and local music.  Right now, the broadcasters are in the process of setting up a process that would allow the artists to submit their music for airplay. Right now that process is just getting off the ground.  Check back on a couple months or so.

How does the organization get their funding?  Is it mostly through donations?

We get funding mostly through grants from the foundation.  We get a small number of donations each year from individuals and musicians.

I am actually an indie musician, so for me, it's of huge interest.  This is great news, and I know you guys have been around for a few years, but I don't think that the average indie musician really knows about it yet.

Yeah, well that is the struggle we have with our organization—just getting the word out is difficult.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

One of the other major programs that we have right now is called HINT (Health Insurance Navigation Tool).  We conducted a survey in 2001of hundreds of musicians and asked how many of them had health insurance?"  Nearly half of the musicians we surveyed didn't have any health insurance. So we built this program where musicians call in and set up an appointment to talk to musicians who are health insurance specialists and give them advice on how to get health insurance, and what kind of policy would be best for them. We don't sell any kind of health insurance.  It's strictly funded through grants.  We could help artists get to the point where they find health insurance; and it is a really tricky subject, and not many people really understand the ins and outs of it:  futureofmusic.org/hint.  

For more information about Future of Music, visit their website: www.futureofmusic.com.  

Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples

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