Issue 8: Music Industry
Ryan Lott || Composer, Son Lux
The inundation of corporate influence and pro-big-business policies have led to the dismantling of the music industry. This isn’t a revelation. With corporate interests at the heart of the music industry, artistic integrity is the first to go, as profits drive content and nudge indigenous DJs and program directors off the air. In fact, it’s been years since non-commercial Low Power FM radio stations in urban markets could get licenses from the FCC to operate.
The Future of Music Coalition - http://futureofmusic.org - issued this statement recently:
“We hope the Obama administration will rethink how policy relates to the arts, moving beyond a politics driven by broadcast, telecommunications and entertainment conglomerates in favor of a more holistic approach that prioritizes the sustainability of local creative communities and artists.”
The FMC has some reason to hope. For example, the new administration is supposedly going to name a “copyright czar”. But many music industry folks suspect that The FMC’s wishes, including fair compensation for musicians, an end to payola, and more, may not come true anytime soon. While I believe a sea change is possible over the next four to eight years with Obama at the helm, there are way too many things that will take priority over music industry reform, especially considering the gravity and proportion of its problems. The music industry’s ailments are about as long-coming and pervasive as those faced by the auto industry. And with a growing “economic crisis” and two wars affecting every area of commerce and culture, music industry reform — and the arts in general for that matter — will be the first to go. That’s how it always happens, of course. But maybe, just maybe, “change has come.” Call me a skeptic, but probably not that much change.
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