Started in 2000, The Future of Music Coalition's founders were Policy Director Michael Bracy, General Council Walter F. McDonough, Executive Director Toomey, and Technologies Director Brian Zisk.

Today, the Future of Music Coalition’s mission statement is "a national non-profit education, research and advocacy organization that identifies, examines, interprets and translates the challenging issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy. FMC achieves this through continuous interaction with its primary constituency – musicians – and in collaboration with other creator/citizen groups."

Among the issues that the coalition has focused on are music licensing, payola, low-power radio, health insurance for musicians, network neutrality, record label contracts, Internet radio licensing, and many other topics that are key to the current and future era of music-making for both independent and rising musicians.

The Future of Music Coalition is also pretty vital in an age where change is constant and the big companies have plenty of lawyers to push their agenda and financial needs. The organization is able to translate when and where policy is being made for independent musicians to help them and all the various people working in the independent music ecosystem.

I sat down with Toomey to talk about a handful of things that the organization is working on as a bit of taste of what they do. The interview is interesting for both for musicians and music fans who want to help change the way the music business works. There is a lot more to dig into and learn at their site.

I attended the Future of Music’s summit last fall in Montreal and thought it was a great two days of exchanging ideas and checking on the state of the ever-changing world of music. I came away from it really seeing how the organization is helping create a middle-class of musicians, somewhere between the mega-rich pop stars that we all know and love and the starving-artist musician that is also familiar to us all. I know that as a musician back in the 80s and 90s, I did not always think that there was an in-between, but today, thanks to the Internet and organizations like The Future of Music Coalition, the idea of a middle class of musicians has become a reality and continues to grow.

The organization’s seventh policy summit takes place in Washington D.C. on September 17-18, 2007 (and I’ll be at the summit this year, so drop me a line at charlie@wellroundedradio.net if you are attending). The summit includes a mix of industry professionals, public policy experts, and musicians with a mix of panels and parties to help educate attendees and work toward reaching collaboration. Audio podcasts of many of the panels are available online after the show. For more information, visit their event site.

You can also sign up for the Future of Music Coalition’s monthly e-mail list to keep you in the loop on progress, changes, and what you can do to help influence all these changes.

Toomey also continues to make music these days and I’ve included part of one of her songs, from her double CD Antidote, up next. The remainder of the show features independent musicians from around the world who have submitted their music to me and you can find links to all of them below.

I met with Toomey at their offices in Washington D.C. in mid July to discuss…
* what circumstances and events occurred that made her want to form such an organization
* some insight into how the music industry is changing, from the perspective of label executives, indie musicians, and the old music industry guard
* what both musicians and music fans can do to help influence the actual future of music

Music highlighted in the show includes:
1) Yoko K.: Blues of Grande Chai (012906) (in preview)
2) Jenny Toomey: Fool for You (Antidote)
3) J.E. Borgen: Bring You Back (The General Store)
4) Pro and Reg: Maybe (EP)
5) Laughing Stock: Never Met a Missionary (Who Wasn't Right) (Fading Scars)
6) Kellylee Evans: Lead Me Closer (Fight or Flight?)
7) Wedlock: Unsatisfied (Matrimoney The EP)
8) Daria: Under the Moon and Over the Sky (Feel the Rhythm)
9) Explosion: Runaway Success (For Sale)
10) The Dave Kain Group: Trickery (Citizen Kain
11) Jeff Phillips: Bird That Will Not Fly (Handful of Grimmes)
12) H'Atina: Compare
13) Ronnda Cadle: Columbus Returns (The River Runs)
14) Bob Harp: Somewhere (Good Misery)
15) Matthew Pop: Promise (The Great Demise)

Well-Rounded Radio recommends The Covers Project.

And if you enjoy this episode, give a listen to other interviews I've done with music industry thought-leaders, including Brent Bell of PDX Pop Now!, Panos Panay of Sonicbids, Tim Westergren of Pandora, Brad Powell of Calabash Music, Nicholas Reville of Downhill Battle, and Dave Kusek, co-author of "The Future of Music" book.