Last fall I wrote “an immodest proposal” that independent and community stations should work more closely with independent musicians. With that in mind I was pleased to listen to the first episode of a new series from XRAY.fm in Portland, called “The Future of What?” focusing on the business of music.
The show is hosted by Portia Sabin, president of the independent Kill Rock Stars record label, who explores some important issues facing working musicians today. She discusses performance royalties from satellite, internet and terrestrial radio with Hutch Harris of indie rock band The Thermals, legal journalist Emily Green, Michael Huppe of Sound Exchange and Daryl Friedman of the Recording Academy. Dual Tone records head Scott Robinson joins to talk about what exactly a record label does for artists, and then Hutch Harris returns to share what it’s like being an actual touring band.
This show is a great resource for radio folks to get some insight into why musicians’ groups are lobbying for terrestrial radio to pay performance royalties, and also get a little reminder about how most musicians work very hard for what income they are able to make. I’m looking forward to hearing future installments.
