Folk Alliance International Hosts Conference, Releases White Paper on Copyright & Royalties

Folk Alliance International (FAI) has released a white paper entitled Understanding Copyright, Royalties and Practical Applications in Folk Music. Prepared by the FAI board of directors’ advocacy committee and staff, and aimed at helping to foster understanding of this complex issue among the nonprofit organization’s membership, the paper will be presented on Friday, February 20, during the 27th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.

Mary Sue Twohy (SiriusXM), chair of FAI’s advocacy committee, will moderate a panel discussion on copyright and royalties at the Westin Crown Center. Panelists include Michelle Conceison (Market Monkeys), Renee Bodie (Levitt Pavillions), David Hirshland (BMG Chrysalis), Dan Navarro (artist) and Tom Neff (Grassy Hill).

Aengus Finnan, FAI’s executive director, says the white paper “finally provides the clarity, guidance and comprehensive information critical for all musicians and does so in an accessible way.” He points to it as part of FAI’s ongoing “commitment to membership advocacy through education.” Echoing Finnan’s sentiments, Conceison – an artist manager, professor of Music Industry at Boston’s Northeastern University, and vice president of FAI’s board – notes: “We set out to create a central resource of practical information regarding copyright and royalties to explain how the system works.” Acknowledging that U.S. lawmakers and federal agencies in Washington, D.C. are reviewing U.S. Copyright Law and royalties, she adds: “This is the time to ensure our folk community is fully informed. We believe the foundation of advocacy is education.”

[During the 57th Grammy Awards telecast on Feb. 8, The Recording Academy announced the formation of a GRAMMY Creators Alliance to advocate on behalf of artists and songwriters for policies that provide for fair pay for all music creators across all platforms, while The Content Creators Coalition (c3), a membership-based, artist-run nonprofit advocacy group was launched in 2012 to press for economic justice in the digital domain and help ensure that current and future creators retain the rights needed to create and benefit from the use of their work.]

Besides issuing its white paper, FAI will further explore royalty and copyright issues during its conference, set for Feb. 18-22, with a keynote speech by David Israelite as part of its conference speakers series. Israelite is president and CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association, a trade organization representing American publishers and their songwriting partners. He will be speaking on Friday afternoon.

The FAI white paper can be viewed online at www.folkalliance.org/copyright, while the full schedule of conference panels appears at www.folk.org/schedule.

FAI is a Kansas City-based nonprofit organization that aims to nurture, engage and empower the international folk music community – traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional – through education, advocacy and performance.

Winter Music Camp and Music Fair Also Slated

Although Kansas City, Missouri may be better known for jazz, blues, barbecue chefs, football Chiefs and Baseball’s Royals, more than 3,000 people are expected to converge on this mid-western U.S. metropolis for the International Folk Alliance Conference and a Winter Music Camp and Music Fair that will run concurrently with it. The conference, which moved to Kansas City last year, attracts artists, presenters, managers, agents, and promoters, folk DJs and others engaged in folk music broadly speaking from throughout the U.S. Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. They come for the networking, professional development, a large exhibit hall, regional and peer group meetings, and hundreds of artist showcases. The international Folk Alliance Conference is ranked among the five largest music conferences in North America.

This year’s featured speakers, in addition to Israelite, include Commander Chris Hadfield (an astronaut and folksinger), two-time Grammy Award-winner Rita Coolidge, Dave Carroll (a singer and flyers’ rights advocate), and folk music legend Sylvia Tyson. Among a large array of workshops and panel discussions will be a Wisdom of the Elders session featuring veteran singer-songwriters Tom Paxton (who is celebrating his 50th year as a touring artist) and Peggy Seeger (who also will receive one of FAI’s three 2015 Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards).

Four evenings of artist performances — including special feature shows, 200 juried music showcases and hundreds of private in-room showcases that extend late into the night and early morning hours. Some daytime private in-room showcases also are scheduled throughout the weekend, as well as jam sessions and extended song circles.

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural Winter Music Camp, held concurrently at the adjoining Sheraton Crown Center, featuring instruction geared toward all styles and levels of roots music and songwriting, FAI launches its first Music Fair (www.folkalliance.org/music-fair) this year. The Music Fair and Winter Music Camp will extend for four days and nights and will feature 99 artists, more than 100 workshops, jam sessions, film screenings, a public trade show and an art gallery. Among the instructors and performing artists are Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Sam Baker, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jimmy LaFave, David Amram, Red Molly, Howard Iceberg, Betse Ellis, Bob Walkenhorst & Jeff Porter, The HillBenders present TOMMY: A Bluegrass Opry, The Elders, Alan Munde, Byron Berline, Roland White, James Hill, Pops Bayless, Redd Volkaert, Bill Kirchen, Jeff Planenhorn, Chad Graves, and Ken Perlman. Tickets priced at $25 per day/night are available to the public and may be purchased in advance online at www.faimusicfair.eventbrite.com.

Also slated is a special Saturday morning Music Fair Kids’ Show (featuring Trout Fishing in America, Dan Bern, Chad Elliott, Kim Rausch and more) and a Kids’ Music Camp on Friday-Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Editor’s Note: An elected member of FAI’s board of directors, I will be moderating a panel discussion and doing some mentoring and showcase emceeing during the conference.