Radio Berkman: The 42 Streams (Rethinking Music X)

I have just listened to a recent broadcast from Berkman Radio between Assistant Director of Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, and lecturer at Harvard Law School Chris Bavitz and Kristin Thomson from the Future of Music Coalition. Kristen is a community organizer, social policy researcher, entrepreneur and musician and a consultant at the Future of Music Coalition. FMC recently released the results of its Artist Revenue Streams project. This project sought to examine how musicians today earn money. They consulted over eighty composers and performers, undertook a dozen financial case studies, and released the results of an online survey undertaken by around 5,300 musicians. FMC identified 42 distinct revenue streams. FMC seeks to advocate for artists as their needs and views arent commonly addressed by other institutions in the music industry. The central questions of this project were 'how is the earning capacity of artists changing? and why?' Interestingly half the respondents went to a music school and those that are educated make more money compared to non educated musicians. Technology has made a huge difference to musicians but it is seen as a double edged sword - it enables and democratises but also leads to a loss of control when it comes to distribution and creates a lot more work and takes up a lot of time. Piracy was seen as a disappointment and really upsetting but there is not a lot they can do about it. Take a listen to the interview here.

Further Information

Radio Berkman, RB 201: The 42 Streams (Rethinking Music X) (3 May 2012) < http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/podcasts/radioberkman201 > at 14 May 2012

Future of Music Coalition, Artist Revenue Streams Project (2012) < http://futureofmusic.org/tags/artist-revenue-streams-project > at 14 May 2012