Who Will Pay the Piper -- Gerald Seligman

February 18, 2010 by jmukai

Who Will Pay the Piper: The Threat to Diversity in the Face of 'Free' Downloads
A talk by Gerald Seligman
701C Dodge Hall
February 23, 5:30 pm

As music distribution moved online and technologies allowed the free exchange of music -- whether the artists themselves agreed or not -- the bottom fell out of a funding structure that had kept the music industry alive. That industry is not just the major corporations with dubious reputations but also any artist or honest investor in music who has funded a career -- his/her own or another's.  There is no such thing a free download. Supporting music costs money, and the remarkable strides we have all seen in recent years in introducing more artists from more cultures than every before in history cannot be sustained without the possibility of a return on sales, without funding. This lecture and discussion will present a growing consensus on where the industry is, what it thinks it must do and the many obstacles in achieving the goal or reconnecting artists (and investors) with income for recorded music.

Gerald Seligman is an international music industry professional with over 25years of experience in both major and independent companies. He was, until recently, General Director of WOMEX, the World Music Expo with a keen interest and involvement in developmental issues and is an advisor for UNESCO, The European Commission and events and companies throughout the world. Complementing his professional work, Gerald is on non-profit boards and was co-founder and the first chairman of Freemuse, the human rights organization based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He founded and ran EMI Hemisphere, the company's premier world music label and has produced or compiled over 100 releases and gained a Grammy nomination.

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