Originally published on January 19, 2007
Jenny Toomey

From playing in a punk band to launching an indie
label, Future of Music Coalition founder has always taken a stance

Originally a composer and musician, Jenny Toomey’s fascination with technology lead to her realization of the power it could provide her fellow musicians. That educational journey, coupled with her work organizing musicians to support specific causes, lead Toomey to found the Future of Music Coalition. Established in 2000, the coalition’s purpose is to help artists, tech companies and other parties navigate in the unfolding technological revolution.

Beginning your career: “I’m a Washingtonian, went to Georgetown and was part of the early D.C. punk rock scene. I started a record label with Kristin Thomson called Simple Machines and was in a band called Tsunami. We were very active in giving artists information they needed to retain their copyrights, protect themselves from bad contracts and to support the community—sort of a political record label.
“We put out about 75 releases in seven years but we always ran up against that glass ceiling to get to the next level of radio. It became clear to us when one of our peer bands, Nirvana, crossed over and became a national act. When that happened, the independent music community changed a lot.”

Liner Notes
Profile:
Jenny Toomey
Title:
Future of Music Coalition executive director
Favorite radio format: “It’s a specific show called ‘Mr. Fine Wine’ on WFMU/Jersey City, N.J.”
Favorite TV show: “I have too many. TiVo has been the downfall of me. ‘The Wire’ was probably the thing I was most obsessed with last year.”
Favorite song:
“Carnival Time” by Al “Carnival Time” Johnson
Favorite movie:
“Magnolia”
Favorite book:
“Underworld” by Don DeLillo
Favorite restaurant:
“Al Crostino on U Street and 14th in Washington, D.C.”
Beverage of choice:
Appleton Rum
Hobbies:
“I knit. I tend to my two oversized poodles and, sadly, the Future of Music has gone so well that music’s become a bit of a hobby. I don’t play guitar near enough. I haven’t released a record in four years.”
email address:
jenny@jennytoomey.com

Founding the Future of Music Coalition: “The largest artists at the independent labels had either signed major label deals or the indie labels signed partnership deals with the majors. We had set up the label to be an alternative to those labels and so we decided to close. My partner Kristin got a master’s degree in public policy and I went to work at The Washington Post. They had asked me to review an MP3 jukebox and I saw exactly how the existing music model was going to change dramatically. I took three months off, leading to the formation of the organization.”

Mission of the organization: “We realized we needed to take a stance, do research and organize. We wrote a manifesto about issues we were concerned about and put it on the Web, and in a couple of weeks, thousands of people signed it. We then realized there is a constituency that agrees with what we are trying to do.
“We work on issues that would allow for there to be a musicians’ middle class and we talk about that in three areas: meeting your mortgage payment, so we work on contract reform and payment structures; having health insurance; and developing an audience. The work we do on issues like radio consolidation or net neutrality are focused on making sure there is a fair playing field for artists to develop and maintain an audience.”

Biggest challenge: “We’re a smaller under-sourced organization so it’s hard to compete with organizations that have millions of dollars to get their message out.”

State of the music industry: “I’m really excited about it. When I first put that CD into the computer drive and saw how quickly you could turn it into an MP3 and attach it to an e-mail and send it to somebody, I knew everything would change. There was that feeling of terror and opportunity—of seamless connection between fan and artists; this frictionless ability that if you have a good song, you can connect to an unlimited audience without having to have intermediaries help you. I’m seeing friends managing artists whose careers now afford sales of 300,000 units. I do see that piracy has hurt some artists and we never discount the negative impact, but I love that people can poke around on the Web, hear music and become fans immediately in a way they never could have before.”

State of the radio industry: “I have spent the last six years documenting the destructive impact of radio consolidation on both localism and diversity. Radio is in sad shape because it turned away from that local connection. That said, I’m optimistic about HD if there is a commitment to trying to rebuild the local relationship between artists, citizens and radio stations. I’m optimistic about low-power radio and what’s going on with the emerging full-power noncommercial radio license window. Radio still has a place.”

Career highlight: “Our first conference, because we came out of nowhere. We had absolutely no resources, we had quit our jobs and were living on nothing. This is one of the benefits of having run an independent record label, because you learn how to live on nothing for quite awhile.”

Career disappointment: “There are a lot of challenges running a nonprofit and you learn by making mistakes.”

Advice to the music industry: “The people who offer artists the best deals will be the ones rewarded. In the old days, contracts were negotiated alone in a small room with three people who needed to get the deal done. Today, a lot of deals are being made public so the people who put the needs of the artists first are going to be the ones that make it through to the next business model.”

Advice to the radio industry: “Recommit yourselves to the power of localism.”

‘I’m optimistic about HD if there is a commitment to trying to rebuild the local relationship between artists, citizens and radio stations.’ —Jenny Toomey