Guitar Hero and Rock Band will be among the topics covered at this year’s “Music Law Conference 2.0: Out of Beta.”
The conference and panel discussion is scheduled for Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom in the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida.
Keynote speaker Josh Greenberg, co-founder of Grooveshark, an online music streaming service, will address music’s legal issues, including licensing and file sharing in his presentation “Digital Music: Law and Technology,” according to a press release from the college of law’s Web site.
Admission is $75 for attorneys, $30 for bands and free to UF students.
Last year, about 150 people came to the conference. 75 have already pre-registered online, but she said she expects more to come.
After the conference, an after party will be held at 9 p.m. Common Grounds, a music venue, where local bands Boss Lady and the Company, Dinger Does It, Stevie D and The No Shows and Hoyt and the Hotheads will play, according to www.gainesvillebands.com.
Admission is $6 in advance, $8 at the door. Stephanie Falcon, a second year law student at UF and vice president of the law conference, said she hopes attorneys, musicians and law students will come away from the conference more informed about the changing music industry.
“If you know what the laws are, you know how to protect yourself from illegal infringement,” Falcon said.
Var Thelin, founder of No Idea Records and a member of the conference’s panel, said he plans to push his stance on the music industry’s decline.
He already has a question for the audience: How may people in this room have purchased an actual CD in a physical store this year?
“I can expect that nobody will raise their hand.” he said.
He said he was impressed with the solidarity of ideas at last year’s conference. A trait, he said, is key to success in the changing industry.
“If people can agree that the music industry is already deceased,” he said, “they have some chance of eking out a living in what that has become or will become.”
