Who Owns Music?

Panel Discussion / Reception

PROJECT ARTS CENTRE
Wednesday 23/4/25, 6pm
Duration: 60 mins
Admission: free, booking advised

Discussion on Ownership of Music Material and Communities

Each year at Music Current Festival we invite music audiences and the wider public to engage in debates and discussions concerning how music making is affected by technology, social changes and the political environment.

In contemporary media the ubiquity of digital technology is matched by the increasing concentration of communications resources in the hands of a trans-national corporate complex. The trend raises profound concerns in many fields, especially concerning the direct ownership of the means of communications. For musicians and audiences, this impinges on the idea of ownership in many ways, whether that is ownership of copyright, ownership of means of production or distribution, ownership of musical material from the composer’s perspective, a sense of ownership from the listener’s perspective, or a sense of ownership within a community of listeners.

Here, four composers, academics, researchers and music industry professionals share insights into their personal experience of how technology impinges on their ownership of their own material, practice and communities.

PANELISTS
Thilo Ruck (DE), festival musician
Max Marcoll (DE), festival composer
Breffni Banks (IRL), IMRO
Laetitia Deering (IRL), DIY Arts Facilitator

The discussion is open and accessible to public participation, and contributions are welcome from the audience. The discussion will be followed immediately by the Festival Launch Event at Project Arts Centre Bar. Attendees are invited to join us for refreshments and the festival reception at 7pm.

This event is hosted in collaboration with the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland's archive and resource centre for new music. The discussion is moderated by Jonathan Grimes (CMC Head of Content) and will be recorded for the Contemporary Music Centre's 'amplify' podcast (see cmc.ie/amplify). The event is free to attend, but booking is advised.