Each week, Playlist 7 sponsored by ReverbNation and Windows 7 will allow listeners to stream 50 songs by independent artists.

Featured genres include  alternative, electronica/dance, hip hop, jazz, Latin, and rock. Then, listeners can select 7 of the 50 songs for free download. Featured artists and songs will change each week that Playlist 7 continues. Tracks from artists featured the previous week will be available for a limited time in the audio library.

In addition to Playlist 7, music is always available to stream from ReverbNation, including tracks from several North Carolina artists.

Sunday, October 4th kicks off the first day of the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit in Washington, DC and WKNC will be there.  Mike Perros, better known as Mikey P,  and myself, Kelly Reid, known on air as Mz. Kelly, will be attending the Policy Summit, in search of the future.

Pun aside, there is relevance—the music industry has been going through a serious transformation as technology changes the way music is heard, enjoyed, received, bought, and participated in.  Right now there is a big gap between the fast paced advancement of technology and the transformation of the laws that direct the way the technology is used with respect to music and its listeners.  Technology advances with lightning speed but the law, and how it is interpreted in the courts, moves with a much, much slower pace.  There lies the need for The Future of Music Coalition, an organization that participates in the intersection of music and law, serving to inform and through information, provide a bridge to the gap of music and law.

Why does any of this matter?  Well because it affects music in so many ways:  the way musicians are represented, the way they are payed for their music, the way radio stations like WKNC operate, how music is heard in restaurants or at live shows, it even affects the ability to get a full list of search results when one uses Google.

For ones like Mikey P and myself, deeply in love with music and not quite sure of the future of the music industry, the 2009 Policy Summit is an opportunity to hear many important and experienced individuals give their take on what’s happening now and what the forecast for the future is.

Featured speakers include Democratic Senator of Minnesota, Al Franken, and FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski. And of course, the Triangle is strongly represented featuring Jed Carlson, COO of ReverbNation, Mac McCaughan, co-founder of Merge Records and musician in Portastatic and Superchunk, as well as Fiona Morgan, journalist for the Independent.

To follow the trek to, through, and back from the Policy Summit you can follow Kellyisthere on Twitter.

Want easy access to your favorite local bands? Do you want free downloads of your favorite songs? Did you know all this is in the palm of your hand?

ReverbNation is a new company based out of Durham is allowing you, the listener, easy access to information and tunes from your local favorites.

Tracks from bands frequently played on WKNC such as A Rooster for the Masses, Bombadil, Hammer No More the Fingers, The Future Kings of Nowhere, I Was Totally Destroying It, and others are available through ReverbNation.

If you like what you hear from these bands on ReverbNation, don’t forget to check out the Local Lunch, Monday through Friday from noon to 1 p.m., only on the Revolution.

With the RIAA hacking away at illegal downloaders, musicians enduring the great-unknown future of the music industry, and everyone feeling the effects of a struggling economy, creative ideas for survival are needed.  In an attempt to provide solutions to changing times, local company ReverbNation has paired with Microsoft Windows to provide an answer, and it’s called “Sponsored Songs.”

The idea is simple.  Fans get free legal downloads of songs from a surplus of bands.  Bands are paid money for every unique download of their song.  The sponsor’s brand image, or advertisement, is embedded with the song’s cover art so that it travels from listener to listener.  Each download equates to fifty cents so if you can’t go to a music show you can always support by downloading. If the program is successful it could include other sponsors in the future— anyone thinking possible Outback Steakhouse Sponsored Songs, presented by Of Montreal?

Hammer No More The Fingers

ReverbNation has provided the platform for the program.  Many local artists are included in the launch of the program (check out Jake Seaton’s list here), including WKNC favorite, Hammer No More The Fingers, who were included in the official press release.  Joe Hall, of HNMTF, said, “We’re always looking for ways to reach new fans, and the team at ReverbNation is always working hard on new and creative ways to help Artists like us succeed.  With Microsoft’s participation in the Sponsored Songs program, Artists earn money for their hard work and fans get free music.”

For all the bands available for download, check out http://www.reverbnation.com/windows.

And for the weekly featured downloads, check out Windows on MySpace.