Pitchfork

If you're an indie musician, supporting yourself is standard operating procedure. But while some methods of self-support are taken for granted, others are almost ignored entirely. Just ask Jenny Toomey, former frontwoman of Tsunami, co-head of the now-defunct Simple Machines label, and Executive Director of the Future of Music Coalition. "Indie bands need to learn how to sell their own CDs at gigs or silkscreen their own t-shirts or sometimes sleep on floors to save money. [Those] things are just givens in the DIY scene. Getting your own health insurance should be one of those things," Toomey said in a recent interview with Pitchfork.

In order to accomplish this, the FMC has launched HINT, the Health Insurance Navigation Tool. Funded by a grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the HINT program offers free, confidential thirty-minute phone consultations in which the ins and outs of insurance are explained to musicians in order to help them find the resources that will best meet their needs. It is the FMC's hope that these consultations will demystify the process of obtaining affordable health insurance and assist in identifying organizations aimed specifically at helping musicians.

HINT has been around for "about a year," but Toomey said the FMC is pushing the program now because "I just don't think it's getting enough usage. We initially believed this was something that, 'If you build it, they will come.' But I think there's a lot of shame and a lot of denial in the music community about [getting health insurance]. A lot of musicians are young, so they deny. If you can convince yourself that you don't need to spend another hundred dollars a month to protect yourself from financial ruin, you'll do that."

According to a 2001 FMC survey of 2700 musicians, the issues people had with obtaining health insurance were threefold: "One, it was seen to be a luxury. When they don't have a steady income-- which a lot of musicians don't-- they really don't want to take on another monthly expense. The second reason that artists tend to do it is because of thinking they're invincible. And we can't really do anything about both of those things. But one thing we can do is offer expertise to artists who are confused... This is just about explaining the principles behind insurance, and seeing it as what it is, which is essential protection against bankruptcy, or the bankruptcy of your friends and family.

"You think you can't meet your car payment until you have a car and you need to make your car payment and you figure out how to do it. [Once you] realize that it's not a luxury, that it's essential, then [you] budget to pay for it... I think people who have solved it for themselves take great pride in that. I've heard Ian [MacKaye] say that he's much more proud that he employs and gives health insurance [to people] than that he puts certain records out."

All of this is part of the FMC's goal to "build the structures to allow for a musicians' middle class," which will allow musicians to keep making music for longer than they would otherwise. "I think that musicians get better," Toomey said. "I think that musicians have more to say, understand more about the world, understand more about art, the longer they make music. And if what we're saying is you can only afford to do it when you're dumb and young, then it's really [going to] impact the kind of music people are going to make in this country... There are tremendous benefits to being an artist. If you're a touring musician, you get to see the country. You meet the most wonderful people. There are tremendous, wonderful, joyful things associated with making the choice to be a musician, and if there weren't, people wouldn't do it. But there are challenges too. And one of the challenges is you're not going to get health insurance. Unless you get yourself health insurance."

To schedule a free phone consultation, visit www.futureofmusic.org/hint/appointment.cfm. To read in-depth articles, see the results of the 2001 survey, and learn more about HINT, visit the program's website, www.futureofmusic.org/hint.

Finally, the FMC's Sixth Annual Future of Music Policy Summit will be held October 5-7 at Montreal's McGill University in association with Pop Montreal. According to the summit's website, its three days of panels will cover topics from "the state of the Canadian music industry" and "digital rights management" to "emerging technologies and business models for the music community" and "the effect of government support for the arts on musicians, songwriters, and composers." Confirmed panelists include Toomey herself, David Byrne, Nick Diamonds (Islands), Mac McCaughan (Merge Records), Jeff Remedios (Arts & Crafts Records), and Pitchfork's own Ryan Schreiber and Chris Dahlen.