ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some further views on future challenges related to the popular music policy. The chapter assesses five key areas of future debate: digital landscapes of distribution and consumption; intellectual property; 'music city' policy; funding models; and how popular music policy is articulated as cultural policy. It is clear that digital listening is increasingly mobile, evident in the mobile phone as the central medium of choice for accessing recorded music. The dominant concern in music policy has concentrated on political reactions to demands from recording companies and other content providers to call for a shoring up of existing copyright regimes. It is certain that international treaties will continue to erode nation-states' ability to plough their own furrow on intellectual property matters. Although popular music has been included in 'high-tech' programs and funding to encourage start-up ventures, nations continue to play at the edges of substantial media policy.
