I am having a break from this space for the next couple of weeks with academic commitments taking up most of my time. Unless something significant happens this space will be a little quiet.
I'll be back soon.
Sal
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Mimi and Eunice
Available here.
Mimi and Eunice creator Nina Paley is asking for your help. She wants to know what you think are her top 40 IP cartoons to be included in a book - visit her website here for more information.
Monday, May 23, 2011
ABC Law Report: Copyright and the Courts
You can listen to the most recent Law Report from ABC Radio National here.
Last Tuesday the show examined the current disputes in the courts regarding copyright and the internet. Looking at a number of current issues the show covers the Kazaa litigation, the introduction of the parody and satire exceptions within the the Copyright Act, the iiNet case as well as the Men at Work case concerning the song Down Under. Graduated response schemes are also discussed briefly.
Interviews are given by an illegal downloader called David, Sabiene Heindl the General Manager of Music Industry Piracy Investigations, Jock Given a Professor of Media and Communications at Swinburne University, Ross Stevenson broadcaster, lawyer and one of the writers of The Games and Michael Hirsh producer with production company Working Dog and the former executive producer of the Australian television show The Panel (which is no longer on air).
Further Information
The Law Report, Copyright and the Courts (17 May 2011) < http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lawreport/stories/2011/3215116.htm > at 23 May 2011
Last Tuesday the show examined the current disputes in the courts regarding copyright and the internet. Looking at a number of current issues the show covers the Kazaa litigation, the introduction of the parody and satire exceptions within the the Copyright Act, the iiNet case as well as the Men at Work case concerning the song Down Under. Graduated response schemes are also discussed briefly.
Interviews are given by an illegal downloader called David, Sabiene Heindl the General Manager of Music Industry Piracy Investigations, Jock Given a Professor of Media and Communications at Swinburne University, Ross Stevenson broadcaster, lawyer and one of the writers of The Games and Michael Hirsh producer with production company Working Dog and the former executive producer of the Australian television show The Panel (which is no longer on air).
Further Information
The Law Report, Copyright and the Courts (17 May 2011) < http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lawreport/stories/2011/3215116.htm > at 23 May 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Blue King Brown APRA songwriters workshop
Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend a song writing workshop with Blue King Brown - a great Australian political band.
They talked a lot about being self managed and how being in touch with the management side of the business has been part of their success. Looking for management early on when they first formed (2004) led to nothing and instead of waiting around for things to happen they simply went ahead and did it themselves. Having to make difficult decisions between spending money on marketing and covering the costs of playing at a free concert meant they were at the forefront of the bands early success - they chose playing at the free concert confident that their live performance was a bigger attraction than advertising alone. This concert is where they were approached by a booking agent and that person still books the band today.
They stated that they are heavily involved in the aesthetics of the band including all their artwork and video clips leaving very little for others to decide. With a modern world music feel to their songs they state that they are particularly concerned with the lyrical content of their music however when they write they usually write the music first. Natalie then takes the tracks and puts them on an iPod and spends time with the songs and writes the lyrics. They usually split the song writing credits between lyrics and music 50/50 with Carlo and Natalie being the primary song writers in the band.
They spoke a lot about being the support act for Santana and what a wonderful experience that was. They find it challenging being surrounded by commercial music and trying to be part of the popular music scene given that they are roots based with a definite reggae influence.
Aside from their drummer, a guy that they they originally formed with but who resisted the move to Melbourne for some time, who is now again part of the band, their line up hasnt changed. They do rotate back up singers and say that they are constantly on the look out for new back up singers (apply within they said!).
They said that in the early days they developed a 2 minute demo to distribute to venues to get gigs and instead of using one song, cut together highlights from a number of songs so that they could get a feel for what the entire show would be like. They still use this approach with the BKB EPK being used to expand their touring countries and being shown to international agents to get bookings:
They encouraged songwriters and artists in the audience to be prepared to do the hard yards and not to be afraid of putting themselves out there and trying new experiences. They played some songs for the audience which was epic including a new track called Youth which is about Natalie's time in Byron Bay (just near my house) - actually Natalie studied Jazz for 2 years at the Conservatorium in Lismore.
Check them out if you havent already they are one of my favorites. They are currently undertaking an Australian tour before heading back to the USA and Canada - you can find out more about this and the band at their website here.
They talked a lot about being self managed and how being in touch with the management side of the business has been part of their success. Looking for management early on when they first formed (2004) led to nothing and instead of waiting around for things to happen they simply went ahead and did it themselves. Having to make difficult decisions between spending money on marketing and covering the costs of playing at a free concert meant they were at the forefront of the bands early success - they chose playing at the free concert confident that their live performance was a bigger attraction than advertising alone. This concert is where they were approached by a booking agent and that person still books the band today.
They stated that they are heavily involved in the aesthetics of the band including all their artwork and video clips leaving very little for others to decide. With a modern world music feel to their songs they state that they are particularly concerned with the lyrical content of their music however when they write they usually write the music first. Natalie then takes the tracks and puts them on an iPod and spends time with the songs and writes the lyrics. They usually split the song writing credits between lyrics and music 50/50 with Carlo and Natalie being the primary song writers in the band.
They spoke a lot about being the support act for Santana and what a wonderful experience that was. They find it challenging being surrounded by commercial music and trying to be part of the popular music scene given that they are roots based with a definite reggae influence.
Aside from their drummer, a guy that they they originally formed with but who resisted the move to Melbourne for some time, who is now again part of the band, their line up hasnt changed. They do rotate back up singers and say that they are constantly on the look out for new back up singers (apply within they said!).
They said that in the early days they developed a 2 minute demo to distribute to venues to get gigs and instead of using one song, cut together highlights from a number of songs so that they could get a feel for what the entire show would be like. They still use this approach with the BKB EPK being used to expand their touring countries and being shown to international agents to get bookings:
They encouraged songwriters and artists in the audience to be prepared to do the hard yards and not to be afraid of putting themselves out there and trying new experiences. They played some songs for the audience which was epic including a new track called Youth which is about Natalie's time in Byron Bay (just near my house) - actually Natalie studied Jazz for 2 years at the Conservatorium in Lismore.
Check them out if you havent already they are one of my favorites. They are currently undertaking an Australian tour before heading back to the USA and Canada - you can find out more about this and the band at their website here.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Hungry Beast on Net Neutrality
Here is an extract from the ABC show Hungry Beast that aired on tv last night. Here they explain network neutrality for dummies. They didnt explain the impact of prioritised traffic very well - we all know this is a massive issue for up and coming independent musicians. They also seem to have quoted John Perry Barlow in a way that makes it look as though he is not supportive of network neutrality which he definitely is. It is good that they explain that this is primarily a USA problem at the moment but are quite correct in saying that it will impact on other countries.
Take a look:
Take a look:
The Koch Brothers
Just on my way to an APRA workshop with Blue King Brown (more soon hopefully) and came across this great parody regarding the Koch brothers - members of the Boston tea party. Billy Bragg writes on his facebook page:
The disclaimer is the part that I find interesting - clearly this is a fair use but that doesnt apply in trademark disputes - it will be interesting to see how Coke respond they have typically been very protective of their trademark with protection around the world for it. The upside is they cant use a DMCA take down notice, the downside is this might lead to litigation.
The disclaimer is the part that I find interesting - clearly this is a fair use but that doesnt apply in trademark disputes - it will be interesting to see how Coke respond they have typically been very protective of their trademark with protection around the world for it. The upside is they cant use a DMCA take down notice, the downside is this might lead to litigation.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Limewire
As you may have heard by now Limewire has settled its dispute with the recording industry. In a pay out of $105 million the litigation is now complete. Its such a shame that the recording industry never saw fit to license the site as it had a massive user base which included myself (creative commons music) and was a legendary file sharing service.
Over time my guess is that music sites will evolve into something that looks a lot like a licensed file sharing service and if anything these sites were simply ahead of their time.
It seems that this settlement amount, as has been the case in the past, will serve no more than to pay for the litigation that took place and that will take place in the future with artists seeing none of the money. They are the ones that are suffering under the strain of a changing market place and while the litigation has been taken on in their name they are unlikely to recoup a single cent from the result.
Of course this does nothing to prevent the illegal swapping of music and is simply another round in the wack-a-mole game that is music on the internet. There are plenty of available alternatives to Limewire including BitTorrent and Frostwire that remain options to those seeking to avoid paying for music.
There appears very little evidence that music sales have gone up since Limewire was closed and in all the entire exercise seems like a waste of time - the only one's getting rich are the lawyers. Limewire had early settled its dispute with music publishers for just $11 million.
In all it seems they got off lightly. We were lucky they were around for as long as they were.
Further Reading
ArsTechnica, LimeWire settles: are Google and Amazon next on RIAA's docket? TechDirt, Limewire Settles For $105 Million; How Much Of That Will Go To Artists? (13 May 2011) < http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110512/21363814255/limewire-settles-105-million-how-much-that-will-go-to-artists.shtml > at 14 May 2011
Digital Music News, Limewire Settles Out-of-Court for $105 Million... (11 May 2011) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/051211limewire> at 14 May 2011
ZeroPaid, LimeWire Settles RIAA Suit for $105 Million (12 May 2011) < http://www.zeropaid.com/news/93433/limewire-settles-riaa-suit-for-105-million/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zeropaid+%28Zeropaid+File+Sharing+P2P+News%29 > at 14 May 2011
Digital Music News, Exclusive: Limewire Settled Publishing Case for (Just) $11 Million... (14 April 2011) < http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/041311publishers > at 17 April 2011
Over time my guess is that music sites will evolve into something that looks a lot like a licensed file sharing service and if anything these sites were simply ahead of their time.
It seems that this settlement amount, as has been the case in the past, will serve no more than to pay for the litigation that took place and that will take place in the future with artists seeing none of the money. They are the ones that are suffering under the strain of a changing market place and while the litigation has been taken on in their name they are unlikely to recoup a single cent from the result.
Of course this does nothing to prevent the illegal swapping of music and is simply another round in the wack-a-mole game that is music on the internet. There are plenty of available alternatives to Limewire including BitTorrent and Frostwire that remain options to those seeking to avoid paying for music.
There appears very little evidence that music sales have gone up since Limewire was closed and in all the entire exercise seems like a waste of time - the only one's getting rich are the lawyers. Limewire had early settled its dispute with music publishers for just $11 million.
In all it seems they got off lightly. We were lucky they were around for as long as they were.
Further Reading
ArsTechnica, LimeWire settles: are Google and Amazon next on RIAA's docket? TechDirt, Limewire Settles For $105 Million; How Much Of That Will Go To Artists? (13 May 2011) < http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110512/21363814255/limewire-settles-105-million-how-much-that-will-go-to-artists.shtml > at 14 May 2011
Digital Music News, Limewire Settles Out-of-Court for $105 Million... (11 May 2011) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/051211limewire> at 14 May 2011
ZeroPaid, LimeWire Settles RIAA Suit for $105 Million (12 May 2011) < http://www.zeropaid.com/news/93433/limewire-settles-riaa-suit-for-105-million/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zeropaid+%28Zeropaid+File+Sharing+P2P+News%29 > at 14 May 2011
Digital Music News, Exclusive: Limewire Settled Publishing Case for (Just) $11 Million... (14 April 2011) < http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/041311publishers > at 17 April 2011
Hungry Beast - I'm a Climate Scientist
As we all get ready for the Hungry Beast special on uploading next Wednesday night I thought it worth another look at their "I'm a Climate Scientist" rap from last weeks show. I have spent many a day searching for music on global warming only to be completely frustrated by the lack of search results and can't but think that there must not be very much music on this topic which I find surprising given its immediacy. Take a look at this clip, it features real climate change experts with a message about the environment and the impacts humans are having:
You can also read an interview with some of those that participated here. Described as a 'fun and light-hearted' way of getting the message across lets hope this is one of many songs that are written on this topic as a way of educating and empowering people to take action.
Further Reading
Rooted: nourishing the environmental debate, Climate scientist rappers reveal why they did it (13 May 2011) < http://blogs.crikey.com.au/rooted/2011/05/13/climate-scientist-rappers-reveal-why-they-did-it/ > at 14 May 2011
You can also read an interview with some of those that participated here. Described as a 'fun and light-hearted' way of getting the message across lets hope this is one of many songs that are written on this topic as a way of educating and empowering people to take action.
Further Reading
Rooted: nourishing the environmental debate, Climate scientist rappers reveal why they did it (13 May 2011) < http://blogs.crikey.com.au/rooted/2011/05/13/climate-scientist-rappers-reveal-why-they-did-it/ > at 14 May 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Music and Cloud Computing
Hot on the heals of the news that Google has commenced its music locker service with US invites being issued without having secured licenses from the music industry, comes a new paper from First Monday that looks at the changing nature of music and cloud computing. In particular the contingency of music is examined with user rights set to be tested by the reach of internet companies into their lives. The paper goes on to consider the privacy implications of cloud computing:
In these respects, cloud–based services present a serious affront to user rights. In a recently released highly critical report on cloud computing, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (2010) notes that cloud services offer users a worrying lack of control over data and services, lack of meaningful consent to advertising, and often lock consumers in to specific services by centralizing user data and not making it exportable to other services. Data in the cloud also opens up user information to misuse, obsolescence, and invasion, often without the knowledge of the user (Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, 2010). Whereas the loss of CDs or tapes could be considered an invasion of privacy, the loss of personal information in these instances hardly compares to the data that is potentially vulnerable through many cloud music services. Furthermore, because of the cloud’s imprecise location, it remains unclear which states, governments, private actors or other political bodies have jurisdiction over the regulation of the cloud, the data streams it generates, and users’ rights [27].
This is a really interesting paper and well worth a few minutes to read.
Further Reading
Jeremy Wade Morris, 'Sounds in the Cloud: Cloud Computing and the Digital Music Commodity' (16) 5 First Monday (2 May 2011) <http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3391/2917 > at 12 May 2011
TechDirt, Google Follows Amazon's Lead: Launching Music Locker, But Ignoring RIAA Demands For Licenses (10 May 2011) < http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110510/00592614223/google-follows-amazons-lead-launching-music-locker-ignoring-riaa-demands-licenses.shtml > at 12 May 2011
TechDirt, Google: Major Labels Got In The Way Of Cool Features In Google Music (10 May 2011) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110510/10442414228/google-major-labels-got-way-cool-features-google-music.shtml> at 12 May 2011
The Register, Google officially unveils 'cloud' music betaOffline listening on Android (10 May 2011) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/10/google_cloud_music_service_launch/> at 11 May 2011
Digital Music News, Google Music Is Now Launching, Without Label Licensing... (10 May 2010) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/050911google> at 11 May 2011
In these respects, cloud–based services present a serious affront to user rights. In a recently released highly critical report on cloud computing, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (2010) notes that cloud services offer users a worrying lack of control over data and services, lack of meaningful consent to advertising, and often lock consumers in to specific services by centralizing user data and not making it exportable to other services. Data in the cloud also opens up user information to misuse, obsolescence, and invasion, often without the knowledge of the user (Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, 2010). Whereas the loss of CDs or tapes could be considered an invasion of privacy, the loss of personal information in these instances hardly compares to the data that is potentially vulnerable through many cloud music services. Furthermore, because of the cloud’s imprecise location, it remains unclear which states, governments, private actors or other political bodies have jurisdiction over the regulation of the cloud, the data streams it generates, and users’ rights [27].
This is a really interesting paper and well worth a few minutes to read.
Further Reading
Jeremy Wade Morris, 'Sounds in the Cloud: Cloud Computing and the Digital Music Commodity' (16) 5 First Monday (2 May 2011) <http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3391/2917 > at 12 May 2011
TechDirt, Google Follows Amazon's Lead: Launching Music Locker, But Ignoring RIAA Demands For Licenses (10 May 2011) < http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110510/00592614223/google-follows-amazons-lead-launching-music-locker-ignoring-riaa-demands-licenses.shtml > at 12 May 2011
TechDirt, Google: Major Labels Got In The Way Of Cool Features In Google Music (10 May 2011) <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110510/10442414228/google-major-labels-got-way-cool-features-google-music.shtml> at 12 May 2011
The Register, Google officially unveils 'cloud' music betaOffline listening on Android (10 May 2011) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/10/google_cloud_music_service_launch/> at 11 May 2011
Digital Music News, Google Music Is Now Launching, Without Label Licensing... (10 May 2010) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/050911google> at 11 May 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
World Copyright Summit
The World Copyright Summit is being held in Belgium on the 7th and 8th of June 2011. You can find a list of speakers here. The conference theme is Create-Connect-Respect with a particular concern for creating value in the digital economy - from their website:
The World Copyright Summit is a truly international and cross-industry event addressing the future of the creative community and the entertainment business in the digital economy.
I must admit I don't recognise a lot of the speakers and it does looked stacked with those preferring a protectionist approach to copyright.
Australian Brett Cottle, CEO, APRA / AMCOS (Australia) is hosting a keynote session from US author and business journalist Robert Levine. "In his forthcoming book Free Ride – How the Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back (Random House) Levine provides an alternative view to the „internet-is-free‟ discourse and delivers a call-to-action to content owners."
The World Copyright Summit is a truly international and cross-industry event addressing the future of the creative community and the entertainment business in the digital economy.
All stakeholders involved in creative industries – creation, licensing, usage, collective management, legislation and dissemination of intellectual property and creative content – now have a unique forum to exchange views on the value of creative works, the future of authors’ rights, the role of creators and their collective management organisations.
The theme of the conference will focus on the following:
- Create: The global eco-system for creators and creative industries
- Connect: The digital economy and new business models
- Respect: Authors’ rights and the legislative & social environment
I must admit I don't recognise a lot of the speakers and it does looked stacked with those preferring a protectionist approach to copyright.
Australian Brett Cottle, CEO, APRA / AMCOS (Australia) is hosting a keynote session from US author and business journalist Robert Levine. "In his forthcoming book Free Ride – How the Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back (Random House) Levine provides an alternative view to the „internet-is-free‟ discourse and delivers a call-to-action to content owners."
Dan Bull Auction
I am curious about the current auction by Dan Bull of a custom written song. You can see the ebay page here. This is the first time I have heard of ebay being used for this purpose and already the current bid is £595 with still 3 days left to bid. It will be interesting to see how high the bids go. On the auction page he writes:
Hello, my name is Daniel and I make songs. You can see my stuff by typing "Dan Bull" into YouTube. I've decided to find out what my music is really worth so I'm sticking myself on eBay. The winning bidder will receive:
Get bidding now, because this may never happen again. Love from Dan :) x
This is certainly an inventive new business model - one Australian comedy group called Tripod do this once a week on their facebook page without making any money out of it - but still an interesting new way to use the internet to support artists and encourage new creations. I like that he reserves the rights to distribute the song independently of its creation and could see this being a more regular event if the interest remains. It will be interesting to see what sort of lyrics he is required to write - its a bold step in artistic integrity to offer to write about anything the buyer wants particularly if it ends up being a politically sensitive topic.
Hello, my name is Daniel and I make songs. You can see my stuff by typing "Dan Bull" into YouTube. I've decided to find out what my music is really worth so I'm sticking myself on eBay. The winning bidder will receive:
- One song on any topic of your choice, written, performed and produced by Dan Bull. Duration: 2.30 - 3.30 approx. I will liaise with you via e-mail if there any specific details you wish to include in the song. You will be free to use and redistribute this song in any way you wish, however I reserve the right to do the same. The song will be delivered to you in MP3 format within 14 days of the winning bid.
This is certainly an inventive new business model - one Australian comedy group called Tripod do this once a week on their facebook page without making any money out of it - but still an interesting new way to use the internet to support artists and encourage new creations. I like that he reserves the rights to distribute the song independently of its creation and could see this being a more regular event if the interest remains. It will be interesting to see what sort of lyrics he is required to write - its a bold step in artistic integrity to offer to write about anything the buyer wants particularly if it ends up being a politically sensitive topic.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Why music matters
From the antipiracy group whymusicmatters.org:
From their about section: "The Music Matters campaign is a collective of people across the music industry, including artists, retailers, songwriters, labels and managers, formed to remind listeners of the significance and value of music." They advocate the development and use of a trustmark to differentiate illegal music sites from legal ones in the hope of curbing illegal downloading. There are more short films on their website and youtube channel check them out.
From their about section: "The Music Matters campaign is a collective of people across the music industry, including artists, retailers, songwriters, labels and managers, formed to remind listeners of the significance and value of music." They advocate the development and use of a trustmark to differentiate illegal music sites from legal ones in the hope of curbing illegal downloading. There are more short films on their website and youtube channel check them out.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
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