Music and Politics by John Street

Just became aware of a new book out recently by John Street called 'Music and Politics'. It looks really interesting and is available from Amazon here. I have added it to my wish list for Santa this year.

From the back cover:
"It is common to hear talk of how music can inspire crowds, move individuals and mobilise movements. We know too of how governments can live in fear of its effects, censor its sounds and imprison its creators. At the same time, there are other governments that use music for propaganda or for torture. All of these examples speak to the idea of music’s political importance. But while we may share these assumptions about music’s power, we rarely stop to analyse what it is about organised sound - about notes and rhythms - that has the effects attributed to it.

This is the first book to examine systematically music’s political power. It shows how music has been at the heart of accounts of political order, at how musicians from Bono to Lily Allen have claimed to speak for peoples and political causes. It looks too at the emergence of music as an object of public policy, whether in the classroom or in the copyright courts, whether as focus of national pride or employment opportunities.

The book brings together a vast array of ideas about music’s political significance (from Aristotle to Rousseau, from Adorno to Deleuze) and new empirical data to tell a story of the extraordinary potency of music across time and space. At the heart of the book lies the argument that music and politics are inseparably linked, and that each animates the other."

Occupy Musicians

Digital Music News has a list of 298 musicians who support and will be playing at Occupy Events - it comes from a new website Occupy Musicians which has links to other web pages for Occupy Writers, Occupy Filmmakers and Occupy Comics.


Further Reading
Digital Music News, "We, the Undersigned Musicians and All Who Will Join Us, Support Occupy Wall Street..." (22 November 2011) < http://digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2011/111121occupy > at 27 November 2011

Occupy Musicians < http://www.occupymusicians.com/ > at 27 November 2011

Introducing Google Music

Only available in the USA for now and without content from Warner.

Code Wars: 10 Years of P2P Software Litigation by Rebecca Giblin

Here is another book that I havent read yet but would very much like to, its called 'Code Wars: 10 Years of P2P Software Litigation'. It details the rise and fall of p2p networks and the race against time by the recording industry. In an article about this topic, the author examines four factors that led to the rise in file sharing and its increase in popularity despite the ongoing litigation against software developers. You can read that article here. You can also check out the website for the book here which has the first chapter on it for free and place orders for a copy at Amazon here. Dr Rebecca Giblin is a member of the Monash University Law Faculty in Melbourne, Australia.

Further Reading
itnews, How litigation only spurred on P2P file sharing (11 November 2011) <http://www.itnews.com.au/News/279763,how-litigation-only-spurred-on-p2p-file-sharing.aspx > at 13 November 2011

Breaking News

In breaking news it seems Universal has purchased EMI bringing the total number of major record labels down to three. Not sure how this is going to go from an anti trust point of view but latest reports suggest that EMI recordings have gone to Universal for $1.2 billion and EMI publishing has gone to Sony/ATV Music Publishing for $2.2 billion. Bands affected include The Beatles, Coldplay, Katy Perry, Pink Floyd, Beach Boys, and Norah Jones. I will update the list of references below as I read more articles on the take over.

Further Reading
Noise 11, Universal Music Buys EMI, Sony Gets EMI Publishing (12 November 2011) < http://www.noise11.com/news/universal-music-buys-emi-sony-gets-emi-publishing > at 13 November 2011

Digital Music News, Impala: The EMI Acquisition Will Be 'Blocked Outright'... (14 November 2011) < http://digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2011/111111impala > at 16 November 2011

Digital Music News, SOLD: Citigroup Unloads Both EMI Units; $4.1 Billion... (11 November 2011) < http://digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2011/111111umg > at 15 November 2011

TechDirt, And Then There Were Three: Bye, Bye EMI (11 November 2011) < http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111111/10302916724/then-there-were-three-bye-bye-emi.shtml > at 15 November 2011

33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day by Dorian Lynskey

I havent read this book yet... hopefully Santa will bring it for Christmas... but it looks really interesting. Its called '33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day by Dorian Lynskey' it also has a supporting blog with posts about recent developments - you can read the blog here. You can also purchase the book from Amazon here. Might be worth checking out - let me know if you get your hands on it!

Protest songs for Occupy London

Just wanted to draw your attention to an event in London thats coming up. Its called 'Protest songs for Occupy London' and is taking place Wednesday, November 9 from 3:00pm - 5:00pm in front of St Paul's Cathedral, London. You can find the facebook public event page here.

Artists such as Peggy Seeger, Billy Bragg, Tony Benn, Roy Bailey, Chumbawamba, Steve Knightley and Leon Rosselson will come together to sing protest songs in support of Occupy London and the public are asked to come along and join in.

The facebook page (here) also has some links posted to it of YouTube clips of protest songs so if you are into that sort of thang check it out. Here is one of them for your viewing pleasure:

Did You Know?

A look at the impact of technology on our lives... excellent clip, take a look:

The Last Kinection - Are We There Yet (featuring Simone Stacey)

New Australian Indigenous political song by The Last Kinection on 'closing the gap' - a campaign to stop the early deaths of Indigenous people in Australia due to health standards. More information on the campaign is available from the Australian Human Rights Commission here.

Protect IP

Check out this great clip on the problems associated with the Protect IP legislation in the United States:

PROTECT IP Act Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

ALRC Copyright Issues

News this week that the Australian Attorney General is in the process of drafting the terms for a review of copyright law by the Australian Law Reform Commission. The draft terms of reference are to be released soon.

High on the list of priorities should be a new exception for sampling. It would be fair and reasonable for Australian copyright law to introduce a 5 second sampling right to allow for new creations to be made from existing works, especially after the Larikin Music Publishing case in which the band Men at Work were held liable for copyright infringement of the song Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. Australia has the opportunity to lead the world by encouraging this art form and I for one would be pleased to see this included in the draft terms of reference.

The Copyright Council Expert Group recently released a paper in which areas in need of reform were highlighted - you can read the paper here. They suggest that further consideration should be given to:

• Non-commercial transformative use of copyright works
• Internet intermediary liability
• Orphan works; and
• Registration of copyright works

As soon as the draft terms of reference are released I will blog with any further information.

Further Reading
Copyright Council Expert Group, Directions in Copyright Reform in Australia (October 2011) <http://www.copyright.org.au/pdf/Copyright%20Council%20Expert%20Group%20-%20Paper%202011.pdf > at 1 November 2011