oooh, those wascawy democwatic socialists!
Thanks Volvo!
*
9.1.13
30.12.12
Artists speak out on Intellectual Property!
In many of the passionate discussions of "intellectual property" and the evils of impinging
on someone else's creativity, one can sometimes
get the impression that artists are united and unanimous on this burning issue.
This is not true.
“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal;
bad poets deface what they take, and good poets
make it into something better, or at least something
different.
The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion.”
— T.S. Eliot
“It’s not where you take things from—
it’s where you take them to.”
— Jean-Luc Godard
“If you have one person you’re influenced by, everyone will say you’re the next whoever.
But if you rip off a hundred people, everyone
will say you’re so original!” — Gary Panter
“Plagiarism is basic to all culture.”
— Pete Seeger
“Those who do not want to imitate anything,
produce nothing.”
— Salvador Dali
“You can’t steal a gift. Bird [Charlie Parker] gave the world his music, and if you can hear it you can have it.”
— Dizzy Gillespie
!
20.2.12
14.2.12
Feel the love?
Shameful: Sony raised prices on Whitney Houston’s digital music 30 minutes after her death
Every time I think that there is a bottom to the barrel of sick, ignorant shit that is the music industry, I find out I am wrong, again.
read all about it:
http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/13/whitney-houston-digital-music-price-hike/
*
3.2.12
Monsanto is evil
The concept of Intellectual Property, as presented by moneyed thugs like the RIAA and MPAA is serious business, but on another level it's also
so ridiculous that one can almost enjoy reading about it.
The concept of Intellectual Property, as presented by moneyed thugs like Monsanto is serious business, but on another level it's so terrifying
that even reading about it freaks me out...
*
Check your tuning?
... from my new series of comics about music and the people who make it, and/or listen to it and/or buy and sell it...
stay tuned...
Napster
Megaupload
"God kills a kitten"
Ticketmaster
Ticketbastard
*
2.2.12
30.5.11
understanding Indie
being hip just gets harder all the time...
so many choices, so few people care.
here's a useful flow chart
to get you started...
and for much more on this story,
and help with difficult choices,
click here for further guidance
from Cracked.com
*
29.5.11
10.5.11
meanwhile, back in der Bunker
what
the
fuck?
*
my second reaction is
"must read story now".
twice.
"must read story now".
twice.
 |
| BMI the airline |
my third reaction is to go:
what
the
fuck?
again.
 |
| BMI clearly NOT a rights management company |
and my fourth, of course,
is to post it here:
 |
| BMI also clearly NOT a rights management company |
BMI Says A Single Person Listening To His Own Music Via The Cloud Is A Public Performance
from the looking-to-the-sky-and-seeing-unlicensed-clouds dept
There's no time like late on a Friday to send out disturbing missives. Companies who need to let staff go often find it easier to let the week "play out" before handing out the pink slips. Congressmen who need to shove through some questionable legislation often wait until the papers have gone to bed, or at least a majority of the voting citizens.Martin Berenson, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for BMI has decided there's no time like Friday evening to kick out an editorial about streaming music via the "cloud."
 |
| BMI remember the name! |
can you beat that with a stick?
more fun than watching a mammoth drown in the La Brea tar pits,
back in the day, kids!
seriously though, these people
walk among us.
the truth is out there.
spread the word.
*
1.5.11
TicketBastard
if you love music, the chances are
that this monopoly has had an impact
on your life, primarily by picking
your pocket.
but are they the WORST company
in America?
Ticket Master:
Thief Extraordinaire
Robs People Blind
When all is said and done,
your $60 Barenaked Ladies ticket
is now $90.
That’s right, $30 in service fees.
over at The Consumerist,
they're having their annual competition
to find the worst company in America.
In Round One of WCIA 2011,
Ticketmaster slaughtered PayPal,
with nearly 80% of the vote.
Could the fee fiend be gunning
for a second year in the Worst Company
championship death match?
Ticketmaster slaughtered PayPal,
with nearly 80% of the vote.
Could the fee fiend be gunning
for a second year in the Worst Company
championship death match?
Meanwhile Sony showed renewed
strength in its victory over Dell.
Does the underdog have what it takes
to pull off an upset of this magnitude,
or is Sony just more fodder for
the Ticketmaster mill?
strength in its victory over Dell.
Does the underdog have what it takes
to pull off an upset of this magnitude,
or is Sony just more fodder for
the Ticketmaster mill?
Is TicketMaster the worst company
in America?
Find out more at The Consumerist!
18.4.11
the Top 10 Music Tours of 2010!
well here's another interesting way
of looking at music...
looks like there's still a dollar
or two to be made in the music biz.
in the interest of complete disclosure,
i should probably say i only know
who 8 of these are...
and there's only one i might have paid
serious $$$ to see
you go, Ms. Gaga!
you can find a whole lotta fascinating cultural information like this at
Good Culture
.
18.3.11
The Music Industry Loves Artists
"Look, my band - or GNR Inc - has had to do six audits of Geffen over the years because you know you sold this many records and they tell you you've only sold this many.
Why don't you just pay us for the f**king records?
Well, that's not how it works. They make it cost-prohibitive to sue.
The first time I became aware of it was 1994. There was a discrepancy of four million f**king records.
They were like "You can sue us, but it will cost you five million dollars and you might get half of that, so why don't we just settle for a quarter?" That's the way business is done. And we're on our sixth audit. That didn't just happen once.
Duff McKagan
bass player, Guns N' Roses
interview with Ben Rayner, Toronto Daily Star, 18/03/11
and the beat goes on.
.
17.3.11
What Will Happen to Your Intellectual Property When You Die?
... an important question.
and one worthy of an answer.
here's one suggestion:
click me!
.
23.2.11
Downloading - What People Are Saying
The RIAA has done an amazing job
of monopolizing the discussion
about downloading, in large part
by spending millions of dollars
on lobbying and "public relations".
With a little bit of Googling, though,
one can find instances where voices
other than the Industry's register.
***
Here's a poll from that hotbed
of radical opinion...
Billboard Magazine.
...where it seems that the Industry's opinion
is in the minority.
Over at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,
they posed a question about the imposition
of fees/a tax on digital memory...
...where again, the Industry's solution
was not seen as desirable.
was not seen as desirable.
by a fairly substantial margin.
***
Meanwhile, around the web
there are more radical opinions,
of course... the Industry has something
of an image issue.
- and the beat goes on -
.
21.2.11
Artists should be paid for their work?
one of the core catechisms of the current copyright situation is "Artists should be paid for their work".
among Artists, there is certainly consensus on this point and, in the way of these things, the Industry is more than happy to use this consensus to not simply push their agenda, but cover it up altogether.
"Artists should be paid for their work".
it's beautiful. in just 7 words, it lays claim to a pure moral high ground and occupies it.
even better, it sounds like it means something.
which i guess it does to some people.
but as someone working to bring musicians and audiences together, and creating digital content, i think this dog don't hunt.
it's a Hallmark moment that butters no parsnips, because it fails to answer one of the fundamental musical questions of all time...
it's a Hallmark moment that butters no parsnips, because it fails to answer one of the fundamental musical questions of all time...
***
how much is that doggie
in the window?
in the window?
***
Artists should be paid for their work?
Sure...
so should Moms.
so should the wounded veterans
from our armed forces.
so should their families.
get in line.
- 30 -
.
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