'Kickstarter for gigs' is launched Whitecat 4 Weeks Ago 05:37 PM Big Reunion and The Voice prove one thing: it's no fun being a ex-pop star | Music | Whitecat 4 Weeks Ago 11:08 AM Google Play Music All Access: search giant launches rival to Spotify | Technology | Whitecat 4 Weeks Ago 08:33 AM The Campaign To Stop The World's Major Brands From Funding Music Piracy | Tone Deaf GearAndGuitars 4 Weeks Ago 06:30 AM  Quote: |
the LA Times reported that jeans makers Levi’s and car manufacturer BMW both publicly announced they would retract all advertisements from pirating websites, with Coke and Samsung following suit, pulling ads from a Vietnamese piracy site after Associated Press brought the spotlight to bear on their marketing strategies.
| Google to announce music streaming service today? | News | NME.COM Whitecat 4 Weeks Ago 01:50 PM Opinion: Getting copyrights right - David Lowery | POLITICO.com GearAndGuitars 14th May 2013 08:08 PM Quote: Opinion: Getting Copyrights Right - David Lowery | POLITICO.com
Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) plans a hearing on Thursday before the House Intellectual Property subcommittee to pursue his worthy goal of copyright reform.
David Lowery is singer songwriter for the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven. He also blogs about musicians rights. |  Quote: Register Your Family Albums
Both conservatives and liberals should be frightened by the “Principles’” attempt to “reformalize” effective copyright protection by encouraging Goodlatte to take away “rights and remedies” for those who do not register their works. Especially those works that the report deems to have “no commercial value”—as decided by the elites rather than the market, apparently.
So if one of the “users” the principles seem to think they represent — like me — posts a photo of my children on my Facebook page but I don’t register it, and somehow a company or individual then uses this picture commercially, or in some other vile manner, this report explicitly states that I would not have the same “rights and remedies” that I currently enjoy. In fact my reading of this report says I would have no remedies unless I were to win an argument that my family photos have commercial value — full employment for lawyers.
So are we all gonna have to register our family photos with Big Brother in order to keep control of them?
| Copyright effects Consumers as well as Creators and Musicians. Pandora Tries to Convince a Musician That He Isn't Getting Screwed | DMN GearAndGuitars 13th May 2013 07:20 PM  Quote:
From: Blake Morgan (Musician)
To: Tim Westergren @ Pandora
Without us, you don’t have a business.
The idea of “allowing” us to “participate” in a business that is built solely on distributing and circulating our copyrighted work is like a grocery store saying it has an idea to “allow” the manufacturers of the goods it carries to get paid. The store isn’t “allowing” Del Monte to get paid for their cans of green beans, right? Of course not.
| Combating The Cost Of The Free Economy | Junkee GearAndGuitars 13th May 2013 01:20 AM Quote:
You can see where this is going: paying little for digital goods, which make up the majority of all goods sold, means that profit margins drop dramatically. So even when we are using these legal alternatives like Spotify, iTunes and Amazon, the goods they are selling are vastly undervalued - are ebooks really worth only $0.99?
We need to get used to paying more for digital goods than we have been, because they are worth a lot more than what we have been paying.
They aren’t just files and bytes of information — they are the goods now. For the incredible convenience alone, what we pay should be a lot more than we do.
| The Real Danger of Copying Music (It's Not What You Think) | Wired GearAndGuitars 11th May 2013 09:31 PM  Quote: The Real Danger of Copying Music (It's Not What You Think) | Wired
There’s an endless debate about whether file sharing is “stealing.” We eventually shouldn’t “pirate” files, but it’s premature to condemn people who do it today when those same people are not paid for their participation in very lucrative network schemes.
Ordinary people are relentlessly spied on, and not compensated for information taken from them.
| Quote: | It is one thing to sing for your supper occasionally, but to have to do so for every meal forces you into a peasant’s dilemma. | Pictures of Music's worst financial disasters - Photos - NME.COM Whitecat 11th May 2013 12:39 PM Fake Dr Dre headphones 'most seized' Whitecat 10th May 2013 01:23 PM Heavy metal degree is 'easy option' Whitecat 10th May 2013 12:49 PM New laws are planned for faulty apps Whitecat 9th May 2013 03:09 PM New Zealand Government Announces That Software Will No Longer Be Patentable - Forbes Whitecat 9th May 2013 02:09 PM Quote: New Zealand Government Announces That Software Will No Longer Be Patentable - Forbes
In a bill passed earlier today, the Government of New Zealand announced that software in the country will no longer be patentable. New Zealand's largest IT representative body, the Institute of IT Professionals, expressed relief and said the decision removed a major barrier to software-led innovation. The policy was passed in a [...]
| Universities should open their ears to live music | Education | guardian.co.uk Whitecat 9th May 2013 11:04 AM In Defense of the Amateur | Trust Me I'm A Scientist GearAndGuitars 9th May 2013 01:19 AM  Quote:
For one, controversial law professor Lawrence Lessig recommends that we adopt a “hybrid economy” for culture: A system in which creativity is essentially de-monetized, and all the meaningful financial rewards instead go to the technology companies that facilitate the sharing of that creativity, artistic energy and cultural innovation.
If you think I’m overstating his position to make it sound shocking and misguided, believe me, I’m not. Just listen to Lessig explain it here in his own words on the Colbert Report:
Lawrence Lessig - The Colbert Report - 2009-08-01 - Video Clip | Comedy Central | Captain's Blog: You Are Not A Music Promoter Whitecat 8th May 2013 03:01 PM Redigi case could be music industry boost | Bdaily Business News Whitecat 8th May 2013 02:51 PM The iTunes Store at 10: How Apple reinvented the music business - Digital Lifestyle - Whitecat 8th May 2013 11:27 AM Quote: The iTunes Store at 10: How Apple reinvented the music business - Digital Lifestyle -
As I write this paragraph, I'm enjoying a playlist that I created from among the thousands of songs on my iPhone, and it's no big deal. It wasn't always so simple: Once upon a time, crafting the perfect playlist for your MP3 player felt like an epic project. You had to rip the songs from a CD onto your computer, find sources--legitimate and otherwise--for tracks you didn't own, and then hope everything was in the right format to play on your portable device. Apple changed all that, thanks to a series of musical moves right at the dawn of the 21st century--not the least of which was the launch of the iTunes Music Store.
| Grammy winner Lauryn Hill likens music business to slavery Whitecat 8th May 2013 11:26 AM Photoshop moves to subscription Whitecat 7th May 2013 12:42 PM Quote: Photoshop moves to subscription
Adobe is introducing a subscription model for many of its most popular programs, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Premiere.
| This will definitely have repercussions in the world of music software... MOLOCOO - YouTube moskirde 6th May 2013 08:24 AM Quote: MOLOCOO - YouTube
[img]//i4.ytimg.com/i/3FAV44QkpYh7NvoOcbHCkA/mq1.jpg?v=516adb0d?feature=og[/img]
Molocoo.com is the collaboration platform for the professional entertainment industry.
| MOLOCOO - YouTube
More interviews with manufacturers and vendors coming soon.
Hope you'll enjoy,
MO 13 Years Later, An Artist Gets the Courage to Protest Piracy... | Digital Music News GearAndGuitars 6th May 2013 12:54 AM Quote: 13 Years Later, An Artist Gets the Courage to Protest Piracy... | Digital Music News
A number of people have asked us what's up with Masters of the Internet. Do we hate our fans? Are we Luddites? Well, no and no. Here's what we think: We don't really expect much from asking people who are downloading stuff for free to voluntaristically pay up — although, yeah, we could use that dollar right about now, and we support Trichordist's Principles for an Ethical and Sustainable Internet.
We don't know what the ultimate solution is — but we know it isn't the impoverishment of musicians and defunding music. And we know it isn't pretending that no-one is being hurt. Corporations are making huge profits from the ads on 'free' sites, from selling the hard and software that make illegal downloading possible.
| Just how much is music worth? | Musical instrument industry news | MI Pro Whitecat 5th May 2013 12:31 PM Rolling Stones face pay cut as poor sales force them to slash US ticket prices | Mus Whitecat 4th May 2013 04:41 PM VV Brown: Beyoncé is right. Bring on the female music moguls - Telegraph Whitecat 2nd May 2013 01:28 PM Amanda Palmer's A Poem for Dzhokhar Is the Worst Poem of All Time GearAndGuitars 2nd May 2013 06:53 AM Quote: Amanda Palmer's A Poem for Dzhokhar Is the Worst Poem of All Time
This weekend, as law-enforcement officers across the country devoted their resources to the manhunt and capture of the dangerous criminal Reese Witherspoon, an actual crime against humanity was being ignored: Musician Amanda Palmer was writing the worst poem ever composed in the English language, A Poem for Dzhokhar.
| NAMM acquires TEC Foundation | Musical instrument industry news | MI Pro Whitecat 30th April 2013 01:35 PM The Amanda Palmer Problem -- Vulture Whitecat 30th April 2013 09:07 AM The rebirth of the compilation album: now that's what I call a surprise! | Music | T Whitecat 29th April 2013 03:11 PM Emeli Sandé breaks Beatles record Whitecat 28th April 2013 05:19 PM AOL Shutters Several Music Properties, Including Spinner And The Boombox | Fast Compa Whitecat 28th April 2013 11:24 AM Disco's back as Nile Rodgers tops chart again | Music | The Observer Whitecat 27th April 2013 06:35 PM Creators need Copyright Protection - Neil Portnow of NARAS GearAndGuitars 27th April 2013 06:01 PM Quote: Creators need Copyright Protection - Neil Portnow
So let’s agree that certain principles should be the foundation of any update of the Copyright Act:
Creators should receive fair compensation for their work when it is exploited.
Too often we’ve heard that new and old businesses should be allowed to use creators’ works at a below-market (or zero) royalty rate to protect a flawed business model. Creators want to be partners with distributors, but they should never be forced to subsidize those businesses.
A right is meaningless without reasonable enforcement.
Without effective enforcement, copyrights will have little value. If creators are to benefit from the fruit of their labor, they must have confidence that their work will be protected in the constantly evolving digital marketplace.
Freedom of expression depends on copyright.
Copyright gives individual creators the freedom to choose how they express themselves. With copyright, writers and artists can decide how and when to use their work. They can freely give their work to the public, to a cause they believe in, or they can try to earn a living from it. Consent is a critical part of the creator’s freedom.
| Neil Portnow is the President of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. House concerts provide home comforts Whitecat 26th April 2013 04:00 PM Quote: House concerts provide home comforts
Professional music artists are increasingly giving performances in the most intimate of all settings - people's homes - as they discover new ways of reaching their audience.
| Software album reprises synthesisers Whitecat 26th April 2013 03:48 PM Well... the concept isn't new to us, but it's for a good cause.  Why most dance acts don't get paid royalties for radio, clubs or festivals | Media | Whitecat 24th April 2013 12:06 PM Will.i.am Says He Accidentally Stole a Song | Billboard Whitecat 24th April 2013 10:01 AM Rockers attract cruise ship crowds Whitecat 20th April 2013 02:58 PM Twitter launches #Music service Whitecat 18th April 2013 02:08 PM MUSIKMESSE 2013: 113,000 through the doors | Musical instrument industry news | MI Pr Whitecat 18th April 2013 02:03 PM Swedish indie rock in a veritable mess! mr jkn 18th April 2013 12:37 PM http://www.nme.com/news/the-hives--2/69793
Sad really. The (former?) swedish indie elite with bands such as Hives, Cardigans and Soundtrack of our lives, are up to their knees in a economic mess with seemingly no end. The article above just touches upon it. Pirate Bay founder faces new charges Whitecat 17th April 2013 04:10 PM iTunes turning 10 years old, still owns 63% of music download business | VentureBeat Whitecat 16th April 2013 05:01 PM Business Matters: How Sagging PC Sales Will Impact the Music Business | Billboard Whitecat 16th April 2013 05:01 PM Spotify begins Latin America push Whitecat 16th April 2013 01:10 PM Quote: Spotify begins Latin America push
Music streaming service Spotify makes its first moves in Latin America and Asia, amid rumours Apple may be preparing a similar product.
| Can streaming save music sales? Whitecat 16th April 2013 10:49 AM Quote: Can streaming save music sales?
Streaming services have reversed the fortunes of the music industry in Sweden and now generate more income than downloads or CDs. But can the model be replicated worldwide?
| Should 'irritating' fans stop filming gigs? Whitecat 15th April 2013 02:50 PM Half of Justin Bieber's twitter followers are fake, report claims | News | NME.COM Whitecat 13th April 2013 09:13 PM | 
