Author: Trichordist Editor

Trichordist Editor

Pandora is Stiffing Artists by Josh Kear | The Hill

Josh Kear is a songwriter, ASCAP member and Grammy Award-winning songwriter for such artists as Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood, and Darius Rucker to name of few. He’s written an excellent post at The Hill about Pandora’s latest attempt to cheat songwriters and musicians of their rightful royalties.

Pandora is another example that The New Boss, Is Worse Than The Old Boss for musicians, songwriters and creators and elitist technocrats seek to enrich themselves on the labor of others. Kear writes,

Savvy readers will note a mere four percent of Pandora’s total revenue is spent on licensing public performance rights from songwriters and composers. That means we make a fraction of a cent every time one of our songs streams on Pandora’s service

READ THE FULL STORY HERE AT THE HILL:
by Trichordist Editor

But Mommy, I’m Special! The Internet Society Wants to Punch Your Nose and Commoditize You Without Your Permission

The solution to issues facing artists and creators on the internet can be summed up in two words, consent and compensation. Those opposed to these two very simple things are those who are profiting by exploiting the artists and creators who seek it. Read on.

Music Technology Policy

“It’s really important that we protect the rights of really good looking people in this society,”

Attorney Andrew Bridges of Fenwick & West (frequently representing Google) quoted at Beautiful Person Derek Khanna’s SXSW Panel

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This rather stunning bit of Googley sarcasm from the frequently-Googley litigator Mr. Bridges sums up the geek view of the world.  The Rich and Smart should win over The Beautiful and Famous.  (That he said it on a panel with one deemed to be of the 50 Most Beautiful Men on Capitol Hill and who is seemingly doing everything in his power to be famous–Mr. Khanna–does have a certain irony.)

But whatever the sarcasm and whatever the irony, Mr. Bridges apparently places himself in the conga line of those who believe that the Internet is “special”.  And nowhere is this “we’re special, screw off” more apparent than in the wandering Internet Society Issues…

View original post 1,675 more words

by Trichordist Editor

Uncertainty, Copyright and Courage by Paul Williams

On Wednesday, June 5th, ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams delivered a powerful keynote to attendees of the CISAC World Creators Summit in DC. He spoke passionately and pointedly about what it means to be a creator in today’s challenging digital environment.

This excerpt of the talk touches on one of many well made points.

Literature, music and art have value to individuals, to businesses and to countries. They open our hearts and minds. They inspire. They teach. They comfort. They drive economic growth and innovation. They define our time; they define our cultures; they bring us together.

So then, why are we now in the position of having to defend ourselves against the insidious erosion of the basic principles of copyright in so many parts of the world?

Intellectual property rights are a cornerstone of democracy. As a citizen, a creator and a consumer, I should have a reasonable expectation that I live in a society where thieves and outlaws are not allowed to run rampant – even when they are operating in cyberspace. But when lawmakers in North America and Europe tried to enact legislation that would help enforce laws against online fraud and theft, the technology sector said it would break the internet. They called it censorship.

Creators are in the business of free expression. Freedom of speech is about political speech, it is not about protecting fraud or theft. They trivialized what free speech means. Forces that want to control and diminish the value of our work for their own economic benefit are systematically attacking the rights of creators. They are methodically attacking the validity of copyright laws. They are building their businesses in a way that makes enforcement of our copyrights next to impossible.

The hope that creative work will pay off for the author, composer, filmmaker or photographer if it becomes successful is no longer a given. Fair payment has become another profound uncertainty in the professional life of every creator. This is true for people at the top of their game, and especially so for those just starting out. This is true globally – not just in the United States, in Canada, in the European Union – all over the world.

PLEASE READ THE FULL KEYNOTE ADDRESS HERE AT ASCAP:
http://www.ascap.com/playback/2013/06/action/uncertainty_copyright_and_courage.aspx

by Trichordist Editor

DMCA Safe Harbor is NOT a “License to Infringe”

Thanks to Music Tech Policy for alerting us to this post from The Association of Independent Music Publishers:

Apparently, some internet users interpret the DMCA “safe harbor,” which is designed to strike a balance between copyright and technology, as something quite different, a “license” to post anything you like, even if you know it is infringing, unless and until the copyright owner complains.

The distinction may seem small, but it may represent how the general public regards copyright on the internet.  Instead of avoiding infringement and respecting copyright, the concept of the “DMCA License” is that you don’t have to respect copyright.  Do what you like, and at the worst the copyright owner might force your ISP to remove the material.

There is no such thing as a “DMCA License” because under the DMCA, copyright owners are not in any way consenting to unauthorized use.  They are simply trying to keep up with the millions of infringements, using what the law gives them to work with.

READ THE FULL POST HERE:
http://www.aimp.org/copyrightCorner/8/The_DMCA_License

by Trichordist Editor

Google in Spotlight for Links to Criminal Websites… Again…

Just like groundhog’s day for Google… Here we go… Again…

“On every check we have made, Google’s search engine gave us easy access to illegal goods including websites which offer dangerous drugs without a prescription, counterfeit goods of every description, and infringing copies of movies, music, software and games,” said Attorney General Hood.  “This behavior means that Google is putting consumers at risk and facilitating wrongdoing, all while profiting handsomely from illegal behavior.”

If reading this triggers a sense of deja vu, don’t worry– you’re not crazy.  Less than 2 years ago, in August of 2011, Google agreed to a 500 million dollar settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over online advertisements for illegal Canadian pharmacies.

READ THE FULL POST AT VOX INDIE:
http://voxindie.org/google-links-to-criminal-websites-under-scrutiny

YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN READING:
Google, Advertising, Money and Piracy. A History of Wrongdoing Exposed.

AND:
ADWEEK : “Ad Industry Takes Major Step to Fight Online Piracy”… Again…

by Trichordist Editor

New models, huh?

YouTube’s biggest partners are learning there’s nothing innovative in the exploitation of labor. David Newhoff at The Illusion of More offers this insight…

…the first and most important story is this one about YouTube’s biggest producing partners coming to realize that their revenue doesn’t exactly coincide with increases in viewership.

I can’t say I was surprised to read, “These partners feel that YouTube’s business approach enriches YouTube without making them nearly as wealthy.”  Presumably, this is simply a failure of the partners to embrace the new model of “you make product, we make money.”

READ THE FULL POST HERE AT THE ILLUSION OF MORE:
http://illusionofmore.com/new-models/

YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:
So Much For Innovation, YouTuber’s Meet The New Boss…

by Trichordist Editor

“Fair Trade Music” Initiative Launched

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE:

For the first time in music industry history, over 25,000 songwriters and composers from nearly fifty countries throughout Europe, North America, South America, and Africa have joined together to form a new, wholly independent advocacy Network for music creators. Its immediate goal will be the championing of a set of Fair Trade Music Principles designed to ensure transparency, fair compensation, and autonomy for music creators in an increasingly complex and non-transparent music business landscape.

The Fair Trade Music Principles are as follows:

1. FAIR COMPENSATION — Music business models must be built on principles of fair and sustainable compensation for music creators.

2. TRANSPARENCY–International standards must be developed and adopted that ensure efficient and transparent management of rights and revenues derived from the use of our works. These standards must apply to all entities that license such rights, and which collect and/or distribute such revenues.

3. RECAPTURE OF OUR RIGHTS–Music Creators must have the ability to recapture the rights to their works in a time frame no greater than 35 years, as is currently available to songwriters, composers and artists in the United States. The effect of recapture of rights must apply globally.

4. INDEPENDENT MUSIC CREATOR ORGANIZATIONS–Music Creators must have their own independent entities that advocate for, educate and provide knowledgeable support for members of their community, including aspiring songwriters, composers and artists. Music Creators speak for themselves, not through those with interests in conflict with them.

5. FREEDOM OF SPEECH–Music Creators must be free to speak, write and communicate without fear of censorship, retaliation or repression in a manner consistent with basic human rights and constitutional principles.

READ MORE HERE:
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130604-903736.html

YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:
Principles for an Ethical and Sustainable Internet

by Trichordist Editor

The Tech Industry is a “Special Interest” too!

Vox Indie’s Ellen Seidler points out that the Tech Industry is a special interest too in response to Derek Khanna’s assertion that “Hollywood” or rather the musicians, artists, filmmakers, photographers and other creators are a “special interest” who should not have a voice in how the fruits of their own labor are monetized and exploited, and by whom.

Let us not forget that these are rights not just granted by the United States Constitution but also in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948.

Derek Khanna argues that the special interest that is the elite Silicon Valley internet and tech businesses who profit from exploiting artists should be making the rules. Fancy that, self serving, self interests for profit hungry corporations the size of a nation states wanting to make their own rules over the proceeds from individual labor.

Mr. Khanna gives readers a list of examples that, to him, demonstrate why copyright law is bad for creators and industry innovators alike. Why’s that a problem? Well, it’s a problem because, as is often the case with the copy-left, he doesn’t see fit to talk to tell the full story as to how crucial copyright protection is for those whose livelihoods depend on content creation. Khanna lists Hank Shocklee of Public Enemy, as an example of an artist constrained by current copyright law, but fails to mention that while Shocklee is a musician, he’s known for work often derived from sampling the work of others. His situation is not exactly representative of all artists, musical or otherwise, who have a stake in this debate.

Why not talk to some 45% of professional musicians who are no longer working in large part because our current copyright law is flouted by today’s digital pirate profiteers? Why not make mention of the independent filmmakers whose innovations are routinely stolen and monetized by bootleggers and online thieves?

READ THE FULL POST HERE AT VOX INDIE:
http://voxindie.org/Derek-Khanna-one-sided-copyright-reform

YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:
Derek Khanna is Wrong: Copyleft Mystery Man’s Misleading Memo Creates its Own Myths…

Time For Silicon Valley To Grow Up And Take Responsibility For Their Online Advertising Business Model.

by Trichordist Editor

The EFF assumes the worst – of everyone else.

An interesting look at the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s highly selective reasoning regarding the DMCA by David Newhoff at The Illusion Of More.

“The long and shameful history of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act file takedown abuse teaches us that intellectual property owners cannot be trusted with the enforcement tools they already have — we should hardly be giving them new ones.”  The “long and shameful” true history of the DMCA is how utterly useless the mechanism is for rights holders to protect their works.

Many creators have demonstrated over an over again that the DMCA notice and takedown procedure is spitting in the wind for even very large, well-funded producers, and completely hopeless for independent and smaller rights holders.

Meanwhile, it is the (internet/tech) industry that funds the EFF, who have made sure that DMCA remains a fly swatter in a storm of raptors.  And that’s bad enough, but to add insult to injury, McSherry sticks this fact in a paper bag and lights in on fire on our doorstep when she says the DMCA has a “history of abuse” by rights holders.  And one reason we can know she’s full of it, is the flimsiness of the cases her own organization chooses to take on as exemplary of this so-called abuse.

READ THE FULL POST HERE AT THE ILLUSION OF MORE:
http://illusionofmore.com/eff-assumes-worst/

by Trichordist Editor

Julian Assange : Google Is Evil in “The New Digital Age”

Very interesting reading as Julian Assange comments on Google, CEO Eric Shchmidt and his book, The New Digital Age. Read on…

“THE New Digital Age” is a startlingly clear and provocative blueprint for technocratic imperialism, from two of its leading witch doctors, Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, who construct a new idiom for United States global power in the 21st century. This idiom reflects the ever closer union between the State Department and Silicon Valley, as personified by Mr. Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, and Mr. Cohen, a former adviser to Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton who is now director of Google Ideas.”

He goes onto say,

“This book is a balefully seminal work in which neither author has the language to see, much less to express, the titanic centralizing evil they are constructing….If you want a vision of the future, imagine Washington-backed Google Glasses strapped onto vacant human faces — forever.”

What does this have to do with artists rights you may ask? Well, the way we see it is that Privacy and Anti-Piracy are bound together by the same common bond of respecting the rights of individual citizens. Which is why individual citizens are granted BOTH the right of individual privacy and the right to protection of their labor under Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE NEW YORK TIMES HERE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/opinion/sunday/the-banality-of-googles-dont-be-evil.html

by Trichordist Editor