Grab the Coffee!

If you have not visited EthicalFan.com, please do so – it is a wealth of information for Creators and Artists Rights!
http://ethicalfan.com/

The ongoing Amanda Palmer experiment (like those previously done by NIN and Radiohead) continues it’s fascination in the media, interestingly, this week Palmer had this comment,“i don’t want this album to be remembered as “the kickstarter record.” i do want this record to explode. and i want this record to explode because it is awesome.” Read more on her Kickstarter Blog:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-the-new-record-art-book-and-tour/posts
/233954

Those illegally exploiting artists work commercially without consent or compensation insist that they are providing “advertising” for the creator, but yet the largest, most popular internet site in the world (Face Book) just lost $10m in advertising funding from GM due to ineffectiveness… a forth coming post will explore in more depth, for now, Forbes reports:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2012/05/15/gm-says-facebook-ads-dont-work-pulls-10-million-account/

Related to the above is the fascinating insight of how valuable web traffic is (or rather is not) in helping to promote creative works. Cartoonist Lars Martinson experienced at 25,000% increase in traffic on his website and only sold 23 e-books as a result, details from the artist’s blog here:
http://larsmartinson.com/3-things-i-learned-when-my-sites-traffic-increased-25000-in-one-day/

This week Google revealed stats on DMCA takedown requests for it’s web search – over 300,000 per week and climbing, Tech Blogs respond, “What Problem?”, Digital Music News reports:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120524google

Another interesting piece from Digital Music News, if you want your music to be valued, start by valuing it yourself and charging for it:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2012/120526charge

We found this debate between German pop star Jan Delay and Christopher Lauer, a Pirate Party member of the Berlin state parliament interesting, given that the Pirate Part does not want to “put all copyright holders out of work.” No, they would just like to “change the rules regarding copyright holders and distributors.” Right, change the rules so people don’t get paid… Fascinating… Germany’s Spiegel reports:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/german-pop-artist-debates-pirate-party-politician-about-file-sharing-a-828588.html

Publishers Association chief executive Richard Mollet speaks up on Artists Rights, The Bookseller reports:
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/pa-criticises-tawdry-theft-copyright.html

Filmmaker David Newhoff responds to the Supreme Court decision to not hear the appeal request in the Tenenbaum case, “What the children of the digital age need to learn as they are now entering the world of grown-ups is that it’s not the song or the movie or the book they’re stealing, but the rights of the creator.” Seems like common sense, more at David’s blog:
http://davidnewhoff.com/2012/05/22/its-not-the-song-stupid-its-the-right/

Music Tech Policy reports on Google’s on going anti-labor attempts at Union-Busting:
http://musictechpolicy.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/mr-dont-be-evil-has-a-new-one-ycombinator-says-kill-hollywood-starting-with-the-unions/

We discovered this week that many artists are unaware of this service that allows DIY artists without a label to report venue sales to Soundscan:
http://www.indiehitmaker.com/Indiehitmaker_Report_Sales.html

We were particularly inspired this week by the courage of a wounded Israeli soldier turned musician:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/community/article/israeli_soldiers_survival_music_inspire_youth_at_vista_20090506/

###

[ THE 101 ] [NEW BOSS / OLD BOSS ] [ SPOTIFY ] [GROOVESHARK ] [ LARRY LESSIG ]
[ JOHN PERRY BARLOW ] [ HUMAN RIGHTS OF ARTISTS ] [ INFRINGEMENT IS THEFT ]
[ THE SKY IS RISING : MAGIC BEAVER EDITION ] [SF GATE BLUNDERS PIRACY FACTS ]
[ WHY ARENT MORE MUSICIANS WORKING ] [ ARTISTS FOR AN ETHICAL INTERNET ]