put in jail for not paying the rights organizations in Thailand phuket

I heard from a friend that was reading the local paper in Phuket that local business owners that were not paying the rights organizations for the use of music content were arrested and taken to jail. As soon as the business owners agreed to sign up with the APRA, BMI, ASCAP equivalent in Thailand, they were released. When i was in Turkey, shops that sold things that were copied were fined, yet the fine was re-newed every 6 months. I’m not sure what the best way is for countries that are changing so fast. Very little of the music i heard when in Thailand was from Thailand.

Copyright gone wrong in paradise.

Interview with Steinar

done

Steinar works at Kunsthall art gallery in Bergen, it seems that the art created in Norway that is not attached to some kind of cultural publishing stream, finds it difficult to get any kind of platform. Although US artists have little cultural funding, they do have a very much less regulated art world. If this creates a more real art environment or not who can say. Most US artists seem happy to make their way over to Europe and tour through the cultural landscape if they can. It does seem that few acts tour Europe that are self published. the ones that are self published are most likely going to be performing art that others created.

My experience of Norway is that almost every artists from outside Norway that does a show here is with a publisher. The conclusion in Norway seems to be a little like this: if you can’t find a publisher in your own country then why should we allow you to perform here.

For artists in Norway it seems: we can give you money to make what you want, yet if you want to get exposure for what you create, your at the mercy of the publishers and cultural funds. If you (as an artists) create content without a cultural publisher or commercial publisher then your only (most likely) going to be able to show this to your friends. You can play for free in a bar and your friends can drink lots of beer. Conclusion: oh yeah, its unfortunate that we don’t create any public spaces for these kind of events, if we did we would be under minding the well organized cultural publishing system that we have in place. So that is just not going to happen.

Punks, keep on filling in forms. Artists in central and western Europe might have an easier task at getting content out than any artists based in Norway. Although its not really possible to pay a professional in Europe to book a self published artists shows in Euopre. Yet i am finding that this also apllies in the US. DIY is the only way and those that don’t deal with DIY artists, well they are the enemy.

please find the truth for yourself, this could be more science fiction.

Zou from Antwerp

done

http://www.rawmedia.tv 

Francios from Antwerp about sabam and a free culture

Last week i was in Antwerp and interviewed Francios, shall post some bio information soon.

done

http://www.rawmedia.tv

thoughts on free culture

response to mail thread about how to get free-culture to work.

The idea of being able to make a living through music without having a live performance aspect to the art is not so common for DIY artists. Also consider if the act is solo or with a band. Artist is in Europe, US or developing/ transforming country. So many variables, no one size fits all.

Free music distributor www.Jamendo.com has 5000 Albums on site, from April to July Jamendo made 3000 Euros for artists through advertising revenue, that was split with artists according to how much content was used. This is less than a euro an album, consider the amount of time that goes into creating that content. The contributor to the site also gets a load of banners when they visit the network. The fan has the option of giving a donation, yet few contribute. This is good distribution for the artist/band yet with no live show to go with the performance what to do ?

article in progress/free culture spaces without free culture

In the last weeks i have been performing tunes around Europe. In my down time I visited some non-profit places/spaces to look for more shows. What i found interesting was this: more than most of the content performed in these venues is owned by publishers & most of the revenue comes directly from the government to keep these spaces open. I found it slightly ironic that the public is paying to keep a venue open that is promoting published acts.

Most large towns and cities in central europe have free-culture spaces ( non-profit organizations that provide subsidized entertainment to the public). From what I understand the better ones work this way: they have a board of directors that is made up mostly by leaders within the community. These leaders decide what projects get approved and what ones don’t. Some of the spaces are old theaters that have been updated to bar/cafe/venue-theater. Here are some links to non-profit spaces I visited. http://www.spielboden.at http://www.palace.sg http://www.denhopsack.be http://www.stadel.at

These spaces want to stay open and competitive within the community, almost all the acts/productions that they promote

none of the music/art i heard/saw in these spaces is licensed with a creative commons license. M