56 trillion dollar debt..

October 26, 2008

comment on youtube clip

who wants a fed that is owned/ruled via the corporations. every time the market has a big crash its harder for the small guys to pick themselves up and do it again. imagine that all the publishing companies would become one publishing company. then only feed you things they had already created and not let/anything/new/into/system19 84

its interesting that 56 trillion is 500,000 per household in the US, this with incomes per home of 50,000 each….

also::: its interesting that the one.org youtube clip does not allow comments, well they allowed 10 and then stopped, why want one.org allow open forums.. they have a blog on their site… yet very few responses… transparency of information (and finance!) is needed to change, i reckon… a free flow of thought from the public that fund these organizations…


interview with Jamendo www.jamendo.com

August 6, 2008

-You’re an Australian living in Europe, why did you make the move, its all beaches why spend a winter here?

I moved from Australia about four years ago, and i’m mostly based in Prague. I made the move because i wanted to be performing more tunes rather than just a guy with a recording. I lived mainly in the inner city of Sydney and out of a 150 potential spaces to perform tunes, music happens in about two. The scene is not that much different in Europe, yet more cities, more people, and a better understanding of what art means, makes life more interesting. We have it good in Australia, more space, less people, yet its not really that great a place for someone a little off-beat. Its a great inspiration, yet hard to figure out a way to connect that inspiration.

-Recently you had a song go out in the now showing x-files film “i want to believe”, how did this happen and what does it all mean for you?

The director of the film Chris Carter found out about the song and Beatpick licensed the recording to fox. I was shocked to find out about it. The use of the song in the film has changed a lot of things for me, an industry that has left me out of things for so long has taken an interest. That’s not a bad thing, yet i’m still not sure how to react. Its going to take time to re-adjust and i’m in no hurry.

-What creative commons license do you use and why do you use that license?

I use a creative commons license that allows commercial use, i use this license as it offers more flexibility to the user than a non-commercial license. Consider though that although a song might have gone out as part of a major film production, look into the commercial avenues where artists can have their music used and gain a revenue and I don’t see many “self published” works being used. Mostly the rights organizations issue blanket licenses, for the use of content that is owned by publishers. The system is set up in favor of the publisher not the artist. To me it seems its best to license content with as little restrictions as possible, as there are already a heap of restrictions in place as things are.

-Do you think this could be the first major released film to use a song that is also licensed with a creative commons license?

I hope so. Its interesting to consider all the people in the past that gave their songs up, many maybe taken or given away in the hope of getting a name for themselves, or some songs maybe just in the hope that people would get it. The thing i really appreciate about a Creative Commons license that allows commercial use, is that a regular publisher could possibly use a song that is licensed with a creative commons license, yet probably wouldn’t as someone else could use that song as well. This might be the reason why publishers are putting bad vibes out about Creative Commons.

-How did you hear about Jamendo?

I found out about creative commons through an open source guy in Vienna, at first i was skeptical about Creative Commons, it took me a while to even get what open source meant. Then i struggled with understanding my situation. In the heat of the moment i told APRA in Australia to cancel my membership, at the same time i went along to the Icommons isummit in Croatia. I sat on the plane next to the CEO of Jamendo with a project.

-You joined ASCAP to collect for the use, are you worried about not being included in any revenues from the film?

I can’t see much reason for a self publishing artist to join with any rights organization, unless they are sure they are going to collect something. Sure its a family of artists, yet its a family of artists that is represented mostly by the artists and publishers that collect the most revenue. As soon as an artist joins a rights organization other than ASCAP or BMI it seems that they are removing themselves from the market place. Self published artists look to be better off with ASCAP and publishers in Europe might even be better to transfer their artists memberships to ASCAP/ harry fox. Less equals more. Most publishers and labels based in Europe are using Myspace anyway. I’m still trying to figure it all out, yet it seems this way.

I was not so worried about not collecting revenues through the screen actors guild as I did not write the song for the film. Its just the way it works and i can’t change that. I respect competition and the right for the artist to be able to choose. I’m told a small residual is paid when the song gets to TV though.

Consider though, artists, web services, film makers and the consumer are left in the cold as a result of how the rights organizations look after their authors copyright outside the US. Its just not fair. For me its important that people get to hear the song, looking for ways for people to get the song I’ve gone active against the system. I’m not sure if one side is better than the other, it seem as if both sides don’t care much for the art though.

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brick moon

March 24, 2008

simply by being, we grow.
I posted this comment bellow on this link

how to grow if we are making things to get attention (this article included). we all have our way through the muddy shadows, is it all a strange transaction and we can’t avoid it. all this good is dependent on bad. a brick can only be so round. who are we to make circular bricks and live in a house and use the net.

maybe there is only one middle way through the urban jungle.


apra rights organization the effect in short

March 6, 2008

The real change i see is that most consumers have technology to create, yet APRA’s policy of one price for use of content makes it impossible for distribution of art not without a publisher, to both commercial and non-commercial streams that are off line. Yet online myspace and youtube don’t pay for the use of content. The effect of this is that the rights organizations are keeping people online and inside their homes; stopping the flow of culture outside the home. One problem is that APRA don’t show how they create the cost for use of content. how can open content be integrated ?


The hex of cultural funding

December 12, 2007

In Europe most art is culturally funded in some way. Even commercial labels/publishers might be dependent on the income that they get via performance in culturally funded venues. Some small business possibly don’t provide live entertainment because they are unable to compete with the nonprofit venues. Culturally funded venues also could be seen to create conditions that encourage artists to join rights organizations, when possibly they shouldn’t. This means venues have the view that they have to pay the rights organizations for all use of content. Artists have little incentive not to join the rights organizations as media/venues/festivals (not myspace though) pay blanket licenses for the use of content. An artist (outside the US) not with a rights organization is able to license her or his content as they choose, however as the rights organizations issue blanket licenses to media for the use of content, commercial media almost always is going to choose well published content over that of “self published” content. An end to the blanket license system and an adaptation of a system similar to that of the US, would create a better flow of art. The problem seems to be that people from both sides of the political fence benefit from the system being the way it is. What organizations benefits when art is “self published” ? how to be punk when no-matter what way you look you have to fill in forms or give up rights for any exposure.