Thoughts – Page 17 – Scratch My Brain

Record label to music fans: no song lyrics on your computer!

Boing Boing: Record label to music fans: no song lyrics on your computer!

This guy wasn’t even hosting the lyrics. He just wrote a freeware tool to find and display lyrics that are already on display on the web.

I understand that all of the sites that post song lyrics are violating copyrights, but this guy is violating copyrights no more than the makers of Internet Explorer, which can do pretty much what this guy’s app does.

I understand the need to protect one’s copyrights, but many of these music labels and publishers seem like they don’t get it, on a very basic level.

UPDATE 12/16/05: According to this CNET article Warner/Chappell has issued an apology.

Oops…our bad.

A Model For Big Content?

Artists are always trying to find new ways to finance the creation of their art, and ways to connect with an audience.

Artist Share worked well for Maria Schneider who won a Grammy for a CD available only online and finaced through listener support.

The concept outlined in the following link combines the fan support with an open license concept. Pretty cool. It could work if you have enough fans with enough trust.

OpenBusiness » Blog Archive » A Model For Big Content?

Mental illness link to art and sex

A look at some possibilities for what makes artists, well, artists.

Guardian Unlimited | Arts news | Mental illness link to art and sex

A friend once told me I was the only sane jazz musician he knew. I don’t know if that bodes well for my mental health, or poorly for my art.

UPDATE: 12/1/05 Here is a response to the first article, also published in the GU.

Young ‘prefer illegal song swaps’

From a BBC story ,BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Young ‘prefer illegal song swaps’ :

Jupiter analyst Mark Mulligan said: “The digital youth of today are being brought up on a near limitless diet of free and disposable music from file-sharing networks.

“When these consumers age and increase spending power they should become key music buying consumers.

He added: “Unless the music industry can transition these consumers whilst they are young away from free consumption to paid music formats, be they digital or CDs, they may never develop music purchasing behaviour and the recording industry could suffer long-term harm.”

I think part of this is because the music industry is seen as a large cold faceless glob of evil, which much of it is. My friend, jazz artist David Gibson, has suggested that as we move to more independent production, that the artists will become the face of their music (instead of a many major labels that seem like they would prefer to sue you, or ruin your computer, as much as sell a CD to you), and people will be less likely to steal it. That seems to make sense.

Canadian artist Jane Siberry has a digital music store that seems to run on that theory. There is a nice description of the principle in this Boing Boing post.

A composer to scare the bejesus out of the IPO

An interesting look at a seemingly grumpy composer.

Haaretz – Israel News – A composer to scare the bejesus out of the IPO

I like this quote:

“Enjoyment is a historical experience. People enjoy Mozart, Dvorak, Berlioz. If I want to enjoy a melody, I go to Schubert. This is a cultural experience. But of a work that was written the day before yesterday, I am critical. The enjoyment is only a part of my listening, a niche. Art is too serious a matter to limit it to the concept of enjoyment. That’s primitive. When a work appeals to taste, it is appealing to a low level: This is the same taste that chooses the color of a car, or upholstery, or a table. This is the same taste that chooses what ice cream to lick. Taste is base artistic judgment.”

Thanks to John W for sending the article my way.

Grateful Dead widow burns down online show-library

I’ve never been a big Dead fan, but this article offers another look at the constantly evolving world of coyright and intellectual property.

Boing Boing: Greedy Grateful Dead widow burns down online show-library

Here is a band that was built upon a tape trader mentality. They and their fans were at the forefront of the type of thinking that has led to open source and creative common concepts. Now some survivors and family members apparently see too great a business opportunity to pass up.

Right now I have CC licensed tunes on my site. I just want people to hear my music, and hopefully talk about it. I wonder if I will feel the same way after the free jazz revolution has made it possible for me to get rich from my stuff.

Artists must always risk offending

This is an interesting essay dealing with modern adaptations of classsic theatre, and the unspoken root of that issue, which is balancing the artist’s responsibility to society with the artist’s responsibility to his art.

Guardian Unlimited | Arts front | Artists must always risk offending

Remixing Pop Culture » CC:365 – Creative Commons Music, Three Sixty Five

Indieish: Remixing Pop Culture » CC:365 – Creative Commons Music, Three Sixty Five

What a great idea. A new Creative Commons licensed tune everyday for a year. Very cool. And hopefully a good introduction to Creative Commons.

How James Joyce can lead to Ben Webster

From an entry on Rifftides: Doug Ramsey on jazz and other matters.

My favorite line:
“My God,” one of the women said about halfway through, “It’s as if he doesn’t have a horn, as if he’s just breathing the music.”

That’s what every artist strives for. Communication that erases the medium.

Gary Giddins on Lester Bowie

The updating josh of life, daily. » Gary Giddins on Lester

From Josh Roseman’s blog, referencing a Gary Giddins article in the Village Voice.

The line that scratched my brain was: “…suddenly everything he wrote about Goethe and Marx seemed to be about Lester. “Why should modern men, who have seen what man’s activity can bring about, passively accept the structure of their society as it is given?” A pretext for avant-garde jazz if I ever heard one.”