September 08, 2007
Why I love CreateDigitalMusic
Ever have a crappy morning where just everything upsets you and everything goes wrong? Somedays that happens and it's really damn average. To cheer myself up I was doing the rounds of my favourite sites, and I read this excellent article by Gary Kibler on CDM. And it almost immediately changed my mood and gave me pause for reflection. It was excellent timing and I certainly needed cheering up!
What I wanted to say though, was that what I love about CDM is it's inclusive and constant high quality of writing. Peter wrangles it and has invested massive time in it, and is an almost constant source of inspiration for me and my personal side projects. I've been involved from a design point of view for a while, so I'm not exactly impartial... That said, the reason I got involved in the start out of genuine respect for what it is that CDM has come to represent.
For me, I see it as most accessible and inclusive online music community online. The sarcasm mostly gets left at the door and you get earnest, funny and well written music coverage and intelligent comments. And that deserves recognition.
Well done Peter, and well done the other writers on CDM it's a constant source of inspiration and if you don't visit it already you should.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2007
Steve Jobs & DRM
Fascinating tidbit over on Engadget - Steve Jobs on DRM: let's get rid of it. Here's a snippet:
"Why would the big four music companies [ever] agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven't worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. ... Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries. Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free. ... Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly."
DRM doesn't stop piracy, and while things exist in the digital domain, it's virtually impossible to stop the copying of those things. If the value of the music is such that it doesn't compel someone to buy it in the first place, then you're probably looking at a prime target for piracy. I buy plenty of albums, but the way I discover new music is through last.fm, public radio, and pirate copies from friends. All those things are free, and I certainly don't think that I would purchase as much music as I do, or even be as interested as I am in music.
Even just as recently as yesterday's poster, I came across HomeSkillet records who have a refreshing take on music piracy:
There is a general assumption around corporate music that stealing music is bad. We disagree, in fact we encourage it.
However, this does not mean we will put out albums in the traditional sense and not ask for money.
Studio time is an investment. If we invest in studio time, then we ask for you, the fan, to invest in us. This way, we will stick around.
Most of the time our music will be recorded over computers. About half of which will be uploaded to this site. This music will be free, and we encourage people to download and share.
HomeSkillet Records encourages stealing music. However, we also encourage donations. If a person was so obliged, we are glad to accept.
HomeSkillet is to be applauded. Visit their site, check out some tracks, and if you like it, please support them.
DRM harries consumers, espescially now that you can download and have access to illegitimate versions which are hassle free so easily, big music isn't doing a whole lot to protect and promote more sales. It's all so obvious to everyone who actually listens to music. The way to protect the music industry is not to harangue those who support it by lumbering them with DRM.
Engadget - Steve Jobs on DRM: let's get rid of it. & HomeSkillet Records
Posted by funnelbc at 07:30 AM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2006
Moo-g or Mogue? My pronunciation conundrum.
Okay. This is a bit of an admission of guilt. But for a long time I thought that Moog was pronounced Moo-g (as in the sound a cow makes with a g on the end). And up until last year I continued to think this, and it still pains me to say it properly Mogue (as in Kylie Min-ougue without the Min and with a M)
I just wanted to give you a heads-up, incase you were in a music shop and you were chatting idly with the shop guy and you accidentally said Moo-g. Because that's not right.
Even though it's more fun to say it that way. Dammit. I want it to be Moo-g. It sounds better.
Inspired by this: Matrix Synth Post
Moog piccy from Flickr
Posted by funnelbc at 03:48 PM | Comments (1)
August 18, 2006
aleatoric music composition
I've been meaning to write this up literally forever. But hey. I'm important and busy*. (*not really) Also I like playing video games. I'm sure you can see how that works out.
A mate of mine dylan (webzen: this is not london.com & the world is our soundtoy.com) asked me ages ago to score some music for him. What he wanted me to score was actually what you see above. (but more bars obviously). It's mostly chewing gum and dirty marks on the plastic stripping that is on the edge of train platforms.
I added an extra bar line below so I had the normal 5 lines to work with and fired up Sibelius. What I ended up with was pleasantly suprising.
Results in midi format Download file
There's some really nice little bits in this, some work better than others, but from a compositional standpoint for music scored from bubblegum on a trainplatform it isn't bad. This is an idea I'd like to explore in greater depth, and possibly take some photos myself and score my local trainstation. Perhaps with a few determined music geeks we could score a bunch of trainstations the world over. A correspondingly busy trainstation would result in many more grubby marks to score. The other implication (and this is something dylan's soundtoys really made me think about) is that in the world around us, there are myriad opportunities for musical inspiration, and in this literal sense of scoring as faithfully as possible, the real word theres a really pleasing idea at the core. And I certainly don't mean to be twee, but everyone no matter how untalented (such as myself) can look for inspiration and create music.
Edit: Dylan tells me it's not incidental music composition, but aleatoric music composition!
Posted by funnelbc at 11:13 AM | Comments (2)
June 29, 2006
Create Digital Motion Launch
Again I would like to draw your attention to another one of the Peter Kirn industry productions; which is Create Digital Motion. It's just launched and it is a site that provides information to the video/vj crowd in the same vein as Create Digital Music. I put together the design & artwork, Jaymis coded and wrangled my unruly artwork into beautiful sweet technojabber (Please visit the The Oxygen Kiosk should you need high quality coding and web design services) and Peter Kirn wrangled & organised me and was ever so patient with my other commitments. We worked on this project completely via the web, as we did with CDM, and I've gotta say that doing this kind of stuff online is just so much fun.
This has been a lovely project to work on, the communication and the professionalism of both Peter and James have made this project a joy to work on, and a privilege to be involved with.
Visit: Create Digital Motion
Also visit: Create Digital Music
Don't forget to also see: Jaymis.com & his commercial venture The Oxygen Kiosk
Posted by funnelbc at 09:50 PM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2006
iPod, Crap DRM, Bile apon the music establishment.
This all falls into the basket that I would loosely "Copyright Isanity" but I think if I had a category assigned to that I would be profoundly depressed.
Let me prefece this with a short story. A coworkers iPod shat it after a year and 3 months use. It was a U2 model - no accounting for taste... Just kidding Paul. It looked lovely. After taking it in for Apple service, he was informed by the smug Applestore girl that "they could replace the hardrive, but couldn't guarantee that it would work for long, they couldn't give a warrantee beyond 2 months for the repair, and to boot, couldn't gaurantee they would be replacing the hdd with a new one." Their advice? Buy a new one...
So, this morning, said coworker comes into work with a shiny new iPod. Slightly disappointed and annoyed, but nontheless willing to plonk down the cash to enjoy iPod related music listening. The point is coming soon folks. So he had a bunch of music that he has purchased from the iTunes store. Now here's the thing that bites. Even though when he realized that he no longer had a copy of the music on his desktop - (and subsequently lost the copy on his iPod obviously) and when he went to Purchase another copy of said music - the apple store recognized that he had previously bought it. And advised him to goto: Advanced > check for purchases.
Which informed him that he had all the purchased music available to his account. Less of course, every goddamn album he had downloaded off iTunes. It seems that even though the Apple store recognises that he has purchased the music in the past, he simply cannot download another copy to his machine. Music he copied onto his iPod which died after a year and 3 months.
I often hear stories about iPods dying, and being an office nerd, I also spend a lot of time helping folks with thier iPod problems. In a department with about 50 people working in my immediate area, I have had to troubleshoot 6 (maybe more) iPods, 3 of which had irrecoverable hard drive problems. I have an iPod myself, and this worries me slightly. It seems you don't have to ask far to discover someone who has had an iPod and had a bad experience. It seems when they work, they work, great. When they don't...
What I think is important to take from this: even the more flexible DRM systems still suck absolute goats balls. Secondly, buy Apple shares. These guys are absolutely minting it on products of questionable quality. And still they come up smelling of roses - Apple still have an amazing reputation. Which I find absolutely incredible.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:02 PM | Comments (1)
April 12, 2006
NEW Create Digital Music Launched
Okay this is a bit of a crossover post; along with the amazing work of James Loveday and under the leadership of Peter Kirn, (as well a bunch of other great folks who have contributed) I am delighted to announce the redesign of Create Digital Music.
And what you see is the end result. There will be more things to come, and I will be continuing to help with a related project and some other CDM related stuff is surely to come. But until then, please visit and enjoy the new Create Digital Music!
More of the back story follows after the jump...
I got involved with CDM about a year and half previously when I was up late at night, and felt like refreshing their logo for them. I sent my design to them and said that I was a fan of the site, and here's some new artwork, use it if you like, or if not, not a problem either! Peter responded personally the next day, and the new logo and artwork was online. This started an exchange of emails, and nearly 10 months after that, Peter got in contact to let me know that he was ready to go full steam ahead with the new site design. Basically, by giving away a little bit of work, I somehow found myself working on this as a proper freelance gig. Working with folks who share similar interests as me is something I should do more often I think! This was an exciting and fun project to work on.
The design and implementation process on this site took quite a while - and Peters patience and understanding of freak Australian weather conditions such as 4 consecutive 36+ degree (celcius) days was fantastic. So after I had wrapped up the basic design, the implementation process started in earnest and James did his thing here. Which was nothing short of amazing. I gave him no short order of requirements in terms of the design, and his templating of that design is excellent!
I'm really proud to have been involved with this project. Thanks Peter, and thanks James!
Posted by funnelbc at 07:49 AM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2006
The ABC needs your help
In Australia we're lucky enough to have a national, independent broadcaster. The Australian Broadcasting Foundation (ABC for the non-Australian visitors) provides radio, television and increasingly, new media services on the website such as podcasting many of it's popular radio shows, online news and plenty more. Basically, the ABC is a fantastic thing for independent critical thinking here in Australia.
Right now, the Cabinet's budget committee is deciding the ABC's funding for the next three years. Their next meeting is on Tuesday.
Above and beyond it's basic role as broadcaster the ABC provides and documents Australian culture, promoting a genuine sense of multiculturalism (along with SBS - the special broadcasting service - another publicly funded broadcaster here in Australia.) and also promotes and fosters independent Australian music. And much more.
We are extremely lucky to have such an institution here in Australia, overseas the airwaves are bought and sold and the public interest is not as much of an issue as revenue.
Recently there's been a lot of talk about the role of the ABC and the future of Australian media, and one way that we can take a stand for independent music, genuine celebration of multiculturalism and the cultural identity of Australia is to let the government know that they can stop trimming away money from the ABC's budget and start investing back into publically funded media.
As the petition puts it,
Dear Mr Costello and Senator Minchin,
We believe in the value of a well-funded and independent national broadcaster.
We understand that the ABC has asked you for a modest increase in funding to meet the demands of a 21st-century media outlet.
With a budget surplus of nearly $10 billion, funding the ABC is surely money well spent.
Send the message to Canberra: FUND OUR ABC please tell your friends and family who care about independent, music, news and the arts.
Related posts: My Talkback Radio Experience
Posted by funnelbc at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2006
talkback radio
This is a bit of an Australian media related post, so here's some background for my overseas readers: There has been a great deal of talk recently our Goverment Senate representative has recently spoke about the plans for the future of Australian media. On one hand they are saying they wish to protect cultural diversity, and on the other hand, they are proposing to remove our media cross ownership laws so that instituions that own 75% of the Newspaper market for example, can buy TV and radio stations here in Australia. It's all very concerning.
I just had a chance to have a chat with Biggsy on Melbourne's very fine 3rrr Radio which is a first for me. Talkback radio is not something I ever saw myself calling up. A big hello to any rrr listeners who have checked out my site as a result.
What I rang up to chat about - I was a bit nervous and got a little off topic, but basically, why on Earth do we continue to hire Communications Ministers such as the previous, Richard Alston and now, Helen Coonan - who seem to know very little about Communications, IT & the arts? Apparently a background in Law gives you the background you need to understand IT, Communcations Infrastructure and the Arts. As Biggsy quite rightly points out, I shouldn't be surprised at all. I guess a better word is saddened.
When the media companies who have to compete with blogs run by well funded organisations such as myself - (HAH!) they apparently need more control of the industry. They apparently think that 75% of audience reach is restrictive and represents real competition. I think that's bloody shabby corporately funded politics at the worst.
Allocate more more funding to the arts, make it less difficult and cheaper to get a license to broadcast radio into the real world - so that people can get better voice in the conventional mediums, not take away protections so that Newscorp et al, can own more of our airwaves. It's really awful to think that this kind of political double-speak & double-think can go into the media and almost no media outlets seriously question what's going on. Because it's not in their business interests obviously.
They've set a threshold that media "diversity" cannot fall below, which is much lower than the current amount of broadcasters that we currently have. It seems to me disingenuous to be saying that they're protecting media diversity and then on the other hand, take away the barriers to more media ownership by the existing big corporate players.
And keep your goddamn filthy hands of the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Foundation - Publically funded TV). The same Senator in question, has raised the potential of putting ads on the ABC. John Howard unbelievably (because my impression of the man is that he would privatize his grandmother for a quick buck) has put the kibosh on that, but it's a telling indictment of where Senator Helen Coonan is at.
Stunned by the hypocracy and the lies folks. Just stunned.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
September 07, 2005
"the day music died" - sadly it didn't take hyperbole with with it.
Yesterday the ruling was passed down on the Kazaa folks, Sharman Networks. As part of the ruling:
"They also sponsored a Kazaa Revolution campaign attacking the record companies," he said. "To a young audience ... the effect of this web page would be to encourage visitors to think it cool to defy the record companies."
It is cool to defy the man. That is, let me check the usage instructions, yes what rock and or roll is about. I'm sure this has some fairly serious legal repercussions for online file sharing, or at least it's a precedent for the Australian legal system.
"Success in the Kazaa case is also likely to be huge boost for the global music industry, which has been hanging on by its fingernails, blaming music piracy for a huge drop in CD sales.
According to the International Federation of Phonographic Industries, peer-to-peer was partly to blame for a 25 per cent drop in record sales since 1999. In Australia, the value of record sales fell 6 per cent in 2004 to $607 million.
What would be a massive boost for the global music industry is to stop regurgitating the same filth onto the airwaves and television and get behind interesting and new music.
I think that even mainstream radio stations like Triple M (part of the Ausstereo network) here in Australia are feeling the pinch from a consumer who increasingly doesn't have to put up with not only a poor selection and variety of music, but a density of advertising that would make any hardened popular culture consumer turn off.
Music lovers (or at least musical epicurans), by and large don't listen to commercial radio, they purchase singles, and these days, can choose how they get their music. I think however, it's not that portion of the music purchasing audience that is stealing music online, i'm fairly convinced (and a quick search for any moderately popular pop act versus a moderately popular alternative act on Limewire will confirm this) its the younger people who formerly purchased singles and a top 40 compilation CDs that are especially getting into this market. If their total CD purchases for a year would be maybe 10 CDs for example and they download all those albums online that would hurt big music business much more than your avid music fan who not only downloads music online, but continues to purchase music instore, online, and attends live music.
I think that's why there is so much bitterness towards big music. The people who pour a disproportionate amount of money per capita into the industry are overlooked for the quick buck, short term money potential of artists like the Australian/Armenian/American Idol winners. If you take care of your core business - that is, your actual music lovers, then you can continue to dish saccharine slops to the teenage market, but I feel perhaps as consumers they'd also be more likely to become avid music purchasers if music had for them the same signifigance it does to a music affionado.
I got a bit worked up and confused there, but the crux of what i'm trying to get at is, music afficionados aren't hurting the music industry, they continue to be an advocate and avid purchaser of music products, but the top 40 music consumer is getting wiser I think. Why pay for the music when they can download it online - they certainly don't seem to get anything special from purchasing the CD and seem to have much less of an emotional attachement to any of these issues because music is like any other consumer product for them. The music industry treats it's biggest consumers like cattle and now the cattle has greener pastures to dine apon.
If p2p had a blow struck yesterday, it was only the aspect as it applies to commercial entities trying to operate legally and make a profit (and Sharman made quite a bit of money from Kazaa) from piracy. What's logical - and happening right now is piracy is facilitated by bittorrent and increasingly as time goes on, you will see anonymous torrent software allowing sharers to swap files in relative safety. Bandwidth available to consumers is ramping up, and what consumers can do with that facility is the big question. How quick can the record industry nail down each new method of piracy and how quickly can the users circumvent it again?
Posted by funnelbc at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)
July 29, 2005
payola sucks
I'd never heard of the term payola before, but I did however have an inkling from a very young age of how corrupt the music industry is. My father runs a community radio station, and as a result he happened to know a bit about the music industry in general, and I distinctly remember him telling me how some music shops in Australia are ones that ARIA uses for polling to work out what singles & albums are selling well each week. Now apparently it was an open secret which stores were which, and these store managers could reliably expect gifts of household whitegoods, free stock and a bunch of other bribes from the record companies so that their product would be upfront and selling well. It's not uncommon (or at least it wasn't at the time - ~1996) for record companies to give a shop a bunch of singles and then buy them back from the shop - hence boosting "sales" figures and paying off the record shop. My perception of the record industry as this shadowy "other" body behind the scenes in the music industry was formed at around that point in time.
It's no suprise to me to find out that this sort of thing logically extends to radio stations, where the big record companies are paying DJs to play tracks to increase sales. I think I've become slightly more cynical than when I first starting hearing about these things, but I do feel it's somewhat ironic that the record industry as a whole gets up on it's high horse about "stealing music" but I feel that them stealing airtime from deserving artists is just as, if not more reprehensible.
the digital music weblog via CDM Related: Billboard: Spitzer Evidence To Be Handed Over To FCC
Posted by funnelbc at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
June 30, 2005
bob dylan CD available exclusively through starbucks *gag*
It's been a while since I crawled up on to the old high horse. And god know's there's shitloads of other awful stuff going on in the world.
But is anyone else more than a little digusted with this? Bob Dylan and his record label have a deal going on with Starbucks, they get an exclusive right to sell a live recording through their chain, bolstering sales of their repugnant tar and also adding a dollar or two to their bottom line. Nice.
That disenfranchised customer is very much a part of the Starbucks customer base," Ken Lombard, president of the chain's entertainment division, said in an interview."
Not even a touch of irony here? My brain is a about to explode.
And as a momentary before the jump diversion - Minor Threat vs. Nike
To paraphrase Bill Hicks - "By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself. No, this is not a joke: kill yourself . . . I know what the marketing people are thinking now too: 'Oh. He's going for that anti-marketing dollar. That's a good market.' Oh man, I am not doing that, you fucking evil scumbags."
I cannot countenance what part of Dylan's original reportoire or meaning Starbucks think they can graft onto their goliath franchise corporation, apart from the message "the times, they are changing" I vomit on on the whole thing. It's not the first time Bob has shilled, but at least you could sort of understand maybe, just maybe last time. At least if you phrase it in the terms that Dylan is a very ugly man.
Like everything else, it seems the symbols of the baby boomer's revolution are up for sale, and the older folks get the more likely they are to stab you in the heart with a giant fucking pitchfork and say with a great big grin on their face - it's going to be good for the economy or business or whatever. Some people stop fighting for their dreams, stop trying to achieve anything with their lives and in the ultimate evil, then drag other people down with their greed and lack of spirit. This shit just stinks.
Once again Bill says it best...
"You know what Bill's doing now, he's going for the righteous indignation dollar, that's a big dollar, a lot of people are feeling that indignation, we've done research, huge market. He's doing a good thing." Godammit, I'm not doing that, you scumbags, quit putting a godamn dollar sign on every fucking thing on this planet."
Love,
Funnel.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)
need help with a film clip? (melbourne)
A good mate of mine is on the hunt for musicians who might be interested in collaborating. He's a interactive motion designer dude who is an all around good bloke.
If you have a song or just the desire to work with a professional on a creative project together - and I stress the words creative... If you've aready got your clip sussed then maybe someone else is the person for you. That said, it's an outstanding opportunity to hook up and do something really cool.
Preferably you'll be located in Melbourne and easy going, because life's just easier that way! :P At any rate, drop me a line on info at ausmusician dot com if you want to get involved!
Posted by funnelbc at 09:49 PM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2005
movie recommendation: the corporation
Not OT's usual forte, but just a note to say if you get the chance to see this movie please do. It's a really powerful documentation of the history, and what's happening right now with Corporations. It's essential viewing for pretty much everyone. Very moving, very well put together, and very needed. There's some stuff in this that confirms a lot of stuff that the average person suspects, and some just plain shocking and difficult stuff to watch. Features a bunch of surprisingly candid corporate CEOs and also a bunch of amazing critical thinkers such as the amazing Noam Chomsky.
See it now, and tell your friends.
the corporation Distributed in Australia by Madman Entertainment
Posted by funnelbc at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2005
legal fun for a friend of mine...
This is a bit horrible, but I thought that perhaps some of my readers might be a bit interested in this. A design mate of mine who just recently put me up when I was up in Sydney for a conference, has been threatened with legal action. He has the domain lifethroughapolaroid.com and the legal folks around at Polaroid seem to think that he's taking away from their brand's cachet by running a site and blog on the above mentioned domain.
I'd just like to voice my support for Ben and say that I think that it's just a tad overzealous and unnecessary and makes Polaroid as a company look not only outdated but more than a little unfriendly. Surely a site that features a stack of Polaroid lifestyle images is the kind of publicity that they can't buy? Damn shame. I have a Polaroid camera, and as a simple protest I plan not buy film for it or use it again.
If you have a polaroid, why not investigate alternatives for cool analogue images, such as Lomo Cameras - there's a company that understands the value a real dialogue with thier customers.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2005
podcasts & legal issues...
Podcasting is becoming increasingly popular. The term podcasting refers to recording music and or spoken word to be later played back on portable music devices. It can be delivered via RSS feeds or just linked on a webpage, or a blog. I bet Apple is stoked with that little puppy, even though the name infers it, the podcast isn't an ipod exclusive thing, its just different ways to deliver content to portable players. It's like timeshifted real audio that doesn't suck. Yes that's right, real audio and their annoying player can get knotted. So apart from offering a more flexible solution for music lovers what else awaits for fans of the podcast? Well... maybe a lawsuit if things head the way they have been going...
So a little time has passed and due to the sheer volume of people downloading podcasts has reached the point that big music is surely going to start to take an active interest. This FMQB article discusses some of the big issues surrounding podcasting. Not the least of which is which laws they are covered under, the fact that the vast majority of music in podcasts isn't licensed in any way.
While of course the audio quality is almost always much worse than standard music mp3's as the files are compressed for obvious bandwidth constraints, podcasts published with lossless audio compression cannot be far away. Especially as the amount of bandwidth to users inexorably increases.
The problem
This poses a few issues, as once you start distributing music online, no matter how noble your intent - to put together an independent radio program effectively - that begins to violate basic acceptable use policies no matter where you're from. Sadly, I forsee record companies continuing their neanderthal approach towards digital music which has hallmarked the story so far. Which has been nothing if not antagonistic so far. Neil Leyton from Fading Ways says it best "Oh. And another thing. "Music Publishing", as a concept, is wrong. No one creates songs out of thin air..."
Right now, things are good, podcasts are plentiful and big music is slow to react. And like big companies, perhaps it's time for us to get our collective shit together. As the FMQB Article mentions Creative Commons copyright may provide a valid way out for everyone concerned.
While the existing copyright structure provided by creative commons copyright cant't apply to most of the existing podcasting, as the podcasters don't own the copyright. However, if anybody is likely to successfully try and eek out some form of license that people can release their podcasts under - the creative commons folks might just be the the people to help us make it pallatable for both parties. The quality is inherently low, and the podcast shows are certainly no danger to commercial radio in terms of production values - but people aren't looking for something slick and professional when they download a podcast, they're interested in other people's opinions and music. It's a genuine word of mouth old style broadcasting, and this term keeps on cropping up in my mind - independent radio.
The problem with radio in general is that there is only so many licenses available and in most countries, getting a license to get on the air is an expensive and heavily regulated area. Community radio stations, and non-profit radio stations are still relatively rare, even here in Australia where there is legislation in place to allow for community broadcasters. This effectively means that there is limited opportunity for anyone to just put together some songs and their thoughts into a radio show as there is simply not enough radio stations and not enough commercial reasons for everyone to have a radio show.
a possible solution.
So podcasting, which is by far and above a non-profit labour of love is the bastard child of a lack of availabity for public speech brought forth into the digtal age. So what I propose is that there be some structure put in place to encourage music lovers and satisfy big music that their next big threat isn't from independent podcast/radio shows - but from music that no longer interests or inspires their customers.
Simply put, podcasts aren't an attempt at mass duplication and a vehicle for music pirates. It's literally an extension of the blog ethos - whereby people want to create content, and they want to be able to also include music of the time as it's part of the language which we all use to communicate - the vernacular of right now. In a blog, it might be a sideways link buried in an article or a discussion such as this, in the real world it might be someone quoting The Simpsons, and with podcasts it's playing music which we respond to.
If podcasts were able to be legally covered with a No Derivative works license saying that the file cannot be duplicated or changed legally it means that anyone seeking to extract audio from the podcast would be in breach of copyright.
I'm aware that the podcaster doesn't own the copyright for the music that they put in their shows, but also by the very same token, they're value adding by providing more exposure for the artists, also providing vocals and dialogue that obviously the end user is interested in. When you download a podcast is most often for the style of show it is, not for the music explicitly in most cases.
Things are needlessly complicated by the world we live in, and voices like the creative commons provide a simple way forward that respects ownership, but also provides a framework for people who want to produce content and self publish it to other like minded people. What happens with podcasts will largely be reliant on what the blogging community do as a whole to protect itself, and encourage responsible use by us the end users, and an responsible and intelligent attitude by big music companies.
Related Links:
Creative Commons for Audio
FMQB Article that inspired this editorial
Fading Ways a Canadian label that is championing the Creative Commons cause.
dmusic.com allows you to publish your songs under Creative Commons.
Wired Magazine's look at Creative Commons - to celebrate they released an issue with a cover music CD & made it available as MP3 download. It features the Beastie Boys, Gilberto Gil, Thievery Corporation & Le Tigre just to name a few.
how-to to podcast by PodCast411.
Posted by funnelbc at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2005
an open letter to digidesign
As most people know DigiDesign's ProTools is where you go when you are serious about working with audio. A few years ago they released Pro Tools Free which is a limited version of the ProTools software that apart from limiting you to 8 tracks of Audio and 48 of midi was pretty damn cool. It didn't have enough multitracking ability to be a threat to the digi001 (which was then their bottom product) or even now to the mbox system.
What was also nice about Pro Tools Free was that you could work up tracks on your machine and take it to a bigger and better studio with Pro Tools, dump in your tracks and do real mastering and post production work on the industry standard. It wasn't the most reliable software platform, but support was plentiful via the digi forums, with other users kicking in to help other people. Infact, some of the more obscure problems I had when I used to fix TDM (the full version of Pro Tools basically) systems I usually got answers quicker from the forums than I did from Digidesign support here in Australia.
But we all told ourselves that when they updated the commericial Pro Tools to the new version we'd see a new version of Free that benefited from the stability of Windows 2000 or saints preserve us - Windows XP. But it never came. The free version of ProTools runs on Windows 98/Me and OS9 on the mac. Windows 98+Me being just about the most unstable platform for audio ever.
Which brings me to my point. Okay, and while I'm not suggesting we should just have a big love-in and Digi should give us free copies of their big money earning software - an updated version of free is something the music scene could really do with. Digidesign gets all that great customer goodwill and everyday schmoes can play around with thier music on Industry standard - and here's the real nub of the issue - EASY to use software. I'm convinced that Pro Tools is the best solution for audio editing, it's handling of editing, automation, inline effects are second to none. It really is fantastic to use - and its a damn shame they haven't seen a business case for updating free since they released it so many years ago - I'm convinced that it's a win-win situation for DigiDesign and musicians everywhere.
Posted by funnelbc at 09:51 AM | Comments (1)
April 01, 2005
things that I made last night
While procastinating about doing any actual real work, I put together a logo for the very fine and very full of actual content create digital music. I emailed it off before I went to bed and Imagine my delight when I found out they liked what I did for them and put it up on the site. Rather nice. I also did some new header graphics for them and you can check them out at create digital music and see them in all their pixelly glory.
Also it turns out that thanks to that musicthing as mentioned earlier on, were kind enough to link me. It may have been due to my nerd abuse/compliment depending which side of the LFO you roll on, but its all d20's as far as I'm concerned. Something I wanted to do a nice little thing for a site I liked has ended up with onetonnemusic getting linked from two of my favourite sites for electronic music news.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2005
hocking some gear
I have a korg em-1 dance music workstation for sale. Should you be interested & require more info, drop me an electronic mail on info at ausmusician.com for a hot deal!
View picture of the very same...
Also. I have made a cool new background. It goes a bit like... well you should be able to see it now, unless your browser is a bit mongy and doesn't like refreshing. You'll see it soon enough anyhoot! Doot doot doot! Indeed.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:39 PM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2005
blark! busy!
Sorry kids, just a note to say that I'm sorry for not posting in the last few weeks week or so. A tad busy here :)
Posted by funnelbc at 07:44 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2005
digital market helps boost industry *surprise*
According to this Financial Times article the music industry in the UK at least is hailing a turnaround with album sales reaching a record high last year. The article goes on to mention u2's vertigo single as the top selling single download outstripping the hard copy - hardly surprising due to Apple's push of the album and single with iTunes. Eventually I'm certain that digital sales will outsell traditional methods and its only when the record companies are certain that they're making as much as possible that they will start to sing the praises of digital delivery. It was an interview with Bill Gates on gizmodo where Gates talks about the amount of voice that an individual on the internet has is the same as anyone else that has really got me thinking. It's true, anyone can setup a little self publishing operation like this one and really get some alternative views out there. I think that power of equal voice and also the ease of illicit digital distribution will always scare the record industry and all the other digital rights restricting bodies will always be at odds with their consumers. Just a thought.
Posted by funnelbc at 06:52 AM | Comments (0)
January 05, 2005
australian music download stores failed miserably
According to this zdnet.com.au article music stores here in australian have failed miserably. Which comes courtesy of themusic.com.au oh but hangon, doesn't the article in turn link an opinion piece from the loose cannon column from the very same website? Buggered if I know how that works, But that's okay.
There is some interesting points raised, not the least of which is where exactly is the marketing for the online music stores? The only marketing i've seen for purchasing music online here is the bundle that Telstra was doing over christmas period where they were bundling broadband with some "free" (in the very loosest sense of the word) music downloads. If the music industry wants people to cough up and purchase their badly hampered and cross platform incompatible tunes - and don't we all - then you might actually want to let the public know about your service. Its all very good and well to say that you're loosing eleventy bajillion dollars to piracy annually but if you just setup shop and expect the cash to start rolling in for essentially doing sod all - I think the industry as a whole is going to get a rude shock. A pirated album doesnt mean a lost sale - it means a pirated album - the two don't always equate. And it's economically stupid for several different vendors to setup sites that don't give the end user as much freedom or flexibility or even a vague approximation of that and expect them to pay for the privelage.
And as if you didnt need any more proof the recording industry here and in the yewnited states is a pack of bastards. Comes that little tidbid. The secret is out. Record companies just hate us, they loathe anything that means they're not making plenty of lucre. Even if it's a trust fund for a charity..
Posted by funnelbc at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)
December 24, 2004
hey you! yes you!
Well the year is drawing to a close and those us who are lucky enough to be at work watch the clock like a hawk, yes a hawk! Will know that Christmas is almost apon us. I wanted to say a big thankyou to everyone who's been involved with the site this year, and we've seen some quite large changes. I feel like things are going in a really good direction, traffic is steadily picking up - we're getting 3-4 times as many visitors on a daily basis compared to earlier in the year.
Next year I have plans to continue with the daily news posts and want to see a whole lot more new Aussie music to review. I'm trying to organise a regular stream of music cds to review and giveaway. Also i'm planning to buy the full version of the software that the main part of the site runs on so that I can setup some news posting accounts for anyone who wants to post the occasional news article to teh site. I've also got some plans for getting some new stickers, t-shirts and badges to be made up in the new year. My end of year goal was to get traffic up higher and that's certainly happened, but not as much as I'd like. So as the site creeps towards it's birthday I'd like to renew my efforts to providing a fun and useful resource and community.
Thanks to everyone who has participated, forumed, chatted, sent me encouraging emails, and made this site what it is today. Merry Christmas and and a Happy New Year. Stay safe folks :)
-Funnel
Posted by funnelbc at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2004
sick
Hallo kids. Just a short note to say that i'm at home busy being ill. That's not liscensed to ill, i'm just freestyle ill. I would post news and stuff, but im too busy watching bad weekly action movies and trying not to swallow. Argh.
On that note, down to the video shoppe to find me some bruce willis action! (You know that im getting the 6 3hour VHS set of pride and predjudice now don't you?! Damn.
Posted by funnelbc at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)
December 06, 2004
digitalis are good.
Hi Kids. This is a bit of an abberation for me, It's not often you get such good quality service and support from a business - you don't expect it these days, and when a company goes consistently above and beyond I think they deserve a mention. onetonnemusic.com has been hosted by Digitalis for nearly 3 years now, and I'm always surprised by the quality of the support I get from Digitalis. I don't pay a stack for my hosting but I still get great support. So if you are looking for good aussie host I can't reccomend Digitalis enough. They're great!
This isn't a paid notice you suspicious bastards! They're just that good!
Posted by funnelbc at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2004
mick says: the blandness is apon us!
Australian Idol fans have started to launch attacks on the future of Australia's newest 'idol' Casey Donovan – merely hours after her crowning. The upset is surrounding the record company (Sony-BMG) and their decision to use a cover as the song that will launch Casey's career. The song, Listen With Your Heart, is similar in sentiment to first release of last years Idol winner Guy Sebastian, Angels Brought Me Here. Both songs have been labelled as being 'sentimental' and 'bland', with supporters of the show demanding something more 'pop'.
This is once again a display of the record labels manufacturing artists, not taking into account the fact that they have individual styles and tastes, rather looking at a song that can be re-hashed and published for public mood of the current moment.
Further to this, I am strongly disappointed that an American wrote the song. This is 'Australian Idol', and that to me means that should draw on the US version, not completely impose Australian talent into an American model. (Seems to be the way of the mainstream industry up until now, why stop when it's making them so much money - ed)
More gripes from the 'Idol' fanbase can be read at http://www.insideaustralianidol.com.
Great to see that the spring weather is bringing out some tall poppies, I was wondering what to do with myself of late! I am off to mow the lawns…
-Mikinoz
Posted by funnelbc at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2004
the fun police is here! err. the forums!
Remember onetonne music is more than just a site with awesome news and features… it also has a strong online forum community.
Check it out the onetonnemusic forums.
There are the regulars and ring-ins, but mainly it is a place to ask for help, learn a thing, share some info, have a laugh (mainly at my expense), post reviews and generally speak about 'Australian music'.
Check 'ya there soon!
Posted by funnelbc at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)
mick says: it's time for a rage renaissance
I am staring at my computer and all of a sudden instead I can see the Radiohead Karma Police music video playing on the screen. I realised that I was actually hallucinating, but all the same it made me remember a few years back, a little younger (still in college – before drinking crept into our lives) and the late nights/early mornings watching Rage film clips.
Remembering back even further into my childhood, I recall watching the early morning Rage instead of the cartoon crap that my sister enjoyed (as you do when you are 7). I clearly see myself being 10 and watching Madonna's Like a Prayer. Anyways, back to the present.
Today Rage still goes, and goes hard. It still provides the 'Top 50' on a Saturday morning and has Guest Programmers at night. This is to say that the formula has not changed much over the last years. I like Rage as it is simple. No talking heads/breasts/bad gelled haircuts giving opinions that are corporately biased, just music vids.
The Rage website is also a bit of a shrine. It houses all of the playlists since 1998 – which is cool, you can sign the guest book and stream some videos. Not much technically here that is to jump for joy about, although there is a section called 'How to get a video played on rage'. Now this to me is a great thing for Australian music. Get your song dubbed over your video and send it in on tape. Rage will copy the song to their files and then play it (if it meets a standard) in the future. They never guarantee if and when, but it is there for someone to select if they chose to do so.
I am going to stay up late on Saturday night with my girl and watch the Little Birdy's Guest Programmer space, make some pop-corn and refrain from booze to have a personal 'Teenage Rage Renaissance'. I think if you identify with this article, you should too!
Posted by funnelbc at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2004
mick says: I suspect pop music might be crap
Since it's inception in 1973, the American Music Awards have been an alternative to the Grammy Awards to honour achievements in popular music. Unfortunately, founder Dick Clark would be disappointed to see that popular music is no longer similar to that of 30 years ago and the following list of winners is why...
Pop-Rock:
Male Artist: Usher.
Female Artist: Sheryl Crow.
Band, Duo or Group: OutKast.
Album: Confessions, Usher.
Soul-R&B:
Male Artist: Usher.
Female Artist: Alicia Keys.
Album: Confessions, Usher.
Country:
Male Artist: Toby Keith.
Female Artist: Reba McEntire.
Band, Duo or Group: Brooks & Dunn.
Album: Shock'n Y'All, Toby Keith.
Rap-Hip Hop:
Male Artist: Jay-Z.
Band, Duo or Group: OutKast.
Album: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, OutKast.
Adult Contemporary:
Artist: Sheryl Crow.
How do these stack up next to past winners Perry Como, James Brown and Bing Crosby? I do not own any album or single of the artists listed as 2004 winners. In some opinion I consider that these awards are mainly a 'lolly-pop' for the record companies to strive for. Create an artist, market them, sell much music, get nominated and rewarded, on sell more music as 'Award Winning'. It is as much an award that should go to the Companies as the artists.
Not always a cynic, but in this instance it appears an award for 'Pop' music is no endorsement for 'Good' music!
Check it out for yourselves at American Music Awards. (Pretty abysmal website too - ed)
-Mikinoz
Posted by funnelbc at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2004
mick says: koshie to move to australian idol!
In a very average interview in the Sydney Morning Herald, I leant today of a band that I have not heard of called Evermore. This trio from New Zealand have been in Australia for sometime now since thier recording of Dreams, off which comes a mainstream track It's too late. This track featured on the US TV show OC.
The only thing that I wanted to really comment on is a section of the article, by George Pathalingal, is a reference to an up-and-coming music critic, David Koch. 'Koshie', morning anchor of Network 7's breakfast show, Sunrise, allegedly spoke of the band having a sound similar to that of Groove Armada and another direct quote was that they sound like "Coldplay mixed with Groove Armada".
As I mentioned before, I have not heard this alleged 'musical blend' from this band, but Evermore are quoted as saying that 'Kochie is a good fan to have'. I have my suspicions. Although, I speculate, we may see David move networks, from 7 (Sunrise) to 10 and from am TV to pm as a judge for the next round of Australian Idol.
A closing quote from the article author "Listening to Evermore's epic, ambitious and fine debut album, Dreams, it's fair to presume the Sunrise host has never heard a Groove Armada record. But he's not far off with the Coldplay call."
Another priceless excerpt from the article was "We like the Finn brothers," 17 year old drummer Dann Hume (one of the 3 Hume brothers that are Evermore) says after nearly bringing up his porridge at the mention of Hanson. "Um, you know what? I've got a soft side for the Bee Gees - amazing songwriters. I just wish somebody at some point said, 'Hey, that high-voice thing you do? Nah.'" - this is music literature GOLD I say!
I think that both the SMH and Sunrise should stick to their specialities and leave the real musical critics have the final call of a band that are being dubbed as 'NZ answer to the Bee Gee's" - Give me strength! If you want quality reviews, I suggest you tune in to us here at onetonnemusic!
Imagine some sort of standard disclaimer here about the above article being opinion, and that by reading it you consent to having your house given to us, and losing the right to sue us. Imagine that eh?!
-mikinoz
Posted by funnelbc at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)