STUDIOCAM: Studiocam (www.studiocam.org) invites LA-area bands to perform live in their studio, Dreamcatcher Studios, with a live video stream going out over the Internet. They originally expected just to showcase local Los Angeles talent, but have recently had bands from across the country coming in to do webcasts, interviews, and recordings. Any and all webcasts you do for them are owned by the band or artist. Studiocam retains non-exclusive rights to broadcast the content, and can obtain a copy of your performance though them. all they ask for is a link if you decide to put any webcasts, music videos, interviewsor other footage taped by them on your own website.
EUROPEAN SITE & DISTRIBUTION: Vitaminic (www.vitaminic.com) is, according to them anyway, the largest European community of music on the web. They have local websites in France, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sweden, and Italy that promote and distribute indie bands and music (either downloads or CDs) all over Europe. The main site is avilable in sven languages, and artists worldwide can join and upload MP3 files.
ALL ABOUT JAZZ: All About Jazz (www.allaboutjazz.com) is, as the title says, a site about jazz, including the music, the musicians and the culture. Included are reviews of current releases, audio downloads, lists of jazz record labels and radio stations, jazz festivals, commentary and jazz music videos (through their AllJazzTV.com). It includes discussion groups on a wide range of jazz topics, including recently discussions on Pat Metheny's remarks about Kenny G.
ARTISTS AGAINST PIRACY: In an effort to appear to give artists a voice in the online music debate, Artists Against Piracy (www.artistsagainstpiracy.com) purporting to give musicians and songwriters a voice in the otherwise big business/corporate debate. With a list of endorsers including Aimee Mann, Alanis Morisette, Barenaked Ladies, Bon Jovi, Garth Brooks, Hansen and Herbie Hancock, let's hope that official sponsors (re: contributors?) like RIAA, The Walt Disney Company, NARM and larger, proprietary software-based online companies like Liquid Audio don't dilute the organization's message, creating a carbon copy of the corporate line we alradywq hear daily.
EMUSIC SUBSCRIPTION: EMusic.com has launched a subscription service, allowing consumers to pay one low monthly price to download as much music as they want from EMusic’s digital collection of over 125,000 MP3s, while still financially compensating musicians and record labels for their work. "The EMusic Unlimited subscription service offers a legitimate alternative to tools like Napster by providing a compelling solution for both the music consumer and the music business," said Gene Hoffman, EMusic.com president and CEO. "The fact that record labels and artists get financially compensated in this model is also obviously extremely attractive to content owners in this age of Napster. The exclusive, long-term digital music licenses that we've amassed over the past two years allow us to offer our catalog in a service that could only be matched by the five major record companies in terms of rights, breadth and quality."
LOCAL ARTIST ONLINE: Dallas Perkins is a local singer/songwriter/guitaristwho is using the online tools available to promote and sell his music professionally all over the world. The website (www.dallasperkins.com) is as professional as many of the major band and label websites out there, with good graphics and Java rollovers. But submitting his music to other music sites, as well as signing up with The Orchard for distribution (www.theorchard.com), his music and CD is available at many major music sites, and graphics links to each (including their logo) give the site more professionalism and credibility. His next upcoming performance is listed right at the front page, very important for local gigging artists. His ordering is by mail through the site, or online through major music sites like CDNow.com.
WEEKLY INDUSTRY POSTING: Every Thursday Santa Monica-based Grooveradio (www.grooveradio.com) posts a "What's Happenning" column in their World & Culture section for dance music events, including raves, clubs, movie premiers and album releases. Any press releases, tour announcements, club announcements or anything else related to dance, trance, groove and club music must be received by Wednesday of each week to be considered. Send your announcements to alexandra@grooveradio.com.
PLAYJ: PlayJ.com features MP3-quality downloads, all for free, playable using WinAmp or Windows Media Player software. Through licensing deals with labels, tens of thousands of track aere available. When playing the songs using their software and one of the players mentioned above, a small ad appears in the corner of your computer screen - yet another model for how listeners can continue to use the Internet for music, while labels and artists get paid through advertising fees generated by listening to the music, all at no cost to the listener.
WEBTIPS: NAPSTER AND COPYRIGHTSOn Wednesday, July 26, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel granted the RIAA temporary injunction to take Napster.com offline within 48 hours. Judge Patel stated that the RIAA had shown that they would probably win in trial, and that Napster had failed to prove that there were substatial, non-infringing uses for the software, even citing Napster officials for downloading copyrighted materials on their own hard drives.The case has opened up the debate on copyrights, who owns them, and what they are for. Napster's business model is based, blatently so, on software created to allow anyone to trade and copy any CD or recording without paying for it, so much of their problems are brought upon by themselves (my guess is that they even assumed they would be sued by the music industry, cutting down on any promotional budget they would have allocated). Before this case, very few artists spoke out on the issue of copyrights and who owned them. One noteable exception was King Crimson's Robert Fripp and his label, Discipline Records (www.disciplinerecords.com). He insists that atists hold their copyrights, and on the new King Crimson album, the construKction of light, distributed by Virgin, it says "(p)(c) 2000 King Crimson, exclusivelty licensed by Virgin Records Limited." When you sign with a major label, you assign the copyright to them, making them the owner. You have no control over what they do or don't do with your music, and, as copyright law has been periodically updated by congress, they have lobbied to extend how long they would own the copyright. Thanks to an amendment they snuck into a recent communications bill, they now define all music released by them as "works for hire," meaning that the corporation owns them FOREVER. This is what they have shut down Napster to protect and exploit. Copyright law was created for the creators of works, not distributors. Perhaps it's time to expand the discussion and debate on copyrights from the ARTIST perspective. |
© 2000 Music Connection Magazine.