With A Voice Like This

Whether it's Music or Media - this is the Voice you're looking for.

060 – Come See About Me Or YouTube Or…

recorded 03 July 08

On this episode of With A Voice Like This:

At Any Rate (00:00:54)
I take a look at the Judges’ ruling made Thursday in Viacomm’s suit against Google which instructs Google to turn over approximately 12 terrabytes of YouTube data to Viacomm, including Login IDs and IP addresses of users. People have issue with the case itself, but it’s to be expected that Corporate representatives of traditional media and the Internet go head to head to help definewhat’s allowable and what isn’t. Is the customer’s loss of privacy acceptable collateral damage in the court battle?

4-AM update (00:09:00)
There was a lot to talk about again this episode regarding 4-AM, the group and the website. So I talked about a lot of the work I’ve done on stage.4-am.net before go live. Plugins galore, starting with the Search Engine Optimization plugin in All in One SEO Pack and all that’s gone into that. Then the new tiltviewer Photo Gallery using both the NextGEN Gallery and NextGEN FlashViewer plugins, which are great and you need to see what you can do with them using your own flickr account. Amazing.

Then a quick discussion of what’s happening with the group, a new business direction and of course another new arrangement we did. This week’s was the Supremes’ Come See About Me. And we’re getting closer to a gig where we can do a live video stream so you all can see what 4-AM is all about.

And of course, Comments From the Podcast Gallery.

Speaking of, don’t forget you can always call in your Comments From the Podcast Gallery to the comment line at 630.492.0487. I’m more than happy to have your comments and to put them on the show.

[audioplayer file=”http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-52008/TS-127504.mp3″]

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059 – Mama Told Me Not To Go To Spain

recorded 26 Jun 2008

With minor apologies to Three Dog Night for the title, this episode of With A Voice Like This was all about:

4-AM update [00:01:27]
There was a lot to talk about here. Where the website is at, a new way of working up arrangements for the group, starting with the song Mama Told Me Not to Come and some of the fun things that happened with that. We also had a good talk about where we’re heading and what our focus is and I got the opportunity to show them how video streaming works on the web briefly.

Spain’s Digital Canon [00:17:00]
Yes, this is a further discussion about the new anti-piracy tax that Spain is instituting on July 1. It’s more in depth looking at possible reasons for Spain implementing it and what seems to be some of the pitfalls of the tax itself. I also got some feedback regarding Canada’s anti-piracy tariff. There are some interesting thoughts there. I’d love to hear some of your thoughts on what was said.

[audioplayer file=”http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-52008/TS-124465.mp3″]

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Note: The day after I recorded this show, Gerd Leonhard released a post with video about the future of copyright. It’s very much worth a look and it’s nice to see that there are people out there who see that Copyrights still have their place, in a new form of course, but not throwing out all the protections with new technology. Another thing I think that the Copyrights would be useful for is a transistion framework, at least as they apply here in the U.S. Ah, what I wouldn’t give to have Gerd Leonhard on the show, I’d have a lot of things to ask and say.

Who Do You Want To Pay For Your Music?

Well, it’s happened. Spain has announced that beginning July 1, it’s instituting a special anti-piracy tax called the Digital Canon [UPDATE: Article referenceing this no longer exists online] , according to an article on Billboard.biz. It puts a tax on gadgets that can copy, record or store sounds and images. Yes, I said store too.

Sounds like a new spin on the old sin tax. Except, with the standard things a sin tax applies to, you actually have to participate in the sin, e.g. gambling, smoking or consuming alcohol. This is more like saying “We’re instituting an anti-stabbing tax on all kitchenware and cutlery” (don’t worry, I’m sure spoons would have the smallest tax in that scenario). The tool has the capability, so you are taxed whether or not you use, or even intend to use it for that illicit purpose.

Now based on the article, all the monies collected are given to Artists’ Rights Organizations for distribution to the creators of the art as compensation for money lost from pirated works. There is no provision for how the money is to be distributed, it’s just given to the Rights Organizations. How would you decide to distribute the money? You’re getting a flat fee based on tools without any tracking what works are being pirated or used or anything. Yeah, let’s just leave it up to the old way of doing things, I’m sure that’s fair. It’s sounds like most of Spain feels that way…Or not.

But don’t worry about it,  that’s Spain and not here. That could never happen here. An under informed government is never forced to take carte blanche on an almost out of control situation based on special interest groups’ input. No, not here.

So, what do you think? Does any of this matter? If we’re going to be charged on the Internet, and all indicators point that way, is this how it should work? Is it important that the creators of the art be protected and compensated for their works?

Who do you want to pay for your music?

Update: It’s been brought to my attention that Canada has an anti-piracy tax on recordable media (e.g. CDs DVDs) and did have a separate tariff on mp3 players (e.g. iPods) that has since been revoked/repealed. I haven’t found creditable sources for this info, are there any Canadians who could shed some extra light on this?

058 – My View – Music And The Internet Part 2: The Implementation

This episode of With A Voice Like This is the conclusion of how I’d like to see things work in regard to music and the Internet and distribution of both responsibilities and money.

  • Some quick clarifications from statements made last show.
  • A brief recap of Episode 057‘s (Part 1) major points

Music and the Internet is a Virtual Venue

  • Performers perform (Streaming)
  • Consumers pay (e.g. cover charge, all inclusive charge)
  • Consumers can also buy recordings and other merchandise above entrance fees
  • Venues (ISPs,  applications) are responsible for reporting and payment

Database

  • With new code, all streams, downloads, etc. are tracked and put in a database (Who holds the DB TBD)
  • No more sampling needed, just a direct pull of tracks from the database

Collecting

  • Performance Rights Organizations (PRO) could still collect, but pay based on actual numbers, not samplings
  • No PRO could collect for non-members and keep money if the performers either don’t join, can’t be found or don’t claim their money
  • Artists, Authors, Lyricists and Publishers responsibility is to secure a code so they are credited and paid for their works or not paid by their choice.
  • Any music without the code is flagged in database and action taken (example of software recognition at EveryZing.com [EDIT: 12-28-12 – EveryZing.com is no longer a valid website])

Comments From The Podcast Gallery

The Down side

This discussion is an overly simplistic layout of a very complex idea. Currently the Orphan Works Act almost passed in Congress and it seems very similar to what I’ve outlined here. You can hear it discussed at great length on Webcomics Weekly #38 from a visual artist’s point of view and its major weaknesses. I feel I’ve taken some of the things into account that were ignored in the Orphan Works Act and although not exactly the same, the pitfalls could be very similar.

On A Lighter Note

Here are examples of some voiceover work I had just recently done.

[audioplayer file=”http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-52008/TS-122531.mp3″]

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057 – My View – Music And The Internet Part 1: The Mechanism

A friend asked me in the aftershow of the Is This The Rights Thing To Do? series of episodes (047, 048 & 049) How I would like to see things happen with music rights and the Internet, so here it is, or at least Part 1.

At Any Rate
This week Warner records pulled out of its deal with Last.fm because the money wasn’t good enough. See Gerd Leonhard’s take on the situation.

Music on the Internet is Virtual Inventory

  • The three types of inventory
  • Tracking inventory

Tracking Mechanism (code) for the inventory

  • The 4 (or more) pieces of information the code holds
  • Where the code resides
  • Existing tracking capabilities
  • No more sampling in place of actual tracking
  • Retrofit back to songs with copyright of 1923 or later
  • Must be in place by 2018

Comments From the Podcast Gallery

Next Week
Next week will be the second part of this discussion Music and the Internet Part 2: The Implementation, where I talk about the roles of the Artist, ISPs, PROs and more in implementing this mechanism. Join me Live at 7:00pm CT on Thursday, June 19 or call in your Comments From the Podcast Gallery to 630.492.0487.

Listener’s Choice

This episode’s choice comes from Kim Fenolio, and it’s Summertime by Brother Love.

[audioplayer file=”http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-52008/TS-120867.mp3″]

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