Everyone? Meet the DMCA's bigger, ugglier nastier brother...

[the_leander]

An Excellent article on the "Intellectual Property Protection Act"

Now those of you not aware what this is, just look at this post's title, and then read this article.

Note that this law has not yet been cast in stone, but with the US Atorney General calling people who download terrorists (Yes, he actually tried to tie a link between file sharing and terrorism) in congress, well, its a no brainer that it'll be the underpinnings of the US's second most insidious export - civil lawsuits (its first being neo colonialism), in the very near future.

[Louis P. Burns aka Lugh]

An Excellent article on the "Intellectual Property Protection Act"

Now those of you not aware what this is, just look at this post's title, and then read this article.

Note that this law has not yet been cast in stone, but with the US Atorney General calling people who download terrorists (Yes, he actually tried to tie a link between file sharing and terrorism) in congress, well, its a no brainer that it'll be the underpinnings of the US's second most insidious export - civil lawsuits (its first being neo colonialism), in the very near future.

Hi Alan,

I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of that mate. It's interesting that the same old arguments that reigned about taping off the radio, have more or less been brought up to the 21st century.

Like you, I consider myself to be an artist. By that I mean I've worked consistently over my life (mostly voluntarily) to bring creative works to the world, and even here on SENSITIZE © to create a place where artistic people from all over the world can meet up and share ideas or work collaboratively.

In the 'real world' opportunities to be this expressive are not as frequently available. More and more I find art's environments to be swamped by grubby bastards who band together to soak up any funding that might be available for the artist. An example would be; one writer in a room of 10 talentless bores who have only one redeeming feature;- access to potential revenue either from advertising or sponsorship.

I personally find it hard to be around such people for any length of time and honestly believe they drain the energies necessary for the creative process to take effect. So, SENSITIZE © aims to cut free of them and attract earnings (eventually) for all involved through direct negotiation with advertisers and sponsors... Why should some spotty-faced youth in a suit with a university degree, earn from all of our hard work? They put a few hours a week into what they do. We put our souls into it...

Copyright. I do realise that this exists primarily to protect the legal rights of the artist (sighs) but also see the industry (media) as corrupt to the core. It used to be the case that artists would sign a contract with an arthouse, record label, film production company etc and be paid a set fee + royalties. Then they'd tour under promotion banners and make money for all involved. This is probably still the case but due to the internet, more and more people who wouldn't have had a chance before are now working towards their own goals. Art is growing...

Performers will always perform. Artists will always be creative and independent film companies / recording labels will always turn out new productions with a bit of realistic support. That said; direct sponsorship e.g; adverts alongside the artist's name or in the credits / associated websites would be the most effective way to protect and provide for creative people. The only downside, maybe, would be too much product placement which may deter audiences...

I've probably ranted on like a lunatic here and if so I'm sorry.

Thanks for this Alan

[the_leander]

Nah, what you've said is nothing more then I've thought tbh.

As far as advertising drones go, I know exactly what you mean, and as for a 9:1 ratio of drones to artists in the industry, I think thats rather unfair, from what I've seen its more 90:1...

From my own perspective, I can only see this as sounding the death knell for mainstream media in the US, if you inconvenience people, they'll find other means to get what they want, if you start putting blocks and threats in place that disuade them from getting what they want, they'll simply go elsewhere.

To my mind this is going to be one hell of a gift to the indie artist. Its interesting that in the last 6 months, two of the biggest no1's on the charts have come from unknowns that were found online. I can only see this getting bigger as time goes on, as getting music that doesn't fuck over your computer, or carry the threat of a longer prison sentence then if you went out and killed someone if you rip the CD it came on, to put on your IPod...

[Louis P. Burns aka Lugh]

Nah, what you've said is nothing more then I've thought tbh.

As far as advertising drones go, I know exactly what you mean, and as for a 9:1 ratio of drones to artists in the industry, I think thats rather unfair, from what I've seen its more 90:1...

From my own perspective, I can only see this as sounding the death knell for mainstream media in the US, if you inconvenience people, they'll find other means to get what they want, if you start putting blocks and threats in place that disuade them from getting what they want, they'll simply go elsewhere.

To my mind this is going to be one hell of a gift to the indie artist. Its interesting that in the last 6 months, two of the biggest no1's on the charts have come from unknowns that were found online. I can only see this getting bigger as time goes on, as getting music that doesn't fuck over your computer, or carry the threat of a longer prison sentence then if you went out and killed someone if you rip the CD it came on, to put on your IPod...

Aye. Arctic Monkeys and Gnarls Barklay have both done us a great service. The only bit of this that is predictable is that they will now, almost probably, go mainstream for career purposes. I can't blame them for that because of the pressure to make a living, but they have definitely opened windows (I can't believe I just said windows in this reply lol)...

Cheers...

[joanne chapman]

Nah, what you've said is nothing more then I've thought tbh.

As far as advertising drones go, I know exactly what you mean, and as for a 9:1 ratio of drones to artists in the industry, I think thats rather unfair, from what I've seen its more 90:1...

From my own perspective, I can only see this as sounding the death knell for mainstream media in the US, if you inconvenience people, they'll find other means to get what they want, if you start putting blocks and threats in place that disuade them from getting what they want, they'll simply go elsewhere.

To my mind this is going to be one hell of a gift to the indie artist. Its interesting that in the last 6 months, two of the biggest no1's on the charts have come from unknowns that were found online. I can only see this getting bigger as time goes on, as getting music that doesn't fuck over your computer, or carry the threat of a longer prison sentence then if you went out and killed someone if you rip the CD it came on, to put on your IPod...

I don't really understand a lot of the above, so I can only speak for my future plans and hopefully give you a bit of inspiration for success.

I love most arts but music really is the top of my list everytime.

In my opinion I think we should make our money where we can to then enable us all to forfill our ambitions in what we really want out of life.

You two have the writing skills that I lack. I do have the ability and determination to get what I want, whatever it takes.

I firmly believe that if you can't beat em then join em. To make profits from anything you need to keep outgoings at a minimum. What I mean is, that the more financial support you get from people, then the more you end up having to pay out in the end(for your own talent). So fuck em, they drain your resources!

[the_leander]

No one is saying you can't make money from your work, what I'm saying and what I'm predicting is that there won't be an overarching handfull of giants that control it as it is today.

I see many of these companies simply killing off their own revenue streams by doing a series of things: Selling endless cookie cutter crap into already over saturated markets. Suiing their punters and treating them like criminals in general. By making music and films etc so inordinately difficult to access that people go elsewhere.

As to making money or doing what I want to, tbh I have even after 25 years not a single clue as to what I want to do. Tallent perhaps (though thats debatable), but no direction.

[Louis P. Burns aka Lugh]

No one is saying you can't make money from your work, what I'm saying and what I'm predicting is that there won't be an overarching handfull of giants that control it as it is today.

Bring it on and bring them down...

I see many of these companies simply killing off their own revenue streams by doing a series of things: Selling endless cookie cutter crap into already over saturated markets. Suiing their punters and treating them like criminals in general. By making music and films etc so inordinately difficult to access that people go elsewhere.

I filmed a bit of SONY IRELAND's property, namely a recording artist called Paddy Casey who's had two number one selling albums in the Irish Album Charts in the last few years. To be honest, he was a great bloke. He was doing a promotional appearance in a local record store (Lugh spits) here in Derry and was quite happy to have me filming him and creating a space between him and the audience. I will get this uploaded to the domain sometime soon.

Shortly after this I got a call one morning from the owner of the record store saying that SONY IRELAND had phoned him and told him that he must get the footage off of me. I told him that there had been a lot of work involved in shooting this footage and prior to it I had also shot a lot of interior and exterior footage of the record store for a lengthy corporate video commercial I was doing for this store owner. The understanding was that if I did this for him, he would show all his peers in the business world of Derry and my colleague Diarmuid (the Editor) and me would gain respect and hopefully lucrative careers. During the conversation with this record store owner he became very abusive (angry) and then offered to pay for the footage. The wanker offered us £50.00 (the blank discs for the camera cost more) for 4 Days of exterior / interior footage + over 18 hours editing as well as the footage of SONY IRELAND's property (Paddy Casey) and all relevant editing for it. I was understandably pissed off about it all and told him to fuck off. So Alan, I know exactly what you mean on this count.

My only grievance about all of this now is that when I upload the footage which SONY IRELAND (Dublin Office) have told me I cannot do, it will have the aggressive ball bag that owns the record store's logo in the background. Unavoidable unfortunately. Still, if I include a copy of this message with it, and stream it all, he might not be as happy to see his shop's name on the internet... I actually hope he sues me. There's an old saying here in Derry:- "Ya can't take the knickers off a bare arse".

As to making money or doing what I want to, tbh I have even after 25 years not a single clue as to what I want to do. Tallent perhaps (though thats debatable), but no direction.

Nah mate. You've got a lot of talent. Direction comes from exploring it all and honing your craft even further, frequently

Cheers...

[the_leander]

The interesting thing I've found whilst exploring indie artists is that for the most part they litterally create everything they do on their own equipment, I read an article months and months ago about this one particular band who have a friend who spent something like 2 grand on all the equipment you'd ever need to run a recording studio - in this case it was a second hand Mac and various bits and bobs, all second hand, but all of good quality. I believe this guy now records for several indie groups and puts their stuff out on the net...

These days with the capabilities of computers as they are now, you can do much the same, probably more now with even so called "low end" computers.

There was a sci fi film made by a bunch of amatures a couple of months back, a full length film of a Babylon 5/Startrek crossover, ok the acting wasn't all that great, but what it did show was that you could produce grade A special effects for pennies. I think the entire feature cost just over 100 grand from beginning to end, the film was given away and you were given the chance to donate toward the cost if you liked it. You might not like the genre, or even the film itself, but to my mind it proved a point, which is that you don't need millions to produce a good looking film, not even a fraction of it.

It just makes me wonder where the hell all of the money goes in some of these "epics".

[Louis P. Burns aka Lugh]

I filmed a bit of SONY IRELAND's property, namely a recording artist called Paddy Casey who's had two number one selling albums in the Irish Album Charts in the last few years. To be honest, he was a great bloke. He was doing a promotional appearance in a local record store (Lugh spits) here in Derry and was quite happy to have me filming him and creating a space between him and the audience. I will get this uploaded to the domain sometime soon.

I'm just curious here Alan. I've quoted a bit of an older message to this thread by me and I'm looking to see if you have any opinions on it. Would the Creative Commons' Copyright License be useful to me on this footage? I have a funny feeling it could work as a test to reveal just how much power groups of businesses like SONY have...

There no rush for feedback on this one mate... Just thought it would make a good publicity stunt for SENSITIZE the E-Zine

[the_leander]

I filmed a bit of SONY IRELAND's property, namely a recording artist called Paddy Casey who's had two number one selling albums in the Irish Album Charts in the last few years. To be honest, he was a great bloke. He was doing a promotional appearance in a local record store (Lugh spits) here in Derry and was quite happy to have me filming him and creating a space between him and the audience. I will get this uploaded to the domain sometime soon.

I'm just curious here Alan. I've quoted a bit of an older message to this thread by me and I'm looking to see if you have any opinions on it. Would the Creative Commons' Copyright License be useful to me on this footage? I have a funny feeling it could work as a test to reveal just how much power groups of businesses like SONY have...

There no rush for feedback on this one mate... Just thought it would make a good publicity stunt for SENSITIZE the E-Zine

I'm not sure legally how it would work, did they own the store? If not, then they don't have a legal leg to stand on to make such a demand... Its if they do that would get very grey...

As far as your work goes, your work under UK law is such that unless you specify otherwise, you own your own media.

Creative Commons is in a way you giving up some of your rights as the copyright holder, in favour of your customers/consumers... Though I suspect that there are organisations that would defend to the death any claim made against a work released under such a code.

[Louis P. Burns aka Lugh]

I'm not sure legally how it would work, did they own the store? If not, then they don't have a legal leg to stand on to make such a demand... Its if they do that would get very grey...

Nah. Privately owned record and accessories store. They sell a lot of Sony products though...

As far as your work goes, your work under UK law is such that unless you specify otherwise, you own your own media.

Nice one

Creative Commons is in a way you giving up some of your rights as the copyright holder, in favour of your customers/consumers... Though I suspect that there are organisations that would defend to the death any claim made against a work released under such a code.

Cool

Sorry for brief answers tonight. Very stoned... I watched Question Timetonight. Mr. Galloway in fine fettle More power to him for having the guts and resolution to say what needs to be heard instead of bowing to a self-appointed, elitist government and the alarming and increasingly more corrupt police state and spin.

That other panelist - David Lammy needs a sharp kick in the testicles (frequently)...

The Question Time team are in Sheffield next week. I missed who was going to be on the show. Should be pretty interesting though... Things are hotting up...

Cheers Alan