Radiofonisk selskab snart i luften

Udbrydergruppen af talentfulde radiomontører er ved at lægge sidste hånd på hjemmeside og de første produktioner - "befrielsen" sker den 5 Maj. Hør teaser

Dukketeater forklarer ny-marxisme og foucaults discilinærsamfund for børn.. genialt

Ars Electronica 08: copyright

Interesting..I want to go back this year and do more videoblogging (I am getting a LOT better at it these days ... :)

A NEW CULTURAL ECONOMY
When Intellectual Property Runs Up against Its Limits

(Linz, April 24, 2008) In 2008, the Ars Electronica Festival is scrutinizing the value of intellectual property and thereby facing one of the core issues of our modern knowledge-based society: that of freedom of information vs. copyright protection, big profit-making opportunities vs. the vision of an open knowledge-based society that seeks to build its new economy on the basis of creativity and innovation. And beyond that, we want to hammer out practical, workable rules to govern this new reality.

The 2008 Ars Electronica Festival. September 4 to 9. In Linz.
www.aec.at/culturaleconomy

Also, see the curatorial statement from Joi Ito

Microsoft, Yahoo, Google og - Radiohead? Steve is not happy

glimrende, lettere absurde remix af PBS-talkshowet Charlie Rose (som er genialt - se f.eks. dette interview med Lars Ulrich og Chuck D om Napster) om "the future of technology".

TV host adbusts rivaling channel's neon sign

Danish TV host Michael Bertelsen (who holds my personal record for best TV moment in recent history with this interview) today put up makeshift signs beaming the name of his show, Den 11. Time, onto central Copenhagen from an apartment below rivalling channel TV2´s neon sign.. and then proceded to flip the main switch of the latter.

Good fun - never expected so see adbusting live on national broadcast TV. But then again, adbusting is so 2005 ;)

link (hit "se klip" and scroll to last bit - sorry for DRs non-windows-hostile player - my guess is this is up on youtube by tomorrow)

Steve Kurtz (almost) off the hook

(this is a follow-up to posts related to my 45-minute radio feature on Steve Kurtz´ kafkaesque case. More here, here and here - all in danish)

this just in:

JUDGE DISMISSES MAIL FRAUD CASE AGAINST BIO-ARTIST KURTZ

Buffalo, NY—A process that has taken nearly four years may be coming to an end. On Monday, April 21, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara ruled to dismiss the indictment against University at Buffalo Professor of Visual Studies Dr. Steven Kurtz.

In June 2004, Professor Kurtz was charged with two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud stemming from an exchange of $256 worth of harmless bacteria with Dr. Robert Ferrell, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

Dr. Kurtz planned to use the bacteria in an educational art exhibit about biotechnology with his award-winning art and theater collective, Critical Art Ensemble.

Professor Kurtz' lawyer, Paul Cambria, said that his client was "pleased and relieved that this ordeal may be coming to an end."

The prosecution has the right to appeal this dismissal. How the prosecution will proceed is unknown at this time. If an appeal were undertaken the case would move to the New York Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City.

Lucia Sommer, Coordinator of the CAE Defense Fund, which raises funds for Kurtz' legal defense, said, "We are all grateful that after reviewing this case, Judge Arcara took appropriate action." She added that "this decision is further testament to our original statements that Dr. Kurtz is completely innocent and never should have been charged in the first place."

I should NOT have asked for permission

I just realised this blog has picked up on my recent rant on the In Rainbows remix terms and - this is the beauty of web 2.0 - some interesting info was put on top of my (probably borrowed) points.
A pattern is forming here. Just after In Rainbows came out, Mojib, who did the first and excellent in Rainbows remix, wrote me it had been forced down. Now, several people who have put remixes up on their websites (to show what they can do, and to connect with the music they love - not for commercial gain) have been bullied by Warner Brothers or other hired guns to take them down. Now, look at these two youtubes:





Let me put this straight. This is NOT cool, Radiohead. Why do you need to decide who get to play with your tunes and how? And if you're too busy to care, at least put a leash on your cease-and-desist-serving dogs -and understand this: you cannot control what your fans do with your music! You cannot keep letting Warner / EMI etc pull these bad karma stunts in your name!

Allowing this guy to remix your tunes because he has a bunch of friends on youtube is just .. pathetic. If I find the time I will follow up on this. Here is my comment from Jonas Voss´ blog:

I am starting to get vexed with Radiohead. Oh-so-concerned about the environment, Tibet and the political issue du jour. But when it comes to the ecology of ideas and the GIGANTIC hypocrisies going on in the name of music business, well, mr. Yorke - not quite so outspoken? I think you have not fully grasped what can be done, and what should be done with culture now.

I have written their managers, press people + blogged extensively about this. I do not pretend I am important enough for the Gods to descend, or expect Thom to call me on my cell and explain. But I think that, like many other artists, Radiohead are closing their eyes, at least partially, to what is coming.
I understand that they are superstars, and have seen up close how annoyingly in love their fans are. But still, this is just not good enough.

Oh, and thanks for the rickroll!

GCBC på wired.com - et år senere

Det er underligt som internettet fungerer nogle gange.. I perioden efter at vi lagde Good Copy Bad Copy på Pirate Bay og blip.tv skrev hundreder korte blogposter om at den var kommet ud, og at man kunne downloade og se den gratis. Mange var fulde af fejl og virkede mest som om det handlede om at være den første til at spotte en potentielt "cool" ting - mens en del skribenter tydeligvis ikke havde haft tid til at se den. Og hvis jeg nu skal gribe i egen barm, så kender jeg godt den impuls. Det skal være nyt, fresh, uopdaget.
Det genererede en del hype, som man nok ikke kan bruge til det store andet end vente på at mere brugbare filtre kommer på banen. I vores tilfælde var det nok især BoingBoing, Creative Commons Blog, Link TV og et par andre store blogs, der gjorde en forskel, men i ligeså høj grad en række selvstændige og gennemtænkte poster på ukendte blogs.

Da jeg idag loggede ind på Facebook efter et par ugers dejligt fravær lå der en besked om at filmen er nævnt i Wireds musikblog "Listening Post". Sjovt - og bemærkelsesværdigt - at en skribent på kronisk hippe og kronisk "foran" Wired er ligeglad og skriver, "den holder, også selvom der er gået et år". Det er nogle gange mærkeligt, det internet :)

link

ALLHANDS - New Danish CC label; promising release

A new danish label, AllHands, releases its music only on vinyl and online, as cc-licensed, free downloads. I´ve listened to a few tracks from their first release, Saline Gift – I/O, and I like what I hear.

I also like to read the following on their website: "AllHands wants to define a new era in which a smash hit for a publisher is when their product is among the top 10 downloads at the Pirate Bay".

Go talk to IFPI about that :)

Make sure to join the release at the newly opened Wonderland Art Space - WAS, this saturday.

AllHands releases most audio under this Creative Commons license.
This means you are free to copy and distribute the mp3s featured on this page for non-commercial purposes. Share the experience with your friends!
Read more about Creative Commons here

Saline Gift – I/O

This Cycle.mp3
Skinwalker of the West.mp3
Panorama.mp3
Soul in Bits.mp3
Hven.mp3

(press release in danish:)

"Det nystartede pladeselskab AllHands har manifestet på plads og insisterer på kun at udgive på vinyl. Som et af de første selskaber i verden lader de det meste af deres materiale ligge frit tilgængeligt på nettet under Creative Commons licenser og vil man have musikken i hånden, bliver det altså på vinyl. Et af navnene på AllHands’ dæk er electro/støj/rock bandet Saline Gift der netop er nedkommet med en ny plade. En Plade der igen markerer Saline Gift som nogle af de mest insisterende innovatorer af rockmusikken i Danmark."

AllHands & galleri WAS: reception + koncert d. 12. april ml. 18:00-22:00 i Absalonsgade 21B

Exit Lessig, enter Ito

Creative Commons is undergoing exciting and possibly dramatic changes. There's been an atmosphere of "where now" since Lessig made his announcement that he was going to work less on CC and copyright and more on corruption issues. Related indeed, and not *completely* leaving, but still.
This week, CC announced Ito as the new CEO, with James Boyle replacing him as chairman. Since I started working as a journalist in this field, Ito has been one of those "up there" guys, and getting to know him slightly better has been rewarding. In his style, Ito is quite different from Larry. Less of an orator, more of a networker; and maybe more of an action speaks louder than words type - time will show. Hopefully, Joi will still have time for WOW and bike / camera geekiness (Joi is an excellent photographer) and blogging. You can read more about Joi here, or watch two interviews of mine. One filmed in 2007, at Ars Electronica, on the subject of "privacy and web 2.0", in collab with Henrik Føhns / Hardisken). The other from isummit 2006 in Rio de Janeiro. Filmed by Nakano-san / Digital Garage, with help from Justin Hall:



I look forward to see Joi take CC further into the mainstream, business and popular culture during the next years. Basically, I admire Joi for all the cool stuff he is doing, and feel extremely confident in his leadership.

(snip snip - full release here)

"Lessig has announced a shift of academic focus from copyright to political corruption. He recently launched Change Congress, a movement to increase transparency in the US government's legislative branch. In order to concentrate on this effort, Lessig is stepping down as CEO of Creative Commons. He will be replaced by entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and free culture advocate Joi Ito. Lessig will remain on the Creative Commons board.

"Although I have changed my focus, I'm still very much committed to Creative Commons and the Free Culture cause," Lessig said. "The work I intend to do with Change Congress is in many ways complementary to the work of Creative Commons. Both projects are about putting people in power and enabling them to build a better system. I could not be more pleased to hand off the leadership of Creative Commons to the extraordinarily passionate and qualified Joi Ito."

"Under Larry's management, Creative Commons has grown from an inspirational idea to an essential part of the technical, social, and legal landscape involving organizations and people in 80 countries," said Ito. "With it, the organization has grown in size and complexity, and I am excited to increase the level of my participation to help manage this amazing group of people. The Hewlett Foundation has been a major supporter of ours from the beginning and we could not be more grateful for their support going forward into the future."

Remixing nude

This just in:

Radiohead, iTunes and Garageband are giving fans the opportunity to remix the band's new single "Nude” at http://www.radioheadremix.com

To make remixing easy, the separate ‘stems’* from the song will be available to purchase from iTunes. The ‘stems’ available are bass, voice, guitar, strings/fx and drums. Fans can mix them in any way they like, either by adding their own beats and instrumentation, or just remixing the original parts.

While I hoped for and expected this from Radiohead (see this post from october 2006 ) I am slightly disappointed by the terms:

1. all rights in and to any remixed versions (“Remixes”) of the song “Nude” (“the Song”) created by the Entrant shall be owned by Warner/Chappell Music Ltd (“WCM”) and to the extent necessary the Entrant hereby assigns all rights in the Remixes of the Song to WCM throughout the World for the full life of copyright and any and all extensions and renewals thereof.

(..)

3. Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway will be registered and credited as the sole writers and WCM the publishers of the Remixes of the Song created by the Entrant;

(..)

5. the Entrant will not use any other elements or parts of the Song (“Stems”) otherwise than to create Remixes of the Song for entry into radioheadremix.com;

Just like the In Rainbows release I think this is good, but it could be so much better. Why not release it with fairer terms? While I fully understand why Radiohead would want to control commercial usage (after all, they´re not exactly in the process of making themselves known) I don't see why they should decide what gets remixed, where and how as long as it is non-commercial. Or am I wrong in assuming that copyright matters in this case?

(Updated: this from Wired News )

What's sort of unclear is what actually happens to remixers who get the most votes. According to iTunes' New Music Tuesday e-mail, "Select mixes will be made available on iTunes later this year." Uh, OK. Then what? Do the creators get a portion of the sales revenue? A "thank you" e-mail from Thom Yorke and Co.? The glory of saying, "You love me! You really love me!"? Or perhaps some American Apparel back-warmer emblazoned with "I Won a Radiohead Remix Contest and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt" (front) "The Free Economy Sucks" (back)?¨


UPDATED (again!): Whether you don't want to be tied to Garageband and iTunes, or think it´s stupid to pay Radiohead for doing their advertising - or maybe you´re just a cheap bastard - a generous person with the nick "loveyorke" has uploaded the stems to Pirate Bay. I only know, of course, because someone *told me* (and send me a screenshot). He or she also told me you´d find them by googling "radiohead nude multitracks torrent"