FMC | Policy Summit 2006
October 5-7, McGill University, Montreal in conjunction with Pop Montreal<—42a2d0823c0636bcae8f870c5b52ff65—>

A friend sent me the following as a private message and agreed for me to post it anonymously.
It could work as a response to this:
Critical World Blog » New Models for Music as Business
or this:
They Dropped The Other Shoe « Disparate

Here goes:

About two years ago, when the iPod was The One True Ring of must-have tech
toys, there was an interesting NYT article I read (I think in the Sunday Magazine section) that mentioned that the reverse was more intentionally true: within Apple, it was the iTunes Store’s purpose to lure more iPod buyers.

In a different direction, those who survive only on the crutch of DRM seem to be having little problem getting all our devices reengineered to
forcibly respect DRM. (I’ve heard stories that they’ll even require “DRM data” to be policed even at the bus level.)

On the other hand, these two points notwithstanding, A causally benefitting B does not seem to contradict B causally benefitting A. I of course don’t think it’s unreasonable to observe that the iPod in turn helps people become used to having DRM present in their everyday lives.

I’ll say right out that I wish I had better concrete suggestions, other than that the current laws and interpretations are on an untenable course
that will eventually require too much regulation and restriction. Here’s what I have for now.

What is necessary in order to generate a profit in music, art, or any medium? There seem to be two dominant costs to offset: the production
itself, and the marketing that attracts people to willingly give their money in exchange for some sort of access to the product. I have comments
about both of these, which apply almost equally well to both the mainstream American music and movie industries.

The second item, marketing, seems to be the more obvious failure of the current system. Music company spokespeople routinely explain how “it
costs more and more money now to get people to buy an album”. They don’t seem to consider (publicly, at least) that they could be trying ways that are more effective for their target consumers. I stretch to find a common analogy, but it’s like doing any old task inefficiently and dumping more and more resources into it in a way that’s not really helping, and making
it everyone’s problem that you’re not more openminded. Most people to whom music is marketed happen to be younger-than-median, too. These people know how to use the Internet, and are more susceptible to new
routes of information spreading. Why not foster people’s natural information sharing that we are now witnessing, instead of using the old
model of injecting advertisements into our field of view?

The first seems simpler. It doesn’t take a huge contract or huge production budget to attract an artist, but more a contract that offers a decent living and means to produce. Focus more on musical talents that produce larger amounts of work and experimentation, instead of some giant
rock band that puts out one album every 2-3 years. Do people have any memory that people used to be musicians as a day-in-day-out job, and not just while occasionally “recording” and frequently “on tour”? Contrast the musical output of said rock band with that of any average jazz musician, or even with the output of pop acts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. If your community is more interconnected, and information is more conveniently available for people, the extra quantity of output will not become more confusing in your attempts to advertise it to people.

These things said, I suggest harvesting grass-roots music sharing and community building, with means to pay the artists built into the system so people have less disincentive to do so. Try to ecourage and reward communities that have interest in an artist as a means of building loyalty—-this might be much less expensive than present marketing. If
the quantity of music is higher, there will be less squabling over the payment over individual items. Make the incomes of the artists, or their
earnings for each piece, public. It will show people that the music comes at a cost, and give people incentives to pay artists directly for their
work. Also, in this model, artists can freelance agencies to try to find community promotion of their work, instead of being dependent on a record label for promotion and distribution. Dot dot dot.

Something like this will get coded up eventually by someone, and I wouldn’t be surprised of a large (non-)consortium of independent artists
sprang up to use it. The question I haven’t answered is how fiscally viable it can be made.

With regards to the movie industry, well, some things don’t ranslate over quite right, but in spirit much does. Focus less on the larger, less
rewarding, to-be-blockbusters movies, which seem to yield so little profit on top of the investment, and often so much loss. Film is harder to produce in quantity than music is, I admit.. but independent film seems to
be viable these days in any case. Again, I don’t really have the clearest picture.

Those are some thoughts. I’ll try to stop here, so that I don’t repeat myself, and so that I don’t get too much more overboardly idealistic.
Bottom line: there are other ways of trying to do business, that the big consortia seem to have chosen not to seriously explore, but which might
actually be beneficial for a large number of artists if they give it a try. (Or, which might not be.)

The Department of Music: The Department of Music at New York University
seeks to appoint a scholar of exceptional ability and achievement in
original research, publication, and teaching. The position is at the
rank of Assistant Professor and the appointment will commence September
1, 2007, pending budgetary and administrative approval. Preference will
be given to expertise in Ethnomusicology, although a fundamental
requirement of the position will be the ability to work across
disciplines. NYU offers graduate degrees in Composition and Theory,
Ethnomusicology, and Historical Musicology and we are seeking someone
dedicated to working with scholars in all these fields. The position
involves teaching and advising at both the undergraduate and graduate
levels. Applicants should also have a strong interest in the
intellectual and artistic climate of New York City and be willing to
take advantage of the interdisciplinary possibilities at New York
University.

Please send a cover letter, detailed CV, and three letters of
recommendation with the application to:

NYU Music Search Committee
c/o Michael Beckerman, Chair
Department of Music
New York University
24 Waverly Place, Room 268
New York, NY 10003

(212-998-8300)

Review of applications will begin on October 15, 2006. For more
information on the Department, please consult our website at
http://nyu.edu/gsas/dept/music. NYU is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative
Action Employer<—5e6f3f0ee73deb4f44c70be0f1f357db—>

Le Département d’anthropologie de l’Université Laval invite des candidatures
pour combler un poste permanent de professeur-chercheur dans le champ de
l’anthropologie de l’esthétique et des productions culturelles. L’entrée en
fonction sera le 1er janvier 2007 ou le 1er juin 2007. Le/la candidat(e)
devra couvrir éventuellement les domaines de recherche suivants: l’étude de
la musique, de la danse, du théâtre, des arts visuels et/ou l’étude des
médias et des représentations y compris la cyberculture dans une perspective
anthropologique. Les approches théoriques et méthodologiques peuvent être
variées, mais un ancrage dans un terrain approfondi est exigé de même que la
capacité d’aborder les univers de sens qui sous-tendent les rapports sociaux et
les configurations culturelles. Priorité sera accordée aux candidates et aux
candidats ayant une expérience de terrain en Afrique, en Asie, au Moyen-Orient
ou en Europe.

Le CV et une lettre de présentation devront être envoyés avant le 16 octobre
2006 à 17H:00 à l’adresse suivante: raymond.masse@ant.ulaval.ca

Pour plus de détails, consulter le site web: www.ant.ulaval.ca

Duke University invites applications for an open-rank (tenured or
tenure-track) position, beginning Fall 2007, for a scholar of music
located in any Humanities or Social Science department, interested in
participating in the development of an interdisciplinary Center for
Ethnomusicology. Rank will be commensurate with experience and
departmental affiliation with disciplinary training. Candidates are
sought who have experience with musical performance and are committed
to recent theoretical debates, interdisciplinarity, and diversity.
Specializations should fall within the arena of music in the public
domain, intersecting with current faculty interests in improvisation,
critical ethnography, music production, and expressive culture in
relation to power and conflict. The successful applicant must have a
Ph.D. at the time of appointment; demonstrate excellence in teaching;
and be an innovative and productive researcher. Applications received
by November 1 are guaranteed consideration. For further information,
contact kimberly.soliman@duke.edu. Send cover letter, curriculum vitae,
and three letters of reference to: Chair, Ethnomusicology Search
Committee, John Hope Franklin Center for International and
Interdisciplinary Studies, Box 90402, Duke University, Durham, NC
27708-0402. Applications from women and minority groups are
particularly encouraged. Duke University is an
equal-opportunity/affirmative-action Employer.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MUSIC
Department of Music
Brown University

The Department of Music at Brown University invites applications for
the position of Assistant Professor in Ethnomusicology, to begin July
1, 2007. We seek a candidate with broad interdisciplinary interests
and evidence of exceptional scholarly promise. Experience in
undergraduate teaching is highly desirable. The successful candidate
will be expected to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in
specific area(s) of the world’s music, as well as more general
theoretical or topic-based courses. Candidates who can also lead a
performance ensemble will be viewed favorably. Applicants should
have received the Ph.D. by June 2007.

Brown University is a leading Ivy League institution with a
distinctive academic program and a tradition of innovative and
rigorous multidisciplinary study. A commitment to diversity and
intellectual freedom has remained a hallmark of the University since
its establishment. The Department of Music—with 14 full-time
faculty, 30 teaching associates, and a state-of-the-art music
library—supports undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas of
history, theory, ethnomusicology, composition, performance, computer
music and multimedia. Under the leadership of President Ruth Simmons,
the University’s research profile has been growing, and Music has
been changing along with it. Since 2004 the Department has added four
new faculty members to its roster, and, in 2005, a new Ph.D. in
Electronic Music and Multimedia joined the long-standing graduate
degree program in Ethnomusicology. We are now seeking, with the
current position, an energetic and imaginative teacher and scholar
who will reinforce our Ethnomusicology program and enrich the
intellectual and musical life of the Department generally.

Candidates should send a letter of application, a curriculum vitae,
and three letters of recommendation to:

Applications received by October 12 will receive full consideration,
but the search will remain open until the position is closed or
filled. Brown University is an EEO/AA employer. Minorities and women
are encouraged to apply.

Via Slashdot. The RIAA has insufficient evidence against at least one of the people it has brought to trial.

October 3rd Declared “Day Against DRM” | DefectiveByDesign.org
The so-called “music industry” is a big part of the support behind Digital Rights Management. Such a campaign targets the more corporate side of the so-called “music industry” and the backlash against DRM might help some people understand that there is more to online music than “consuming” audio files.
One can hope.
This campaign has a petition to get Bono to join them. Interesting choice of target.

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Thanks, Marsha, for the heads-up—7a7bd624ff78ec154515f2dc52c5375c—>

IASPM-US Homepage : 2007 Conference Proposal Submission

IASPM-US 2007 Logo
[Conference Home] [Registration] [Program] [Local Info] [Ridesharing]

IASPM Canada and IASPM-US 2007 Joint Conference:
Boundaries, Blockades and Bridges

Northeastern University
April 26-29, 2007
Boston, Massachusetts

Submission deadline: 11:59 PST November 1, 2006.<—a9deab1a1bc7025e4e4e0ab56a8ba2f9—>