“We used to fool ourselves,’ he said. “We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.”
MacUser: News: Music boss: we were wrong to go to war with consumers

Much of this is very obvious to anyone who has been observing (event glancing at) the Recording Industry during this long debacle. But the fact that Bronfman would change his tune so radically is quite interesting.
That is, of course, if his words have been reported accurately. Which seems to be the case, looking at the transcript of Bronfman Jr.’s speech (PDF).<—a85199270255aa6b0ed891223893dd85—>

Going back to the series of ideas about the future of the record industry as published by Rolling Stone a few weeks ago and mentioned here.

In the original article, five "theories" about what the future may hold for the record industry were listed, in connection with quotes from participants in that industry.

• Theory 1: Ad-Supported Music
• Theory 2: Peer-to-Peer Goes Legit
• Theory 3: Endless Access Points for Music
• Theory 4: Labels Change Their Stripes
• Theory 5: Consumers Become Retailers

These "theories" encourage me to add my own personal ideas about the future of music and the record industry. With reference to the Global Business Network, my ideas are thought of as scenarios or possible models. Given my very limited experience with the record industry itself (I’m an ethnomusicologist and a musician), these are purely based on my personal opinions and may seem unrealistic. But the exercise is quite fun.

Some of these scenarios overlap with one another or with the Rolling Stone "theories." This is how it should be as the future is rarely one-dimensional.

Scenario 1: DIY Music

Music ceases to be a spectator sport. Sales of recording equipment, music instruction material, musical instruments, music-related software, and musical charts all skyrocket, eventually making up for lost revenues in the record industry. While professional musicians remain important, emphasis is put on music-making activities. Music teachers, music researchers, and music therapists all gain recognition in the process. Increasingly, musickers and musicians are put on a continuum.

While it may not represent a radical shift, I notice such a tendency toward "democratised" music-making. Games like Guitar Hero, social networking sites like GarageBand.com, television shows like American Idol, and computer software like iLife GarageBand all seem to point in the same direction. Given the number of YouTube videos of people playing or otherwise participating in music, one can envision business models based on the fact that playing music is itself quite enjoyable.

As an analogy, home cooking might have an impact on restaurant businesses.

Scenario 2: Alternative Business Plans

Related to ideas about licensing mentioned in Rolling Stone but music-making becomes more of a commercial endeavour, like some forms of photography have become. Licensing music for use in videogames, grocery stores, wedding videos, lounges, commercials, ringtones, elevators… What would be sold then would not be the access to musical recordings but the association between musical elements and some location, product, person, or use. While such a scenario sounds very restrictive it could in fact be quite liberating as long as the licensing systems are extremely user-friendly and if musicians are truly involved in the financial transactions.

I recently blogged about ringtone sales as making some sense, in my mind. Through data available in the previous Rolling Stone article, I came to realise that the figures I had in mind were apparently off-base and that ringtone sales amount to much less than I originally thought. Still, it seems that some of those alternative business models have some chance of becoming quite important in the near future.

Scenario 3: The Two Cultures

Inspired by Lessig’s well-known Free Culture book, the idea that "permission culture and free culture" or "commercial culture and noncommercial culture" may coexist for a significant amount of time. I have actually given this scenario a fair bit of thought and it seems to me to be panning out to a certain extent.

The most radical examples of "free culture" are still rather marginal in terms of the awareness of the general population in North America but there seems to be a lot of dynamism in "free culture" in North America and elsewhere, especially as they relate to online activities.

Scenario 4: Status Quo

I really doubt that this is the scenario which will pan out but it’s important to think about the general instability of the current model. Most participants in the record industry’s business (including many musicians and music listeners) agree that the current situation is not at all viable. In fact, the agreement between record industry executives and music listeners is quite striking: we all know that things need to change. We just don’t agree on where those changes should lead us.

Scenario 5: Dinosaurs Wake Up

Though I have come to doubt that the member corporations in the Recording Industry Association of America might "get a clue" any time soon, it is something to consider. If it were the case, executives in these corporations might be able to save their stakes in the commercial transactions involving music. In order to do so, they would need to implement important changes to please everybody involved. In fact, they would need to make amends with those who have been involved in those numerous lawsuits, many of which are quite ludicrous.

Scenario 6: Music is Dead, Long Live Musics!

Call it the CriticalWorld scenario: Thinking Globalisation Through Music.

This one would be quite close to my heart, as an ethnomusicologist and anthropologist. And it’s a scenario which seems to be off the radar of many people "in the industry." People who grok this scenario tend to be closer to the "free culture" movement, possibly because of the Anglo-American origins of market-based liberalism.

The Euro-American dominance on music distribution networks makes way for a music diversity. Music scenes flourish all around the World, musicians from different parts of the World travel anywhere else without having to go through major distribution labels, music becomes social glue across any cultural or social border.

Of course, some music scenes may become more important than others and there is likely to be a lot of overlap between musical styles and genres across the Globe. But music diversity can be a powerful force whether or not we think of biological analogies. In this context, talking about "The Music Industry" would be like talking about "The Cuisine" or "The Language." Some people might envision a completely homogeneous world but I just cannot see that it will happen.

My hunch is that some mix of these and other ideas will make up "the future of music" yet there will not be a single direction for the whole of music-related businesses.

The future is bright. And complex.

This post represents my own (Alexandre Enkerli’s) personal views and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone at CriticalWorld.<—adb9f2cb44d2840fd025a29ff88330b6—>

• Apple hides account info in DRM-free music, too
  


• Will music industry dance again to Apple’s tune? | CNET News.com
  


• Studies: music industry overstating threat of P2P piracy
  

It now sounds possible that this is the time major labels are starting to “get a clue” about what online activities can bring to them.

Nicoli cited internal EMI tests in which higher-quality, DRM-free songs outsold its lower-quality, copy-protected counterparts 10-to-1.

Many people, including Steve Jobs and the Canadian Music Creators Coalition, have been calling for the end of DRM. EMI’s move is a bit less gutzy but it does sound like a move in the right direction, at least from a technological standpoint. Let’s hope Universal, Sony-BMG, and even Edgar Bronfman’s Warner Music will follow suit.<—d8a0b9e0e6800061e3d8af2c4fa06434—>

(The name of the trophy and some of the comments are a bit vulgar…)

The runner-up was Halliburton. Both the RIAA and Halliburton are well-known for political reasons. Of course, the RIAA is more of a lobby group than a typical company. Yes, they represent the “Big Four,” major labels for recorded music, which work like typical companies (making profits by selling the output of work done by people who have contracts with them). But the RIAA, like WIPO, is something like the network of these Big Four which then tend to represent an oligarchy.

The RIAA’s interactions with “consumers” (The Public) have mostly to do with lawsuits and disinformation campaigns. The RIAA’s main impact on those consumers is a series of copy-protection schemes which make digital management of music less pleasant. Some of the musicians who are represented by the Big Four may have some involvement with the RIAA but, even there, the RIAA is often seen as the problem in music-related industries, not the solution.

So it’s no surprise that the RIAA should be viewed negatively by a majority of people. They’re probably perceived by a very small group of people (executives at the Big Four), even though most label executives (besides our friend Edgar Bronfman Jr.) are realising that they need to adapt to the new conditions (which the RIAA isn’t doing). Apart from that tiny group, the RIAA is not having any positive impact whatsoever. Hence the image problem.

What’s funny is that, if the RIAA members eventually wake up from their torpor, they will still think that the image itself is the problem and will go on a massive campaign to make people think they have done something useful. Not looking at the situation as a whole is what will eventually kill the RIAA.

Not sure who will cry over the loss.

“We can’t think of it as counting unit sales anymore,” said Kenswil. “We have to license … and think like the publishers.”

What remains to be seen is whether this is a desperate strategy of a group of zombies or the announcement of a seachange in the global music industry.

Sony Music and Universal Music Group are marking certain artists of theirs as “prohibited” for sharing

it looks like it’s roughly 40-50 percent of artist that fall under this prohibited banner

Erm… What? You gotta be kidding, right?
How can this beneficial to any artist? Oh, I know! By blocking access to certain artists, you make sure that those who are not blocked get more exposure… Where the plan fails is that Zune is crippled enough from the start that music lovers are unlikely to use it very extensively to help their peers discover music.
Sorry, recording industry. Better luck next time—4e9d4a47862aa0b92f31ab31e8f195b1—>

Solidarythmé pour un changement durable présente : Gadji Gadjo, Tomas Jensen, Opossum, Zi King Kow, cirque Kaolectif, peinture live, expo photo, danse et plus!

QUOI : 6ème édition de cette soirée pluridisciplinaire engagée

QUI : Tomas Jensen, Gadji Gadjo, Opossum, Zi King Kow, cirque Kaolectif, peinture live, expo photo, danse afro-colombienne et plus!

QUAND : samedi 18 novembre à partir de 20h

OÙ : au Kola Note (5240 rue du Parc)

COMBIEN : En pré-vente – 12$ (avec présentation de carte d’étudiant) et 15$ pour le public en général. A la porte – 15$ pour les étudiants et 18$ pour le public en général. Les billets sont en vente sur le réseau admission.com, au Kola Note, à l’AQOCI au 871-1086, a l’UdeM au B-2253 ou au 514-343-7896. Nous vous encourageons fortement à acheter vos billets chez l’un des deux organismes pour éviter les frais de service .

L’Action Humanitaire et Communautaire de l’Université de Montréal s’associe à l’Association Québécoise des Organismes de Coopération Internationale pour célébrer le pouvoir qu’a la musique de faire bouger les gens. Solidarythmé pour un changement durable vient ainsi clore deux événements de solidarité majeurs au Québec : la Semaine de la Solidarité UdeM et les Journées Québécoises de la Solidarité Internationale. Les organisateurs de la Semaine d’Action Contre le Racisme se joignent à l’initiative en appuyant l’organisation du spectacle. Ces trois événements sont maintenant devenus des rendez-vous annuels incontournables où se mêlent, l’espace d’une dizaine de jours, colloques, débats, tables rondes, activités jeunesse, expositions, cinéma et musique, entre autres. Autant de passerelles qui visent à démystifier les différentes formes que peuvent emprunter dans notre société les manifestations de solidarité.

Merci de bien vouloir difuser ce message le plus possible !

Au plaisir de vous y retrouver!

Carminda Mac Lorin

Coordonnatrice du Solidarythmé

Université de Montréal/AQOCI

514-831-7090

semainedelasolidarite@gmail.com

If you purchase a track with Microsoft® Points, you can sync it to your Zune, rip it to a CD, or even send it to a friend’s Zune so they can see if they like it.[1]

[1] The Zune to Zune sharing feature may not be available for all audio files on your device, and works only between Zune devices within wireless range of each other. This feature allows recipients to play full-length sample tracks up to 3 times in 3 days. Recipients cannot re-send music that they have received via the sharing feature.

There you have it.

// Artivistic + MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) présentent //

Nationalisme : l’exercice des cultures d’occupation—-
Une discussion autour des nationalismes à Montréal

Le vendredi 20 octobre 2006, à midi
Café du MAI (3680, Jeanne-Mance)

12h00 – Table ronde 1
14h00 – Table ronde 2

avec:

Devora Neumark (modératrice)

Stefan Christoff (Tadamon!)
Lynne Cooper (Le Trunk Collectif)
Sujata Dey (Québec Solidaire)
Ehab Latoyef (Shalom Salaam Montreal)
Afshin Matlabi (artiste)
Leila Pourtavaf (No One Is Illegal – Montreal)
Guy Sioui-Durand (sociologue/commissaire)
Rahul Varma (Teesri Duniya)

+++

Dans le cadre de l’exposition solo Terrorisme, Démocratie, Loisir (présentée au
MAI jusqu’au 28 octobre) de l’artiste irano-canadien Afshin Matlabi, le
collectif montréalais Artivistic et le MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels)
présentent Nationalisme : l’exercice des cultures d’occupation, un événement
composé de deux tables rondes. Ces activités bilingues auront lieu dans
l’atmosphère conviviale du Café du MAI au 3680, rue Jeanne-Mance. Cette
rencontre a pour source d’inspiration le travail d’Afshin Matlabi, qui explore
avec humour et ironie des thématiques comme le rôle des Nations Unies,
l’obsession nord-américaine du loisir et les discours nationalistes.

Animée par l’artiste et activiste Devora Neumark, les deux tables rondes
réuniront divers représentants du milieu artistique, universitaire, activiste
et communautaire de Montréal et de Québec. Les principaux interlocuteurs
seront Ehab Latoyef (Shalom Salaam Montreal), Stefan Cristoff (Tadamon!),
Afshin Matlabi (artiste), Guy Sioui-Durand (sociologue), Rahul Varma (Teesri
Duniya), Lynne Cooper (Le Trunk Collectif), Leila Pourtavaf (Personne n’est
illégal – Montréal) et Sujata Dey (Québec solidaire). Le nationalisme sera
traité sous l’angle de l’occupation dans ses diverses formes – territoriale,
physique ou imaginaire – en tentant de démontrer comment l’appropriation de
l’espace est à la fois source de conflit et d’alliance.

Le public est invité à venir échanger sur ce sujet très présent dans
l’actualité
lors de cette rencontre gratuite.

L’évènement a pour but de rassembler des artistes, théoriciens, et activistes
communautaires locaux afin de réfléchir sur la notion (trop souvent tabou) du
nationalisme dans nos contextes actuels. Prenant en considération les enjeux
spécifiques au contexte montréalais, dont son cadre socio-politique, sa société
pluraliste, son passé/présent coloniale, et dans le cadre des affaires
globales, sous quelles conditions et dans quelles circonstances apparaissent,
développent, s’entrecroisent, et se confrontent différentes formes de
nationalismes? A quelle fin l’humiliation, la fierté, la menace, et les
sentiments multiples d’appartenance de l’individu, à la fois à des communautés
locales et globales, prennent-ils forme dans des expressions collectives et des
manifestations de nationalisme? Comment se négocient les tensions de la
culpabilité, la honte, l’identité, la mémoire, et la géographie? Dans quelles
mesures peut-on dire que le nationalisme est responsable pour les guerres, des
communautés fortes, la patriarchie, la hétéronormalité, et le sexisme? Quelles
sont les nouvelles formes de nationalisme créées par voies de réseaux globaux
d’artistes, d’activistes, et de réfugiés… Il y a-t-il plusieurs formes de
nationalismes? Comment ces complexités sont-elles traitées ou manifestées dans
différentes démarches et pratiques artistiques?

+++

Pour de plus amples informations :

Cléo Myers, Responsable des relations publiques, MAI (514) 982-1812,
comm@m-a-i.qc.ca

Catherine Melançon, Coordonnatrice pour Artivistic (514) 524-9019,
catherine.melancon@umontreal.ca / info.artivistic@gmail.com

http://m-a-i.qc.ca/ | http://artivistic.omweb.org/

http://artivistic.omweb.org/
http://m-a-i.qc.ca/

// Artivistic + MAI (Montreal, arts interculturels) present //

Nationalism: Performing Cultures of Occupation—A Discussion on Nationalisms in Montreal

Friday, October 20, 2006 at 12 noon
MAI Café (3680, Jeanne-Mance)

12 noon – Round Table 1
2 pm – Round Table 2

with:

Devora Neumark (moderator)

Stefan Christoff (Tadamon!)
Lynne Cooper (Le Trunk Collectif)
Sujata Dey (Québec solidaire)
Ehab Latoyef (Shalom Salaam Montreal)
Leila Pourtavaf (No One Is Illegal – Montreal)
Guy Sioui-Durand (sociologist/curator)
Rahul Varma (Teesri Duniya)

+++

Within the framework of the solo exhibition, Terrorism, Democracy, Leisure, by
Iranian-Canadian artist, Afshin Matlabi at the MAI until October 28, the
Montreal-based collective Artivistic and the MAI (Montréal, arts
interculturels)
present Nationalism: Performing Cultures of Occupation, featuring two round
table discussions. These bilingual activities will be held in the informal
atmosphere of the MAI Café, at 3680 Jeanne-Mance. This event builds from
Afshin Matlabi’s work in which he explores, with humour and irony, such
questions as the role of the United Nations, North American leisure-based
society and nationalist discourse.

Moderated by the artist and activist, Devora Neumark, two round table
discussions will bring together representatives from various milieus, including
artistic, academic, activist and community, in Montreal and Quebec City. g
together representatives from various milieus, including artistic, university,
activist and community, in Montreal and Quebec City. The main participants will
be Ehab Latoyef (Shalom Salaam Montreal), Stefan Cristoff (Tadamon!),
Afshin Matlabi (artist), Guy Sioui-Durand (sociologist/curator), Rahul Varma
(Teesri Duniya), Lynne Cooper (Le Trunk Collectif), Leila Pourtavaf (No One is
Illegal – Montréal) and Sujata Dey (Québec solidaire). Nationalism will be
examined through the lens of occupation in all of its forms – territorial,
physical, imaginary – in an attempt to show how the appropriation of space can
be both a source of conflict and alliance.

All are invited to participate in this free event which will allow for dialogue
on this very topical issue.

The event aims to bring together local artists, theorists, and community
activists in order to critically question the (often taboo) notion of
nationalism in our diverse cultural contexts. Taking into consideration
Montreal’s distinct socio-political framework, pluralist society, dual
white-settler colonialist history, and within the present state of global
affairs, under what conditions and circumstances do differing forms of
nationalism unfold, meet, overlap or contest with one another? How are
humiliation, pride, threat, and individuals’ multiple senses of belonging to
both local and transnational communities performed through collective
expressions and manifestations of nationalism? How does one negotiate the
tensions of guilt, shame, identity, memory, geography? How does nationalism
cause wars, strong communities, patriarchy, heteronormality, sexism? What new
forms of nationalism are being created by way of global networks of artists,
activists, refugees… Are there many nationalisms? How do different artistic
practices deal with or manifest these complexities?<—5457cb0c4b7ceec077068b606bb5c280—>

Seems like Calabash Music’s "Fair-Trade Music" concept has been on my mind lately. A bit of context…

I had mentioned Calabash Music here before. It’s an online music store which specialises in what people tend to call "World Music." I have been downloading their free singles for quite a while but haven’t yet purchased music from the service. I do hope that Madou Diarra and Dakan (the band in which I play) will sell its music through Calabash Music.

Yesterday, after having listened to a podcast about online music stores which sell tracks without copy protection, I posted an entry right here and another on my personal blog. Though I didn’t mention Calabash Music specifically, it was clearly at the back of my mind when I wrote one of my crazier posts about music, coffee, beer, and glocalisation.

Thinking about it a bit more, and thanks to fellow Critical World member Pascal, I now feel that this concept of "fair-trade music" is especially relevant for Critical World, whose mission is to Think Globalisation Through Music.

Through a cursory look at Calabash Music’s Q&A for musicians and Artist Terms of Agreement, it does seem like they care about artists. IANAL but it does sound like their conditions are rather "good for artists." This part is rather telling:

Q. How does the money work?

A. Our customers may purchase downloads of your music at a price range between 75 and 99 cents per song. Your music is sold by the downloadable track. You will receive 50% of the net revenues from your music downloads sold. Net revenues are determined as the gross revenues less merchant fees. Artists can expect to earn an average of 44 cents per track sold. We pay you four times a year (every quarter) for your downloads. (If the amount we owe you is less than $50 then we will hold the amount until the amount is greater than $50.) We give you an account with a user name and password that allows you to look at reports of how many downloads your songs have received and how much money you have earned.

Apart from the actual royalty structure, the very fact that Calabash Music prominently displays this explanation on their website implies a direct relationship with artists. You get the impression that you don’t even need an agent to sell music through Calabash Music. Of course, agents are still extremely important for artists but in this "fair-trade" model, they don’t hold all the cards. Because coffee is the best-known case for fair-trade, the notion of a "direct relationship coffee" is quite appropriate here:

Absolution in Your Cup. The real meaning of Fair Trade coffee

Farmers were being squeezed by middlemen, known as coyotes, so that even the dismal profits from cheap mass-produced coffee failed to reach them. Growers lacked basic information about what their crop was worth, how to maximize production, and how to market their beans, and it was to the coyotes’ advantage to keep it that way. Fair Traders, by contrast, sought a direct relationship between coffee farmers and coffee drinkers: clean, just, transparent transactions.

In "fair-trade music," the agent is less of a middleman and more of a consultant, helping artists to negotiate deals in their own terms. Calabash Music serves as middleman to a certain extent but mostly as a distributor, not as a gatekeeper. The notion is that this model is more ethical than "free-trade" because it gives control to those who produce what is being sold. It’s especially compelling an idea in a global context. Musicians from around the Globe are able to sell their own music to listeners from around the Globe. Control is distributed, to a certain extent.

One of the most basic characteristics of fair-trade coffee is that there is a floor price ($1.26/lbs.) for green coffee beans. Calabash Music’s royalty scheme uses a similar principle in that musicians are getting a "fair share" of the profits, allegedly much higher than the net artist royalty on other online music stores. It undercuts the law of supply and demand to ensure that those who did the work get a "fair share." Of course, this "fair share" is decided by the "fair trade system" itself. In anti-globalization/alter-mondialisme terms, those in "developing countries" still get their business decisions made by those in "industrial countries." But to the consumer, buying "fair-trade" seems like "the ethical thing to do": selling a clear conscience at a premium.

Of course, not all is good with "fair-trade."

You’d think this confluence of social responsibility and double lattes, good business practices and lefty politics, would make [coffee activist] Katzeff a happy man. But he and a growing number of roasters say the Fair Trade movement has lost its way. The movement has always aroused suspicion on the right, where free traders object to its price floors and anti-globalization rhetoric. Yet critics from the left are more vocal and more angry by half; they point to unhappy farmers, duped consumers, an entrenched Fair Trade bureaucracy, and a grassroots campaign gone corporate.

Calabash Music is too small to get the same treatment as TransFair (the regulatory body for fair-trade coffee in the U.S.). But it doesn’t mean that the disadvantages of the fair-trade model won’t hit the music industry.

There are major differences between "fair-trade coffee" and a fair-trade model applied to music. One is that, contrary to coffee, music is not a commodity. In the online distribution of audio files, supply is unlimited in that you don’t suddenly run out of a specific MP3 file. Online distribution is still costly, but the costs scale much differently from the distribution of physical goods.

A related issue is that "music consumption" is affordable, almost anywhere on the planet. While coffee growers may be too poor to afford brewed coffee, the poorest musician in Mali can listen to music. There is a huge imbalance between The Rich and The Poor, between The Core and The Periphery, but this imbalance cannot be described in a similar way.

The injustice in music has a lot to do with issues in what so-called "Intellectual Property." An important dimension of an "ethical" music model would be that it doesn’t prevent music listeners from privately using music as they wish. Ethical music would also ensure that musicians are the ones who get the better part of the profits instead of large-scale pirates, producers, or retailers. The whole "protect the artists" stance, applied to the actual artists (not the record labels). A new business model which actually compensates musicians for their work. That, most might agree, would be fair.

Though some music productions may sound indistinguishable from one another, music is quite distinctive. While some coffee consumers may not care about the coffee they drink, music listeners select music according to their tastes. With this distinctiveness comes a sense of "brand," to think in marketing terms, but also a sense of shared experience. Fans of a given Indie Rock band may feel a bond which can extend far beyond the "consumption" of the music. In coffee, even the most enthusiastic connoisseur will never remain loyal to a single type of coffee bean or even a single coffee "origin." In globalised music, a Polish accountant can become fanatic about an Argentinian band the same way a Thai mechanic can listen to Canadian singer Céline Dion.

So it is possible that Calabash Music may benefit from the "fair-trade mentality" without being hit from the disadvantages. Simply thinking about the connections between globalised markets may give us the key.

“The tecno-brega DJ’s usually acknowledge in their live presentations the presence of people from various neighborhoods, and this acknowledgement is of great value to the audience, leading thousands of buy copies of the recorded live presentation.”

In honour of the Day Against DRM, Cory Doctorow appeared on CNET’s The Real Deal podcast with Tom Merritt. Doctorow mentioned Tecno Brega in his discussion of DRM and the notion that those artists are not discouraging others from getting paid by selling recordings of their music. Like radio in other contexts, inexpensive recordings are promotional items for these artists. Contrary to radio, this promotion is done without control from labels (in a payola or other playlist scheme).
What strikes me even more, though, is the phenomenon of mentioning neighborhoods in these recordings. As is the case with hunters associations in Mali, musical acknowledgement represents a cultural value which may, in turn, bring about commercial value. In fact, in Mali, people who sponsor performance events for the hunters associations are often people linked to hunters without being hunters themselves. They simply want the musicians to talk about them.
Who said that Jessica Simpson’s customized “A Public Affair” was innovative?<—8aaefc15baed3937bf76d099efce10ac—>

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.)

More importantly, where is there money for musicians? In contracts to produce albums? In connection with commerical “social network sites?” In tours? In contracts with television shows? In providing jingles for television commercials? In providing samples for specific uses (such as ringtones)? In teaching music? In composing music for movies? In mixing previously recorded music? In small shows at coffee shops? In grants from the Canada Council? In research on diverse aspects of music? In musical accompaniment to diverse activities? In preparing musical content to be used by would-be musicians? In donations from rich patrons pleased to be sung? In association with political, religious, or social groups?
Is there really a single answer?

No, music isn’t a commodity. But many musicians want to earn a wage directly from their work in music. A “record deal” isn’t the only way to do it.
Of course, other people (more numerous than many seem to think) make music for other reasons. From the parent singing a lullaby to a postal worker whistling a tune at work, music is a lot of things to a lot of people. Not that the financial aspect is unimportant. But the money which relates directly with the “music industry” is clearly but a fraction of what music really represents for the world.<—9b6e25df7bfc59d116b29f46a825d2fb—>

Wonder what Bronfman has to say about this…<—6d502746ab48791678da7cdd428eac58—>

Under a blanket (or ‘compulsory’ license) for consumer downloads, record labels fear they would lose control of their hard-fought grip on physical distribution channels, and lose control over pricing. In fact, they’d simply have to work harder to gain a bigger share of the pie, and innovate to find new outlets for their copyrighted material.

the staff at the RIAA are thoughtful, good people who work hard to protect their constituency

NETTIME_NORTH_AMERICA / NETTIME_AMERIQUE_DU_NORD 2006 30 MAI MONTREAL …

[ svp distribuer / please circulate widely ]

=================

MUTEK & UPGRADE MONTREAL PRÉSENTENT:

+++++++++++++++++++++

NETTIME_NORTH_AMERICA_GATHERING

CRITICAL PRACTICE RESUSCITATION (CPR)

++++++++++++++++++

=================

@ SAT, 1195 St. Laurent
10h00 – 24h00

GRATUIT / FREE

MONTREAL, CANADA

================

[TOUTES LES INFOS / ALL INFORMATION

avec (international) participants:

• un jour de débats publics, présentations et performances *

• a day of public discussion, presentation & performance *

partenaires / partners:

++++++++++++++++++++

[english below]

Le mardi, 30 mai 2006, Upgrade Montréal sera l’hôte de la première
rencontre nord-américaine de la liste de diffusion internationale
.

La Rencontre inaugura aussi l’édition 2006 du festival des arts
numériques de Mutek.

Nettime.org est depuis longtemps le point focal du indymedia mondial,
du net-art, des médias tactiques et des arts technologiques. Depuis
1994, sa liste de diffusion, ses discussions enligne et hors ligne, ses
publications et ses rencontres ont galvanisé une quantité de réseaux
transnationaux de même que leurs praticiens, développant ainsi une
expression de cette culture sous le nom de “net.criticism.” En 2006,
Nettime célèbre son 11e anniversaire, fort d’une décennie de
publications, d’interventions et de débats. _Cela étant dit, quel est
le rôle continu et l’impact de Nettime de nos jours_?

Étant un noeud d’Upgrade International, un réseau grassroots d’art
technologique en expansion, la Rencontre posera une série de questions
à l’égard du futur de Nettime: quels en sont les nouveaux participants,
et quelles sont les nouvelles directions prises par les médias
tactiques?

Membres du public, artistes, théoriciens, auteurs, codeurs, et curieux
de tous genres sont les bienvenu(e)s à cette série de présentations et
de panels qui seront suivis d’une soirée de musique et de performance
dédiées à Nettime, ses membres, ses oeuvres, ses passés et ses futurs.
Des membres internationaux de Nettime seront de la partie, ainsi que
des modérateurs de liste. Nettime est une liste ouverte et cet
événement est ouvert au public!

Horaire / infos:
http://theupgrade.sat.qc.ca/cpr

*traduction simultanée chuchotée vers le français disponible sur place.

[english]

On Tuesday, May 30th 2006 the Upgrade Montreal will bring together the
first North American gathering of the global mailing list, .

The Gathering will also launch the 2006 edition of the Mutek festival
of digital culture.

Nettime.org has long been the focal point of global indymedia, net-art,
tactical media and the technology arts. Since 1994 its mailing lists,
online and offline discussions, publications and gatherings have
galvanized a flurry of global networks and their practitioners,
developing an _expression of Net culture known as “net.criticism.” In
2006, Nettime celebrates its 11th birthday against the backdrop of over
a decade of publications, interventions and debates. _But what is the
continuing role and impact of Nettime today_?

As a node in the expanding, grassroots technology arts network Upgrade
International, this Gathering poses a series of questions to the future
of Nettime: _who are the new practitioners & what are the new
directions in tactical media_?

Members of the public, artists, theorists, writers, codemonkeys and the
curious are welcome to attend a series of talks and panels followed by
an evening of music and performance devoted to Nettime, its members, it
works, its pasts and its futures. International members of Nettime will
be in attendance including list moderators. Nettime is an open list and
this event is open to all of the public!

Schedule / info:
http://theupgrade.sat.qc.ca/cpr

===

[upgrade]

L’Upgrade est une organisation autonome, internationale et rhizomatique
de rendez-vous mensuels pour la culture numérique et les arts
technologiques. Upgrade Montréal bénéficie du soutien généreux de la
Société des arts technologiques [SAT], ainsi que de ses réseaux formant
Upgrade International, des divers partenaires avec lesquels il
collabore, des artistes faisant don de leur temps, et de l’énergie
bénévole de son triumvirate organisateur.

The Upgrade is an autonomous, international and grassroots organisation
of monthly gatherings for digital culture and the technology arts.
Upgrade Montreal is generously supported by The Society for Arts and
Technology (SAT), through the networks of the Upgrade International,
the various partners we work with, the artists who donate their time
and the personal energies of its organiser triumvirate.

——bisous from the triumvirate:

______________________________________________________
Lèche-vitrine ou lèche-écran ?
magasinage.yahoo.ca

This listserve is intended for members of Critical World and other people interested in thinking about and making world music. Please remember that if you reply automatically to this email your response will be sent to everyone on the critical world listserve. If you have any questions please send an email to info@criticalworld.net.
Think critical: www.criticalworld.net

<—6399d3c8e02c09344e820b9ed6b6b17c—><—a8fc81927ec59ae63d44398ecc4ab6b9—>

Why is French music from Quebec almost entirely absent from most Canadian online music services?

It’d be interesting to determine the effects of Canadian Content rules (“CanCon”) on the state of Quebec’s musics. It’s quite possible that CanCon has been one of the reasons behind the vitality of Francophone music in Quebec, especially when considering airplay on Anglophone radio stations. Yet, it seems to me that the current state of the “music industry” in Quebec is much less dependent on CanCon than it might have been in the past. This is not a full-fledged analysis on my part and I might be completely off-base. But this preliminary hypothesis is based on a few observations as a French-speaking Quebecker, a «Canadien errant» (an itinerant French-Canadian), and a fan of Francophone musics. My emphasis here is on «chanson», the type of music done by «auteurs compositeurs interprètes» (“singers-songwriters”). In terms of sales, it’s a relatively important market but it’s mostly significant as part of Québécois identity.
Through a significant period of Quebec’s recent history, there was a perception that musicians, especially singers, had to succeed in Paris to be recognized in Quebec. France was, and still remains to some extent, the main reference for Quebec’s “cultural institutions” and there was a sense that Quebec culture was dependent on French recognition. Many actors in Quebec’s music scenes looked up to France as a significant source of prestige. Obviously, Quebec artists were also influenced by British and American cultures. But pride in “our artists” was most often triggered by the accolades they would receive in France.
Quebec’s singers are now much less dependent on France. For instance, Daniel Bélanger, Ariane Moffatt, and other musicians on the Audiogram independent label have achieved significant success in Quebec before ever performing in France. In fact, a few French artists even achieve recognition in Quebec before they do so in France, partly because of large musicals like Plamondon and Cocciante’s adaptation of Notre-Dame de Paris. Some could say that Quebec culture is now much more inward-looking and insular than it ever was. The effect is a relative autonomy in the world of “cultural industries” (arts and entertainment, media, etc.).
Which brings another point, often bemoaned by many Quebeckers but clearly central to Quebec’s current situation: media convergence. In Quebec, “convergence” is often used as a buzzword to designate (and often decry) the practises of large corporations like Quebecor which own several media outlets and use this type of integration to cross-promote the people with whom they sign contract (or, as some put it, “to plug the artists they own”). Quebecor itself, seen as a giant, argues that it is in fact much smaller and more benevolent than the real threat of international media conglomerates (typically coming from the United States). Whatever the case may be, this discourse plays on cultural identity. No matter how evil or monopolistic it may be, Quebecor is still a Quebec institution (it says so in its name). And the contents they push are identified as part of Quebec culture, whether they’re original Quebec content or are adaptated from content which has worked in France and the United States.
By to the CRTC and content rules. Quebec content (QueCon) is covered in part by CanCon, at least through language-specific rules (Acadian and Franco-Ontarian musics are different though connected stories). Cultural protectionism does titillate cultural identity. Québécois don’t typically think of Canada’s federal agencies like the CRTC as defenders of Quebec’s distinct culture. In fact, some Québécois critics see the CRTC almost as a threat to Quebec culture, perhaps even more so than anything coming from the United States. This perception might be completely inaccurate but it does inform the attitudes of many Québécois on culture and media.
In such a context, how important is it for the CRTC to “protect” Quebec content?<—0e1e868329cb81e3a22a710f726d685e—>

Steven makes the case that record labels still need to learn that music is not a commodity, and marketing it in that way alienates fans who view it in an almost spiritual sense. Music is a touchstone in our lives – it’s the soundtrack of our past, tied directly to our emotions and memories. The impression of fans is that the recording industry wants to control what most people consider to be something very personal.

Page is part of the Canadian Music Creators Coalition which has a simple message based on three principles:

1. Suing Our Fans is Destructive and Hypocritical


2. Digital Locks are Risky and Counterproductive


3. Cultural Policy Should Support Actual Canadian Artists

Members of that coalition include such disparate musicians as Chantal Kreviazuk, Sam Roberts, Avril Lavigne, and Sarah McLachlan. While this coalition’s meant as a movement for Canadian artists, its message goes much further than Canadian exceptionalism.
Material available on the site and press coverage of the movement is surprisingly insightful and clear. While they may oversimplify some issues, their voice is loud and clear.

if anyone played a riff – an identifiable piece of music – he was in breach of copyright and was breaking the law.

That might be the reason there’s a sign prohibiting Stairway to Heaven from being played in Wayne’s World! <—eff952777ceb343f1e2ad3ab06b88ac1—>

We do live in interesting times.

============
UPGRADE MONTREAL
============

MERCREDI, le 08 mars 2006 / WEDNESDAY, March 8th, 2006
Société des arts technologiques (SAT) – 1195 St. Laurent

=
REMIX : VOIX DE FEMMES AUTOCHTONES
une manifestation artistique contre la violence pour c&#233;l&#233;brer la
Journ&#233;e internationale des femmes

REMIX: VOICES OF ABORIGINAL WOMEN
Artists Demonstrating Against Violence in Celebration of International
Women's Day
=

19h00 – 22h00 / 7pm – 10:00pm

€ 19h00: doors open/ouverture des portes
€ 19h30: Alexis O’Hara & Fanny Wylde
€ 19h50: Melissa M. Dupuis
€ 20h10: Taqralik Partridge & Nina Segalowitz
€ 20h30: table-ronde/discussion
€ 21h30: musique avec dj Tashish
€ 22h00: Fin

[.PDF: http://www.quadrantcrossing.org/papers/UpgradePress030806.pdf]

=========
UPGRADE MARS
=========

Français

Afin de souligner la Journée internationale des femmes, Upgrade est
heureux de s’associer avec le Studio XX et Femmes autochtones du Québec
(FAQ) pour cette soirée de mars. La violence étant une problématique
taboue qui touche énormément de femmes, l’événement veut sensibiliser
le public à cette réalité (physique, psychologique, économique,
politique et sociale) telle que vécue par les femmes autochtones au
Québec et au Canada via des interventions artistiques. La soirée
débutera avec une performance de la chanteuse algonquine Fanny Wylde et
l’artiste sonore montréalaise Alexis O’Hara, alliant chants
traditionnels et sonorités électroniques, suivi d’une performance de
conte moderne de l’artiste médiatique innue Mélissa M. Dupuis.
L’artiste multidisciplinaire abénaquise Christine Sioui Wawanoloath
présentera aussi une version du mythe de la création huron-wendatt dans
une installation multimédia intitulée Tortue et Femme céleste, tandis
que les artistes inuits Taqralik Partridge et Nina Segalowitz, ayant
collaboré en 2005 avec l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal,
interpréteront quelques chants de gorge. Pour clore la soirée, une
table-ronde composée d’intervenantes en promotion de la non-violence
autochtone viendront apporter quelques pistes de réflexion sur le
phénomène de la violence. Par la même occasion, le 5e numéro de .dpi,
le périodique électronique du Studio XX, y sera lancé. Avec également
l’implication de jeunes artistes autochtones via la participation de
terminus1525.ca.

L’événement est ouvert à tous et toutes. Ouverture des portes à 19h
avec la musique de dj Tashish, les perfomances débutent promptement à
19h30, et c’est gratuit!

English

Marking this year’s International Women’s Day, Upgrade Montreal is
happy to collaborate with Studio XX and Quebec Native Women (QNW) for
the March event, presenting women artists demonstrating against
violence. Violence is still a taboo subject and a problem affecting
many women. The event is meant to raise awareness concerning violence
(physical, psychological, economical, political and social) faced by
Aboriginal women of Quebec and Canada. The evening will begin with a
performance by Algonquin singer Fanny Wylde and Montreal audio artist
Alexis O¹Hara, combining traditional singing and electronic sounds,
which will be followed by a modern storytelling performance by Innu
media artist Melissa M. Dupuis. Multidisciplinary Abenaki artist,
Christine Sioui Wawanoloath, will also present her own version of the
Huron-Wendatt creation myth in a multimedia installation called Turtle
and Skywoman, while inuit artists Taqralik Partridge and Nina
Segalowitz, who have collaborated with the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra
in 2005, will perform throat singing. In closing the evening, a
roundtable will take place with Aboriginal community workers involved
in the promotion of non-violence in order to deepen a reflection on the
issue of violence. At the same occasion, the 5th issue of .dpi, Studio
XX’s online periodical, will be launched. The event welcomes the
involvement of young Aboriginal artists with the participation of
terminus1525.ca.

The March Upgrade is open to all. Doors open at 7pm with music by dj
Tashish. Performances promptly begin at 7.30pm – and it’s all free!

The Upgrade est une organisation autonome, internationale et
rhizomatique de rendez-vous mensuels pour la culture numérique et les
arts technologiques.

The Upgrade is an autonomous, international and grassroots organisation
of monthly gatherings for digital culture and the technology arts.

Partenaires de mars / March partners:
http://www.studioxx.org/
http://www.faq-qnw.org/<—1e0ef61dbee45f7bd387d5aec306b051—><—88152229d3d9fdb6115f989e69bb0110—>

Consumers International – Copyright and Access to Knowledge
The Statement to WIPO (Word) is quite short (3 pages) and quite useful. Haven’t read the Full Report (PDF) yet, but it sounds interesting. Focusing on knowledge, learning, and teaching seems like a good strategy in the context.

McCann also has a website devoted to Music and Copyright, including lots of links and documents. Fortunately enough, his participation on the SEM-L mailing-list on issues of music reappropriation has been advocating for moving away from the simplistic view of copyright as legalistic-commercial issue.<—79452c389c4ef3af47c4fda2498c6d2b—>

GLOBAL STORIES: Citizens’ Media from Around the World
A week of events celebrating autonomous, independent media

October 17th to 21st at Concordia University

überculture collective, along with The Link, CKUT, CUTV and Concordia University, are pleased to invite you to join us for the second annual celebration of International Media Democracy Day in Montreal. Centring on the official date of IMDD, Oct. 18th, this year’s week of events aims to carry on where last year’s conference left off, examining how and where information is produced and disseminated and how we can build effective, grass-roots alternatives to corporate dominated media.

This year’s theme, GLOBAL STORIES: Citizens’ Media from Around the World, aims to look at citizen-based media both in Canada and abroad and hopes to explore how it has become possible for small, localized, independent media outlets to develop a global reach.

The week’s highlight will be a keynote address and Q & A on Tuesday Oct. 18 featuring Clemencia Rodriguez, a Latin American media activist who has extensively explored citizen-based media, and John Downing, founder and director of the Global Media Research Center and author of Radical Media.
Kicking off the week will be the Montreal instalment of the cross-Canada Measuring Security Measures series, co-sponsored by the NFB/CitizenShift. With events taking place in ten different Canadian cities, MSM will explore the changing nature of security measures in Canada since Sept. 11, 2001. The Montreal event, taking place at 7pm on Monday, Oct. 17th, will pay particularly close attention to the corporate media’s role in shaping the security agenda. MSM-Montreal will feature screenings of never before seen independent films examining state-security in Canada and a panel featuring Adil Charkaoui, Julius Grey and Yasmin Jawani.

Below is a brief schedule of events for the week. For more information and to download the program, please visit
überculture .

IMDD 2005 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

October 17:
5:45pm: Book Launch – Something New in the Air: A History of First Peoples’ Television in Canada, by Lorna Roth. Concordia’s School of Community and Public Affairs.

7pm: Measuring Security Measures – part of a Canada-wide project co-sponsored by the NFB looking at security measures in Canada since 9/11,vfeaturing security certificate activist Adil Charkaoui, civil rights lawyer Julius Grey and Concordia communication studies professor Yasmin Jawani. Room H-110, Hall Building.

October 18:
10am – 4pm: Alternative Media Fair bringing together over 30 independent media organizations from across Quebec and further. Mezzanine, Concordia Hall Building

7pm: Keynote address by Clemencia Rodriguez (Latin American media activist and author of Fissures in the Mediascape: An International Study of Citizens Media) and John DH Downing (founder, Global Media Research Center and author of Radical Media: Rebellious Communication and Social Movements). Room H-110, Hall Building.

October 19:
5:30pm: Building an Independent Media Movement from Montreal to Beirut, a presentation & interactive slide show on indymedia in Beirut by media activist and CKUT host Stefan Christoff. Co-sponsored by CKUT and ISM & CMAQ. Concordia University SCPA.

7:30pm: Security and Surveillance: How big is Big Brother? A public discussion with moderator Kenneth C. Werbin (Concordia University) and guests. Co-sponsored by University of the Streets. Café Esperanza, 5490 St. Laurent Blvd.

October 20
6pm: Being Controversial in the Media – Panel discussion organized by the Link, featuring Matthew Hays, Linda Kay, Josey Vogels and Jan Ravensbergen. D.B. Clarke Theatre, Hall Building.

October 21
7pm: Video for Change – A Witness Book Launch and Wine and Cheese with Liz Miller (Concordia University) and Katerina Cizek (Filmmaker and writer) and Video Projections from Volatile Works and Les Lucioles. Graduate Students Association Lounge.

8pm: Link Alumni party at Reggie’s Pub

10pm: Global Stories wrap party featuring live music, DJs and raffle at Reggie’s Pub (co-hosted by überculture and the Link)

überculture—>

De retour ici, je google un peu et découvre un artiste engagé plutôt intéressant, qui a du récemment se réfugier en France… Vous trouverez ici un petit documentaire (environ 12 min, 65MB, format RealMedia) sur l’artiste, deux MP3s de son plus récent album (maintenant introuvable, parait-il), ainsi que des liens à d’autres textes sur lui.

Pour le plaisir de découvrir un nouvel artiste.

So the issue is not whether we place our faith in their faith, but whether we have faith in our own democratic processes. Historically, the most significant changes to democratic institutions have been in response to pressures coming up from the streets. The Commission for Africa, events such as Live 8 and campaigns such as Make Poverty History are encouraging public interest in the redeployment of public money to mitigate the effects on Africa of the structural violence of international development and globalisation. When we think that what is happening in Africa is also happening here, though less conspicuously, our common interests are made plain.

September 22-24 2005, Montreal

Artivistic :: art.information.activism/e

= http://artivistic.omweb.org ==

Artivistic is a transdisciplinary event on the
interPlay between art, information and activism.

The bilingual event will bring together diverse
practitioners and theorists of activist art and
communication through performances, art exhibitions,
interventions, workshops and roundtables.

The event includes a benefit for Steve Kurtz
(Critical Art Ensemble) and Robert Ferrell on the
evening of the 22nd September, towards the CAE Legal
Defense Fund.

The artistic and free-form conference asks three
overlapping questions in order to consider new +
different possibilities:

• Why is Activism Associated with the Street? A
  question here on the notion of space and the politics
  that underlies it;

• Who Owns your Body_Mind? A question for analysing
  the authority of scientific knowledge in relation to
  society;

• Who is Allowed to Communicate? A question on
  communications and media, information as a right and
  vector of freedom.

The event is an independent and interuniversity
initiative. It aims to promote open transdisciplinary
+ intercultural dialogue and research on activist art,
to create and facilitate a human network of diverse
peoples, and to inspire, proliferate, activate.

For the complete program and for conference
registration, please visit:

Inquiries/registration : artivisters@graffiti.net

Conference location:

3 days of conference, including workshops,
meals/coffee and conference package (excluding special
events):

Registration form:
http://artivistic.omweb.org/modules/wakka/Registration

—= special events =—
CABARET for CAE (The Upgrade! Montreal / [ctrl]
collective) benefit with djs, performance & a silent
art auction with Canadian & international artists:

Urban Happening with public-active installations,
performance, music and live painting:

‘Volatile Shorts’ + closing event with djs, vjs,
performance & tactical media screenings (Volatile
Works et al.):

———————————///

= du 22 au 24 sept 2005, Montr&#233;al ==

Artivistic :: art.information.activism/e

= http://artivistic.omweb.org ==

Artivistic est un événement transdisciplinaire qui
s’intéresse à l’interAction entre art, information et
activisme.

L’événement bilingue propose performances, expositions
d’art, interventions, ateliers et tables-rondes, en
réunissant diversEs praticien-nEs et théoricien-nEs de
l’art et de la communication engagés d’ici et
d’ailleurs.

L’événement inclue une soirée bénéfice pour Steve
Kurtz (Critical Art Ensemble) et Robert Ferrell le
soir du 22 septembre, aux profits du CAE Legal Defense
Fund.

Le colloque artistique à forme ouverte s’articule
autour de trois problématiques reliées entre elles
afin de considérer et d’encourager des possibilités
nouvelles et différentes:

• Qu’est-ce qui unit l’activisme et la rue? Une
  question ici sur toute notion d’espace et les
  dynamiques politiques qui la sous-tend;

• À qui appartient votre corps_esprit? Une question
  pour l’analyse de l’autorité du savoir scientifique
  par rapport à la société;

• Qui est en droit de communiquer? Une question qui
  aborde les communications et l’information en tant que
  droit et vecteur de liberté.

L’événement est une initiative indépendante et
interuniversitaire. Elle a pour but de promouvoir la
recherche et le dialogue transdisciplinaire et
interculturel sur l’art activiste; de créer un réseau
humain de personnes diverses; et d’inspirer,
proliférer, activer.

Pour le programme complet et pour s’inscrire au
colloque, visitez le:

Questions/inscription : artivisters@graffiti.net

Lieu du colloque:

3 jours de colloque, incluant ateliers, nourrriture /
café et pochette de colloque (excluant événements
spéciaux):

Formulaire d’inscription:
http://artivistic.omweb.org/modules/wakka/Inscription

—= événements spéciaux =—
CABARET pour CAE (The Upgrade! Montreal / [ctrl]
collective) soirée bénéfice avec djs, art performance
& une vente aux enchères silencieuse avec artistes
canadiens et étrangers:

Happening urbain avec installations publiques-actives,
performance, musique et live painting:

‘Volatile Shorts’ + événement de clôture avec djs,
vjs, performance & projections de média tactique
(Volatile Works et al.):

===

Sophie Le-Phat Ho
coordinator, Artivistic /05
c. 514 993 2312
f. 450 466 0664
artivisters@graffiti.net
http://artivistic.omweb.org

Edit (New URL): One Man’s Opinion » The Stupidest Person in the Media Industry?

in the business world, they don’t call him a schmuck. They call him “the movie industry’s official idiot”, “little more than a patsy”, “the worst market timer in the history of business”, “the most desperate billionaire around these days” (note: he made his money the old fashioned way: he inherited it), and finally “possibly the stupidest person in the media business”.

Strong words.<—09f569f901e47c1c497c71c8db79a03f—>

Here are a few pieces, in French, on those shows:

• Pour une Saint-Jean manifestive


• Les Saint-Jean de la télé... et l’Autre


• Guide Culturel SRC: Franc succès pour la fête nationale


• La St-Jean selon… Loco Locass


• Un gros party de cégep

Some information in English about the paid show.

A few things to note. The paid show was organised in part by Les Cowboys fringants, a very politicised band, as an alternative to the big subsidised show in Montreal. This TV piece explains some aspects of musical activism by Les Cowboys fringants and Loco Locass.
The fact that the subsidised show was broadcast on TV seems to have had a lot of impact on the content of the show. Interestingly enough, the fact that the more politicised show cost money to attend (and that tickets were sold, in part, through the Gillett Entertainment Group) is often mentioned but doesn’t strike people as being as at odds with the show’s purpose as one would think. Those involved in the subsidised event seem to have had no problem with the existence of an alternative show but make it clear that this second show should never become subsidised. The notion of political freedom runs through the whole discourse, on both sides.
Went to the subsidised show at Parc Maisonneuve (in Montreal). Somewhat tame politically, but quite interesting sociologically.
Notions of cultural diversity were put to the forth throughout.
Normand Brathwaite, MC for that show, routinely uses ethnic and racial categories very openly and is recognized as one of Quebec’s first Black French-speaking celebrities. During the Saint-Jean show, he made frequent references to multiculturalism and cultural integration while using skin colour as a marker. Perhaps the most striking quote, to this anthropologist, was his joking use of the phrase «mon trio viande brune» (“dark meat”) to designate three vocalists in the show, including his own daughter. It wasn’t a slur, it wasn’t meant to be derogatory, and it’s somewhat funny as a food reference. Besides, “it’s ok because he’s himself Black,” according to someone attending the show. But striking nonetheless. Quebec doesn’t tend to have hypodescent as a rule so people who descend from one Black parent aren’t necessarily considered Black themselves.
At any rate, the show did represent cultural diversity to some extent. “Token diversity,” perhaps, but diversity nonetheless. On-stage, a few things were done to make diversity shine through, like the song Un phoque en Alaska with choruses in Haitian Creole, Italian, and Arabic. Attempts were made to represent some of Quebec’s musical diversity while catering to the audience’s nostalgia with medley’s honouring well-known Quebec artists. Unsurprisingly, no song was sung in English…
But more importantly, the show’s audience was quite diverse, in every way. People of all ages, all walks of life, and any origin. While the political dimension was subdued, it felt quite welcoming. Of course, big shows always feel that way. With something like 250 000 people in that park and apparently very few incidents, it was a big party. Less intense than it has been in years long gone, but a party nonetheless.
Music does bring people together.

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/news/story.jsp?story=643962<—9b406b89a44be52ca2a2150184b6f01d—>

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/news/story.jsp?story=643962<—aa8e67d155b823433440aa32c2d89a22—>