Music 2.0 Resources

I found this little collection of books for those interested Music 2.0. Of course the list is by no means exhaustive but it is a good start if you don't want to spend all your free time on the blogosphere digging info.

The list is here and it was found at Hypebot.

Information R/evolution

Interesting little film about information, how we store it and find it. From Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the Kansas State University.



Found at TechCrunch.

Promoting music on social spaces for copyright owners

If you own the full rights of your music, either as an artist or as a record label, Sonific Music Network seems to work as interesting solution to promote it the music in a viral sort of way. Registered members can use Sonific's SongSpot™ widget on blogs and social networking pages such as MySpace and Facebook, endorsing your music and spreading the word. The Sonific staff claims that their service works as "free Google AdWords for your music": while users have a cooler website they can also listen freely to music. The widget also connects the songs to services like iTunes where page visitors can purchase and download the music.

The premise is that artists and independent labels will generate revenue by reaching at no cost a wide audience, which according to Sonific accounts already mount to tens of thousands of users who might be interested in buying the music or visit concerts. Sonific plans cash in on comission fees to downloads and advertising that will come along with the widgets.

Thoughs on Music, by Steve Jobs

Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, writes an thought-provoking open letter to the "major four" players in the music industry, Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI, in which he pledges for a total discontinuation of DRM technologies. Jobs claims that only 3% of all music installed on every iPod ever sold was acquired at the iTunes Music Store, making 97% of the music installed on Apple's player (79% market share) DRM-Free. This renders DRM nearly useless. He argues that DRM is costly and hurts consumption; it hardly makes any dent on piracy: as soon as an iteration of DRM is released, almost instantaneously a circumvention is created somewhere in the globe.

You can read the letter here.

Sales of music plummet 20% according to WSJ

Sales of Music, Long in Decline, Plunge Sharply. Article published on the Wall Street Journal on 21 March 2007.

Trent Reznor incites NIN fans to steal its music

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails tells fans during a concert to refuse the abusive prices demanded by labels and to steal his music:

The Pirate Party

The political party Piratpartiet (Pirate Party) in Sweden aims to change the copyright laws of its country by "reestablishing" the balance between copyright holders and the consumers of creative products. According the party's Policies and Principles a 70-year copyright license on cultural goods does not make too much sense: "... If you haven't made your money back in the first one or two years, you never will ...." They propose 5-year licenses in order to attain a better equilibrium between the parts involved, the creator (or copyright holder) and the final consumer. Among other initiatives, the party also proposes the full legalization of file sharing platforms and the more flexible patent laws for developing nations.

Other countries have followed suit and pirate parties have been established around the world. The movement is gaining momentum and even an international collective has been founded: The PP International.