Showing posts with label Digital Economy Bill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Digital Economy Bill. Show all posts

Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Spotify gets all Social and Local

The brilliant Spotify has just released a new version with enhanced features enabling links to Facebook 'Friends' and ability to listen to your own MP3s... Is this now the genuine iTunes challenger?

More info on Techcrunch here.

PB

Thursday, 8 April 2010

The Day the Music Died...


Last night the Digital Economy Bill went through in the 'wash up' in Parliament yesterday...

Be very afraid, you may become liable if your internet connection is not secure.

It is a huge folly which will mean broadband costs will have to rise to allow service providers to pay for the extra work and possible litigation.

Read more here: Nightmare of unintended consequences.

Steve Lawson comes up trumps again, with his blog response to the Musicians Union.

P

Wednesday, 3 March 2010

What's making y'all tick...



Still can't help it... must be the music biz heritage!

Top viewed BanksyBoy Briefings February 2010:

1 Why modern worship songs are crap - my most read post ever!
2 Let me through I'm an Anglican... not!
3 The Digital Economy Bill - Oxymoronic
=3 Take me Higher - A Lent thought with the short film 'Sign Language'
5 All the Small Things really matter - Choirs and stuff
=5 From Candleford (to Lark Rise) with Love
7 Christendom or Christianity and the controversial T-Shirt
8 Pete Rollins on Insurrecionist Theology
9 A welcome return for the Prog Rock definition post!
10 Seth Godin seems to get it right every time - here he completely nails it!

All Time top views (since Dec 2009)

1 <> Why modern worship songs are crap - my most read post ever! New at No 1!
2 >1 Ashamed Anglican? Bravo Father Tim and shame on you Archdeacon of York - should have stood by your man
3 <> Let me through I'm an Anglican... not!
4 >2 One of After The Fire's youngest fans comes up with a brilliant CD design
5 >4 Angels from the realms of... er, Norway! Breathtaking and truly wonderful music
6 >3 Great tidings of joy in the Brit film Nativity!
7 >6 Brilliant article in blokes mag Esquire by Greenbelt Festival speaker Shane Claiborne
8 >7 Whilst we allow poverty through inequality we are culpable for disasters like Haiti - Thank God for cancellation of Haiti's debt since
9 >5 After The Fire becomes International Rescue as ATF ring tone finds mobile in snow drift
10 <> Mumford & Sons, music to mend and inspire!

Top referring blogs February 2010 - A new No 1 up from 10 last month

1 <10 evangelistchanging.blogspot.com (Joe Haward)
2 >1 theartistandthetartist.blogspot.com (James & Maggie)
3 <8 cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com (Archdruid Eileen)
4 <> theconnexion.net (Richard Hall)
5 >2 elizaphanian.blogspot.com (Revd Sam)
6 >3 diggingalot.org (Graham Peacock)
7 <> churchmousepublishing.blogspot.com
8 >4 philipstreehouse.blogspot.com (Phil Ritchie)
9 <> bishopalan.blogspot.com (Bishop Alan Wilson)
10 >9 ocicbwneighbourhood.blogspot.com (Madpriest)

P

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Digital Economy Bill - Oxymoronic...

This little video (which has no sound, btw) brings to light more than one issue about the absurd Bill that Peter Mandelson is championing at the moment. First of all it is clearly impossible to police and, as has already been proven with some court cases, inconclusive as to who the actual culprit is.

In this country there is a huge amount of mistrust whilst in Canada, for example, even high profile folk do not have fences or hedges around their properties. Their WiFi connections are usually unprotected and therefore a subscriber could be open to abuse by a passer by, however, my impression was that Canadian people are simply more interested in being real world, i.e. outside and enjoying themselves!

However, in the UK it makes a lot of sense to protect your WiFi router as someone could piggy back and exceed your monthly allowance or, if you have an uncapped service, get it restricted. Now I think that to abuse an openness of an unprotected WiFi like that does amount to stealing, however, when it comes to the thorny matter of royalties from uploaded videos and other matters the Digital Economy Bill seeks to address it is a very different matter.

I very much take the view that has been eloquently explained on Steve Lawson's blog and the reference to Danny Barnes' blog here, we are living in a new era for music generation where the revenue is returning to performance rather than sales of media that has an enormous mark-up on it. Despite the plethora of seriously crap output and the promotion of 'celebrity' above talent there are many new ways to be heard and work within reasonable means to be an artist.

Ironically, for me, as a bit of a 'has been', my music is tied up by worldwide rights such that I cannot use the very wonderful Bandcamp to sell new recordings of my own 'legacy' material, the very pieces that former followers of After The Fire do want to buy. We are restricted to any brand new material that would have a limited market. However, there is no doubt that this is the way ahead for all but a tiny slither of folk trying to make their way in music. Alternatively trying to shoehorn the old music business ways into the new Digital economy is a complete non starter.

P