Ahh UMaine and the RIAA, draw steel!

The wonderful RIAA is at it again. Sending out subpoenas right and left. This time to students of the UMaine System. The UMaine site reports that the RIAA has sent the school letters to forward to 23 students informing them of their option to settle via online website p2plawsuits.com for an apparently lower cost as opposed to taking it to court. UMaine is not the only school by far. The RIAA has notified hundreds of schools and thousands of students of their intent to pursue those who download copyrighted music with subpoenas and lawsuits. UMaine has stated they will not hand over the names of the students to the RIAA nor will they deliver the notifications to the students. This is AWESOME! It is in their very right to declare such. Student information is protected underneath FERPA [Family Education Rights and Privacy Act]. UMaine has no responsibility to be the RIAA’s messenger. However, looking out for their students, they have made the notifications available for pick up if the students so desire to. Righteous! Good for you, UMaine! Stand your ground, privacy is gold!

In this day and age, BUYING music is close to unheard of [at least in my circles]. You never hear, "HEY, did you buy so-and-so’s new cd?". Its all about, "Have you downloaded such-and-such song?". The implications of downloading music are few and far between. Sure, the artist doesn’t receive that percentage of your sales anymore and the RIAA may try to sue you; but what is wrong with downloading copyrighted music? The artist I would say is in quite the position. Their music which costs them money and effort to produce and create is now being spread freely on the internet. They are not getting paid for what they do. This is clearly a problem. The solution is well, far from perfect. Artists must partner with online music sites to provide downloads for a price. This reduces their profits as well as sufficient information to market their music.

I will leave you all with a simple question for this post. What, if anything, can artists do to gain their source of income back? Should they put an emphasis on merchandise? L-P’s? Marketing? What would be a good base to fall back on [besides getting another job]?

I will continue this post and possibly even start a series, "Subsidize Privacy?"

March 27, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Starbucks expands their scope, after calling for a return to “roots”

Well well well … Starbucks is signing a one-album deal with Paul McCartney on their Hear Music record label, NYTimes reports. I seem to recall a big hub-bub about Howard Schultz, the chairman of Starbucks, calling for his company to return to their niche, coffee, coffee making, and coffee innovating. John Moore from Brand Autopsy with Paul Williams of Idea Sandbox together began a series of posts concerning the Starbucks outcry by Schultz for a return to its roots. They touched on the idea of Starbucks marketing music to its customers. John said:

"What about books and music? Neither links directly to coffee. Yet, the
company has been successful in selling both. Three weeks ago Starbucks
began selling a memoir by a former Sierra Leonean child soldier. So
far, the company has sold over 62,000 copies of this book.
(Folks, that’s a lot of books!!!) Starbucks has also been very
successful in selling CDs of established artists like Ray Charles and
emerging artists like Antigone Rising. Rumor has it the company will step deeper into the music business by forming its own record label, Starbucks Records, and release Paul McCartney’s next CD."

Fairtrade_rwanda_coffee_plant_300x3
Well, now they are delving deeper into the music business. I wonder how it will turn out. Good for business? Bad for coffee making? Branching too far from the plant? [Coffee plant!]

So now, Mr Schultz, I have a question for you. By furthering Starbucks as a record label, are you keeping true to your request to return to the core?

More to come later, my Calculus class is calling my name.

March 22, 2007 | No Comments »

Community vs. Self

We crabs in a barrel, you ain’t gettin out until I do first
And that’s why the guns burst
Whatever happened to strenght in numbers?
Some of the greatest minds on the planet are among us
But so many start on strugglin’ and never get saved
Man, Martin must be turnin’ in his grave
Like remind my soul – Akrobatik, Remind My Soul

"Some of the greatest minds on the planet are among us" So true. So very true.

The struggle for power is still ripe in many people. They yearn for the almighty dollar and would do almost anything to attain it. It is true that because of the struggle for power, violence towards other humans was born. Before the notion of violence was ever thought of, we used weapons to hunt for food to sustain our livelihood. Weapons were a tool for living, not a tool for killing. Akrobatik captures this in his inspirational lyrics, the pursuit of peace was lost as an agenda. Taking it back is key. Now with knowledge and community as the forefront of this battle. He says, "Martin must be turnin’ in his grave". Alluding to the peace keeper who tragically departed from this world before his vision was fully realized.

The community is here. We are gathering together, sharing information and ideas on a global scale. The key is in the content. Now that content is being generated by more and more people we can see a multitude of minds coming together to foster knowledge and progress. Blogging is the latest realization of this. Blogging is uniting the greatest thinkers in the world underneath their own unique umbrellas. Each niche is breaking the boundaries between the professional and the layman. Status is taking a bow and making way for content.

I am glad and fortunate to be able to share my ideas and notions with the world. What with the internet being such a perversely global agenda, we can decide its future as well as our own.

March 13, 2007 | No Comments »
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