Category Archives: Society

“Alternative” Classical Performance

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From Eric Edberg’s blog:

Ever think classical concerts are too formal and have too many intimidating rules? Could one of the reasons classical audiences are growing older and smaller be that the whole stuffy ambience, in which newcomers are shamed if they do something natural like clap between movements or during a movement, be part of the problem? (Did you know that before the 20th century, audiences clapped between movements and even during them, and composers like Mozart encouraged it?)

To verify this theory Edberg itself and other performers are putting on stage musical events like this:

Wednesday Aug. 30
7:30 PM Thompson Recital Hall in the PAC
The Romantic Cello: An Informal and Interactive Musical Event
Eric Edberg, cello and Stephanie Gurga, piano
featuring short, entertaining pieces
one hour max
performers in jeans
clap whenever you want
and dance in the aisles if you feel like it

So, what do you think?

Le perversioni dei brevetti (1)

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Tanto per allargare un po’ il discorso del post precedente, pubblico qui parte di un mio testo di qualche anno fa riguardante i brevetti, finora non pubblicato.
Potrebbe anche chiamarsi “Le perversioni del libero mercato 1 (aka L’Etica Aziendale)”, ma mettendola su questo piano, la serie non finirebbe mai…
È lungo, ma spero interessante. Comunque, per non annoiare, ho messo un link di continuazione a metà.

In tutte le legislazioni esiste il brevetto ed è visto come un incentivo alla ricerca. Il ragionamento è: assicurando una ventina di anni di sfruttamento esclusivo dell’invenzione o di introiti derivanti dai diritti, l’investimento degli ingenti capitali necessari alla ricerca diventa conveniente.
In teoria è giusto, ma il problema è che la realtà non è quasi mai così. Spesso la presenza del brevetto è un ostacolo alla diffusione di una invenzione. A volte ne provoca anche la scomparsa.
Andate a vedere, per esempio, a quando risale il brevetto dell’air-bag, che pure è un oggetto salvavita (secondo le stime del governo statunitense, 15.000 vite salvate contro le 242 perdute perché il passeggero non aveva la cintura al momento dell’impatto) e scoprirete che è del 1952 e appartiene a tale John Hetrick.
Il brevetto arrivò a scadenza nel 1972, guarda caso proprio un anno prima che General Motors decidesse di piazzare i primi air-bag della storia dell’automobile su alcune versioni della Chevrolet Impala. Inoltre, le industrie automobilistiche erano molto reticenti all’installazione di questo sistema, anche quando tutti i test ne provavano l’efficacia, perché aumentava costi e prezzi, tanto che il governo statunitense dovette renderlo obbligatorio con una legge nel 1984.
Tutto ciò dimostra che:

  • le aziende hanno consapevolmente ritardato per almeno 20 anni l’adozione di un sistema salvavita;
  • anche a brevetto scaduto, le aziende non lo avrebbero introdotto senza una disposizione governativa, a riprova che il cosiddetto libero mercato necessita di un controllo continuo e feroce;
  • pur avendola brevettata, Hetrick non guadagnò un solo penny dalla sua invenzione;
  • si tratta di una ulteriore prova che l’esistenza dei brevetti non porta benefici ai consumatori e non incrementa la ricerca, anzi, spesso la blocca;
  • dov’è l’etica aziendale?

Continue reading →

The copyright degenerations (2)

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London, September 23, 2002.
British composer Mike Batt found himself the subject of a plagiarism action for including the song, “A One Minute Silence,” on an album for his classical rock band The Planets.
He was accused of copying it from a work by the late American composer John Cage, whose 1952 composition “4’33″” was totally silent.
On Monday, Batt settled the matter out of court by paying an undisclosed six-figure sum (in UK pounds) to the John Cage Trust (note: John Cage is dead in 1992). Batt gave the cheque to Nicholas Riddle, managing director of Cage’s publishers Peters Edition and credited “A One Minute Silence” to “Batt/Cage.”
Riddle said: “We feel that honour has been settled. We had been prepared to make our point more strongly on behalf of Mr Cage’s estate, because we do feel that the concept of a silent piece — particularly as it was credited by Mr Batt as being co-written by “Cage” — is a valuable artistic concept in which there is a copyright.”
[from CNN]

Very interesting. There is a precedent in art: the white painting drawn on a blank canvas by Rauschenberg is copyrighted.
As the white paintings, the silent piece is a concept, but if a composer could patent musical concepts, there would be no music at all.
Cowell could have patented piano clusters, Schoenberg the 12-tone system, Debussy the 6-tone scale and so on. And what about the sonata and other forms?
Not to speak about pop music. I can imagine a never ending lawsuit between Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin about hard rock invention.

People are strange

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Get a P2P software (I tried eMule), select file type = audio and search for John Cage. Then sort the results by sources (i.e. the number of users sharing that file). You’ll find that the John Cage’s most shared composition is 4’33”, piano version.
Yes! The silent piece is the Cage’s most shared mp3 over the net.
People are strange…

Rapporto 2005 Economia della musica italiana

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I dati seguenti sono tratti dal Rapporto 2005 Economia della musica italiana del Centro Ask (Art & science for knowledge) dell’Università Bocconi, realizzato con la collaborazione di Dismamusica (Associazione distribuzione industria strumenti musicali e artigianato), Fem (Federazione editori musicali) e Scf (Società consortile fonografici). Sito di riferimento. Rapporto in pdf.
Il sistema musicale italiano ha fatturato, lo scorso anno, 2,284 miliardi di euro, con una crescita del 4,35% rispetto al 2003. Il sistema nel suo complesso non è perciò in crisi, anche se il saldo finale è il risultato di movimenti disomogenei dei diversi settori, con il più esposto, la discografia, in controtendenza. I dati di sell-in evidenziano vendite di musica su supporto fisico per 527,1 milioni di euro, con un calo del 5,57%.
La distribuzione digitale, con la progressiva sostituzione dei siti peer-to-peer con servizi gestiti o approvati dalle case discografiche, passando dagli 89,6 milioni del 2003 ai 141 del 2005 (+57,3%), controbilancia in parte il calo di vendita dei supporti fisici e, sommato alla buona salute degli eventi dal vivo, contribuisce alla crescita del consumo finale di musica a 1,046 miliardi di euro (+13,7%).
Una comparazione internazionale, focalizzata sul settore discografico, conferma la relativa marginalità del mercato italiano, ottavo al mondo ma con valori quasi sei volte inferiori a quello britannico (primo in Europa), otto volte più piccolo di quello giapponese e 1/20 di quello americano. L’Italia registra un consumo medio di soli 0,7 album per abitante, contro i 4,3 del Regno Unito, i 2,7 degli Stati Uniti o l’1.7 della Spagna.

A questo mercato la musica classica contribuisce solo per il 4% nel nostro paese. D’altra parte la classica è ovunque un genere residuale che va da un minimo inferiore all’1% (Svizzera, Svezia, Giappone), fino a un massimo dell’11% (Austria, unico paese che supera il 10%). Notare che la Spagna è al 7%, più di UK, Canada, Germania, Belgio (6%), Olanda e Francia (5%). I dati non comprendono Russia, Cina e Asia (a parte il Giappone).

Da notare che, mentre il fatturato delle scuole di musica private aumenta del 7.4%, quello dei conservatori (scuola pubblica) cresce solo del 4.8%.

RIAA let’s you live if you are dead

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According to The Wired Campus, the RIAA, (Recording Industry Association of America) has dropped plans to pursue an antipiracy lawsuit against Larry Scantlebury, a defendant who recently passed away, by deposing his children.
A RIAA spokesperson, Jonathan Lamy, emphasized the RIAA “abundance of sensitivity” in dropping this particular case, but Boing Boing, one of its fiercest critics, remarks that the RIAA had only given 60 days to grieve before the RIAA went on to depose the dead man’s children in a renewed suit against his estate and this “abundance of sensitivity” only materialized within 24 hours of this story hitting several large news outlets and blogs (more than 20.000 references for Scantlebury RIAA found on Google).

A disaster for musicians

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Tha cabin baggage ban after the stopped plot to blow up planes in London is a disaster for musicians.
Performers are used to carry the instruments as cabin baggage or even to buy a separate seat for big ones, like cello or tuba, because insurance do not cover damage if instruments are carried in the hold.
The problem is not only the way instruments are treated by luggage operators. The real problem is the cold. Plane holds have no heating plant and temperatures can go well below minus 10C in the hold of a short flight and below minus 30C during a long high-flying journey. This experience could seriously damage the wood of a 200 years old violin, cello or oboe whose value easily go over € 20.000.
BBC News report that Russian musicians returning from London after the Bolshoi Theatre’s season face an overland journey because of the new UK cabin baggage ban on planes. They are under contract to keep their instruments with them and cannot check them in as hold baggage. Bolshoi musicians borrow their instruments from Russia’s state collection and do not have the right to part with them under any circumstances.
Air travel is an everyday part of the job for many musicians and the cabin baggage ban is a real nightmare for them.

The copyright degenerations (1)

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The copyright degenerations are many. IMHO the following is really absurd.
I am an electronic music teacher in the Conservatorio (high level school of music) here in Verona, Italy. As such, my duty is also suggesting books to students. In Italy we have a main book about history and development of electronic music. The book is called “La Musica Elettronica” and is a collection of papers selected by the composer Henry Pousseur, printed by Feltrinelli in 1976. This book is very important because is the only one on which you can find papers about early electronic music written by main composers and translated in italian.
But now this book is no more for sale. The publisher has withdraw from the market because the revenues are not satisfactory. Easy to guess: it’s a technical book for musicologist and composers only (and italian market is no so big as the USA market). So my students can’t buy it. OK, they could make copies, but they can’t because in Italy to copy a book is a crime.
So look at this absurd situation:

  • The book is no more available because of the publisher choice
  • It follows that neither the publisher nor the authors gain royalties from the book
  • So the only way to obtain the book is copying
  • Copying is not piracy because the book is no more available
  • But copying is a crime

Be a little paranoid

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I’m sorry, but the digital revolution in telecommunication and multimedia is very likely to have a dangerous effect (i.e. right limitations) on users/consumers.
This is a simple and limited example:

Well, suppose you are looking to a movie on your new digital HD TV. The commercial starts and you search for the remote controller to switch to another channel.
You push the button… and the channel don’t change. Moreover, a message appears on the screen:
“Be cool, your controller is good, but following the new policy of this TV station, your remote controller is disabled during the commercials broadcasting. Please, consider that this TV station needs the commercials incomes to offer new and beautiful channels. Your controller will become fully functional after the commercials space. TYVM for your cooperation”
This thing is not limited to the people looking at the movie in real time. Even if you record the movie with your new DVD recorder you will be affected. The Fast Forward function will be disabled during the advertisement’s broadcasting.

It’s not science fiction and it’s not pessimist attitude. It’s a new Philips patent which prevents a user from changing the channel during commercials. According to Ars Technica, ABC is very interested in.
Now, consider that this is a little example of exploiting the digital technologies to control the users. It seem that the aim of the major is:

  • music, movies and multimedia contents completely blocked. No copy (even for personal use) and no loan between friends (this is the DRM)
  • computers totally under control by the so called Trusted Computing technologies. Only allowed software can run and only allowed (so called “safe“) platforms can go on line.

The future of musical marketing (2)

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It’s the year 2015 and you wake to a familiar tune playing softly. It gets you out of bed and makes you feel good. As you walk into the bathroom, your Personal Media Minder activates the video display in the mirror, and you watch a bit of personalized news while you get ready for the day. You step into the shower and your personalized music program is ready for you, cued up with a new live version of a track that you downloaded the other day. It is even better than the original recording, so while you dress, you tell your “TasteMate” program to include the new track in your playlist rotation.
You put on your new eyeglasses, which contain a networked audio headset, letting tiny earbuds slip into your ears. You switch on the power, and the mix that your friend made for you starts to play. Music pours into your consciousness. It becomes yours.
After breakfast with the family, you head off to work and the Personal Media Minder asks if you wish to finish the audio book you started yesterday morning. You confirm and listen while you walk to the train that takes you to your job.
During the day, your headset and other wireless devices help you communicate across the network, with your friends, associates, network buddies, and “digital peers.” The headset also keeps you connected to that hard rock collection that you really love to listen to. Meanwhile, a variety of new songs, new versions, and remixes of tracks you truly dig, along with your old favorites, continues to come your way. Using TasteMate, you access and trade playlists, and recommend a couple of songs to your friend in Seattle, and they get added to his rotation. Music propels you throughout the day.
On the way home, you choose your usual dose of news, sports, weather, and the latest dirt on your favorite bands and movie stars. The headset syncs to the active 3D displays that project images just in front of your eyes, or onto the communal screens available on the train and at home. You decide what you hear and see, and who can share in the experience. The Media Minder blends and delivers the programming you select, along with whatever variety of new music you decide to explore. It also determines how that new music is chosen, with the help of the TasteMate program.
Back at home, you cruise into the evening with the house system sending soft dinner jazz to various speaker systems in your house, as you serve up one of your culinary specialties, then pay your bills. One of these bills is your media and entertainment subscription, which includes your monthly music, video, network, and communications charges; it’s always lower than your heating or water bill. Incoming calls from your friends blend into the programming that surrounds you, as you see fit. After dinner, you clean up, perhaps enjoy a couple of games with friends across your virtual network, and begin to wind down with some New-Age derivatives of Mozart’s original compositions, which you discovered late one night while cruising through the music sharing channels…

The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution
By David Kusek

This is the opening of David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard book “The Future of Music”. Here is the blog related.

In your opinion it’s heaven or nightmare?

While reading for the first time I think “…beatiful…”, but when I tried to imagine this as a real world all began turning to nightmare.
Well, to a large extent I agree with the authors. As stated in the previous post I also think that the music will be sold as a digital stream, the prices will drop, there will be subscription services, etc…
But there will be also other things not so good. For instance, what about advertisement?
Do you think the seller of a similar service will give up the gain that advertisement could create? There is nothing all around without it. And I hate advertisement. And the personalized advertisement I hate more.
So, suppose they try to create a “not disturbing” advertisement. You are listening to the hard rock collection you really love and “meanwhile, a variety of new songs, new versions, and remixes of tracks you truly dig, along with your old favorites, continues to come your way” but sometimes a you hear a song similar to the others, but definitively not a part of your choice. And you start asking if it’s a bug of the selection software or a masked advertisement. Do you remember payola?
And then “during the day, your headset and other wireless devices help you communicate across the network, with your friends, associates, network buddies, and digital peers”. Good, but if you can connect with every network, every network can find you. So, while you are listening to the audiobook, the people in your office call because your boss has planned a meeting at 10 am and he needs your opinion about a new project, so charts, images and word come to you mixing with the audiobook. Moreover, your messenger software has started automatically (it’s part of the subscription) and you can hear the rings and see the nicknames of 50 idiots that have nothing to do and want to chat with you. At least, there is another call from that moron with persist in calling from the day you made sex with him/her only because that time you were so blue…
Ok, I could modify all the book’s opening reflect my not-so-optimistic vision, and maybe I’ll do. But the thing that disturb me the more in this utopia is the refusal to choose. I know the information is increasing so choosing is more and more difficult, but when I choose to get the news from CNN or the NY Times, I make a selection by myself e.g. I choose CNN because I trust CNN). If I connect to a service like GoogleNews I don’t. It’s someone other that select the news I see. In this case, it’s the software itself, but the software works looking at how popular a news is, so it’s not my choice.
In the same way, a music selection service can only make blind choices based on the musical genre and I could customize it, but its “intelligence” it’s always in someone other hands.
Ok, the music will flow like water, but who control the flux?