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http://www.livedaily.com/archive/2000/2k01/wk3/Ame ndmentToCopyrightActCo.html

"By treating the artist as a person hired to make the recording, the record company would own the recordings and have the right to control their distribution and use them indefinitely. For artists, this radical change would mean that they are, in fact, selling the rights to their work forever, rather than allowing a record company to use it for a limited period of time to market, distribute and earn profits from it.
Billboard reported that the change in the law was requested by the Recording Industry Association of America, a record industry group that defends the interests of the major record labels. RIAA president Hilary Rosen claimed that the amendment merely makes a recording "eligible" for work-for-hire status, and the artist and label must still sign a contract that either explicitly makes the recording a work-for-hire or leaves rights with the artist.
Rosen also stated that the amendment is simply a provision that legally nails down the recording industry's view that the artist is just one of many participants, along with backup musicians, arrangers and engineers, who jointly create an album. In the RIAA's eyes, if the album is not treated as a collective work, then record labels cannot easily determine who owns the rights. Calling an album a collective work allows them to simplify the situation, they say. It would also allow them to assume ownership of the music."

I see no particularly feasible way to get around this corrupt, evil system other than mp3s. I personally am putting lots of totally legitimate mp3s out there, but I can't muster up even the smallest condemnation for the biggest most blatant copyrighted-music pirate in the world (currently, mp3.com itself ;) ). If that means musicians generally are not paid, fine: that's the way it is NOW, plus you sign away your life's work to the labels- formerly for 35 years, now FOREVER. Who can justify that, or participate in it even passively? Did you know that the labels and the RIAA are changing the rules as we speak so that musicians can only sign away their own ARTWORK to their corporate masters forever? Is this retroactive, do you suppose, as it is a reclassification of existing contract terms? Is it right for musicians to lose the rights to their music forever? What are you, the music consumer, going to do about this?

I am doing this: mp3.com/ChrisJ. Whatever you do, please do _something_: at this point, not only is it the unsigned artists needing a chance, the _signed_ artists are starting to be abused worse than you would possibly imagine. Please spread the word and do something, anything, to resist. Maybe you'd prefer to ignore the indie guys and send mainstream chart-topping musicians $10 in the mail. God knows they could probably use it. It will soothe their feelings some tiny amount as they consider the way in which they have just lost ownership of their own music forever (and are likely forbidden from doing any music other than for the label in their contract).

http://www.livedaily.com/archive/2000/2k01/wk3/Ame ndmentToCopyrightActCo.html

"By treating the artist as a person hired to make the recording, the record company would own the recordings and have the right to control their distribution and use them indefinitely. For artists, this radical change would mean that they are, in fact, selling the rights to their work forever, rather than allowing a record company to use it for a limited period of time to market, distribute and earn profits from it.
Billboard reported that the change in the law was requested by the Recording Industry Association of America, a record industry group that defends the interests of the major record labels. RIAA president Hilary Rosen claimed that the amendment merely makes a recording "eligible" for work-for-hire status, and the artist and label must still sign a contract that either explicitly makes the recording a work-for-hire or leaves rights with the artist.
Rosen also stated that the amendment is simply a provision that legally nails down the recording industry's view that the artist is just one of many participants, along with backup musicians, arrangers and engineers, who jointly create an album. In the RIAA's eyes, if the album is not treated as a collective work, then record labels cannot easily determine who owns the rights. Calling an album a collective work allows them to simplify the situation, they say. It would also allow them to assume ownership of the music."

I see no particularly feasible way to get around this corrupt, evil system other than mp3s. I personally am putting lots of totally legitimate mp3s out there, but I can't muster up even the smallest condemnation for the biggest most blatant copyrighted-music pirate in the world (currently, mp3.com itself ;) ). If that means musicians generally are not paid, fine: that's the way it is NOW, plus you sign away your life's work to the labels- formerly for 35 years, now FOREVER. Who can justify that, or participate in it even passively? Did you know that the labels and the RIAA are changing the rules as we speak so that musicians can only sign away their own ARTWORK to their corporate masters forever? Is this retroactive, do you suppose, as it is a reclassification of existing contract terms? Is it right for musicians to lose the rights to their music forever? What are you, the music consumer, going to do about this?

I am doing this: mp3.com/ChrisJ. Whatever you do, please do _something_: at this point, not only is it the unsigned artists needing a chance, the _signed_ artists are starting to be abused worse than you would possibly imagine. Please spread the word and do something, anything, to resist. Maybe you'd prefer to ignore the indie guys and send mainstream chart-topping musicians $10 in the mail. God knows they could probably use it. It will soothe their feelings some tiny amount as they consider the way in which they have just lost ownership of their own music forever (and are likely forbidden from doing any music other than for the label in their contract).

New Horizon

One of the most anticipated products in the MP3.com Editorial camp went from vapor to reality as it made its debut at CES 2000.

Garden Grove, Calif.-based hardware outfit Vertical Horizon finally put the CD in portable MP3 audio with a line of portable MP3 CD players.

The two models displayed at CES play MP3 CDs and standard red book audio discs, and both are about the size of standard portable CD players.

Of course, thanks to MP3 compression technology, these players can play discs that contain more than 10 hours of music, rather than the 70-minute standard audio CD.

The larger of the two models includes a port for SmartMedia cards, giving it added value for those who utilize other non-CD portable MP3 players like the Rio and Nomad.

Sound quality on both players was excellent, and both incorporate all of the standard CD player features, including EQ and multiple playback options. Each has an LCD screen displaying track numbers, times and mode icons. There's no ID3 tag display yet, but the Vertical Horizon staff assured us that it will be incorporated soon.

Each unit also includes 20 seconds of digital anti-shock protection to prevent CD skipping, and an infrared port for the possible future addition of a wireless remote control.

The real music to our ears was the pricing on these units, with the CD-only device expected to retail at around $120 U.S. and the SmartMedia-enabled device priced at about $150 U.S., not much more than many standard CD players on the market today.

Vertical Horizon expects to have the units in full production in the first half of this year. To keep up on this hot new product, visit VH's web site at http://www.evhi.com.

David E. Weekly

Instead of talking nonsense like this you should start becoming part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Please go to my mp3.com site and then don't even necessarily hang around listening to my music- I mean, it's fine and people have been writing and saying they liked it but you should go ON from there, even skipping my stuff, and begin exploring and downloading some of the other artists there. There's an american Tuvan Throat-Singer (nominated for most unusual vocalist!), Steve Sklar, who plays with Big Sky. There's a rap act ("G-spot") who put together phenomenal backing tracks that groove like P-Funk. I've taught myself what Trance and Drum+Bass really are entirely from mp3.com acts and reading the message boards, it's an amazing resource. There's a huge amount of stuff out there and it's ALL legitimate uses of the format. Please stop misleading and start being part of the solution! It's really important! Thank you.

Instead of talking nonsense like this you should start becoming part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Please go to my mp3.com site and then don't even necessarily hang around listening to my music- I mean, it's fine and people have been writing and saying they liked it but you should go ON from there, even skipping my stuff, and begin exploring and downloading some of the other artists there. There's an american Tuvan Throat-Singer (nominated for most unusual vocalist!), Steve Sklar, who plays with Big Sky. There's a rap act ("G-spot") who put together phenomenal backing tracks that groove like P-Funk. I've taught myself what Trance and Drum+Bass really are entirely from mp3.com acts and reading the message boards, it's an amazing resource. There's a huge amount of stuff out there and it's ALL legitimate uses of the format. Please stop misleading and start being part of the solution! It's really important! Thank you.

Instead of talking nonsense like this you should start becoming part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Please go to my mp3.com site and then don't even necessarily hang around listening to my music- I mean, it's fine and people have been writing and saying they liked it but you should go ON from there, even skipping my stuff, and begin exploring and downloading some of the other artists there. There's an american Tuvan Throat-Singer (nominated for most unusual vocalist!), Steve Sklar, who plays with Big Sky. There's a rap act ("G-spot") who put together phenomenal backing tracks that groove like P-Funk. I've taught myself what Trance and Drum+Bass really are entirely from mp3.com acts and reading the message boards, it's an amazing resource. There's a huge amount of stuff out there and it's ALL legitimate uses of the format. Please stop misleading and start being part of the solution! It's really important! Thank you.

Instead of talking nonsense like this you should start becoming part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Please go to my mp3.com site and then don't even necessarily hang around listening to my music- I mean, it's fine and people have been writing and saying they liked it but you should go ON from there, even skipping my stuff, and begin exploring and downloading some of the other artists there. There's an american Tuvan Throat-Singer (nominated for most unusual vocalist!), Steve Sklar, who plays with Big Sky. There's a rap act ("G-spot") who put together phenomenal backing tracks that groove like P-Funk. I've taught myself what Trance and Drum+Bass really are entirely from mp3.com acts and reading the message boards, it's an amazing resource. There's a huge amount of stuff out there and it's ALL legitimate uses of the format. Please stop misleading and start being part of the solution! It's really important! Thank you.

For everything from do-it-yourself car MP3 players to portable NVRAM players, this is the page to check out: http://hardware.mp3.com/hardware/. It's also got stuff on other related hardware, such as sound cards, speakers, and other devices. Haven't looked into discman-type devices before, as I don't like walking around with headphones on. Something a little bit bigger seems just right for the car (something too big wastes trunk space).

On jan 14, 2000, this article was posted about the Apex player. There have since been several followup articles posted about the legality of the Apex, and there are about a bazillion other web sites with info about it. Heck Circuit City now even advertises that this thing plays MP3s

Even earilier than that, back on Sep 9, 1999, slashdot posted this story on the Pine unit. Now, the Pine unit has not hit the market yet, but it any many similar units can be found in the MP3 hardware section on mp3.com

There are now probably about a half dozen other units similar to the Pine unit (their names and URLs have already been posted by people more eager than myself) but also like the Pine unit none of them have actually made it to the streets yet. Had the poster asked what was actually *available* or reviews of the available units, that would have been a different story entirely.

I mean, it's bad enough when people post stupidly obvious questions to usenet or to mailing lists (questions that can be answered with a simple web search or by looking in very obvious locations) but when these things start getting posted as slashdot feature stories... sheesh...

-p.

On jan 14, 2000, this article was posted about the Apex player. There have since been several followup articles posted about the legality of the Apex, and there are about a bazillion other web sites with info about it. Heck Circuit City now even advertises that this thing plays MP3s

Even earilier than that, back on Sep 9, 1999, slashdot posted this story on the Pine unit. Now, the Pine unit has not hit the market yet, but it any many similar units can be found in the MP3 hardware section on mp3.com

There are now probably about a half dozen other units similar to the Pine unit (their names and URLs have already been posted by people more eager than myself) but also like the Pine unit none of them have actually made it to the streets yet. Had the poster asked what was actually *available* or reviews of the available units, that would have been a different story entirely.

I mean, it's bad enough when people post stupidly obvious questions to usenet or to mailing lists (questions that can be answered with a simple web search or by looking in very obvious locations) but when these things start getting posted as slashdot feature stories... sheesh...

-p.

There are a bunch of Mp3/CD portable player combos. In fact, it's funny you should ask as the first that is acually into production is the Mambo-X and it started Shipping on Friday. It's made by Tagram and has the best features of any of the dual-compliant format players I've seen yet.

For the full low-down on portable players and their support/features go here. Another place to check is Mp3.com's Portable players page. You might find out a little more about some of the players there (especially Mp3 ports.).

No offense, but did this person even try looking before asking this question (about the CD/mp3 player)? I mean, it took me less then 5 seconds to look at Mp3.com's hardware page to find the very first item (at least when I just checked) is such a device. And they've had several posted over the last few months that are in developtment.

That's just one site too.. there must be other sites with mp3 hardware reviews/previews out there. Plus a search on deja of
mp3 & cd & audio & player
had about 2300 hits, many of which have URLs to companies with such products in the works.

I think a better /. article on this subject would've been one that points out the players shown in mp3.com's list exist are are being designed.

Sony makes CD player...Sony Entertainment is a member of the MPAA....Sony does NOT make MP3 CD Players

Correct - Sony does not have an MP3/CD player, but they do have an MP3 player. See here.

The biggest reason for the lack of MP3/CD players is probably because MP3 players not using a CD format can be much smaller (and they are much cooler, too). Of course, I want an MP3/CD player, too.

I've been following the development of MP3/CD players for a while. At this point, two alternatives exist (Pine and Mambox - links to both can be found at http://hardware.mp3.com). I'm waiting for reviews before I commit myself to buying either of them.

I found one that actually exists unlike the PineTech player. Looks pretty nice. I'd like to get my hands on one and take a good look at it sometime.
Here's the MP3.com review of the player.

You make a good point. I'll try to download some of your MP3's this weekend and check it out. (Can't guarantee I'll like it, but I'll try to check it out at least.)

My recording studio cost money, and for commercial work I'll charge $75 an hour for it, which isn't even that high of a figure.

For people who are on my side in this mp3, open source, freedom to express thing, I'll literally let them use my studio FREE. If you are going to be releasing all your stuff as mp3s free (NO holdouts) and will allow purchase of your CD to be strictly voluntary (as mine are- nothing is withheld from the free downloads or will ever be), then I will be delighted to work with you for free. You merely have to call me, email me, set up a time and get yourself to Brattleboro, Vermont. (I obviously can't gallivant all around the country recording people for free!) As to other costs, hell, I can probably throw in the tape if that's a problem. (New Maxell XR-S Black only please).

As to how downloading an mp3 supports an artist? DOWNLOAD MINE and find out!! Please? Do I have to _beg_ people to listen to the artform I've been doing for almost 20 years? Do I have to tantalise people with the studio of which the 'anima' album is a good demonstration of the sounds I can get? It's not like this is crud- nearly broke top 20 in Instrumental Rock with _no_ promotion, up against much more established artists such as Carmine Appice, Dweezil Zappa, Richie Sambora and Brian May (all of whom I beat in the charts, in various combinations) and Wolf Hoffman (who I haven't beat- yet). It's not like it can be less expensive because I've been a slashdot-reading, GPL-using, linux-booting creativitysharing geek for years, and the CDs I have up there are all the minimum of 5.99 that mp3.com will allow (think about THAT for a minute. That's presumably the price at which they are still making some money- how much lower than the mainstream is that?) and there's nothing that I won't freely GIVE to someone who doesn't have the money or just wants to be given stuff.

And all I'm really asking in return is for people to DO THAT- download the mp3s, what, do I have to PAY people to listen to music that's not off the major labels? If this is not supporting the artist then WHY are 90% of the songs on the mp3.com artist boards "Please download my song, I want to be in the charts, I want to be heard"? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to be an artist supporting the mp3 revolution and feel like anybody is listening, is accepting what you're giving?? It's like that scene in Cryptonomicon- "Accept one of our free army tanks! They get 2000 mpg and go 500 miles an hour playing quadrophonic stereo with air conditioning!" and everybody wants the station wagons :P

I _beg_ people, follow those links, download my mp3s paying me nothing. If people desperately want to pay me they will eventually get their chance but for now I ask _nothing_ more. If you don't like people who rant on slashdot, go there and download somebody _else's_ music out of spite- as long as it's not "Rolling Stones Interview" or something! Do you know how irritating it is to have some rock dinosaur major label appendage open an account at mp3.com alongside you, put out some _soundcheck_ or radio station promo and then instead of using the medium (like Chuck D.!) and putting the whole album up, putting up the ONE TRACK (like Robby Krieger) and withholding the rest, or putting up INTERVIEWS (Robby, the Stones, the Eagles) so then you end up having some rock dinosaur's PRESS CONFERENCE beating you to death in the charts and staking out the top places for weeks on end? A _press_ conference? That's like listing IE service packs right alongside Freshmeat packages, complete with hit ratings. I don't know how better to express how insulting and damaging this is. "Gee, Martha, looks like many more people like and enjoy the latest NT service pack than this new linux program- looks like we should be running that!" feh.

And then I come here and read the question "And how does downloading an mp3 support an artist"? Yeesh, stand aside for venting- I apologize for freaking right out at you, because you meant no harm and surely were trying to encourage people to support artists _more_ than that. But, man! If you had any idea how badly I wanted people to just plain hear what I'm doing with this wizzy new studio I've built, how I want to be supported and respected for how seriously I'm taking the new paradigm- rather than ignored- "Oh, he has all his songs available for download, he must suck if he's not on a major label or at least trying to sell his albums by forcing people to buy them in order to get every song!" "Oh, he has all his programs open source, they must suck if they're not proprietary or at least crippleware that will shut itself off if you don't pay for it!" Can't you even see the parallels? Wouldn't you want Linux to 'be higher on the charts'? Is it so hard to understand that music operates on a similar economy of respect and status, and is equally hard to bullshit about, and is equally threatened by a totally hostile and corrupt culture that's got most people unaware there is even a better, more open, more community-oriented way?

*sigh!*

So maybe my only answer is the sheer desperation and intensity of this rant. _Please_ go to mp3.com (or some other indy-artist site if you prefer another one) and download some artist who is _not_ signed to a major label and polluting the music charts with _interviews_ and crap like that. If you do nothing else, at least take what's being given. There's damned good stuff out there. I happen to think my stuff is good stuff, but I've heard _lots_ of other acts who had terrific music up there- and I can be pretty certain that they would _all_ love to be heard, if nothing else. Half of them beg constantly in the artist bulletin boards _just_ to be downloaded, and that includes damn good artists whose music I really liked.

Please go and listen to us rather than questioning whether mp3 will help us... and listening only to major label shite! Thank you. -chris

My recording studio cost money, and for commercial work I'll charge $75 an hour for it, which isn't even that high of a figure.

For people who are on my side in this mp3, open source, freedom to express thing, I'll literally let them use my studio FREE. If you are going to be releasing all your stuff as mp3s free (NO holdouts) and will allow purchase of your CD to be strictly voluntary (as mine are- nothing is withheld from the free downloads or will ever be), then I will be delighted to work with you for free. You merely have to call me, email me, set up a time and get yourself to Brattleboro, Vermont. (I obviously can't gallivant all around the country recording people for free!) As to other costs, hell, I can probably throw in the tape if that's a problem. (New Maxell XR-S Black only please).

As to how downloading an mp3 supports an artist? DOWNLOAD MINE and find out!! Please? Do I have to _beg_ people to listen to the artform I've been doing for almost 20 years? Do I have to tantalise people with the studio of which the 'anima' album is a good demonstration of the sounds I can get? It's not like this is crud- nearly broke top 20 in Instrumental Rock with _no_ promotion, up against much more established artists such as Carmine Appice, Dweezil Zappa, Richie Sambora and Brian May (all of whom I beat in the charts, in various combinations) and Wolf Hoffman (who I haven't beat- yet). It's not like it can be less expensive because I've been a slashdot-reading, GPL-using, linux-booting creativitysharing geek for years, and the CDs I have up there are all the minimum of 5.99 that mp3.com will allow (think about THAT for a minute. That's presumably the price at which they are still making some money- how much lower than the mainstream is that?) and there's nothing that I won't freely GIVE to someone who doesn't have the money or just wants to be given stuff.

And all I'm really asking in return is for people to DO THAT- download the mp3s, what, do I have to PAY people to listen to music that's not off the major labels? If this is not supporting the artist then WHY are 90% of the songs on the mp3.com artist boards "Please download my song, I want to be in the charts, I want to be heard"? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to be an artist supporting the mp3 revolution and feel like anybody is listening, is accepting what you're giving?? It's like that scene in Cryptonomicon- "Accept one of our free army tanks! They get 2000 mpg and go 500 miles an hour playing quadrophonic stereo with air conditioning!" and everybody wants the station wagons :P

I _beg_ people, follow those links, download my mp3s paying me nothing. If people desperately want to pay me they will eventually get their chance but for now I ask _nothing_ more. If you don't like people who rant on slashdot, go there and download somebody _else's_ music out of spite- as long as it's not "Rolling Stones Interview" or something! Do you know how irritating it is to have some rock dinosaur major label appendage open an account at mp3.com alongside you, put out some _soundcheck_ or radio station promo and then instead of using the medium (like Chuck D.!) and putting the whole album up, putting up the ONE TRACK (like Robby Krieger) and withholding the rest, or putting up INTERVIEWS (Robby, the Stones, the Eagles) so then you end up having some rock dinosaur's PRESS CONFERENCE beating you to death in the charts and staking out the top places for weeks on end? A _press_ conference? That's like listing IE service packs right alongside Freshmeat packages, complete with hit ratings. I don't know how better to express how insulting and damaging this is. "Gee, Martha, looks like many more people like and enjoy the latest NT service pack than this new linux program- looks like we should be running that!" feh.

And then I come here and read the question "And how does downloading an mp3 support an artist"? Yeesh, stand aside for venting- I apologize for freaking right out at you, because you meant no harm and surely were trying to encourage people to support artists _more_ than that. But, man! If you had any idea how badly I wanted people to just plain hear what I'm doing with this wizzy new studio I've built, how I want to be supported and respected for how seriously I'm taking the new paradigm- rather than ignored- "Oh, he has all his songs available for download, he must suck if he's not on a major label or at least trying to sell his albums by forcing people to buy them in order to get every song!" "Oh, he has all his programs open source, they must suck if they're not proprietary or at least crippleware that will shut itself off if you don't pay for it!" Can't you even see the parallels? Wouldn't you want Linux to 'be higher on the charts'? Is it so hard to understand that music operates on a similar economy of respect and status, and is equally hard to bullshit about, and is equally threatened by a totally hostile and corrupt culture that's got most people unaware there is even a better, more open, more community-oriented way?

*sigh!*

So maybe my only answer is the sheer desperation and intensity of this rant. _Please_ go to mp3.com (or some other indy-artist site if you prefer another one) and download some artist who is _not_ signed to a major label and polluting the music charts with _interviews_ and crap like that. If you do nothing else, at least take what's being given. There's damned good stuff out there. I happen to think my stuff is good stuff, but I've heard _lots_ of other acts who had terrific music up there- and I can be pretty certain that they would _all_ love to be heard, if nothing else. Half of them beg constantly in the artist bulletin boards _just_ to be downloaded, and that includes damn good artists whose music I really liked.

Please go and listen to us rather than questioning whether mp3 will help us... and listening only to major label shite! Thank you. -chris

And you've studied and understand and speak both languages? Galois Theory and Serial Harmony? If your grasp of serial harmony is even at the mathematical level of algebra, then you should be able to whistle the Moses und Aron row... yes?

Dennis

hypergeek wrote: That's where the fuzzy gray area of "speech with functional significance" comes in...

This is so true. Remember that source and object code were validated as speech in the early 1980s during the copyright debate.

I'm baffled about this decision alters existing law, or if it merely reaffirms it -- or even if it limits it, because "speech with functional significance" is not what object code is. Yet object code is protected by copyright and was defended as speech.

Yes, copyright itself doesn't define speech, but its implementation has paralleled the Constitutional concept of speech for decades.

Perhaps the implications of tech have so befuddled (and broken down) the legal system that each turn and twist in the tech road has to be adjudicated individually to arrive at the same old conclusions.

Dennis

http://maltedmedia.com/
No Money (Lullaby for Bill)
http://www.mp3.com/bathory/

Of course, the panorama is only a picture of my studio and "Dog" is a good song (sort of an instrumental groove jam with a happy upbeat feel, tight and gutsy) but that still fits in very nicely with my sense of what these divergent formats are for. I would be dismayed if the Quicktime media was getting all the downloads, as again it's closed and I don't like encouraging that.

Speaking of encouraging, I've been feeding my karma account (no not Slashdot karma, general karma) by making samples to share with other artists at mp3.com, sort of in a musician-style open source spirit. If any slashdotters want them, a highlight is the drum samples I made, those are at http://www.airwindows.com/studio/DrumSounds.zip and could come in handy. Hope people enjoy them, they're darn good samples :)

However, I have the file relegated to a text link, because I'm not about to go embedding it in my page- I don't consider it right to imply that Quicktime is part of the normal web browsing experience, any more than WMP should be. So my 'extended media' sits under a text link like the sideshow it basically is.

For my music I go with mp3, with a vengeance. (and actually it's doing real well- I've been doing some instrumental pieces, and my bouncy rocking instrumental "Dog" is beating Carmine Appice w. Richie Sambora, and another track of Carmine Appice with Brian May, in the charts! www.mp3.com/ChrisJ) So I'm really pushing mp3 hard- and mpeg in general, in fact I had some video clips on my site and pulled the Sorenson Quicktimes leaving only the abbreviated, hacked ASTARTE-demo mpegs up even though they could only run a few seconds.

Speaking of which- thank you Millenium *rejoice rejoice* for tipping me off to Movie2MPEG! Made my day- I really _needed_ that! I'm going to see if I can re-do some of my video stuff using this.

So basically, my position is this: I like Quicktime, I use it for authoring, but I'm very reluctant to publish in it. Why? Not quality, it's better than MPEG and does amazing things many of which I understand and can use. It's that it's not open- and I just can't support that in a format. It's as bad as using Word format....

Yes, illegal mp3's are illegal. But if you'll read the parent post again, it never said anything about illegal mp3's. It merely said that just because a file is in .mp3 format, that doesn't make it illegal. I have several dozen mp3's on my hard drive that I copied from my own CD's and have never distributed. Those are perfectly legal under fair use doctrine. MP3.com has quite a lot of non-copyrighted (and therefore legal) mp3's. Distributing (or downloading) copyrighted material without the copyright holder's permission is illegal. Recording and using mp3's is not.

And, you know, I'd also really really like the opensource-like benefit of status and appreciation- but ya know it seems like that's going to happen anyhow regardless on account of I don't suck :) "Dog" debuted at 54 (out of over 10,000) on the mp3.com instrumental rock charts! And it's still there and sneaking slowly up the main charts- in fact it's on page two of the instrumental rock chart webpages, and that's from a totally new artist who's never been seen on mp3.com before. "Horse" is also quite good but I think "Dog" is the breakout hit. They're both going to be heard a lot- they're both free- they're both licensed for radio station play, for that matter.

So can I do anything for Geeks In Space? I really like it. I also have this monster studio from hell going, and there are a lot of neat sounds and effects and riffs and things I could give Geeks In Space. Whaddya need?

And, you know, I'd also really really like the opensource-like benefit of status and appreciation- but ya know it seems like that's going to happen anyhow regardless on account of I don't suck :) "Dog" debuted at 54 (out of over 10,000) on the mp3.com instrumental rock charts! And it's still there and sneaking slowly up the main charts- in fact it's on page two of the instrumental rock chart webpages, and that's from a totally new artist who's never been seen on mp3.com before. "Horse" is also quite good but I think "Dog" is the breakout hit. They're both going to be heard a lot- they're both free- they're both licensed for radio station play, for that matter.

So can I do anything for Geeks In Space? I really like it. I also have this monster studio from hell going, and there are a lot of neat sounds and effects and riffs and things I could give Geeks In Space. Whaddya need?

And, you know, I'd also really really like the opensource-like benefit of status and appreciation- but ya know it seems like that's going to happen anyhow regardless on account of I don't suck :) "Dog" debuted at 54 (out of over 10,000) on the mp3.com instrumental rock charts! And it's still there and sneaking slowly up the main charts- in fact it's on page two of the instrumental rock chart webpages, and that's from a totally new artist who's never been seen on mp3.com before. "Horse" is also quite good but I think "Dog" is the breakout hit. They're both going to be heard a lot- they're both free- they're both licensed for radio station play, for that matter.

So can I do anything for Geeks In Space? I really like it. I also have this monster studio from hell going, and there are a lot of neat sounds and effects and riffs and things I could give Geeks In Space. Whaddya need?

I have been corrected by an AC. News at 11.
http://www.mp3.com/fudge/

;)

http://www.mp3.com/fudge/

If you care, my lame mp3s live at http://www.mp3.com/tib...

So, let me get this straight... if I run out of fuel or have engine problems I just go straight down? No possible way to bring 'er in in a deserted field (which as we all know litter the sides of bustling highways) or on a dusty side road? No furicking way would you catch anyone in one of these. Now, a commercial helicopter that has over engineered failover and redundant systems is one thing... but this toy is another. I will wait until somewhat stable VTOLs come out that have some semblance of safety features. Otherwise I will take my chances with a semi plowing me into the great beyond vs. getting a bad batch of gas at the local convenience store.
http://www.mp3.com/fudge/

If, instead, the artists sign with AMP3.com, then they get paid 5 per download because of a short ad the AMP3 server inserts at the beginning of the song. Just downloading two singles would be the same as the artists' dime.

On MP3.com, artists can (through the Digital Automatic Music system) sell CDs and get half of the CD revenue as royalties.

I agree, I use MP3s to preview music. I don't have a CD burner, and if I did I would still probably could would get the CDs myself. This is because CD-Rs aren't as sturdy as retail quality CDs, and I like being able to Beam my CDs to my.mp3.com (it doesn't recognize copies of CDs or Mixs. Several of my friends have CD burners, and I get them to make me CDs of live stuff, because I can't get many CDs of that.

Oh, please, please, mainstream industry, go right ahead and grunge up the audio quality of your CDs with watermark bullshit that 'consumers can't really hear anyway'. Oh, _do_ please encode in copy protection crud all over the music. You're talking to someone who always does fades (as at the end of 'Horse' in analog because digital fades are too grungy. You're talking to someone who's studied the sound engineering trademarks of the greatest selling albums of all time. You have no idea how dangerous such a suggestion really is >:)

Let me put it this way: I work quite hard and devote years of experience to producing a level of sound quality that beats what the major labels, with all their money, can produce. I can do it because technology's gotten lazy in some ways- digital can record subsonics happily but most equipment starts rolling off at maybe 35hz because supposedly people can't 'hear' lower (this in an era that has seen the emergence of thunder-trucks and vans with gigawatts of bass power!). Digital can even produce passably airy and natural highs but most equipment screws this up horribly by killing the almost nonexistent analog-chip hiss of their output stages with horrible ringy ceramic HF-rolloff caps. And in most cases the ultra-expensive studios the industry labels use still suffer from these judgement errors, using equipment _built_ to not give a truly full range.

I can beat the major labels much of the time due to hardware-hacker tricks of this type (and gladly share them). If the major labels take to putting _watermarks_ into all their CDs to interfere with mp3ing- particularly if it's for tracking stuff after it has been mp3ed- then they will be charging $14 for music with a thin, unpleasant haze on the high frequencies- and rather than simply beating their audio quality, I will be able to _maim_ and _stomp_ and _humiliate_ their audio quality, and for free >:)

So please, please, industry, you know the consumer can't hear and won't listen and doesn't care- put watermarks into all the CDs! ;) It won't hurt anything to lower the sound quality just a little bit- not like there is anybody out there _competing_ with you or anything ;) go ahead! You can even charge a little more because it is 'secure' ;) that's the ticket!

Please, industry, just a _bit_ more arrogance and contempt! You're not dying fast enough and I would greatly appreciate it if you make it even _easier_ for just me and my equipment to compete directly with you ;)

Anybody reading this, if you'd like airwindows to do a digital mastering job for you (ADAT 20 or 16 bit, 1/4" tape 7.5 or 15 ips, cassette or vinyl transfers), write chrisj@airwindows.com and say you saw it on slashdot and I'll digitally master your material for _free_. You will need to either travel to Vermont or pay shipping for your master tapes to get here and back. Hear what your music sounds like mastered through a custom board and handmade cabling capable of subsonic to supersonic signal carrying, with EQs to control it perfectly! All playback devices (ADAT, reel to reel _and_ even tape cassette) specially customised to give significantly wider range than anything you can buy off the shelf!

(Yes, I'm serious! This industry jihad is pissing me off ;) I happen to be able to afford to earn nothing at all from my sound engineering, for the moment, just to be able to insult the mainstream industry. If any of you ever wanted a professional mastering job done, talk to me and we'll work something out. You _don't_ have to be signed to a major label to have access to professional recording or mastering quality.)

"Why would anybody sit down and write a novel if it's going to be pirated for free the first day it's released?"

Ye gods. You'd better ask Emily Dickinson that, my friend. In fact, you don't have to (she's dead and still more lastingly popular than you could hope to be)- you can ask me. I have written a novel and put it up on the net to be 'pirated for free'. Ask _me_.

I'll tell you why: the story needed to be told. As it grew I eventually realised I was telling a story, also, about how the world seemed to me at the time- without intending it, the fiction and invention became a kind of communication. It became a means of self expression- and also an exercise in the joy of sheer craftmanship. I once told somebody I met in a bookstore about how I wrote the ending to Kings Of Rainmoor, and how through a series of twist endings and unexpected but inevitable surprises I ended it in a very artistic and appropriate way- and she was most impressed, and got some of the sense of _rightness_ I feel about that ending. And that sense is what writing the book was _for_... I created something that has power and beauty to me (and to other people, too.)

It's the same with my MP3 songs and MP3 instrumentals. Let's look at the latter for a second. I'm in the process of doing an album on animal themes, and I had some music in my head that gave a very romantic sense of what a Horse is (we're talking teenage girl obsessiveness levels of romanticism ;) ). I could hear it, could feel it wanting to exist- and through a lot of work and the application of skills I've spent a lot of years learning, I got it on tape- it's at the 'MP3 instrumentals' link above, named "Horse", naturally. I ran about trying to tell people it was there, too, because it's one of the finest bits of art I've ever done. I ran across a person on a MUCK who was a big horse lover (or, rather, a unicorn fancier) and he listened to it- and was blown away! And that validated all the effort I'd put in- because in part musical art is the fiction of imagining stuff and playing it, but it is also communication, and I was able to communicate to another person the almost mystical romanticism I was trying to express in pure _sound_. That's fscking magic, to be able to do that. It's addictive. Who the hell needs to get money to justify being able to wreak magic? I wonder if these 'artists' who don't understand this are even able to come up with even scant milliamps of magic. That seems simply pathetic to me- I know what I want and we're not even speaking the same language, it seems. When I get things set up right, work really hard, maybe bleed or get a few blisters from strenuous playing or drumming, and find the right listener (because there's always a right listener), I get to produce whole _amps_ of magic, I get to every now and then hit people with a charge of music like a lightning bolt and _stun_ them with art. I hardly exaggerate to say that I live for that- certainly I know musicians who can stun _me_ in turn. The Pixies, Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits have all managed to stun me one way or another with music (Beefheart is the man who said, "I'd like to give my music away because where I got it, you didn't have to pay for it"!). From the slush piles of mp3.com I've also found the same charge- there's this band Creeper Lagoon- most of their stuff didn't hit me so hard but this one song, "Drop Your Head" stunned me. And there it is- it's the visceral response to art, to music.

Reading Puff Daddy's take on the matter is even more ludicrous than reading the pop music hacks' take on it. Are we or are we not talking about a rapper who takes complete works of music by somebody else, grabs some loops out of the song, basically using those MUSICIANS' best notes for nothing, _talks_ over them (shouts? rants?) and thinks _he_ is guaranteed income from this? That's fscking ludicrous. Look, I have that MP3 instrumentals area. Some of it, particularly the albumlength workout 'Extended Play' (which has been compared to 'really good Yes, or King Crimson') is absolutely _begging_ to have bits of it looped and used as a more rock-derived rap backing, a more snarling distorted driving beat. It's wide-range, it's fierce, it's just waiting to be sampled. I'd like to see Puff Daddy go raid _my_ music, grab notes that I sweated over and got blisters over, do some rap over them and then claim _he_ is entitled to money for it. How much time does he spend compared to how much time and effort I spend on the source for those 'fair use' loops?

And yet I'm not arguing that he shouldn't be able to do that- I'm arguing that he doesn't have special rights to money on that basis. If he finds people who want to watch him rap in person to my music as a backing loop, I for one will not bitch. If people want to buy physical media from him on that basis, I'll let it pass and will cheerfully allow him to not give me a dime for it. If he thinks he's _entitled_ to payment just for having done this, then I would have to ask whether I was _entitled_ to payment in turn for supplying those theoretical loops.

The logical conclusion is this: these frustrated pop business majors are _obligated_ to stop attempting to record music, because they can't guarantee that they are paid for every playing of a note (many use session men so they are trying to guarantee that they are paid for the playing of _someone_ _else's_ note). For the rap artists who feel this way, they are obligated to try and be paid for every word. Since rap is music of the streets and is taken from life and performed by people who live what they rap, the rap artists are logically obligated to try and be paid for every word they ever utter, and need to walk about with a big sack (and, presumably, a gun) speaking to people and taking money from them in payment for their rap performances. Since this is certifiably insane behavior, they will then get locked up and the rest of us can go on with our lives :)

Including me, finishing this post and signing it with the URLs where I give my art to my listeners:

http://www.mp3.com/RFW (radio-type songs)

http://www.mp3.com/ChrisJ (instrumentals)

"Why would anybody sit down and write a novel if it's going to be pirated for free the first day it's released?"

Ye gods. You'd better ask Emily Dickinson that, my friend. In fact, you don't have to (she's dead and still more lastingly popular than you could hope to be)- you can ask me. I have written a novel and put it up on the net to be 'pirated for free'. Ask _me_.

I'll tell you why: the story needed to be told. As it grew I eventually realised I was telling a story, also, about how the world seemed to me at the time- without intending it, the fiction and invention became a kind of communication. It became a means of self expression- and also an exercise in the joy of sheer craftmanship. I once told somebody I met in a bookstore about how I wrote the ending to Kings Of Rainmoor, and how through a series of twist endings and unexpected but inevitable surprises I ended it in a very artistic and appropriate way- and she was most impressed, and got some of the sense of _rightness_ I feel about that ending. And that sense is what writing the book was _for_... I created something that has power and beauty to me (and to other people, too.)

It's the same with my MP3 songs and MP3 instrumentals. Let's look at the latter for a second. I'm in the process of doing an album on animal themes, and I had some music in my head that gave a very romantic sense of what a Horse is (we're talking teenage girl obsessiveness levels of romanticism ;) ). I could hear it, could feel it wanting to exist- and through a lot of work and the application of skills I've spent a lot of years learning, I got it on tape- it's at the 'MP3 instrumentals' link above, named "Horse", naturally. I ran about trying to tell people it was there, too, because it's one of the finest bits of art I've ever done. I ran across a person on a MUCK who was a big horse lover (or, rather, a unicorn fancier) and he listened to it- and was blown away! And that validated all the effort I'd put in- because in part musical art is the fiction of imagining stuff and playing it, but it is also communication, and I was able to communicate to another person the almost mystical romanticism I was trying to express in pure _sound_. That's fscking magic, to be able to do that. It's addictive. Who the hell needs to get money to justify being able to wreak magic? I wonder if these 'artists' who don't understand this are even able to come up with even scant milliamps of magic. That seems simply pathetic to me- I know what I want and we're not even speaking the same language, it seems. When I get things set up right, work really hard, maybe bleed or get a few blisters from strenuous playing or drumming, and find the right listener (because there's always a right listener), I get to produce whole _amps_ of magic, I get to every now and then hit people with a charge of music like a lightning bolt and _stun_ them with art. I hardly exaggerate to say that I live for that- certainly I know musicians who can stun _me_ in turn. The Pixies, Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits have all managed to stun me one way or another with music (Beefheart is the man who said, "I'd like to give my music away because where I got it, you didn't have to pay for it"!). From the slush piles of mp3.com I've also found the same charge- there's this band Creeper Lagoon- most of their stuff didn't hit me so hard but this one song, "Drop Your Head" stunned me. And there it is- it's the visceral response to art, to music.

Reading Puff Daddy's take on the matter is even more ludicrous than reading the pop music hacks' take on it. Are we or are we not talking about a rapper who takes complete works of music by somebody else, grabs some loops out of the song, basically using those MUSICIANS' best notes for nothing, _talks_ over them (shouts? rants?) and thinks _he_ is guaranteed income from this? That's fscking ludicrous. Look, I have that MP3 instrumentals area. Some of it, particularly the albumlength workout 'Extended Play' (which has been compared to 'really good Yes, or King Crimson') is absolutely _begging_ to have bits of it looped and used as a more rock-derived rap backing, a more snarling distorted driving beat. It's wide-range, it's fierce, it's just waiting to be sampled. I'd like to see Puff Daddy go raid _my_ music, grab notes that I sweated over and got blisters over, do some rap over them and then claim _he_ is entitled to money for it. How much time does he spend compared to how much time and effort I spend on the source for those 'fair use' loops?

And yet I'm not arguing that he shouldn't be able to do that- I'm arguing that he doesn't have special rights to money on that basis. If he finds people who want to watch him rap in person to my music as a backing loop, I for one will not bitch. If people want to buy physical media from him on that basis, I'll let it pass and will cheerfully allow him to not give me a dime for it. If he thinks he's _entitled_ to payment just for having done this, then I would have to ask whether I was _entitled_ to payment in turn for supplying those theoretical loops.

The logical conclusion is this: these frustrated pop business majors are _obligated_ to stop attempting to record music, because they can't guarantee that they are paid for every playing of a note (many use session men so they are trying to guarantee that they are paid for the playing of _someone_ _else's_ note). For the rap artists who feel this way, they are obligated to try and be paid for every word. Since rap is music of the streets and is taken from life and performed by people who live what they rap, the rap artists are logically obligated to try and be paid for every word they ever utter, and need to walk about with a big sack (and, presumably, a gun) speaking to people and taking money from them in payment for their rap performances. Since this is certifiably insane behavior, they will then get locked up and the rest of us can go on with our lives :)

Including me, finishing this post and signing it with the URLs where I give my art to my listeners:

http://www.mp3.com/RFW (radio-type songs)

http://www.mp3.com/ChrisJ (instrumentals)

"Why would anybody sit down and write a novel if it's going to be pirated for free the first day it's released?"

Ye gods. You'd better ask Emily Dickinson that, my friend. In fact, you don't have to (she's dead and still more lastingly popular than you could hope to be)- you can ask me. I have written a novel and put it up on the net to be 'pirated for free'. Ask _me_.

I'll tell you why: the story needed to be told. As it grew I eventually realised I was telling a story, also, about how the world seemed to me at the time- without intending it, the fiction and invention became a kind of communication. It became a means of self expression- and also an exercise in the joy of sheer craftmanship. I once told somebody I met in a bookstore about how I wrote the ending to Kings Of Rainmoor, and how through a series of twist endings and unexpected but inevitable surprises I ended it in a very artistic and appropriate way- and she was most impressed, and got some of the sense of _rightness_ I feel about that ending. And that sense is what writing the book was _for_... I created something that has power and beauty to me (and to other people, too.)

It's the same with my MP3 songs and MP3 instrumentals. Let's look at the latter for a second. I'm in the process of doing an album on animal themes, and I had some music in my head that gave a very romantic sense of what a Horse is (we're talking teenage girl obsessiveness levels of romanticism ;) ). I could hear it, could feel it wanting to exist- and through a lot of work and the application of skills I've spent a lot of years learning, I got it on tape- it's at the 'MP3 instrumentals' link above, named "Horse", naturally. I ran about trying to tell people it was there, too, because it's one of the finest bits of art I've ever done. I ran across a person on a MUCK who was a big horse lover (or, rather, a unicorn fancier) and he listened to it- and was blown away! And that validated all the effort I'd put in- because in part musical art is the fiction of imagining stuff and playing it, but it is also communication, and I was able to communicate to another person the almost mystical romanticism I was trying to express in pure _sound_. That's fscking magic, to be able to do that. It's addictive. Who the hell needs to get money to justify being able to wreak magic? I wonder if these 'artists' who don't understand this are even able to come up with even scant milliamps of magic. That seems simply pathetic to me- I know what I want and we're not even speaking the same language, it seems. When I get things set up right, work really hard, maybe bleed or get a few blisters from strenuous playing or drumming, and find the right listener (because there's always a right listener), I get to produce whole _amps_ of magic, I get to every now and then hit people with a charge of music like a lightning bolt and _stun_ them with art. I hardly exaggerate to say that I live for that- certainly I know musicians who can stun _me_ in turn. The Pixies, Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits have all managed to stun me one way or another with music (Beefheart is the man who said, "I'd like to give my music away because where I got it, you didn't have to pay for it"!). From the slush piles of mp3.com I've also found the same charge- there's this band Creeper Lagoon- most of their stuff didn't hit me so hard but this one song, "Drop Your Head" stunned me. And there it is- it's the visceral response to art, to music.

Reading Puff Daddy's take on the matter is even more ludicrous than reading the pop music hacks' take on it. Are we or are we not talking about a rapper who takes complete works of music by somebody else, grabs some loops out of the song, basically using those MUSICIANS' best notes for nothing, _talks_ over them (shouts? rants?) and thinks _he_ is guaranteed income from this? That's fscking ludicrous. Look, I have that MP3 instrumentals area. Some of it, particularly the albumlength workout 'Extended Play' (which has been compared to 'really good Yes, or King Crimson') is absolutely _begging_ to have bits of it looped and used as a more rock-derived rap backing, a more snarling distorted driving beat. It's wide-range, it's fierce, it's just waiting to be sampled. I'd like to see Puff Daddy go raid _my_ music, grab notes that I sweated over and got blisters over, do some rap over them and then claim _he_ is entitled to money for it. How much time does he spend compared to how much time and effort I spend on the source for those 'fair use' loops?

And yet I'm not arguing that he shouldn't be able to do that- I'm arguing that he doesn't have special rights to money on that basis. If he finds people who want to watch him rap in person to my music as a backing loop, I for one will not bitch. If people want to buy physical media from him on that basis, I'll let it pass and will cheerfully allow him to not give me a dime for it. If he thinks he's _entitled_ to payment just for having done this, then I would have to ask whether I was _entitled_ to payment in turn for supplying those theoretical loops.

The logical conclusion is this: these frustrated pop business majors are _obligated_ to stop attempting to record music, because they can't guarantee that they are paid for every playing of a note (many use session men so they are trying to guarantee that they are paid for the playing of _someone_ _else's_ note). For the rap artists who feel this way, they are obligated to try and be paid for every word. Since rap is music of the streets and is taken from life and performed by people who live what they rap, the rap artists are logically obligated to try and be paid for every word they ever utter, and need to walk about with a big sack (and, presumably, a gun) speaking to people and taking money from them in payment for their rap performances. Since this is certifiably insane behavior, they will then get locked up and the rest of us can go on with our lives :)

Including me, finishing this post and signing it with the URLs where I give my art to my listeners:

http://www.mp3.com/RFW (radio-type songs)

http://www.mp3.com/ChrisJ (instrumentals)

"Why would anybody sit down and write a novel if it's going to be pirated for free the first day it's released?"

Ye gods. You'd better ask Emily Dickinson that, my friend. In fact, you don't have to (she's dead and still more lastingly popular than you could hope to be)- you can ask me. I have written a novel and put it up on the net to be 'pirated for free'. Ask _me_.

I'll tell you why: the story needed to be told. As it grew I eventually realised I was telling a story, also, about how the world seemed to me at the time- without intending it, the fiction and invention became a kind of communication. It became a means of self expression- and also an exercise in the joy of sheer craftmanship. I once told somebody I met in a bookstore about how I wrote the ending to Kings Of Rainmoor, and how through a series of twist endings and unexpected but inevitable surprises I ended it in a very artistic and appropriate way- and she was most impressed, and got some of the sense of _rightness_ I feel about that ending. And that sense is what writing the book was _for_... I created something that has power and beauty to me (and to other people, too.)

It's the same with my MP3 songs and MP3 instrumentals. Let's look at the latter for a second. I'm in the process of doing an album on animal themes, and I had some music in my head that gave a very romantic sense of what a Horse is (we're talking teenage girl obsessiveness levels of romanticism ;) ). I could hear it, could feel it wanting to exist- and through a lot of work and the application of skills I've spent a lot of years learning, I got it on tape- it's at the 'MP3 instrumentals' link above, named "Horse", naturally. I ran about trying to tell people it was there, too, because it's one of the finest bits of art I've ever done. I ran across a person on a MUCK who was a big horse lover (or, rather, a unicorn fancier) and he listened to it- and was blown away! And that validated all the effort I'd put in- because in part musical art is the fiction of imagining stuff and playing it, but it is also communication, and I was able to communicate to another person the almost mystical romanticism I was trying to express in pure _sound_. That's fscking magic, to be able to do that. It's addictive. Who the hell needs to get money to justify being able to wreak magic? I wonder if these 'artists' who don't understand this are even able to come up with even scant milliamps of magic. That seems simply pathetic to me- I know what I want and we're not even speaking the same language, it seems. When I get things set up right, work really hard, maybe bleed or get a few blisters from strenuous playing or drumming, and find the right listener (because there's always a right listener), I get to produce whole _amps_ of magic, I get to every now and then hit people with a charge of music like a lightning bolt and _stun_ them with art. I hardly exaggerate to say that I live for that- certainly I know musicians who can stun _me_ in turn. The Pixies, Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits have all managed to stun me one way or another with music (Beefheart is the man who said, "I'd like to give my music away because where I got it, you didn't have to pay for it"!). From the slush piles of mp3.com I've also found the same charge- there's this band Creeper Lagoon- most of their stuff didn't hit me so hard but this one song, "Drop Your Head" stunned me. And there it is- it's the visceral response to art, to music.

Reading Puff Daddy's take on the matter is even more ludicrous than reading the pop music hacks' take on it. Are we or are we not talking about a rapper who takes complete works of music by somebody else, grabs some loops out of the song, basically using those MUSICIANS' best notes for nothing, _talks_ over them (shouts? rants?) and thinks _he_ is guaranteed income from this? That's fscking ludicrous. Look, I have that MP3 instrumentals area. Some of it, particularly the albumlength workout 'Extended Play' (which has been compared to 'really good Yes, or King Crimson') is absolutely _begging_ to have bits of it looped and used as a more rock-derived rap backing, a more snarling distorted driving beat. It's wide-range, it's fierce, it's just waiting to be sampled. I'd like to see Puff Daddy go raid _my_ music, grab notes that I sweated over and got blisters over, do some rap over them and then claim _he_ is entitled to money for it. How much time does he spend compared to how much time and effort I spend on the source for those 'fair use' loops?

And yet I'm not arguing that he shouldn't be able to do that- I'm arguing that he doesn't have special rights to money on that basis. If he finds people who want to watch him rap in person to my music as a backing loop, I for one will not bitch. If people want to buy physical media from him on that basis, I'll let it pass and will cheerfully allow him to not give me a dime for it. If he thinks he's _entitled_ to payment just for having done this, then I would have to ask whether I was _entitled_ to payment in turn for supplying those theoretical loops.

The logical conclusion is this: these frustrated pop business majors are _obligated_ to stop attempting to record music, because they can't guarantee that they are paid for every playing of a note (many use session men so they are trying to guarantee that they are paid for the playing of _someone_ _else's_ note). For the rap artists who feel this way, they are obligated to try and be paid for every word. Since rap is music of the streets and is taken from life and performed by people who live what they rap, the rap artists are logically obligated to try and be paid for every word they ever utter, and need to walk about with a big sack (and, presumably, a gun) speaking to people and taking money from them in payment for their rap performances. Since this is certifiably insane behavior, they will then get locked up and the rest of us can go on with our lives :)

Including me, finishing this post and signing it with the URLs where I give my art to my listeners:

http://www.mp3.com/RFW (radio-type songs)

http://www.mp3.com/ChrisJ (instrumentals)

"Why would anybody sit down and write a novel if it's going to be pirated for free the first day it's released?"

Ye gods. You'd better ask Emily Dickinson that, my friend. In fact, you don't have to (she's dead and still more lastingly popular than you could hope to be)- you can ask me. I have written a novel and put it up on the net to be 'pirated for free'. Ask _me_.

I'll tell you why: the story needed to be told. As it grew I eventually realised I was telling a story, also, about how the world seemed to me at the time- without intending it, the fiction and invention became a kind of communication. It became a means of self expression- and also an exercise in the joy of sheer craftmanship. I once told somebody I met in a bookstore about how I wrote the ending to Kings Of Rainmoor, and how through a series of twist endings and unexpected but inevitable surprises I ended it in a very artistic and appropriate way- and she was most impressed, and got some of the sense of _rightness_ I feel about that ending. And that sense is what writing the book was _for_... I created something that has power and beauty to me (and to other people, too.)

It's the same with my MP3 songs and MP3 instrumentals. Let's look at the latter for a second. I'm in the process of doing an album on animal themes, and I had some music in my head that gave a very romantic sense of what a Horse is (we're talking teenage girl obsessiveness levels of romanticism ;) ). I could hear it, could feel it wanting to exist- and through a lot of work and the application of skills I've spent a lot of years learning, I got it on tape- it's at the 'MP3 instrumentals' link above, named "Horse", naturally. I ran about trying to tell people it was there, too, because it's one of the finest bits of art I've ever done. I ran across a person on a MUCK who was a big horse lover (or, rather, a unicorn fancier) and he listened to it- and was blown away! And that validated all the effort I'd put in- because in part musical art is the fiction of imagining stuff and playing it, but it is also communication, and I was able to communicate to another person the almost mystical romanticism I was trying to express in pure _sound_. That's fscking magic, to be able to do that. It's addictive. Who the hell needs to get money to justify being able to wreak magic? I wonder if these 'artists' who don't understand this are even able to come up with even scant milliamps of magic. That seems simply pathetic to me- I know what I want and we're not even speaking the same language, it seems. When I get things set up right, work really hard, maybe bleed or get a few blisters from strenuous playing or drumming, and find the right listener (because there's always a right listener), I get to produce whole _amps_ of magic, I get to every now and then hit people with a charge of music like a lightning bolt and _stun_ them with art. I hardly exaggerate to say that I live for that- certainly I know musicians who can stun _me_ in turn. The Pixies, Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits have all managed to stun me one way or another with music (Beefheart is the man who said, "I'd like to give my music away because where I got it, you didn't have to pay for it"!). From the slush piles of mp3.com I've also found the same charge- there's this band Creeper Lagoon- most of their stuff didn't hit me so hard but this one song, "Drop Your Head" stunned me. And there it is- it's the visceral response to art, to music.

Reading Puff Daddy's take on the matter is even more ludicrous than reading the pop music hacks' take on it. Are we or are we not talking about a rapper who takes complete works of music by somebody else, grabs some loops out of the song, basically using those MUSICIANS' best notes for nothing, _talks_ over them (shouts? rants?) and thinks _he_ is guaranteed income from this? That's fscking ludicrous. Look, I have that MP3 instrumentals area. Some of it, particularly the albumlength workout 'Extended Play' (which has been compared to 'really good Yes, or King Crimson') is absolutely _begging_ to have bits of it looped and used as a more rock-derived rap backing, a more snarling distorted driving beat. It's wide-range, it's fierce, it's just waiting to be sampled. I'd like to see Puff Daddy go raid _my_ music, grab notes that I sweated over and got blisters over, do some rap over them and then claim _he_ is entitled to money for it. How much time does he spend compared to how much time and effort I spend on the source for those 'fair use' loops?

And yet I'm not arguing that he shouldn't be able to do that- I'm arguing that he doesn't have special rights to money on that basis. If he finds people who want to watch him rap in person to my music as a backing loop, I for one will not bitch. If people want to buy physical media from him on that basis, I'll let it pass and will cheerfully allow him to not give me a dime for it. If he thinks he's _entitled_ to payment just for having done this, then I would have to ask whether I was _entitled_ to payment in turn for supplying those theoretical loops.

The logical conclusion is this: these frustrated pop business majors are _obligated_ to stop attempting to record music, because they can't guarantee that they are paid for every playing of a note (many use session men so they are trying to guarantee that they are paid for the playing of _someone_ _else's_ note). For the rap artists who feel this way, they are obligated to try and be paid for every word. Since rap is music of the streets and is taken from life and performed by people who live what they rap, the rap artists are logically obligated to try and be paid for every word they ever utter, and need to walk about with a big sack (and, presumably, a gun) speaking to people and taking money from them in payment for their rap performances. Since this is certifiably insane behavior, they will then get locked up and the rest of us can go on with our lives :)

Including me, finishing this post and signing it with the URLs where I give my art to my listeners:

http://www.mp3.com/RFW (radio-type songs)

http://www.mp3.com/ChrisJ (instrumentals)

And, of course, the quotes seem to be practically right out of the RIAA prewritten suggested quotes for artists playbook, very fishy.

The -- deliberate -- problem with all these quotes is that, with all their foamy blather about "theft" and "artists' rights" and "property," they totally obscure the fact that copyright is not some God-given basic right, but rather a convenient, pragmatic, and somewhat unintuitive legal fiction that was created relatively recently to serve a particular purpose -- the purpose of funding the creation of art and knowledge.

Before copyright was invented, art and knowledge were created just fine, funded in many other ways such as by private patrons, governments, sales of performance tickets, and the tuition of students. Shakespeare had some problems with bootleggers, but he still made a living and created prolifically with zero copyright protection. Even today, there are many other models for funding creation: fine arts are mostly supported by the government and private charity; most basic science (and much open source software development) takes place in universities funded by government grants, private donations and the tuition of students. Even the blank-media taxes in the US and Canada (flawed though they are) represent a shift to a different payment model, one in which copyright is irrelevant but consumers pay indirectly into a common pot which is redistributed to artists. The point is not whether these models are better -- though they're all at least workable, unlike copyright. The point is that "intellectual property" rhetoric obscures the only real issue, which is how can society fund artists. And the answer need not automatically be the same way we do today.

http://www.mp3.com/ChrisJ is the place you can find mp3s produced in my new studio- if you download only one track make it "Horse", though "Whale" is also recorded in the new studio. I flat out defy anyone to match that recording quality with anything short of a insanely expensive and sophisticated full recording studio. I am a sound engineer geek, this is my thing- and an open source geek, so I am _ready_ to provide that proper recording studio to other people like me. I just finished talking to an independent LA producer on a MUCK for whom I'm going to make guitar and bass samples- in return he'll get some more people listening to my art, which is all I'm asking of a person in his position. It's barter, and it's networking, and it works. And here I am- to most comers (where I'm doing it out of commerce not love) I'm billing $75 an hour for studio time which includes me in there doing everything up to production, studio musician, cheerleader and psychologist ;) I have had good results enticing and conning great performances out of musicians, such as getting a keyboard player to play more solid bass-keyboard parts by showing him what just bass+drums sound like (he cut the part way back- his tape ended up grooving like mad!) or getting a classical guitarist to transition mentally from a baroque piece to a flamenco piece ("No, the slightly muted note was _okay_... relax, let's put some _garlic_ on this performance! Get right into it, you're not playing Baroque this time").

And again, I may be out of my depth for promotion and advertising, I may not be equipped to manufacture CDs, I may not be interested in judging music crap (I have found that you can bring music out of just about anybody if you're a good producer, so nobody is 'crap', they are mostly just badly handled), but I'm raising my hand to be counted as part of the 'new structure arising' to provide what people think you need major labels for.

Because you don't need major labels for that. Period. >:)

It's all very well giving the Spice Girls $10, or Goo Goo Dolls, but the reason you know to download their mp3s is that you have _heard_ them. How about giving some of the netizens a bit of the time and attention that's normally shoved down your throat by the labels' starmaking machinery? How about every Slashdot reader musician who reads this, follow up to this post with the information where to download your music and a pointer to whatever it is you want to highlight.

I'll kick it off with great seriousness as just today I released a track on mp3.com which I'm real proud of. Spent days on it and even rebuilt some of my equipment to produce this music. It's got a real 'old Pink Floyd' vibe to it and exemplifies what I myself want to see in 'non-industry-machine' music. It's for an 'animal themes' album, and is called "Horse", and is probably the single most different thing you could be listening to right now, plus it's _very_ high audio quality thanks entirely to geek ingenuity and willingness to tinker with the equipment ;)

It is at http://www.mp3.com/ChrisJ and dammit, I don't even care about who gets the 10$: I don't _make_ music to get money (if I want that, I can record people using world-class sound engineering skills and charge them, legitimately, for the service of putting my skills at their disposal). I make music to be listened to, and because I must, because I hear it in my dreams and because it moves my hands and feet when I'm not paying attention and because it makes me live. I don't want money for it- I want it to be heard!

For radio fans there are many song-type songs at http://www.mp3.com/RFW. I wouldn't want to underplay those even if my geek nature likes "Horse" best at the moment because of its sonic characteristics :)

Who else of the slashdot readers creates music and wants a chance at a listening? Post a reply and I promise that I for one will go listen to every musician who posts a URL :) and for those of you who aren't musicians, the sick thing is that while you're talking about sending 10$ to the artist, most acts on a place like mp3.com do not even get ONE listen, at all. So anyone who follows up can be pleased in the knowledge that I at least will give them a listen, thus jumping them over 50% of the other acts in the ratings :)

It's all very well giving the Spice Girls $10, or Goo Goo Dolls, but the reason you know to download their mp3s is that you have _heard_ them. How about giving some of the netizens a bit of the time and attention that's normally shoved down your throat by the labels' starmaking machinery? How about every Slashdot reader musician who reads this, follow up to this post with the information where to download your music and a pointer to whatever it is you want to highlight.

I'll kick it off with great seriousness as just today I released a track on mp3.com which I'm real proud of. Spent days on it and even rebuilt some of my equipment to produce this music. It's got a real 'old Pink Floyd' vibe to it and exemplifies what I myself want to see in 'non-industry-machine' music. It's for an 'animal themes' album, and is called "Horse", and is probably the single most different thing you could be listening to right now, plus it's _very_ high audio quality thanks entirely to geek ingenuity and willingness to tinker with the equipment ;)

It is at http://www.mp3.com/ChrisJ and dammit, I don't even care about who gets the 10$: I don't _make_ music to get money (if I want that, I can record people using world-class sound engineering skills and charge them, legitimately, for the service of putting my skills at their disposal). I make music to be listened to, and because I must, because I hear it in my dreams and because it moves my hands and feet when I'm not paying attention and because it makes me live. I don't want money for it- I want it to be heard!

For radio fans there are many song-type songs at http://www.mp3.com/RFW. I wouldn't want to underplay those even if my geek nature likes "Horse" best at the moment because of its sonic characteristics :)

Who else of the slashdot readers creates music and wants a chance at a listening? Post a reply and I promise that I for one will go listen to every musician who posts a URL :) and for those of you who aren't musicians, the sick thing is that while you're talking about sending 10$ to the artist, most acts on a place like mp3.com do not even get ONE listen, at all. So anyone who follows up can be pleased in the knowledge that I at least will give them a listen, thus jumping them over 50% of the other acts in the ratings :)

"This is the time to be thoughtful, be expressive, be generous. Be "taken advantage of." The channels exist now to give creativity away, at no cost, to millions. Never mind if you make large sums of money along the way. If you successfully seize attention, nothing is more likely. In a start-up society, huge sums can fall on innocent parties, almost by accident. That cannot be helped, so don't worry about it any more. Henceforth, artistic integrity should be judged, not by ones classic bohemian seclusion from satanic mills and the grasping bourgeoisie, but by what one creates and gives away. That is the only scale of noncommercial integrity that makes any sense now." -Bruce Sterling

HELL YES, I'd like to be listened to! I'm a damn musician! I've been playing for almost TWENTY years, and write good songs and think of interesting musical experiments for instrumentals, and 'musician Matt Rose' speaks for me bigtime.

In fact, you know what? Currently I do not have ANY way in place for listeners to pay me. There's no CD yet. No T-Shirts ;) wups, sorry! I guess you'll just have to listen to my art FOR FREE. I guess you'll have to shake off the assumptions pounded into your head by a culture industry, that nothing's good unless it costs money and has the little alligator logo on it or says Ralph Lauren or Pokemon or Spice Girls on it, and you'll have to go download years of artistic work for FREE with my BLESSING because, slashdot geek-type open source people, that is what I want to do with it. Is that so hard to understand to opensource types? Isn't it kind of similar to the free software spirit? And, in fact, I also write some computer software- and GPL it. I'm not some random musician hitting Slashdot to hype- I post here all the time, my user page says Chris Johnson (580)! And I also compose music- a lot of it- and dearly wish for it to be heard. When I come out with political geek-oriented music (two songs in the works already, "Blue Collar Computer Technician Man" and "Options Vesting Party", the first is a heavy blues and the second insists on being country for some reason :) ) I want people to be listening.

So, please do? Some of you broadband folks, general music enjoyers, anyone, everyone? I have songs up at http://www.mp3.com/RFW which stands for The Room Full Of Windows, the 'song project' which will get the geek songs when I record them. I'll make recommendations too as there are a lot of songs there: If you like mean blues in the BOFH spirit, listen to "Staring Down The Phone". If you like sad pretty harmonies, "Just Another Someone Turned Away". If you want maximum angst done well, "December" is for you (or maybe it _is_ you ;) it was me at the time!) If you like a more upbeat rock check out "Stupid Faith In You". I got up to some Who-esque walls of guitar chords in "Color Me Gone" which is also upbeat and grooves really nicely. Finally, my personal favorite would be "The Rules"- it's sweet but intelligent and has a lot of humor in it, and sums up my geek outlook on life :)

Then I also have instrumental music up at http://www.mp3.com/ChrisJ. This is a bit sparser- contains a reggae lead guitar workout, "Variations On A Sicilian Poodle", a very long-play rock jam segmented into three parts to fit on mp3.com, "Extended Play" (think of it as like the rock version of techno background hacking music, also it is very high audio quality especially bass) and the first 'anima' track, "Whale" which is also the first track from my new studio which I'll record geeks in for free if they can journey here at their own expense (I can't be paying airfare :) ) These instrumentals, especially "Extended Play" and "Variations On A Sicilian Poodle" also work as killer audio test records, even in mp3 form- especially into the bass, I have a heavily custom board and the bass on these extends waaaaaay down into subwoofer territory, use it to show off your audio gear. iMac transparent subwoofers need not apply ;)

Gah- now there's no time to lay down the drum track, I have to go return a CD-Rom burner! I'm not sorry *g* slashdot's a net-home for me and I gladly blow off audio work until later to communicate with my people :) I'll get to it later. But for god's sake, man- go listen to the free music! Get a fellow geek on the mp3.com charts. It's the only way you can give me anything for the years of work I put in, 'cos I have NOTHING to sell you. Everybody always says 'Oh, I will give the artist $5 to encourage them!' but I got no CD to sell at the moment so even if you love the music you can't give me money for it. So go download it again or tell somebody about the geek opensource-writing hardware-hacking crazy musician who wants to be heard. Maybe CmdrTaco would like me to record some free musical bits for Geeks In Space! I've listened to every GIS, it would be fun to give it some music that wasn't 303-music :)

Gotta run! go take free music from me! these super army tanks are free and get 200 mpg and I'll come over and remix them while you sleep! (get away from me you freak! Don't you know everybody listens to station wagons?) ;)

"This is the time to be thoughtful, be expressive, be generous. Be "taken advantage of." The channels exist now to give creativity away, at no cost, to millions. Never mind if you make large sums of money along the way. If you successfully seize attention, nothing is more likely. In a start-up society, huge sums can fall on innocent parties, almost by accident. That cannot be helped, so don't worry about it any more. Henceforth, artistic integrity should be judged, not by ones classic bohemian seclusion from satanic mills and the grasping bourgeoisie, but by what one creates and gives away. That is the only scale of noncommercial integrity that makes any sense now." -Bruce Sterling

HELL YES, I'd like to be listened to! I'm a damn musician! I've been playing for almost TWENTY years, and write good songs and think of interesting musical experiments for instrumentals, and 'musician Matt Rose' speaks for me bigtime.

In fact, you know what? Currently I do not have ANY way in place for listeners to pay me. There's no CD yet. No T-Shirts ;) wups, sorry! I guess you'll just have to listen to my art FOR FREE. I guess you'll have to shake off the assumptions pounded into your head by a culture industry, that nothing's good unless it costs money and has the little alligator logo on it or says Ralph Lauren or Pokemon or Spice Girls on it, and you'll have to go download years of artistic work for FREE with my BLESSING because, slashdot geek-type open source people, that is what I want to do with it. Is that so hard to understand to opensource types? Isn't it kind of similar to the free software spirit? And, in fact, I also write some computer software- and GPL it. I'm not some random musician hitting Slashdot to hype- I post here all the time, my user page says Chris Johnson (580)! And I also compose music- a lot of it- and dearly wish for it to be heard. When I come out with political geek-oriented music (two songs in the works already, "Blue Collar Computer Technician Man" and "Options Vesting Party", the first is a heavy blues and the second insists on being country for some reason :) ) I want people to be listening.

So, please do? Some of you broadband folks, general music enjoyers, anyone, everyone? I have songs up at http://www.mp3.com/RFW which stands for The Room Full Of Windows, the 'song project' which will get the geek songs when I record them. I'll make recommendations too as there are a lot of songs there: If you like mean blues in the BOFH spirit, listen to "Staring Down The Phone". If you like sad pretty harmonies, "Just Another Someone Turned Away". If you want maximum angst done well, "December" is for you (or maybe it _is_ you ;) it was me at the time!) If you like a more upbeat rock check out "Stupid Faith In You". I got up to some Who-esque walls of guitar chords in "Color Me Gone" which is also upbeat and grooves really nicely. Finally, my personal favorite would be "The Rules"- it's sweet but intelligent and has a lot of humor in it, and sums up my geek outlook on life :)

Then I also have instrumental music up at http://www.mp3.com/ChrisJ. This is a bit sparser- contains a reggae lead guitar workout, "Variations On A Sicilian Poodle", a very long-play rock jam segmented into three parts to fit on mp3.com, "Extended Play" (think of it as like the rock version of techno background hacking music, also it is very high audio quality especially bass) and the first 'anima' track, "Whale" which is also the first track from my new studio which I'll record geeks in for free if they can journey here at their own expense (I can't be paying airfare :) ) These instrumentals, especially "Extended Play" and "Variations On A Sicilian Poodle" also work as killer audio test records, even in mp3 form- especially into the bass, I have a heavily custom board and the bass on these extends waaaaaay down into subwoofer territory, use it to show off your audio gear. iMac transparent subwoofers need not apply ;)

Gah- now there's no time to lay down the drum track, I have to go return a CD-Rom burner! I'm not sorry *g* slashdot's a net-home for me and I gladly blow off audio work until later to communicate with my people :) I'll get to it later. But for god's sake, man- go listen to the free music! Get a fellow geek on the mp3.com charts. It's the only way you can give me anything for the years of work I put in, 'cos I have NOTHING to sell you. Everybody always says 'Oh, I will give the artist $5 to encourage them!' but I got no CD to sell at the moment so even if you love the music you can't give me money for it. So go download it again or tell somebody about the geek opensource-writing hardware-hacking crazy musician who wants to be heard. Maybe CmdrTaco would like me to record some free musical bits for Geeks In Space! I've listened to every GIS, it would be fun to give it some music that wasn't 303-music :)

Gotta run! go take free music from me! these super army tanks are free and get 200 mpg and I'll come over and remix them while you sleep! (get away from me you freak! Don't you know everybody listens to station wagons?) ;)

That is what I think mp3 is best at, allowing you to find obscure artists and branch out from your daily dose of Top 40. Absolutely. (Check out my band on mp3.com for an earful of swank digitalia.)

Problem is, once you are discovered and signed, your record company doesn't want you on mp3 anymore because they can't make a dime off it, and they claim it hurts sales. The argument we 'pirates' are making is that making music available for the masses to check out will ensure that your fan base continues to grow. How many times have you been at the store, and a CD caught your eye, but you'd never heard of the band, none of your friends had either, and you could think of a couple other things to spend your money on than a band that could very well suck? You go to mp3.com or someplace like that and check it out, find out, hey, they rock, then you go back and buy the cd. Our buy a ticket to the show when they come to town. Or turn your friends onto the band, and they buy the cd. I just think the number of folks who WILL spend money tends to outweigh the 'cost' of people who just download it and never buy anything.

The Divine Creatrix in a Mortal Shell that stays Crunchy in Milk

Many startup bands distribute their songs as free MP3s in hopes that people will listen to and like them. IINM, this is what mp3.com was originally created for.


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

Yes, and you can also build a low-end pentium to put in your trunk, write some software, build a wiring harness to re-wire your dash, filter and regulate a power supply, and wait for seconds-to-minutes for this device to boot up to play MP3's in your car, OR you could go to the car hardware section of mp3.com to find a device that can do it for you.

My point is that the Tivo is a consumer device. They want people to be able to buy these things at Wal-Mart, not to have to build them themselves. Sure, if you want to spend your own time and energy building one, more power to you. That's what the hacker thing is all about, but if I needed such a device, I'd go out and buy one.

Yes, and you can also build a low-end pentium to put in your trunk, write some software, build a wiring harness to re-wire your dash, filter and regulate a power supply, and wait for seconds-to-minutes for this device to boot up to play MP3's in your car, OR you could go to the car hardware section of mp3.com to find a device that can do it for you.

My point is that the Tivo is a consumer device. They want people to be able to buy these things at Wal-Mart, not to have to build them themselves. Sure, if you want to spend your own time and energy building one, more power to you. That's what the hacker thing is all about, but if I needed such a device, I'd go out and buy one.

Personally, I went with web publishing through impatience with the normal routine. First agent I tried (totally 'cold calling') was the Maas Agency. Struck out (have since learned that it was insanity to even attempt them, but it was fun). Second agent I tried bit, and asked for the rest of "The Kings Of Rainmoor" to read. I sat for months, in an agony of uncertainty, knowing that the guy _had_ expressed an interest- and finally, politely, he passed, citing a big workload.

There was no third try. I plead a low tolerance for sitting around in an agony of uncertainty. I don't write to be _not_ read.

This whole novel, and many other things, are there to be read by anyone, at http://www.airwindows.com/fiction/inde x.html

For that matter, I don't play music to be not listened to: as of a few days ago I have most of my song catalog up at http://www.mp3.com/RFW, and I'm working on getting instrumental stuff up at http://www.mp3.com/chrisj (currently not online as the songs have just been uploaded)

With all of this, my motives are a lot like OSS coders in some ways. I can do these things. They are entertainment things. Where is it written that I have to withhold them and extort money off them and all that rot? I get by- I may never, ever, own a house or something like that, but I don't starve and I have a place to stay. What I would like most of all is to be IN PEOPLE'S FACES making art and GIVING it away. If you want to get picky, I'm expecting to be able to sell _studio_ time and my talents as a sound engineer- and even then, as I've said before, I'll work for open source types who are willing to release the result freely as mp3 for nothing! (_they_ pay cabfare to Brattleboro Vermont, tho)

The era we're starting to enter has some very interesting qualities. It allows pretty much global networking of talents, and the only downside is that you don't just hear about the 'slush pile'- you're soaking in it! But by the same token, word can get out about one of the ten percenters really quick. I know I work pretty hard to be one of those ten percenters- though there are areas, still (like C coding) where I just lose :)

In a way that's why I am so committed to the mp3 revolution that I've put out basically _everything_ as mp3 with no attempt to get money off it. I want people to see that you can do that- it's like OSS coding, people eventually had to _see_ that you could work together giving your code away and that it was all right and even beneficial. I want OSS for artists. I want to show that the qualities for artistic success are talent and hard work- not greed and marketing. I don't know if that'll happen, but it's not for lack of trying- and I have nothing to lose, I can survive even in total obscurity, and in fact I needn't even pay for the 100 megs of broadband web hosting required to store my current mp3 catalog- because I give it to mp3.com, too, and they have nonexclusive rights to it. So even if I get nothing else, my willingness to give out this stuff freely gets me web hosting that would cost me a hundred bucks a month from my current provider. (It gets me no promo, of course- it's all one big slush pile.)

"I'd like to give my music away, because where I got it, you didn't have to pay for it." -Captain Beefheart

Personally, I went with web publishing through impatience with the normal routine. First agent I tried (totally 'cold calling') was the Maas Agency. Struck out (have since learned that it was insanity to even attempt them, but it was fun). Second agent I tried bit, and asked for the rest of "The Kings Of Rainmoor" to read. I sat for months, in an agony of uncertainty, knowing that the guy _had_ expressed an interest- and finally, politely, he passed, citing a big workload.

There was no third try. I plead a low tolerance for sitting around in an agony of uncertainty. I don't write to be _not_ read.

This whole novel, and many other things, are there to be read by anyone, at http://www.airwindows.com/fiction/inde x.html

For that matter, I don't play music to be not listened to: as of a few days ago I have most of my song catalog up at http://www.mp3.com/RFW, and I'm working on getting instrumental stuff up at http://www.mp3.com/chrisj (currently not online as the songs have just been uploaded)

With all of this, my motives are a lot like OSS coders in some ways. I can do these things. They are entertainment things. Where is it written that I have to withhold them and extort money off them and all that rot? I get by- I may never, ever, own a house or something like that, but I don't starve and I have a place to stay. What I would like most of all is to be IN PEOPLE'S FACES making art and GIVING it away. If you want to get picky, I'm expecting to be able to sell _studio_ time and my talents as a sound engineer- and even then, as I've said before, I'll work for open source types who are willing to release the result freely as mp3 for nothing! (_they_ pay cabfare to Brattleboro Vermont, tho)

The era we're starting to enter has some very interesting qualities. It allows pretty much global networking of talents, and the only downside is that you don't just hear about the 'slush pile'- you're soaking in it! But by the same token, word can get out about one of the ten percenters really quick. I know I work pretty hard to be one of those ten percenters- though there are areas, still (like C coding) where I just lose :)

In a way that's why I am so committed to the mp3 revolution that I've put out basically _everything_ as mp3 with no attempt to get money off it. I want people to see that you can do that- it's like OSS coding, people eventually had to _see_ that you could work together giving your code away and that it was all right and even beneficial. I want OSS for artists. I want to show that the qualities for artistic success are talent and hard work- not greed and marketing. I don't know if that'll happen, but it's not for lack of trying- and I have nothing to lose, I can survive even in total obscurity, and in fact I needn't even pay for the 100 megs of broadband web hosting required to store my current mp3 catalog- because I give it to mp3.com, too, and they have nonexclusive rights to it. So even if I get nothing else, my willingness to give out this stuff freely gets me web hosting that would cost me a hundred bucks a month from my current provider. (It gets me no promo, of course- it's all one big slush pile.)

"I'd like to give my music away, because where I got it, you didn't have to pay for it." -Captain Beefheart

I do hope some of you will join us, we're having a heck of a good time here.