Tel it how it is - bankers on the web

The Guardian reports today under the title 'Twitter is not for teens' on a report by Morgan Stanley on internet usage by teens. What makes it diferent is the report is witten by a 15 year old 'intern' at the bank.

The report:

• dismisses Twitter
• says online advertising is pointless
• teenagers are using more and more media, but are not willing to pay for it
• most teenagers have signed up for Twitter, but aren't going to use it -'they realise that no-one is viewing their profile so their tweets are pointless'.
• no teenager reads newspapers regularly
• and they are put off by intrusive advertising so they prefer listening to advert-free music on websites such as Last.fm ..
• advertising is seen as extremely annoying and pointless.
• most teens have never bought a CD

And so it goes on.

I guess at the bottom this is anecdotal evidence from a small sub-sector of the teen generation - but it is clear that how young people see the online world is not how most politicians and industry leaders would like to have the world. It is perhaps a sign of the times that investment bankers are now telling their clients that things ain't like they used to be....

But really this shouldn't be a suprise.. this is exactly what the Piratpartiet has been saying for some time.

Links: The Pirate Party, Piratpartiet

Who do they thnk they are?

Cabalamat at 'Amused Cynic' has a link to a lovely little news item from Russia. Deep Purple have been found guilty of breach of copyright..... for playing their own songs.

Canuck Pirates in the press

Canadian press coverage of the formation of a Pirate Party in Canada. A lot of focus on copyright, and only passing mentions of integrity, privacy and state surveillance - but it is nice to see that they are getting publicity even from day one...

As spotted on Michael Geist's blog.

2008 updates in intenational copyright legislation

The International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions (IFLA) have a useful resource page with annual reports on changes to copyright legislation in a range of different countries including Sweden.

Some basic facts never did any harm.....

Featured Artist Manifesto

Searching round for something else I found a news article I'd missed on the launch of the Featured Artist Coalition - a trade and lobby group set up to lobby for artists rights within the music industry. The groups premise is that featured artists - the main name on the cover - are what sell music, but that artists in fact get a bad deal from the music companies and that no-one is representing artists interests as the industry moves into the digital age. (You might wonder what the musician's union has been doing for the last fifty years?)

While viewpoints can differ on what are sensible limits for copyright I find a lot to sympathise with in their manifesto:

• artists rights should be licensed not assigned - meaning artists keep rights to their work
• licensing should be fixed term and lapse back to the artist
• artists should get paid on the same terms as songwriters (who get paid whenever their work is played in a cinema showing for instance)
• copyright owners should be obliged to 'use it or lose it' preventing work being lost to the public (with consequent loss of earnings for the artist)

Last but not least they also support a key plank of Piratpartiet's policy on copyright - that it should not be a criminal act to share music for non commercial use. They specifically distance themselves from the music industry making villains of their customers.

As a lobby organisation they will have two things working in their favour... first that they are fronted by a number of well known pop celebrities including Billy Bragg, Jools Holland, David Gray, and the amazing Annie Lennox (The clip is there in sympathy for all those used and abused artists.. ;-)

The second is that membership is a mere 5% of an artists UK performing rights income - which should give them a healthy warchest to lobby from. (That was 5% tax deductable so the tax payer will be paying for a chunk of their lobbying activities... which goes a bit against the grain).

Footnote: They estimate an average artist would pay a few hundred pounds a year - equivalent to about £8000 gross income. Most artists dont make enough to live on then......

Working 9 to 5: pay up or face the music

"Nine to five

What a way to make a livin'

Barely gettin' by

It's all takin' and no givin'

They just use you mind

And they never give you credit...."

....as made famous by Dolly Parton

It's no news that STIM, the Swedish performing rights society, wants payments from companies using music in their business or playing music in the workplace. Now though they have gone one further and started requiring licensing from companies that 'give their employee the possibility to play music'. ... which includes those providing them with a PC capable of playing tunes... which is pretty much any computer you can buy.

At up to 40 000 kronor per company (around £3300) that's a fat price to pay for something you dont even know get's used. Not only that of course but if you are playing music at your desk you're most probably not playing out loud i.e. making a public performance, and you have probably already paid for the music at least once - either buying the disc or download - or by the radio station paying to STIM.

Reading between the lines this looks like another case of outdated rules. Not so very long ago if the company gave you the ability to play music that usually meant a radio that was going to be played to the room. These days a music player comes free on every computer - a tool for the trade. It used to make sense that a company providing a means to make music meant it to be used in public... but that isnt true any more, and STIM wanting a tax on computers is just plain stupid - except of course they already have a tax on media and hard drives :-(

It is though another good example that you never pay for music.. but they are quite happy to get paid for letting you play music you already own.

Could this be why Piratpartiet and The Pirate Party are working for reform of copyright?

Simple choices make a difference

I enjoyed the news today... The president of Russia and the USA sat down together today to talk about their differences. Not shout across the pond or wave sabres. Just talk - like they meant it.

We don't know what was said, or how seriously it was said - but communication is a HUGE step on the road to a better world. And there's significant symbolic value in the outcome of the talks. More nuclear disarmament - must be considered good - but things like allowing American transports to Afghanistan to overfly Russia and resumption of 'military co-operation' are both public signs of more positive relations.

Thank you..
..but don't stop there...