Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Kwani Experience Video
Watch more free videos
This is from a group in South Africa who I am working with, and I love this video. Fun combination of great music, talented animation work, and good videography. The embed doesn't seem to work, but if you just click on the link in the title or in the "watch more free videos" you should be able to see it no problem.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Quotable
I seem to be the quote man for my friend Dmitri. At APAP in January, I gave my bit about "obscurity being a great threat than piracy" to the artist that the "world music" community works with.
Now at this years WOMEX, I talked about the development of niches, and the communities to support them. Apparently, he was listening.
"Just back from WOMEX, where two of my favorite quotes were "Music blogs are what college radio used to be" (Yale Evalev, Luaka Bop) and "Give it two years for the niches online to really develop" (Erich Ludwig, online music consultant)."
Follow the link in the title for the full report.
For more (I'm going to scoop myself here), I just sent in my WOMEX report to Dmitri, and I'll post it here as well.
> 1st Favorite WOMEX artist discovery:
[Hmmm. I'm not sure I love the work "discovery" (hints of colonialism,
imperialism and all the rest). However, this WOMEX was a great
opportunity to see a bunch of artists live that I have been hearing
about, or listening to for a long time. Mamani Keita & Nicolas Repac,
Seun Kuti, Balkan Beat Box, 3canal, etc. OK, off the soapbox, onto the
questions at hand. . .]
1. Mayra Andrade - http://www.mayra-andrade.com/pt/accueil.php
> 5-10 words about why you liked this artist:
What's not to like? Beautiful voice, nice variety in her set. Plus
Cape Verdean Creole is so expressive, even though I don't understand a
word, I think I understand perfectly . . .
>
>
> 2nd Favorite WOMEX artist discovery:
Bajofondo Tangoclub - http://www.bajofondotangoclub.com/bftc.html
> 5-10 words about why you liked this artist:
Great stage show, lots of remixes (recorded, not live). However, they
have an awful flash website.
>
>
> 3rd Favorite WOMEX artist discovery:
La Shica - http://www.lashica.net/home.html
> 5-10 words about why you liked this artist:
This one is my wife's favorite. She loved the dancing, the whole stage
schtick, and the way flamenco was brought into a new element.
>
> New idea: T-shirts
> Who did you hear it from:
StrikeConcert.com reminded me of it when they gave me the MarceloD2 Futbol Jersey
> How will you use it:
Not sure, but maybe next year I'll have a box of T-Shirts to pass out, since no one at WOMEX seems to have gotten to the massive schwag giveaway levels seen at SXSW and other conferences state-side, and the first one in wins. Can you say "Free Advertising"?
>
> Describe WOMEX 2007 in 1-3 words:
>
> New company you discovered: Mine (seriously, my business cards got to me shortly before I left)
> Why you were glad to find out about them: That there is a huge need for me (and many many other) to get busy helping people understand and actually capitalize on the digital tools, technologies and opportunities available to them.
>
> New service you discovered that you want to use:
Well, I didn't discover them _at_ WOMEX, but in service of one of my clients, I am starting to understand the full power of iLike.com
> What is cool about them:
You can control (and share control of) your roster of artists/clients on a variety of social networks. In non-tech speak, what I mean is that I can make one change for an artist (add a song, update a link, add a picture, etc), and have it appear on Facebook, GarageBand, and more. This service is the future of a variety of open-source applications that will allow all of us to play with those niches I talked about, once they fully develop.
>
> One thing you will do differently as a result of WOMEX 2007:
Bring my own food snacks to the day time stuff. Must avoid a repeat of
tequila shots on an empty stomach.
>
> One thing you are especially proud of from WOMEX 2007:
Having a good time, getting some work done, and still making time for
my newly married wife! I think she'd be open to coming back (thanks
Sevilla)!!
>
> How would you like to be credited for this article?
> Name: Erich Ludwig
> Company: Erich Ludwig Creative Consultancy
> Position: Instigator
>
Now at this years WOMEX, I talked about the development of niches, and the communities to support them. Apparently, he was listening.
"Just back from WOMEX, where two of my favorite quotes were "Music blogs are what college radio used to be" (Yale Evalev, Luaka Bop) and "Give it two years for the niches online to really develop" (Erich Ludwig, online music consultant)."
Follow the link in the title for the full report.
For more (I'm going to scoop myself here), I just sent in my WOMEX report to Dmitri, and I'll post it here as well.
> 1st Favorite WOMEX artist discovery:
[Hmmm. I'm not sure I love the work "discovery" (hints of colonialism,
imperialism and all the rest). However, this WOMEX was a great
opportunity to see a bunch of artists live that I have been hearing
about, or listening to for a long time. Mamani Keita & Nicolas Repac,
Seun Kuti, Balkan Beat Box, 3canal, etc. OK, off the soapbox, onto the
questions at hand. . .]
1. Mayra Andrade - http://www.mayra-andrade.com/pt/accueil.php
> 5-10 words about why you liked this artist:
What's not to like? Beautiful voice, nice variety in her set. Plus
Cape Verdean Creole is so expressive, even though I don't understand a
word, I think I understand perfectly . . .
>
>
> 2nd Favorite WOMEX artist discovery:
Bajofondo Tangoclub - http://www.bajofondotangoclub.com/bftc.html
> 5-10 words about why you liked this artist:
Great stage show, lots of remixes (recorded, not live). However, they
have an awful flash website.
>
>
> 3rd Favorite WOMEX artist discovery:
La Shica - http://www.lashica.net/home.html
> 5-10 words about why you liked this artist:
This one is my wife's favorite. She loved the dancing, the whole stage
schtick, and the way flamenco was brought into a new element.
>
> New idea: T-shirts
> Who did you hear it from:
StrikeConcert.com reminded me of it when they gave me the MarceloD2 Futbol Jersey
> How will you use it:
Not sure, but maybe next year I'll have a box of T-Shirts to pass out, since no one at WOMEX seems to have gotten to the massive schwag giveaway levels seen at SXSW and other conferences state-side, and the first one in wins. Can you say "Free Advertising"?
>
> Describe WOMEX 2007 in 1-3 words:
>
> New company you discovered: Mine (seriously, my business cards got to me shortly before I left)
> Why you were glad to find out about them: That there is a huge need for me (and many many other) to get busy helping people understand and actually capitalize on the digital tools, technologies and opportunities available to them.
>
> New service you discovered that you want to use:
Well, I didn't discover them _at_ WOMEX, but in service of one of my clients, I am starting to understand the full power of iLike.com
> What is cool about them:
You can control (and share control of) your roster of artists/clients on a variety of social networks. In non-tech speak, what I mean is that I can make one change for an artist (add a song, update a link, add a picture, etc), and have it appear on Facebook, GarageBand, and more. This service is the future of a variety of open-source applications that will allow all of us to play with those niches I talked about, once they fully develop.
>
> One thing you will do differently as a result of WOMEX 2007:
Bring my own food snacks to the day time stuff. Must avoid a repeat of
tequila shots on an empty stomach.
>
> One thing you are especially proud of from WOMEX 2007:
Having a good time, getting some work done, and still making time for
my newly married wife! I think she'd be open to coming back (thanks
Sevilla)!!
>
> How would you like to be credited for this article?
> Name: Erich Ludwig
> Company: Erich Ludwig Creative Consultancy
> Position: Instigator
>
Friday, November 02, 2007
the tax man cometh - Canadians to pay tax on downloaded tunes
this is going to be interesting . . . i think many of us have been dreading the tax man's intrusion into the mp3 business, and kind of hoping that he wouldn't show up. however, here he is, and we'll see what folks in canada do, both on the business and consumer side. I just hope that the SOCAN in Canada is better than the ASCAP/BMI/RIAA cartel down on the south of that border.
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), which collects money on behalf of musicians and redistributes those funds to songwriters and bands, had called for the levies.
OTTAWA -- The Copyright Board of Canada has approved new taxes on digital MP3 music files - at least for files that are downloaded legally.
. . .Meant to compensate artists for the reproduction of their songs, the charges follow similar levies that add 21 cents to the price of every blank CD sold in Canada. And they are retroactive to 1996, when Canada's music industry first began pushing for tariffs on transmitted music files.
. . .The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), which collects money on behalf of musicians and redistributes those funds to songwriters and bands, had called for the levies.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
RIAA forced to put up or shut up
Read the story linked in the title. My favorite piece is this:
"Toder, Thomas's attorney, plans to start with the basics — making them prove they own the songs at all. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis threw out 784 pages of documents produced by the record companies to show they owned a sample of the songs. Toder had argued that the documents were produced seven months late."
Hah! So the RIAA wants to do lawsuits but produces documents 7 months late! 99% of life is showing up, I was always told . . .
"Toder, Thomas's attorney, plans to start with the basics — making them prove they own the songs at all. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis threw out 784 pages of documents produced by the record companies to show they owned a sample of the songs. Toder had argued that the documents were produced seven months late."
Hah! So the RIAA wants to do lawsuits but produces documents 7 months late! 99% of life is showing up, I was always told . . .
Friday, September 28, 2007
whew. read this, laugh, breathe, read again
a stunning shredding of the term 'world music'. oh my. read it and then let me know what you think. i posted a comment thanking this blogger for their commentary, as we inside the world music echo-sphere get too caught up in this argument all the time with very little new commentary added. this is a nice outside perspective, and the bonus is that it is a nice reminder that there is a huge market for the music that we love, whatever we call it, and our job is just to figure out ways to market it, ways to get it out there, ways to promote it, ways to share it. and, as pointed out in this article, putting it all into an ill-defined lumpy box and calling it a shiny cadillac ain't the way to do it.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Another online Video Editing Solution
Live performance of Zola's 'Umdlwembe' shot at the launch of ControlArms.org in Jozi, South Africa in 2006. ControlArms is a project of Oxfam, Amnesty International and other groups designed to create tougher controls on the global arms trade.
Zola is on Ghetto Ruff, and mp3s are available at:
http://zola.calabashmusic.com
http://tsotsi.calabashmusic.com
Rough footage here, but great dancing part way in . . .
Links:
http://controlarms.org
http://ghettoruff.co.za
Breaking News - Zingku acquired by Google!
as mentioned in an email to users, and posted on their site:
"We've entered into an agreement to have Google acquire our Zingku service."
Zingku, and another branded version (Ripple9) have done some work with CalabashMusic, but they have a killer set of mobile tools that the artists I work with are all using . . .
"We've entered into an agreement to have Google acquire our Zingku service."
Zingku, and another branded version (Ripple9) have done some work with CalabashMusic, but they have a killer set of mobile tools that the artists I work with are all using . . .
oops! someone forgot to renew their domain!
On one of my little journeys round the web today, came to the Universal Music Groups job page (yes, i am job hunting, and no, i wouldn't mind working for "the man"). Clicked to their US based jobs, cool. Clicked thru to see what international opportunities might exist and . . . BINGO! someone forgot to renew the domain. doh!
see for yourself - go here http://new.umusic.com/Jobs.aspx and click outside the US.
The domain umicareers.com is now reverted to register.com
which is double funny. cause if you haven't heard, register.com is dead (or about to be any second). i've moved my domains from there to another registrar, and i know there has been a mass exodus of others as well. so someone at Universal forgot to renew, or got caught in the register.com renewal hell. and now according to ICANN, register.com took the domain umicareers.com! which is stunning. perhaps they are planning to steal domain names, backorder them, or otherwise acquire a catalog of domain names and then ransom them off to pay their debts. amazing story if people have to compete and bid against their domain registrar for domain names!
see for yourself - go here http://new.umusic.com/Jobs.aspx and click outside the US.
The domain umicareers.com is now reverted to register.com
which is double funny. cause if you haven't heard, register.com is dead (or about to be any second). i've moved my domains from there to another registrar, and i know there has been a mass exodus of others as well. so someone at Universal forgot to renew, or got caught in the register.com renewal hell. and now according to ICANN, register.com took the domain umicareers.com! which is stunning. perhaps they are planning to steal domain names, backorder them, or otherwise acquire a catalog of domain names and then ransom them off to pay their debts. amazing story if people have to compete and bid against their domain registrar for domain names!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Sharon Chadha: More good news: Tuareg rebels in Niger and Mali are NOT branches of Al Qaeda
Sharon Chadha: More good news: Tuareg rebels in Niger and Mali are NOT branches of Al Qaeda
Great post by Sharon here. I too have been troubled by both the attempts at outside Islamic groups to try and gain a foothold and radicalize Mali, as well as the attempts by the USA and others to try and put soldiers into Mali to resist this radicalization. Neither a fundamentalist Mali nor a militarized Mali is in the interests of the Malian people. This is the new cold war it seems. Someone puts money in to a country to try and play god ("make the country in their image" so to speak). Meanwhile, the people still suffer. I remember my first trip to Mali in 2001, I was so glad I was American, and not French, as people were more open to me not being a colonizer. However, on subsequent trips, it has not been as advantageous to be American, due to invasion of Afghanistan/Iraq backlash, general Bush (p)Resident idiocy, and the increased presence of US troops throughout Mali and the lower Saharan desert region. I'm not sure when our politicians are going to realize that putting troops in various countries actually lowers local tolerance for political efforts . . .
p.s. - in the general universal energy pick-up amazing-ness, the track 'Ahimana' by Tinariwen came up in my random playlist as I was typing this post . . .
Great post by Sharon here. I too have been troubled by both the attempts at outside Islamic groups to try and gain a foothold and radicalize Mali, as well as the attempts by the USA and others to try and put soldiers into Mali to resist this radicalization. Neither a fundamentalist Mali nor a militarized Mali is in the interests of the Malian people. This is the new cold war it seems. Someone puts money in to a country to try and play god ("make the country in their image" so to speak). Meanwhile, the people still suffer. I remember my first trip to Mali in 2001, I was so glad I was American, and not French, as people were more open to me not being a colonizer. However, on subsequent trips, it has not been as advantageous to be American, due to invasion of Afghanistan/Iraq backlash, general Bush (p)Resident idiocy, and the increased presence of US troops throughout Mali and the lower Saharan desert region. I'm not sure when our politicians are going to realize that putting troops in various countries actually lowers local tolerance for political efforts . . .
p.s. - in the general universal energy pick-up amazing-ness, the track 'Ahimana' by Tinariwen came up in my random playlist as I was typing this post . . .
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
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