fair music weblog

Call For Entries: 2008 fair music Award

Purpose and Overview:

About the 2008 fair music Award: Recognition for best practice and special achievements about fairness in the music business (fair music prize trophy and certificates, the right to use the fair music seal, exposure to international press, promotion of the repertoires via the fair music website and public relation).

Who can be nominated? Labels, publishers, initiatives and services providing the audience access to music.

Process of nomination: fans, listeners, musicians and composers enter nominees representing a good example of fair business practices in serving cultural diversity. (more…)

Cannes/Wien, 29. Jänner 2008: Die Nominierungsfrist für den zweiten fair music Award läuft an. Komponist/Innen, Musiker/Innen und Fans sind eingeladen, Unternehmen, Initiativen und Dienstleister zu nennen, die den fair music Award erhalten sollen. Dieser Preis wird für vorbildhaftes Verhalten im Music Business verliehen. Die Einreichfrist läuft von 15. Februar bis 15. Juni 2008. Die Kandidaten können unter www.fairmusic.net nominiert werden.

Im Rahmen der MIDEM, der weltgrößten Musikmesse in Cannes, laden dazu Peter Rantasa, Geschäftsführer von mica - music austria, Vizepräsident des IMC (International Music Council), der 1949 von der UNESCO gegründeten Musikdachorganisation, und Initiator von fair music sowie Franz Patay, Generalsekretär des IMZ (International Music + Media Centre) und Geschäftsführer des Haydn-Jahres 2009 ein.

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This evening the first fair music awards have been given to Harald Quendler of Extraplatte, the VJane-network female:pressure, represented by Andrea Mayr, Mark Chung of Freibank music publishing and last but not least Peter Kuthan of the music project tonga.online within the context of the Ars Electronica in Linz, the international festival for art, science and technology. Around the award a discussion about the fair music initiative and the situation of the music business and cultural diversity took place.

fair music is the first global initiative for fairness and justice in the music business. fair music wants to establish fair rules and regulations in the music world: protection of artistic freedom, well-balanced contracts for musicians, fair remuneration for composers and musicians, as well as a fair distribution of opportunities for small producers worldwide and especially for musicians of the Global South. fair music adopts the idea and empirical knowledge of the Fair Trade Organisations and takes it to the world of cultural goods and services. It is committed to the development of standards of fairness for the music industry.

“What a quality label is has to be negotiated in a democratic way”, Peter Rantasa said. And he added: “We are happy that Fair Trade is consulting us in this.”

Watch the video

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Since Harald Quendler received the 2007 fair music Award more than 30 releases were awarded with the fair music seal of approval. Among this releases Franz Haunzinger, Otto Lechner and Anne Bennet are amazingly interesting.

Harald Quendler has shown more than 30 years of commitment for cultural diversity in the Austrian music market. With his business Extraplatte – label, distributor and record store rolled into one – Quendler co-operates with musicians to make them stand on their own two feet – from music production to cover and booklet arts design to marketing and distribution. Extraplatte is an established niche service for innovative, off-key and exotic music. It is a synonym for a diverse choice of folk, jazz, world music, classical, advanced pop and contemporary music. Successful careers and trends which were knocked off by Extraplatte produce a long, long list. Promoting unknown musicians still is instrumental to Quendler. fair music rewards the commitment to cultural diversity and freedom.

Further information: www.extraplatte.com

“Our bands wanted their songs to be on peer-to-peer-networks, although they are not Madonna or any other famous artist”, is the straightforward answer CEO gives when asked what his music service jamendo is about. jamendo, a French company that is based in Luxembourg, is a new model for artists to promote, publish, and be paid for their music.
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by Peter M. Rantasa

Basical musical rights:
• The right for all children and adults to express themselves musically in all freedom;
• The right for all children and adults to learn musical languages and skills;
• The right for all children and adults to have access to musical involvement through participation, listening, creation, and information;
• The right for musical artists to develop their artistry and communicate through all media, with proper facilities at their disposal;
• The right for musical artists to obtain just recognition and remuneration for their services.(excerpt from the statutes of the IMC—International Music Council, an advisory body of UNESCO)

We have never before had it this good! As music fans, we all remember the days when the longing for new records had us rummaging through dusty boxes and enthusiastically schleppingheavy loads of plastic back with us from far-flung cities so that we could finally hear the musicthat had been touted by our magazines of choice. Cellphones, notebooks, Web platforms –today, every new electronic communication channel is chock full of music. On the streets you hardly see an ear anymore that is not literally wired for sound. But do we really know where themusic we are enjoying in such abundance comes from? Besides the artists that are so close to our hearts, there are also numerous other people and companies involved in making sure we can finally hear what we want to hear. But we don’t even know about them!

As a music fan, I have a right to hear exactly the music I want to hear. As a creative artist, I have a right to expect recognition and payment for my performances and my ideas. As a listener, I assume that the money I pay for my music goes to the artists of my choice. But can I really be sure that the artists receive their fair share of what I spend and that – as a fundamental principle –they can produce their music freely and under fair conditions? (more…)