fair music weblog

At presentations and discussions of the fair music initiative people often ask what the criteria of a fair music label are and how a music producer or distributor can get this label. Peter Rantasa, director of mica - music austria and initiator of fair music: “I myself do not decide what is fair in music business and what not. The standards for fairness and justice in the music business have to be developed in a consensus building stakeholder process - and this takes time.”

These standards that products and distribution channels will have to meet in order to receive a fair music seal of approval, will be developed by the fair music initiative together with the International Music Council (IMC - an international NGO in formal associate relations with UNESCO) and music and cultural NGOs.

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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? (weiterlesen…)

Europe’s music industry is going through difficult times: finding new talent, writing new lyrics and producing new music recordings is extremely expensive, but it is becoming ever easier to copy artists’ works through digital media without compensating the artists and other companies concerned.

Representatives from the EU’s Culture Ministries met in Cannes on 27 January to discuss the challenges facing the music industry at an informal meeting held to coincide with the start of this year’s MIDEM international trade fair for the music and recording industry. At the event, European Commissioner Ján Figel’ announced the launch of a study on the role of culture, and the EU’s cultural industries, in promoting and stimulatingcreativity, innovation and growth in the EU. (weiterlesen…)

Magnatune was founded in April 2003 by John Buckman and is located in Berkeley, California. Magnatune was born out of Buckman’s observations he’d gathered about the music industry, along with personal experiences from his wife releasing her CD on an Indie record label. In the end, she sold 1000 CDs, lost all rights to her music for 7 years (even though the CD had been out of print for many years), and earned a total of $137 in royalties paid (some of it paid to her as CD copies of her own CD which she then gave away for promotion).

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