fair music weblog

At a speech he gave last week  he had been asked: What’s going to happen to the music industry?, Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of the book The Long Tail, writes in his blog:
“To which I answered ‘Which music industry?’ You don’t mean just the one that sells CDs, do you? Because it’s a big mistake to equate the major labels and their plastic disc business with the industry as a whole.”

When you stand back and look at all of music, things don’t look so bad at all, concludes Anderson. It appears that every single part of the music industry is up, only CDs are down (-18%). They’re around 60% of the industry, but just around 25% if you include MP3 players. Anderson: “So the problem with the music labels is not that music is an industry in decline, but that they have a too-narrow view of what business they’re in.”

Everything in the music industry is up! (except those plastic discs) - The Long Tail

Addressing the social and economic dilemmas of digital technologies

While the incumbent music industry has responded to the technology of digital distribution by restricting the rights of music listeners and of artists who build on each other’s work, two needs remain unanswered.

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fair music - For the emergence of a fair future music industry

Sadly, fairness in culture is not a given. Artists today are active in global markets, they are actors in a global culture in which variety is steadily being eroded.

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A fair music life? Quite our cup of coffee!

Just as soon as the term fairness is applied to the harvesting and consumption of coffee, it is in danger of being appropriated and devalued by the advertising and marketing departments. Therefore, it is high time to apply the concept of fairness to the music industry in order to formulate some new ideas.

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Advocating for diversity and fair play in commercial music productions

The European Music Council, regional group of the International Music Council, stands for musical diversity, promotes musical rights and supports the fair music initiative.

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fair music - how to put an end to a history of unfairness in the music business

As a music fan, I have always been outraged by the historically unfair treatment of composers and musicians, as well as the limitations of artistic freedom due to a dominance of commercial interests all through music history.

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