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…)
The Maison des Cultures du Monde, founded in 1982, is hosting foreign performances, irrespective of their place of origin or their form of expression: sacred or secular, erudite or widespread, professional or amateur, literary or oral, traditional or contemporary.
Furthermore it is developing tools of distribution, documentation and preservation, specifically through the INEDIT label of traditional music.
“It all started in the mid-seventies”, PIRANHA co-founder Christoph Borkowsky Akbar recalls, “when I went to Africa to research resistance movements in the German colonies of South West Africa for my doctoral thesis in cultural anthropology. The best part of my field-studies on location was the weekend parties – complete with huge ghetto blasters radiating music from Boney M to Dolly Parton. When the batteries went down, people would start making music themselves, which was fascinating, cool. Having returned to Germany, due to the uninspiring atmosphere at the university, I found myself in a state of utter depression. That’s when I realised how important music, different kinds of music, is to one’s mental and physical health.” (more…)
True to its name, Artists Without a Label (AWAL) isn’t a label at all, but a revolutionary concept unto itself. Debuting as one of the first pure play digital online music service’s, it fills a once-neglected niche in the recording industry. Since its inception ten years ago, ever transforming itself as technology and the media industry warrant, AWAL now stands at the forefront of the new media revolution.
