Chet Atkins. Nobody should underestimate the influence of country music guitar – and especially fingerpicking style – on all popular music. Atkins was as big as they came, whether playing with Elvis, the Carter family, Hank Williams, and many, many more.
Very important
and very good news today from the US Supreme Court: Free-Lance Beat Media Cos. in Court. This is just as important as any music-related decision, and the problem has been evident for much longer, as media companies of all sizes have either republished work (for profit) without additional payment to the freelancers or bullied them into signing (still valid, alas) contracts that severely limited their rights. But the Court held that publishers may not so brazenly disrespect authors rights – if they want to republish an article, they can pay for the right:
The Authors and Publishers may enter into an agreement allowing continued electronic reproduction of the Authorsf works; they […] may draw on numerous models for distributing copyrighted works and remunerating authors for their distribution.
From Declan McCullagh:
Code-Breakers Go to Court. Ed Felten, who did research for the Secure Digital Music Initiative Foundation and decided to publish it (and to present the paper at a conference) rather than turn it over to the SDMI is suing the RIAA, the SDMI, and others. The SDMI folks said that they never intended to pursue legal action, but the plaintiffs say that’s not enough – they’re seeking precedent that privileges the First Amendment over the DMCA.
I received an interesting
email yesterday:
This Friday May 18th, in an unprecedented gesture, the Union des crivains du Qubec will present an evening of ENGLISH poetry and literature in performance.
The show is entitled “Howls and Whispers (Souffles et hurlements)” and it highlights a remarkable cultural breakthrough that has occurred in the spoken word scene in Montreal.
Due to pioneer work by a list of names on both sides of the linguistic divide, the scene for performance literature has become a place where English and French performers know each other, work together and share an audience – an altogether amazing event when one considers that poetry is probably the most language-specific cultural activity one can find.
The show will feature a panoply of the most interesting writers and performers in the city, including Cat Kidd and jack beets, Fortner Anderson, and musician Tom Walsh – all in one of the best locations in town.
[ahem – I should have mentioned that location – it’s at the Lion D’Or, on Ontario St. E. Did you know that Ontario St had that name before the province of Ontario did?]
The copyright question
that has most touched me and my friends – far more than Napster since I know so many writers – is being heard by the Supreme Court next week: Writers Fight for E-Rights. A couple of things spring to mind. First, there were signed contracts that specified the limited rights of the publications that purchased the articles. Second, this can be dealt with easily by splitting things up the middle – keeping the publications and historians happy by mandating that the items be licensed by writers for archival purposes, but paying them for the additional usage. Third – this is coming to the music world eventually. As I’ve written, I’ll come much closer to supporting record labels in their anti-Napster (etc.) fight the minute I see them taking steps to commit to paying the artists for electronic rights to the music.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- …
- 11
- Next Page »
