Please take a moment to look at this petition and sign it if you agree with the principle that people should be able to remix items in our popular culture to create transformative new works of art.  In essence, remix videos offer creative ways to educate, empower, entertain, and politicize people around the world.  As an intellectual property owner, I believe that hampering creativity and demonizing this type of expression is detrimental to the original purposes of copyright which was to promote the creation of new works.  Certainly, the use of one’s intellectual property to create something for monetary gain should be done so with permission, but we are talking about students, and non-monetized artists here… using existing visuals and audio as building blocks to create a new, original work.

https://ripmixmake.org/

Regarding the music comments Id like to add the following.

1.  Global Music Industry Value:  Im not sure where these figures came from… According to the IFPI Digital music only amounted to 5.4 Billion in 2011…  I am sure they are combining the publishing industry as well as touring on top of this to come to this exploaded figure.  On a granular scale, things dont look this rosy.

2. Transactions:  WHO CARES!  The number of transactions is no measure of growth… especially when the value of each transaction has shrunk from $9.99 to $.99.

3. Tracks Catalogued:  Again… a useless fact.  There is and ought to be more music in 2012 than there was in 1949… if this were not the case I would worry…  These numbers should grow exponentially as the music from 1949 is still counted in the 2012 count.

4. Artists’ Share:  This is the only figure on this re: music that I find interesting… I take an increased share of earnings for the artists as a GREAT THING.  This is a good sign.

Overall on the music side- it is obvious that they are wanting to paint a pretty picture of an industry that HAS been devastated by the theft of intellectual property.  Their numbers and justification just dont hold any water IMHO.  Of the industries discussed here, Gaming would perhaps be the only one that I find to be growing at an amazing rate… This is no secret… the Gaming companies have been killing it for a decade now.

SOPA Explained- Guardian UK

Not sure what this morning’s news that the House had “killed” SOPA will mean (obviously there will be other bills- or revisions at least), the the video above is quite telling.  Sitting directly in the middle by representing copyright holders, but being an ardent fan of Free Speech- I am conflicted on SOPA’s over-reaching ability if in-acted..  Perhaps I wont have to choose a side

PROTECT IP Act Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Everything is a Remix Part 3 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Upon first look, I figured I must give this a try… so I signed up for their Beta.  Quickly I realized that the back-end for this site is none other than MP3tunes.com (one of Michael’s other ventures).  The interface is simplistic and easy to use.  It isn’t the most attractive UI, but it gets the job done.  After a few searches, I found myself saving shows that aren’t available in my neck of the woods..  and after going back to hear my recorded shows- I found that the audio is not as terrible as I had suspected it might be.  The service works.  It isn’t fancy, or extravagant, but it works.  A Hyundai if you will.

As I find myself clicking around and saving radio shows which will be available to me later at my new MP3tunes.com account, I cant help but wonder about the legalities of such a venture.  Michael’s defense is that this is essentially DVR, but for Radio.  Which is a point I can see being very relevant, however in my experience- anytime a digital service uses or makes use of other people’s content red flags go up, sirens and bells go off, and take down notices ensue.  I kind-of hope that doesn’t happen in this instance as I am really excited about actually getting to hear the Henry Rollins radio show which is not available in Nashville.. but knowing Clearchannel, Viacom, Cumulus, etc I am certain this will not go down without a fight.  I say way to go Michael, for seeing a need, creating a product and filling a niche.  Who knows how long the service will withstand the legal bombardment it is likely to get, but for the meantime…  listen on!