[DMCA-Activists] Record Label Sings New Tune

[Seth Johnson]

> http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,61282,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1


Record Label Sings New Tune  

By Katie Dean
Nov. 20, 2003 PT


Record labels have long been accused of stealing musicians' copyrights as
soon as the ink is dry on the contract. Now, one small independent label in
Great Britain is doing the opposite: It's giving the rights to the artists
-- and anyone else who wants to use the music, too. 

Loca Records wants to foster experimentation and freedom in music by
building a stable of free music which can be shared, remixed and manipulated
by anyone. Songs are not locked by digital rights management technology. 

The music is available for free in MP3 format, but the company sells its CDs
and vinyl in retail stores throughout Europe. Artists earn a percentage of
any record sales; Loca Records makes its money through record sales, gigs it
promotes and merchandise. 

"You're free to copy it, give it to your friends and you can play it. If
you're really interested, you can sample it and then re-release it," said
David Berry, managing director of Loca Records and an artist himself, known
as Meme. "Because at the end of the day, if you sample the work and create a
fantastic remix, we think you're entitled to try and make some money from
it." 

Loca Records licenses its music using Creative Commons. The organization
offers free copyright licenses to anyone who wants to share his or her work
with the public while reserving some rights. Using these licenses, Loca
Records permits anyone to copy and distribute the content, make derivative
works and sell it, as long as they attribute the work to the original
creator and distribute it under the same "share alike" license. 

"I do worry that copyright is getting out of control. This gives us an
opportunity to create a new culture and a new sound. If we are greedy and we
lock down our culture now, there will be nothing for the next generation,"
Berry said. 

The company has published the work of six musicians so far. In January, it
will release its first album complete with added music source code,
including samples, MIDI files, the score, drum sounds, any text files and
the arrangement itself. 

Berry said that Loca Records, which does not sign exclusive contracts with
its artists, is investing in musicians by giving them the freedom to
experiment and build on each other's creations. 

"The record labels don't invest in new artists, which I think is a tragic
thing," Berry said. "Now they are more interested in polished, produced,
manufactured music ... essentially dancing school graduates." 

Some artists are initially hesitant to work with this unfamiliar type of
contract, but once they understand how it works, the response has been
positive, Berry said. 

"This is like a natural progression for electronica," said ML, an
electronica musician and DJ in Brighton, England. "It seems like an obvious
thing to do. Personally, I find it very liberating." 

"It requires someone to take my music and tear it apart -- to re-create
something and interpret it," ML said. 

Still, the label is very small-scale. Berry said Loca is not designed to be
a multinational record label and the company expects its artists to outgrow
the label as they get more attention. 

It's also not the only label experimenting with new forms of music
distribution and collaboration. Magnatune, an independent label in Berkeley,
California, also offers music for download and sharing, and Opsound invites
any musician to submit songs to its website, where others can listen, share
and remix them. Both labels license the music using Creative Commons. 

"I think it's a wonderful idea," said David Kusek, associate vice president
of the Berklee College of Music, which recently announced a plan to
distribute music lessons for free over peer-to-peer networks. 

Historically, building upon one another's music was common, Kusek said.
Jazz, in particular, was based on improvisation, theme and variation and
"who could outdo each other" with each interpretation of a piece. 

"It was the differences that were more interesting," Kusek said. "We lost a
lot of the spontaneity that was inherent in music when it became a package
that could be stamped a million times and resold." 

"The existing labels of the last 50 or 60 years have been all about
controlling the expression, the packaging, the distribution and the scarcity
of the music in order to turn a profit," he said. "That forced music to be
defined as a product. It can be a product, but in its pure form it's
entertainment."

-- 

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