Can Canada be the next creative superpower?

The creative sector in the U.K accounts for 8% of the GDP. In Canada the numbers are estimated to be around 3.8%. Why is this so different? Aren’t we creative here in Canada?

Well, for one…our copyright and digital laws have been very progressive. Unfortunately thats about to change – if we haven’t done enough during the consultation. In the U.K, the new Digital Economy Bill is set to put an end to digital piracy (and possibly a portion of the economy’s creative sector!). For Canada, I think now’s the time to shine…the time to take the lead by establishing progressive copyright laws that give our creative sector a boost!

Your thoughts?

ISP levy…a way forward?

I’ve got 2 very interesting links to share here…

The first one is a fox news piece that talks about ISP’s in the U.S being given the right to spy on an individual users activity online. So much so that now, thanks to pressure from the entertainment industry, ISPs will be held accountable for illegal music being stored and transmitted through their services. Which basically means that if you live in the U.S and you like to download music - you’ve gotta start being very very careful.

http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/27358061/internet-crackdown.htm

The second article talks about the ISP levy in Canada and what that could do to benefit smaller, independent artists.

http://this.org/magazine/2009/11/10/legalize-music-piracy-file-sharing/

I strongly suggest paying this article a read. It represents a way forward. Here in Canada, we pride ourselves for our forward thinking - unfortunately we’ve let the ball drop on a lot of environmental issues. Hopefully we don’t do the same with copyright reform.

Canadian Music Creators Coalition Submission for the copyright consultations

CMCC’s submission for the Canadian Copyright Consultation is great! Short, sweet and making the right points. Here’s an excerpt:

“We strongly urge policy makers to create copyright laws that are fair, balanced, and reflective of Canada’s interests. We submit that the following three principles should guide Canadian policy-makers in efforts to reform copyright laws:

1. suing music fans is destructive to the Canadian music industry;
2. digital locks are risky and counterproductive; and
3. cultural policy should support actual Canadian artists.”

Check out the submission here.

What does an online ghetto look like, you may wonder. Are there graffiti and broken windows? Drug deals and sexual predators?

Well, sort of. According to Ms. Boyd, it’s a community 58 million members strong and it’s called MySpace. No broken windows, but broken links. No graffiti, but plenty of visual spam. No drug dealers, but, arguably, sexual predators (more on this later).

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Is MySpace an online ghetto? by Lisan Jutras

Your Thoughts on the article? or on the relevance of Myspace as a music destination for new and upcoming bands?

Artist Profile: Girl Talk

Girl Talk has stirred up a revolution by taking samples from hundreds of songs and remixing them to create new pieces of music. His album is currently on sale and offers you the option of paying what you like for it. More importantly, Girl Talk has helped open the flood gates once again to the cause for the remix. He helped shine the light once again on the need for better copyright laws and the ability of art to inspire creativity, if left in the public domain. Girl Talk is currently touring. Check out his myspace for details.

How musicians get f$%^ed by the current model

In order to give you a better understanding of the economics of the current business model in the music biz, I am going to quote Matt Mason, from his book The Pirate’s Dilemma. Hope this makes you want to get more involved.

“One day I really sat down and did the numbers. You get a dollar per record, and after the recording and promotion of the record, it might be $800,000 spent, which comes out of your cut. You sell 500,000 records, which means you wind up owing the record company $300,000. You’ve blown the record up, toured all around the world, how in the hell do you owe them $300,000? If they sold half a million records and got $9 per unit, they made nearly $5 million! And you still owe them!!!

We have to change the structure. You know what made me realize? I did a mixtape about four or five years ago. I went to a couple of the stores and they were like ‘we sell mixtapes for $10, and we’ll give you $5.’ And I was like ‘Shit! That’s 50 percent! That’s more than the record company gave me! And when you get to the big time, you get 10 percent? If your tape blows up, you might sell 10,000 tapes. And you made $50,000. You can’t make that when you sell 1 million records. That’s why the industry is dead. I know a lot of artists that made records without record companies, but I don’t know any record companies that made records without artists.”

iMeem Wipes The Slate Clean With $6 million Funding

Here’s an interesting article from TechCrunch that I wanted to share with you. Now it remains to be seen if iMeem’s really found a profitable business model and if it has the strength to go on. I personally sure hope so.

Dr. Draw draws in a crowd!

I was at the Regenesis Fund Raiser for Toronto’s Eco Village last night in the distillery district. One of the main attractions of the night was Dr. Draw. I had heard a lot about him but hadn’t really had the opportunity to check him out. I was really really impressed. They (he had another player with him, unfortunately I didn’t get his name) had great sound and more importantly, played music with great passion. At one point my friend Sara said to me “They’re so intimate in the way they play music that I feel like I’m watching someone having sex…its very inclusive and almost feels like I’m intruding watching them” (or something like that…I was a couple wine glasses down). But really, I think that was the perfect way to describe that experience!

If you haven’t seen them yet, I’d strongly recommend checking them out asap. What I really like about their music is that its not the traditional “record label” attracting sort of sound and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of a business model they end up adopting as musicians looking to make a living.