Tag: interview

Storing Treasured Memories On CD May Be Risky

October 4th, 2010 · · Archives 3 comments - Tags: , ,

Great interview on National Public Radio about digital archiving. Key takeaway point: archivists have a saying – LOCKSS – Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe.

The message is not that digital is a poor way to store data for future generations – but that preservation is enhanced by multiple copies… something that digital media excel at.

Storing Treasured Memories On CD May Be Risky

As digital recording has become the norm, so has digital storage — many consumers and news outlets now archive their files on CD. But while tape recordings can last up to 150 years, CDs can deteriorate after only a few years. Recording expert Sam Brylawski explains how to preserve your digital memories.

Flying Nun follow-up

May 27th, 2009 · · Uncategorized No comments - Tags: , ,

I had the opportunity to interview Stephen from Amplifier, who were selling classic Flying Nun records online – classic and archetypal albums – but had their catalogue pulled, much to the dismay of some NZ music fans, for whom the ongoing availability of FN records is part of the culture of NZ music.

1) A lot of people seemed alarmed when some Flying Nun catalogue disappeared from your site. What happened?

Warner Music (WM) has taken the decision to not repress the Flying Nun catalogue on CD. As they run out of stock of a given title then that title will cease to exist physically. We were given a list of FN titles and their current stock levels. Several were already out of print and a dozen had such small stock levels that we couldn’t be guaranteed supply. To the dismay of the office we were left with no option but to remove those titles from sale. Many more will also be removed over the coming weeks/months as stock levels fall.

WM are making these titles available digitally through iTunes, however we have no digital agreement in place with WM so we’re left with no way to retail Flying Nun.

The explanation that we were given by WM was that the titles were commercially unviable and that a re-run of 500 CDs would take years to sell. From a business perspective I can’t fault this however when you’re dealing with art, and music is art, I feel there should be some level of custodianship taken into account. Also I know that for the majority of NZ CDs are still the primary media for accessing purchased music.

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Investigating the Legal Status of Sound Recordings

May 17th, 2009 · · Uncategorized No comments - Tags: , , ,

Hoping I can get to this:

Sound Property? Investigating the Legal Status of Sound Recordings
An Interdisciplinary Conference on Music & Copyright
University of Salford ~ May 28-29, 2009

This conference proposes to investigate the current U.S. and U.K. statutes that regulate the protection of sound recordings. It will inquire to what degree those laws secure the rights of both the owners and creators of the music contained on these products as well as determine their impact upon those who consume and comment upon this material. The pending efforts to universalize an extended term of copyright underscore the potential for even more draconian controls upon recorded music. Will the public, creators, and commentators continue to be able to acquire, appreciate and appropriate musical materials? Can some balance be found between the need for profit and the pursuit of pleasure? Is it possible in a civil society for music effectively to be silenced through constraints over its recorded legacy?

Keynote Speakers Include:

Nicholas Cook, University of Cambridge. Music: A Very Short Introduction & Music, Imagination & Culture

Simon Frith, University of Edinburgh Taking Popular Music Seriously; Sound Effects; Editor, Music & Copyright

Kembrew McLeod, University of Iowa Freedom of Expression: Resistance & Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property; Owning Culture: Ownership, Authorship & Intellectual Property

Further details at:
http://www.adelphi.salford.ac.uk/adelphi/p/?s=23&pid=90

Apart from anything else, I’m really hoping to interview Simon Frith for the Deleting Music book. He wrote a very good book called Music and Copyright and will, I’m sure, have a good deal of insight into the relationship between copyright and music as culture.

However, it’s on the 28th & 29th of May, and there are two other places I’m meant to be on those days. We’ll see how we get on. At any rate, I’ll do my best to get hold of Simon. He’s on the list.

Mind you – the list has 64 names on it, and only one of them has been crossed off so far. And I keep adding more. Still – we’re only just starting.

New Zealand On Air

May 17th, 2009 · · Uncategorized No comments - Tags: , ,

I interviewed Brendan Smyth from New Zealand On Air yesterday when I met him at The Great Escape in Brighton, and we talked about how hearing local music on commercial radio contributes to a sense of identity and nationhood.

Sadly, I lost a good deal of the recorded interview thanks to a technical cock-up, but I was able to retrieve quite a lot of it. As he put it:

Why is it important that we get more New Zealand music played on the radio? I guess there are several answers to that, one of which is that it is important for the strength or robustness of the local culture that when you turn on the radio you get to hear music made by New Zealanders – and you’re not constantly bombarded with American or British music which is kind of almost like a cultural imperialism.

So from that point of view, it’s important for a robust local music culture, and economy for that matter. That there is a good representation of local music on the airwaves.

But I think probably if you go deeper than that into people feeling good, feeling passionate because they identify with the music, they identify with the artists, all New Zealanders love New Zealanders doing well – whether it’s the All Blacks, or Michael Campbell playing golf. Whenever a New Zealander does well, locally or internationally – especially internationally – New Zealanders just love it. It’s self-affirming and gives people a sense of pride.

I mean, these are all cliches really, but it’s very real that sense of pride that we feel in our own doing well. Particularly on the international stage. And I guess it’s all part of that, you know? If you turn on the radio, and you hear a lot of New Zealand music, then you identify with that music, you feel proud about that music…

From an economic point of view, you get to like the music, you get to buy the music (however you buy it…), you get to go to the gigs – but you also get to feel a sense of pride in it.

So I guess it’s all of those reasons.

I suspect the theme of prioritising the cultural feeding into the commercial benefit will crop up a lot as I do this. That seems to be true of a lot of aspects of popular music culture… but that’s something I’ll come back to.