Community Mobilization

Food Branding Nationalism

As far as mid-east wars goes, the battle over the naming rights to middle eastern delicacies Humus, and Baba Ganoush is sure to be one of the most civil. The president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association Fadi Abboud, said he is preparing to file an international lawsuit against Israel for allegedly "taking the identity of some Lebanese foods" and thus violating a food copyright, according to a report in Ha Aretz news paper.

The law suit is a prime example of how copyright, or the idea of copyright, can run a muck interfering with marketing and international trade. Something such as an ancient delicacy like Humus (a combination of chick peas and sesames seed paste) Baba Ganush (eggplant and garlic) should be in public domain. It is clear there is a competitive advantage that the Israelis have in the production and marketing of the same product and the Lebanese have resorted to lawsuits to bridge that gap.

CASH Music - distributed musical production

Thanks to Boing Boing for pointing to this unique new way of managing music. CASH Music is the system helps artists to raise funds and then distribute their musical works over the internet, in most cases DRM free and with a Creative Commons License. It puts the power of creativity and distribution into the hands of the artists. It also puts the burden of advertisement, sales, and recouping costs in the hands of the artists as well. Catch is that in todays world of high computing the power of an overly expensive recording studio is condensed into a high end PC. There are no expensive reels of tape, no 'studio time' to pay for either. In an environment when all of the tools of production are almost at anyones fingertips one hopes that the best will bubble up to the surface. As music aficionados it our job as patrons to financially support and spread good music when we find it.

ACS Lauches Online Music Contest

The American Cancer Society recently launched its first online music contest as part of its development of a online media sharing space called SharingHope.tv  The music contest asks that you listen to about a dozen songs and then vote for your favorite. It is fun and actually very easy. This is a great project in conjunction with the Relayforlife.org online community. I hope all of you who read this will participate.      
 

Herbie Hancock Remix Contest - Speaks VOLUMES!

I know it is a bad play on words but the fact that Herbie Hancock is running a contest asking for a remix of his own music speaks volumes about community engagement. Herbie is opening up his art form (ironically jazz its self is a very open art from taking cues from so many various genres) and allowing the creative community to play. As a measure of course he is encouraging a new level of interaction with his art - from listening to co-creating. If only other brand and marketers could feel comfortable with constituents, admirers co-creating the experience. I admire the fact that this is in conjunction with the launch of the Pangea Island (supported by Universal music Germany) in SL. More on that in a later post.

Mochila - An Open Syndication market

Mochila has created a content service where content creators can create and post their contet up for news agencies to purchase and license. In shot it serves as an open marketplace for freelance writers, artists and various other content creators. Content ranges from videos, to articles, to photos and sound clips all available for licensing with a few various revenue sharing models that range from flat fee to add revenue sharing.

A New Way to distribute music at concerts

Discrevolt has a Indy Download Cards that helps bands get their music to their fans digitally. The Discrevolt cards allow fans to purchase plastic cards which act as gift certificates for the purchase of music from the Discrevolt website. Artists but the cards initially for about $2 and then resell them at concerts for about $5. They contain on average 15 credits and artists can set the price of their music in credits. In the new music landscape the single is king again and allowing fans to pick and choose their favorite songs digitally is a plus. Moreover the cash at the point of sale is the bands to use right away for gas, food, or spare guitar strings.

WKRP DVD Release Event Party Downtown

WRKP In Cincinnati DVD release has been on the back boiler because FOX is has been unwilling to spend great amounts of money to relicense the entire soundtrack for the DVD release. Wired wrote in 2005 that WRKP would neve be released .... ever due to the copyright and licensing issues. In a cheap end-around Fox replaced all of the great classic rock tracks with what can only be described as elevator music. This is a perfect case of how Copyright laws as they stand desperately need to be updated.

The DVD release is today and the city of Cincinnati is celebrating. Yes, celebrating with a huge sing along in downtown. At noon dozens, maybe hundreds, possibly thousands of Cincinnatians will stream to Fountain Square in down town to join Bootsy Collins in a resounding chorus of the original theme song ... no doubt violating some standing licensing and copyright. We will all be summarily hauled off in paddy wagons and charged $1.25 fines for the violation. I will post pictures following the mass hysteria later this afternoon.