See you in 2013…
Thank you to all the participants and speakers who made Rethink Music happen this year. We look forward to seeing you in 2013.
Rethink Music Conference: Day 2
Another fantastic day at Rethink. Check out some highlights below—
GZA/The Genius of Wu Tang Clan
Vickie Nauman, 7Digital
Len Schlesinger, President, Babson College
David Viecelli, The Billions Corporation
Steve Masur, MasurLaw
Don Gorder, Richard Conlon, Steve Masur
Linda Chorney
Genesis Project winners: “Have You Heard” Joey Seiler and Adam Gottesfeld
Photos: © Phil Farnsworth
Rethink Music Conference: Day 1
Rethink started yesterday with a full day of presentations, panels, and workshops. Attendees were treated to an after party with Biz Markie and DJ ABD. Check out the highlights below—
Seth Godin
Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky
Andrew Hampp, Rio Careaff, Junior Goris, Robert Fernandez, Nils Gums, Karmin
Nils Gums, President, The Complex Group Inc.
Karmin
DJ ABD at the EchoNest Launch Party
Biz Markie at the EchoNest Launch Party
Conference Photos: © Phil Farnsworth
Launch Party: © Dana Córdova
Impact Weekend: Music Deconstruction Experience & Opening Party
Sunday kicked off with a full-day music clinic led by Berklee Professor of Music Production and Engineering, Stephen Webber. the morning sessions consisted of practical, tools-based workshops designed to arm attendees with techniques to take their songwriting skills and productions to the next level. The afternoon session featured a performance by the Berklee Turntable Crew, and an artist led clinic featuring Portugal. The Man’s John Gourley, and their Manager Rich Holtzman. Both were candid and talked about perseverance, working hard, remaining realistic, and dealing with the pros and cons of a record label.
L to R: Prof. Stephen Webber, John Gourley, Rich Holtzman
Later that evening, Rethink Music kicked off with a bang with an opening concert featuring Yoga Girls, Karmin, and Junior Boys.
Today, the full conference programming begins at the Hynes.
Photos: © Dana Córdova
Impact Weekend: Green River Ordinance and Graham Colton at Brighton Music Hall
The sounds of OK and TX were well represented last night at Brighton Music Hall.
Photos from the evening—
Graham Colton
Graham Colton is an American singer-songwriter from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma most widely known for his hit song “Best Days”, featured on the television series American Idol and Kyle XY (finale of season 2). He has toured with John Mayer, Counting Crows, Maroon 5, Dave Matthews Band, NeedToBreathe, and Kelly Clarkson, and appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Late Show with David Letterman, NBC’s Today Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Live with Regis and Kelly. Graham Colton’s solo debut, Here Right Now, was released on October 30, 2007.
Green River Ordinance
Green River Ordinance Josh Jenkins, lead vocals Jamey Ice, guitar Joshua Wilkerson, guitar Geoff Ice, bass Denton Hunker, drums Over the decade-long journey from their first incarnation as kids in Fort Worth, Texas to the upcoming release of their latest album, Under Fire, Green River Ordinance has evolved steadily. GRO shared stages with Bon Jovi, Train, Counting Crows, Gavin DeGraw and other headliners; earned press coverage from CNN, Billboard and Alternative Press and got their music played on 56 network and cable shows along with three films.
Learn more about Rethink Music Conference events.
Photos: © Dana Córdova
Impact Weekend: Hackers’ Weekend at Microsoft’s N.E.R.D Center
A weekend for developers, designers, programmers, industry insiders and musicians to come together to create new and unique applications across many different platforms. As of 10:30 today, approximately 75 hackers have until Sunday afternoon to work on development. Late Sunday afternoon, they will be given the opportunity to present their hacks to the overall group. Winners will be selected and will have the chance to present their hack to Rethink Music attendees on April 23rd.
Check out the hackers at work—
Photos: © Dana Córdova
Impact Weekend: The Lumineers and Kopecky Family Band at Café 939
Passholders and lucky early birds were treated to an intimate, sold out show at Cafe 939 last night.
Check out some shots from the night—
Kopecky Family Band
‘The Family’ began creating music together in Nashville, Tennessee in the Fall of 2007. What began as late night talks about life and dreams gradually flowed into eccentric and beautiful music that has led to numerous tours, including adventures to CMJ, SXSW and Bonnaroo, three EP releases and friendships across the country.
The Lumineers
The roots revival of the last few years has primed listeners for a new generation of rustic, heart-on-the-sleeve music—the kind that nods to tradition while setting off into uncharted territory. The Lumineers walk that line with an unerring gift for timeless melodies and soul-stirring lyrics.
Learn more about great shows happening around Boston as part of Rethink Music’s Impact Weekend.
Photos: © Dana Córdova
Things that make you go hmmm…5Qs Friday with DJ Spooky
Q: What do you believe is the most influential trend changing the music industry today?
A: At this point online music has so far outstripped any previous model of business. Apple alone had over 25 billion apps downloaded over the last 2 years - which is probably more than all albums ever sold, ever. Mobile media is making people rethink their relationship to fixed format media. I think that the most influential trend changing the music industry is the App. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Q: If you could change one thing in todays music industry to make it better, what would that be?
A: Two words: Artist literacy. Too many artists are only remotely aware of the many many many rights they ignore when dealing with everything from record labels to taxes. I would like to see more aware artists at every level.
Q: The United States is the only industrialized nation without a Ministry of Culture, yet culture is one of the country’s greatest exports. What are your thoughts about that?
A: One could easily argue that there’s a correlation between regulation, poverty, and quality of music - then you’d look at Brazil as a stunning success! The US has so many paradoxes I don’t quite know where to start. Celebrate the paradox and solve the way it works in such a breathtakingly un-equal fashion.
Q: There are a lot of business models floating around for recorded music. Which one do you think makes most sense?
A: We see it all the time as people exchange all aspects of modern life across media without the regimen of “permissions” that copyright made an essential component of life in the industrial and now post industrial world. Copyright law needs to be utterly rethought out. Free culture is always more robust. I’ll just leave it at that. The business model is this: we live in an era of total information overload, there is no such thing as information overload, just filter failure. Let’s see what business will come out of that paradox.
Q: Who is your favorite artist now?
A: A visionary like Gilberto Gil or Ryuichi Sakamoto would be a tie for my favorite artist. With a three way run-off between Chuck D and Yoko Ono to add spice. But yeah for current artists—hmmm…. The search algorithm is the artist of the moment.
____________________________
Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DK Spooky, is a composer, multimedia artist and writer. His written work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Source, Artforum and The Wire amongst others. Miller’s deep interest in reggae and dub has resulted in a series of compilations, remixes and collections of material from the vaults of the legendary Jamaican label, Trojan Records. Miller is currently a contributing editor to C-Theory and the Arts Editor for Origin Magazine. He regularly plays festivals across the globe using his own iPad software. His most recent venture, The Book of Ice, spans his many talents and includes the use of language, sounds, visuals and science. Download an excerpt here. DJ Spooky will present “Making Music” at Rethink Music Monday, April 23rd at 11am.
Get Ready to Rethink Music!
Are ready for Rethink?…
Here is a short list of things to help you get the most out of your experience:
Rethink Music App from Mobile Roadie: Download our useful app with scheduling, speaker info, and news> mobileroadie.com/apps/rethink
Twitter: Follow the action, connect with other attendees, and get live updates via hashtag #rethinkmusic
Badge Pickup: Friday 3-7pm and Saturday 3-6pm at Registration, located at 921 Boylston Street in the lobby.
Impact Weekend / Evening Showcases: Conference attendees can go to the Brighton and Allston neighborhoods to watch performances by indie buzz acts and mainstream performing artists at Paradise Rock Club and Brighton Music Hall, to the Back Bay for an intimate acoustic rock show at Café 939, and downtown for a larger mainstream spectacle at Royale. (Limited seating available for Rethink Music registrants.)
See full lineup. Can’t make it? BIRN will broadcast LIVE from Café 939
Opening Concert & Party: Rethink Music 2012 kicks off with an opening concert in the evening on Sunday, April 22nd. This year’s concert will feature performances by Junior Boys, Karmin and Yoga Girls. Location: Berklee Performance Center. Doors Open: 7:15pm (The opening concert is open to all conference registrants.) Learn more.
Hackers Weekend: April 21st & 22nd in Cambridge, MA at Microsoft’s New England Research & Development Center (N.E.R.D), 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA
Learn more.
Music Deconstruction Experience: Sunday, April 22, the Music Deconstruction Experience will offer artists and other conference attendees a full day of clinics at the Berklee Performance Center composed of individual sessions by leading figures in music.
Learn more.
Main locations for our events are mapped out below.
A Perspective On The Complexities Of Copyright And Creativity From A Victim Of Infringement
from the rethinking-creativity dept
Erin McKeown, a wonderful musician who has been very involved in some discussions on copyright and internet access — and who was especially helpful in the fight against SOPA — recently wrote the following thoughtful, heartfelt piece concerning the emotional roller coaster of having someone copy your work, and how all of this relates to copyright law.
I always knew my song “Slung-lo” was a hit.
It just took longer than I expected.
“Slung-lo” came out on my 2003 album, grand (Nettwerk). It found its way to the Brittany Murphy masterpiece “Uptown Girls” and into episodes of “Roswell”, “Gilmore Girls”, and “Privileged”. It also found its way into a Tesco F&F commercial, which ran in the Czech Republic in the summer of 2008. Though not a hit by any means, it was a remarkably long life for a song that came out in 2003.
And then last year, I received two separate emails through my website pointing me to this video for a song called “Touch The Sun” sung by the Czech artist, Debbi. (editor’s note: we tried to embed the official video for this song, but Sony Music refuses to allow an embed on the song).
“Have you seen this?” both emails asked. I hadn’t.
From the first moment I heard “Touch The Sun,” it was as clear to me as anything that someone had taken the DNA of my song “Slung-lo” and turned it into another song. At this point, my lawyer wants me to make very clear that IN MY OPINION, THIS IS COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.
If you want to hear my song again, here’s “Slung-lo” on YouTube or you can click here for a free download from me.
I don’t want to spend a lot of time technically breaking down the two songs, but I’d like to point out a few things. Among the many substantial similarities between them, check out the lyrical content (weather as metaphor for happiness), the almost exact song structure (solo verse, band verse, double-tracked vocal in the chorus…), and the vocal cadence in unison with the descending instrumental line in the chorus. I could go on.
Debbi’s “Touch The Sun” isn’t the proverbial “kid in the bedroom with a laptop” who remixes pop culture and makes mash-ups to show how alike we humans really are. No, it turns out the song was written for a commercial scale beer campaign by the giant European alcohol company Metaxa, which itself is a subsidiary of the global beverage conglomerate Remy Cointreau.
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