Who Owns The Culture (continued)

« Podcasting (continued) | Main | Exciting Job Opportunity for an Experienced Internet Retailer »

Who Owns The Culture (continued)

The Gotham Gal and I went to the Who Owns the Culture event at the New York Public Libray tonite.

It was fantastic. The webcast is available here.

Larry Lessig was his usual activist self making incredibly compelling arguments against anything that keeps content from being free to be used in a digital world.

And Jeff Tweedy was just amazing. He is incredibly honest and humble for a major league big time rock musician. He honestly believes that music happens between an artist and a listener and both are an equal part of the equation. He believes that the Internet is a positive force for music appreciation and wants to do everything he can to leverage it for himself, his band, and his listeners. Plus he's just a really entertaining guy.

Steven Johson did a great job moderating the discussion.

Anyone who attended couldn't come away from it with any other conclusion that lawers, litigation, and labels are bad news and the only thing that matters in the world of culture is the artist and the consumer. Everything else is just overhead.

As an added bonus, the Gotham Gal sat next to David Byrne. We talked to David about his internet radio show. He said its costing him a fair amount of money to host it and pay for all the rights. I asked him if he was going to podcast it. He thought about the question for a moment and said, "not if its going to cost me even more".

That's bad. Here we have a great musician and fan of music who might be enticed into programming my iPod every month. But he won't do it because it costs him too much to do it. I sugested he find a sponsor who would cover all the costs. If you have any ideas, let me know.

Finally, I must say this was a really fantastic event for the NY Public Library to be hosting. They have a new guy in charge of programming whose name is Paul Holdengräber. He's an amazing guy too and the events he is putting on are really excellent. He aims to make the lions roar. He did tonite.

Comments (2) | | TrackBack (2)

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b2c969e200e5503678d18834

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Who Owns The Culture (continued):

» Internet Radio Streaming from Dullroar
In his review of the "Who Owns the Culture?" event, A VC mentioned that the costs of Internet radio are daunting, even for the likes of David Byrne. I have no idea how to fix the copyright fees, but I... [Read More]

Tracked on Apr 8, 2005 8:42:05 AM

Tracked on Apr 8, 2005 8:45:48 AM

Posted April 7, 2005 in Venture Capital and Technology

Comments

I was there. Not sure if I agree entirely. While I liked Paul Holdengräber, and found Lessig to be interesting in general, even though I don't necessarily agree with his comments, I felt Tweedy was almost not even there.
He hardly spoke and when he did, he didn't have much to say.
Seems like he more or less found himself in this situation, rather than made an effort to get here. Wilco lost their record company deal, and so this was their only other option.

Tweedy did confess, however, that he did not want to be both the musician and the record company - and it was clear to me that he shouldn't be.

Some of the comments were so absurd: (From the NYTimes)

Mr. Tweedy has little sympathy for artists who complain about downloading. "To me, the only people who are complaining are people who are so rich they never deserve to be paid again," he said.

Give me a break! By the same token, perhaps Trump should just give away all the units in any new condos he is developing.

Digital Rights Management is a must, in whatever realm (music, movies, software, etc.). The nature of the game may change, with the influence of the record companies waning and artists regaining control of their music (although it is a crucial moment in time for them, because they cannot let the company that manages their digital rights for them gain control), but it is all for the better - for the artist and as a result, with respect to music, for the listener.

Posted by: Jackson | Apr 11, 2005 1:03:12 AM

fred,

do you allow the software companies you invest in to give away their intellectual property? or not file patents and trademarks where possible?

why is it not true in a technology business that, as you say, "the only thing that matters... is the artist [read: software developer] and the consumer"? do you think the USPTO should just close down?

for that matter, did you encourage Inside magazine (or any other pubs you have invested in) to not enforce copyrights? or to ignore other people's copyrights, say by simply printing excerpts from a new book without permission? and do you tell your children that because its so easy to shoplift candy from the supermarket, its OK to do so?

sigh.

why is digital property considered to be somehow less property than any other property? the old saw is, "possession is 9/10 of the law" -- and its true; property rights are the basic building blocks of a capitalist democratic society. ok, ok, it makes me puke to pay $25 for a DVD, or to see madonna and tom cruise making the huge bucks they do, but that doesnt mean i think its time for the guillotine -- or even an economic guillotine.

this is truly a bizarre moment in history, when silicon valley types -- who make their fortunes on intellectual property -- find it fashionable to argue that intellectual property is, in fact, not protectable...

Posted by: steve | Apr 11, 2005 12:06:10 PM

A VC

Musings of a VC in NYC