EFFector, Vol. 14, No. 19; Aug. 10, 2001

EFFector Vol. 14, No. 19 Aug 10, 2001 editor@eff.org

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424

In the 179th Issue of EFFector (now with over 28,500 subscribers!):

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Attention Musicians: Sign up to Play at EFF's Music Share-In on September 8th

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) would like to invite you to participate in an open air concert event for everyone who loves music. EFF Unplugged will feature musicians from around the Bay Area performing acoustically in Golden Gate Park. Artists participating in this event will permit recording of their performances by those in attendance in support of EFF's Open Audio License (OAL).

The OAL was developed to help artists share their work with others without giving up the recognition they deserve for creating the art. Based on the open source and free software initiatives for software development, the open audio license encourages artists to share with one another and their fans and to build upon the works of others.

Adoption of the OAL does not mean that an artist does not get compensated for his or her work. On the contrary--the OAL permits artists to share single tracks or performances, with recognition, that could lead to sales of additional music. EFF is extremely sensitive to supporting new models of music distribution in the digital world that see more money going to the artists themselves. One of the great qualities of the Internet is that packaging and distributing music, which is where most of the money is currently spent by record companies, is trivial. EFF is committed to developing tools that empower artists to take control over their own art and to be compensated appropriately for their works.

EFF believes that many of the laws and technologies being developed today to protect intellectual property actually harm the public's First Amendment and fair use rights and make criminals of people doing perfectly legitimate things. We are striving to help artists realize the full potential of the Internet for reaching their fans by challenging restrictive laws in courtrooms and through public education events, like this one.

In addition to several stages of acoustic music, the Share-In will showcase numerous booths hosted by EFF and outside sponsors, including artists' rights organizations and independent labels. For more information about participating in EFF's Music Share-In, contact:

EFF is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges everyone to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world at:
http://www.eff.org/

Artists and Audiences Strike a New Deal with Open Licensing of Music

By Robin D. Gross, Esq.

Artists' reputations are their number one assets. Whether they earn their living by live performance fees, CD or merchandising sales, subscription or sponsorship fees, advertising, or a variety of other revenue-generating models, the more artists are known and appreciated by the public, the better positioned they are is to seek and obtain fees for their creative services.

Now imagine a world full of musicians, all creating, exchanging ideas and building upon the works of others -- a true artist's collective. Digital technology makes this possible. The revolutionary ease of copying and distribution of music over the Internet allows musicians to reach millions of people around the globe at minimal cost; at the same time, the technology truly dissolves the boundaries between who can be considered a creator and who is merely a consumer of art. Musicians would have the opportunity to draw upon and truly build from the works of others like never before. DJs could wade into an increasing pool of music to broadcast or webcast without legal restrictions. Artists would finally have a way to establish a direct connection with their audiences. All this is possible through open licensing.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was founded in 1990 to protect civil liberties like freedom of expression and privacy rights in the electronic world. EFF recently released the Open Audio License with terms under which artists can choose to distribute their own songs if they wish. It is EFF's hope that the license will empower the artistic community and promote freedom of expression by taking advantage of law and technology.

Original songs that artists choose to release under the Open Audio License may be copied and shared with friends or publicly performed by anyone without restrictions or royalties, so long as credit is provided to the artist. The license terms strike a new deal between artists and the public, opening up greater opportunities for musicians worldwide who want to touch the most hearts and minds with their message.

Open licensing allows artists to continue to profit from their music released under the license in many of the same traditional ways they always have, such as CD sales, live performance revenues, merchandising, etc. Artists can also release one track of a CD under the open license as a promotional tool to come to the website and buy the entire CD.

In many respects, this idea is not revolutionary. Record labels and artists regularly release free songs for the publicity value. It should come as no surprise that the more an artist is heard, the better her record and concert sales are and the more invitations to provide other musical services she receives.

One real possibility for artist revenues in an electronic age that is compatible with the open licensing is upfront fees for musical services such as composition. Artists' livelihood may shift away from one of payment for music as product to one of music as a service. The rules of the game may be changing, but artists will adapt to a home in the digital environment where greater opportunities await them.

Just as lawyers are paid fees for their services of drafting contracts, artists can be commissioned to compose and record original songs to, for example, commemorate weddings or births, which can be further distributed to family, friends and heirs throughout time. The industrial era for music distribution revolved around a model of mass production of few songs that would be sold to all. Digital technology allows creators to cultivate the value of individual customization of music, something much more personal.

In the digital world, artists who wed their income solely to fees per copies of goods sold seem to be selling themselves short. Since we are moving toward an environment where any intellectual creation can and will be copied and distributed with the click of a mouse, to tie artist revenue to fees for copies distributed also seems to be the surest way for artists to starve.

Rather than shoe-horning an old revenue model into a new technological environment, as "digital rights management" (copy-prevention systems) or other digital audio security schemes attempt, open licensing takes advantage of the properties of digital technology, like ease of copying and distributing. Artists' fans become their top promoters, by passing on the music that they like to friends along with means to connect with the artists, such as Web or e-mail addresses. This kind of "viral marketing" or super-distribution of artists' music provides an unprecedented opportunity to independent artists around the world to pursue their passions. The challenge is now to the electronic pioneers to use these new tools to build new business models or new twists on the old ones that sustain and enhance artists' livelihood in a digital world.

EFF Speaks at O'Reilly Conference in DC - Monday, September 17, 2001

Emergent Computing Policy Roundtable

Peer-to-peer computing and web services bring fundamental shifts to information and entertainment services--shifts that have major legal, social, and moral repercussions. On Monday, September 17, 2001, Tim O'Reilly brings together legal, political, and technology experts at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC for a no-holds-barred roundtable discussion of the promise and perils of P2P and web services. We invite you to join in this event, which is open and free to the public. An audience Q&A follows the formal roundtable discussion. Confirmed roundtable participants include:

O'Reilly & Associates CEO Tim O'Reilly is an Internet activist and leader in the open source movement. The roundtable is taking place in conjunction with the O'Reilly Peer-to-Peer and Web Services Conference, September 18-21, 2001, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC.

EFF staff and board will also be presenting at various sessions throughout the conference.

CONFERENCE UPDATE:

On Monday, September 17th, there will be a number of peer-to-peer and web services community meetings. For more information about these important events, please visit the conference web site:
http://conferences.oreilly.com/p2p/

CONFERENCE DETAILS

Tuesday September 18th features a full day of tutorials including .NET, Groove, JXTA, SOAP, Jabber, OpenCOLA, Programming Web Services, and an insightful technology overview by the program committee: O'Reilly Networks Maven Rael Dornfest, OpenCOLA Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist Cory Doctorow, Hack the Planet weblog editor Wes Felter, and WorldOS Corp. CEO Lucas Gonze. Wednesday the 19th marks the opening of the conference and exposition hall. As is customary for all O'Reilly conferences, you can expect deeply technical and provocative session presentations. Our lively exhibit hall features a hands-on-look at the latest devices and technologies. And don't forget, during the breaks the hallways will be teeming with vigorous community discussions about the P2P and Web Services space.

EFF Thanks LabTam Finland for Generous Software Donation

The EFF wants to thank the folks at LabTam Finland for their generous software donation of their WinaXe product. WinaXe is a Windows program that allows Windows to run as an Linux X-windows terminal. This allows the Windows users to run Unix gui applications and even run an entire Unix desktop on their laptop computers. By using this product our users can run Windows and Linux at the same time and can cut and paste information between the two operating systems. And a single Linux server provides the desktop for all our Linux users. LabTam website:
http://www.labf.com/

The EFF appreciates companies like LabTam who make useful software and donate licenses to EFF. This helps us become more effective in our struggle to protect civil liberties.

Administrivia

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Editors:
Katina Bishop, EFF Education & Offline Activism Director
Stanton McCandlish, EFF Technical Director/Webmaster
editors@eff.org

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Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express permission. Press releases and EFF announcements & articles may be reproduced individually at will.

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