FWIW, lots of folks that spent years involved in the free culture movement were directly involved in organizing the anti-SOPA campaign (Fred, Parker, Tiffiniy, Holmes, myself).
Here's one example of a particularly outlandish claim to Google's orchestration of the movement: http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottcleland/2012/01/24/the-real-reasons-google-killed-sopapipa/ . On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 12:12 PM, Lagroue, Jared (student) < [email protected]> wrote: > Ali, I'm writing my master's thesis on the viral movement that arose > against SOPA, and this is exactly what I'm looking for: > > "I've seen similar claims made related to the misconception of the public > momentum against SOPA being primarily orchestrated and financed by Google, > but I'm not sure if that's related." If you could hook me up with places > you've seen that, I'd be really grateful! > > In a kind of way, a "free culture" movement did arise as part of this > viral movement against SOPA -- yet it lacked the level of definition that > our "Free Culture" movement has. For some, it was all out anti-IP > (free=gratis). For others, it was about preserving participatory culture & > protecting noncommercial re-use & transformation of media -- essentially > people wanting to use others' photos on their tumblr accounts, etc. > (free=libre). Which mirrors our own cause. Yet a lot of claims were > bought into about the "shutting down" of social networks, and the movement > really exaggerated the idea of internet censorship... to cause more > emotional than rational opposition, and thus a lack of clarity on what > people really were standing for. > > In terms of this article, however, it seems that the authors have coined > their own "free culture" movement as they understand it, based on an > anti-property paradigm (I had friends posting on facebook about whether we > should abandon IP during SOPA), and ignorant of what exists in terms of our > "Free Culture". I suppose this is a case of "they know nothing of my > work". I wonder if this was borrowed from the SOPA movement. > > Which makes me curious, what presence and outreach did we, Free Culture, > have during SOPA in reaching out to the viral movement? Do we have a > twitter? Were we "preaching" our conception of "libre" freedom? Or were we > "clumped" with everyone else, leading to these possible > mis-characterizations? > > Also, Fred Benenson, if you're reading this, your visualization of SOPA on > twitter is completely awesome! I'd love to chat about it, and possibly use > the data in my research, with permission. ( > http://fredbenenson.com/blog/2012/01/18/twitter-conversations-about-sopa/) > > Thoughts welcome, > > Jared > [email protected] > > > > On Jun 19, 2012, at 8:51 AM, Ali Sternburg wrote: > > Thanks! Good stuff. > > More on the Cary Sherman talk here: > http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57450807-93/riaa-ceo-cary-sherman-walks-into-tech-lions-den/ > > More music industry data here (this was prepared for Wednesday's hearing > on the potential UMG-EMI merger): > http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/Studies.CaseAganstUMG-EMIMerger.pdf > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 11:37 AM, Jennifer Baek <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Forgive me if this is a little ranty. I'm at work, but wanted to respond. >> >> Statistics will be different depending on where its coming from. At >> Personal Democracy Forum, Clay Sherman from the RIAA spouted statistics, >> which may hold truth in some contexts. Sherman said there are 41 percent >> fewer people describing themselves as musicians now then in 1999. John >> Perry Barlow. who spoke after Sherman. said that he believes more people >> than ever are earning a living from music because they don't have to deal >> with music labels. Who's right?? >> >> I like to think that one's assessment of the harm to the music "industry" >> depends on how you look at or want to define the industry: Is the industry >> defined by record sales? Is the industry defined by record labels? Or is it >> defined by how many musicians are out there making a living? How many >> people are listening, attending, concerts, and/or buying merch? What is the >> definition of *harm *and *who* is being harmed? I think it needs to be >> clarified who's stakes we are *really* talking about before we can work >> towards any sort of solution. >> >> Here's the link to his talk: >> http://personaldemocracy.com/media/music-industry-digital-age >> The argument made in this "Letter to Emily" seems quite dated. Even the >> RIAA-guy recognizes that the music industry and the means of making revenue >> are changing. The "music industry" is catching on that they should work to >> meet consumer behavior and expectations, and part of this entails working >> with technology companies and innovators to come up with new business >> models to save the industry. Sherman cited things like Spotify, which more >> and more of my facebook friends are catching on to, Rhapsody, etc. Hey, >> these things work and people use it! Maybe it's not bringing the industry >> to its former "glory." Yes, the BIG THREE are no longer the gatekeepers >> exploiting, aggrandizing, and profitting off of artists. (How much do >> musicians make from record sales anyways? Such a small %. I mean... there >> is something called a 360 deal). Look, I don't really see *that *as >> such a bad thing. >> >> I agree with Ali, SFC should release a statement-- or at the very least >> tackle whatever misconception there is about free culture. We can >> collectively work on one in an Etherpad! >> >> Thx for reading, >> Jennifer >> On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 11:13 AM, Ali Sternburg >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> (Disclaimer: I've only skimmed, and I don't know anything about the >>> author or the site.) >>> >>> I'm not even sure who and what he's referring to every time he says Free >>> Culture (which he capitalizes) movement. People who don't pay for music >>> but just because they're lazy and cheap and not because of principles? I >>> think a response by the SFC Board or Core could be warranted. This article >>> is getting a lot of comments and shares. (Example: I'm Facebook friends >>> with Rivers Cuomo from Weezer for some reason (I think because we went to >>> the same college and I saw a lot of friends were, I don't remember) and he >>> shared it.) >>> Alex, I've seen similar claims made related to the misconception of the >>> public momentum against SOPA being primarily orchestrated and financed by >>> Google, but I'm not sure if that's related. >>> >>> Alec, in response to those numbers, some excerpts from: >>> http://www.techdirt.com/skyisrising/ (the annotated Google >>> Doc<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qtoe_7a7qMIfmR7L8DueyLqtXxZwMYiRQycoHRyhVkM/edit?pli=1>version) >>> >>> *On the consumption side, music is also being consumed at near >>> record-setting levels. According to Nielsen >>> SoundScan<http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110106006565/en/Nielsen-Company-Billboard%E2%80%99s-2010-Music-Industry-Report>figures, >>> the overall sale of music (including albums, singles, digital >>> tracks, etc.) exceeded 1.5 billion transactions in 2010. That's up from 845 >>> million transactions in 2000. These overall sales figures seem to rise and >>> fall a bit over the years, but they don't necessarily >>> drop<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/mar/12/demise-music-industry-facts>during >>> economic recessions. >>> * >>> >>> ... >>> >>> *In >>> 2005<http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/the-broader-music-industry.pdf>, >>> the IFPI estimated the global music industry to be worth $132 billion -- >>> which included revenues from music in radio advertising, recorded music >>> sales, musical instrument sales, live performance revenues and portable >>> digital music player sales (among a few other income categories). By 2010, >>> the IFPI estimated the market to be worth $168 billion, but it had also >>> changed how it categorized some of the revenues and added categories such >>> as audio home systems, music-related video game sales and music >>> revenues from TV advertising (in addition to a few other categories).* >>> * >>> * >>> *...* >>> >>> *But, despite the increasing production and consumption of music, the >>> music industry doesn't seem rosy to everyone. The revenues from recorded >>> music, such as CD sales, have been falling >>> steadily<http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/news/e3i868d104ace88f495a07f9534916589ed>over >>> the last several years. This shouldn't come as a huge surprise, >>> either. Historically, music has been sold on various kinds of physical >>> media: vinyl records, 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, CDs and other less >>> well-known formats. Each of these formats has seen its peak, and each of >>> them may someday cease to be sold entirely -- though that time has not come >>> yet even for vinyl (as there are >>> signs<http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/digital-music-leads-boost-in-record-sales/>that >>> vinyl records still have plenty of useful life left and their sales >>> were up ~41% for 2011). Still, as the CD format wanes, the revenues from >>> selling CD albums are diminishing, too. The problem, it seems, is that >>> consumers are buying more single >>> tracks<http://musicbusinessresearch.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/the-recession-in-the-music-industry-a-cause-analysis/>now >>> instead of entire albums and that consumers have an expectation that >>> digital music tracks should be cheaper than purchasing plastic discs. The >>> result is that the number of single digital tracks purchased is rising >>> (initially with double-digit >>> growth<http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/01/16/us-global-idUSTRE50F6NE20090116?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews&rpc=69>), >>> but the revenue from selling single tracks isn't >>> matching<http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1047366&c=1>that >>> of the peak years of selling CD albums. This trend was apparent >>> in 2007 <http://www.economist.com/node/10498664?story_id=E1_TDQJRGGQ>, >>> as the volume of physical recorded music was dropping (also by double digit >>> percentages). The problem here is that the major labels have been relying >>> on CD sales as their main income stream and are only just starting to >>> diversify their revenue and business models. Interestingly, a former >>> executive at Universal Music, Tim Renner, has said that the major labels >>> had a chance to diversify their income streams when "they had the money and >>> could have built the competence by buying concert agencies and >>> merchandising companies." However, this hindsight isn't necessarily the way >>> forward for the major music labels now.* >>> >>> On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 9:44 AM, Alec Story <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> The letter quotes some numbers: >>>> >>>> Recorded music revenue is down 64% since 1999. >>>>> >>>>> Per capita spending on music is 47% lower than it was in 1973!! >>>>> >>>>> The number of professional musicians has fallen 25% since 2000. >>>>> >>>>> Of the 75,000 albums released in 2010 only 2,000 sold more than 5,000 >>>>> copies. Only 1,000 sold more than 10,000 copies. Without going into >>>>> details, 10,000 albums is about the point where independent artists begin >>>>> to go into the black on professional album production, marketing and >>>>> promotion. >>>>> >>>>> >>>> This is the first time I've heard that - everything else I've seen has >>>> suggested that big media companies have been growing just fine in the past >>>> decade. Can anyone who knows better comment? I'm sure that some of the >>>> revenue decrease is just due to the un-bundling of the album. >>>> >>>> On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 10:04 PM, Alex Leavitt >>>> <[email protected]>wrote: >>>> >>>>> Don't have much time to respond with anything lengthy at the moment; >>>>> mainly wanted to share, since it garnered so many (supportive) comments. I >>>>> think my main criticism is the characterization of the "free culture >>>>> movement" as led by corporate stakeholders (eg., Megaupload, Google, >>>>> etc.). >>>>> I really felt like that came out of left field, but I've also never seen >>>>> that critique before, so I'm wondering if anyone had additional thoughts. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 6:54 PM, Rich Jones <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Interesting, Alex - would you like to share your opinions and start a >>>>>> discussion? >>>>>> >>>>>> This is the author, for those interested: >>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lowery >>>>>> >>>>>> R >>>>>> >>>>>> On Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 6:33 PM, Alex Leavitt <[email protected] >>>>>> > wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> http://thetrichordist.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/letter-to-emily-white-at-npr-all-songs-considered/ >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Alex >>>>>>> >>>>>>> --- >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Alexander Leavitt >>>>>>> PhD Student >>>>>>> USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism >>>>>>> http://alexleavitt.com >>>>>>> Twitter: @alexleavitt >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>>> Discuss mailing list >>>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>>> http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >>>>>>> FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> Discuss mailing list >>>>>> [email protected] >>>>>> http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >>>>>> FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Discuss mailing list >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >>>>> FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Alec Story >>>> Cornell University >>>> Biological Sciences, Computer Science 2012 >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Discuss mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >>>> FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Ali Sternburg, J.D. >>> [email protected] >>> alisternburg.com >>> @alisternburg >>> <https://twitter.com/#!/alisternburg> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Discuss mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >>> FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss >> >> > > > -- > Ali Sternburg, J.D. > [email protected] > alisternburg.com > @alisternburg > <https://twitter.com/#!/alisternburg> > > <ATT00001..txt> > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > FAQ: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Fc-discuss > >
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