Shopping Burst

Having got the wedding out the way I finally have a couple of farthings to rub together, as I haven't bought anything since November my Amazon basket was bulging so I emptied some items in to my post box.



I have also bought the eighth in the Miles Davis box sets.


And another book for my Jeanette Winterson Collection.

Our Wedding - A collection of memories

I have moved the information.

Guardian: Sympathy for the record industry

The primary objection to record companies is always going to be the unequal relationship between an unsigned artist and a major label. Record companies are very fond of charging all costs back to the artist, so that in the end artists may be in debt to the company, even though they had little or no control over the spending. It is particularly sad for young artists who may be naïve when confronted with popstar potential, so they probably don't realise that the when the company is paying for all the freebies and extras, it is actually the artist who ultimately foots the bill. The unequal relationship also enables the company to own the masters, preventing the artist from having future control over their own work. I think there is real potential for legislation to control the contracts, and increase the freedom of the artists. My final objection is to the way record companies increase their margins with each new format that comes along, hoping the changes will obscure the increases. Given current technology it would be possible to allow the buyer to allocate proportions of the profit to the various parties, so if you were liked a label and artist but not the store you could make allocate 60p to the label, 50p to the artist and 10p to the store.

Guardian: Sounds fishy to me

A balanced diet is always the answer but rarely applied, I don't have a balanced diet because I am a lazy vegetarian. I am not worried about exam results, but about my mental faculties in later life, so I take Omega 3,6,9 as a supplement. Obviously the supplement I take is a vegetarian alternative made from nuts and seeds, but I bet few imagine that fish does not have to be in the solution. It is actually disturbing for me to see what were once vegetarian products being tainted with added fish oils, when there is a vegetarian alternative. I think it is better to talk about Omega 3,6 or 9 rather than fish oil, as fish oil leads people to conclude that only fish oil will do, but also vegetarians beware of Omega 3,6 or 9 additives in food.

Money Talking

I haven't verified these figures quoted from the Guardian for a £7.99 album on iTunes:
"The government (of course) took its 17.5% in VAT off the top, leaving £6.59 net. Under a standard record contract, the split, according to Bacs, would go something like this: performer 48p, songwriter 53p, credit card company 59p and Apple 99p - while the record company trousers the remaining four quid. Even at the megastar rates enjoyed by Macca, Jagger and Jacko (22% of retail, no deductions), the performer gets maybe £1 more and the record company a quid less. Hey, do the maths."

Wired: Allofmp3 vs Allthebrits

Your are on dodgy ground if you think all Russians are crooks. Don't forget the BPI and RIAA have a vested interest. If they were sure of their ground it would be over by now, so let them sue and we will watch the outcome. As for me being a thief, all the tracks I have bought are to replace vinyl, and this way the artists may get something, which they don't if I record the vinyl at home. I am also happy to pay them for the service rather than go to a p2p site, which I know is totally illegal.

Guardian: Will Blu-ray be one last flop?

Both new disc types offer two things, HD movies and a SD TV series on a single disc. I don't expect mass take up of HD technology for some time in the UK, so this will be a US led revolution. Even in the US adoption of either format will be slow, and I guess for most people the first player they will have is a Playstation or XBox. I also expect in the next five years some low-cost stand-alone dual-format players will emerge, negating the whole debate. Going forward the market will be closer to the current games market with some films available in one format and some in both. I strongly suspect that both these formats will suffer the fate of the mini-dics, in that they will be beaten not by each other but by a change in consumer habits, with downloads taking over from conventional DVDs.

AllOfMP3 Update

AllOfMP3 have responded to criticism and said they do pay royalties to artists:

The US government officials and politicians have been demanding lately that the Russian authorities shut down allofmp3.com, alleging the site is pirate. Otherwise, they threaten Russia with sanctions, including blocking its entry to WTO.

In this regard we would like to make a statement:

1. The site AllOfMP3.com belongs to a Russian company and for 6 years it has operated within the country, in full compliance with all Russian laws. Throughout this period the various government offices have scrutinized site's legality and have not found any breach of the law. So far there has been no decision by any Russian court contesting the site's legality.

2. The Russian site AllOfMP3.com is not operating or advertising its business on the territory of other countries.

3. The site AllOfMP3.com does regularly transfer substantial amounts of royalties to the Russian organizations for collective management of rights such as ROMS and FAIR, which have granted the site licenses to legally deliver music through the Internet.

4. The site AllofMP3.com reserves the right to take all steps necessary to protect its business reputation. We call upon everyone to take a thorough and unbiased view of the site's legality.

5. On September 1, 2006 the changes to the Russian copyright legislation will come into force. Since January 2006 the site has been making direct agreements with rightholders and authors at the same time increasing the price of the music compositions and transferring the royalties directly to the artists and record companies. The aim of AllofMP3.com is to agree with all rightholders on the prices and royalties amounts by September 1, 2006.

6. We believe in the long term and civilized business based on respecting the law, considering the customers' demands as well as the interests of both national and international rightholders.

The AllofMP3.com Administration
June 6, 2006 Moscow

Copyright and Fair Use

A recent email to the Commons Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport:


In response to being called a criminal by the ifpi and hearing that the Commons Select committee has been told by the "generous" BPI that even though I am a criminal I will not be pursued. I thought I would pass my comments, which are more in line with the National Consumer Council.

Since I could afford to buy music I have shared it. My brother and I would rarely buy the same record, it made no sense. When we started to travel we made copies on to tape to take with us, when we left home and split our combined collections we ensured we had a copy on tape. Our friends would give us tapes and we would give them tapes, if we liked an artist we would go out and buy more of their work, but would be unlikely to replace the album on tape. At every stage of this process our music collections grew, at the rate that our collective income could manage. We never considered what we did illegal or immoral, and still don't. Now we are in the digital age copying is easier, click-drag you're done, but technology doesn't make me a criminal.
I have tried to transfer some of my vinyl to a digital format, I am told this is illegal. I will not buy a digital replacement, I would rather spend my money on a new CD or occasional iTunes download. I spotted the AllOfMP3 web site and thought this would be a cost efficient way of replacing my vinyl. From my perspective I want to give an artist the full dollars from a new purchase, but don't want to spend twice and in these circumstances AllOfMP3 let me give some money to artists, and get my digital music too. Sadly, I am being told that AllOfMP3 don't give any money to artists via their Russian artists organisation, but I am still happy to pay them to convert my vinyl.
One of the ironies of the digital download debate is that most of my vinyl is second hand, my money never really made it to the artists at all. Yet now the record companies expect me to pay more for a product I would find hard to sell on. One of the reasons I still buy CD's is to ensure I actually get a substantive product.

What I want is for the legislative bodies to get in line with public wishes. We all understand the need for artists and companies to make money, but we also have an understanding of fair use, and have a pretty good idea of where the moral boundaries fall. Once people feel they are entering a darker world, they start to lose their restraint and to this extent piracy will grow. Only when record companies recognise fair use will piracy recede, but record companies will only do this when forced by law to change. Our MP's must stand up for their constituents and defend the fair use of our purchases, stop conceding to the lobbyists and sort out the law.

Dilbert Blog: Relativity

In your bubble people are rational beings, in my bubble they are not. If you want to test your rationality study some pure mathematics, few people can follow it. If you want to really hurt someone who thinks they are rational get them to try and follow Einstein's theories.