[cc-community] Comment Response
David
davidpalmer at westnet.com.au
Sat Jan 19 20:20:37 EST 2008
I'm referring this back to the list, not because, in my view, there is
any risk of disruption from argument, as you seem to fear, but because
that is what lists are for and any communication away from the list
deprives the list (as community) any enrichment that may evolve.
Shakti S wrote:
> Hi David,
> Thank you for your comments of my note on the Creative Commons forum. I
> have included the context of that response that I had sent in response
> to another person who had responded exactly as you had.
Exactly?
I notice you
> hadn't commented on the fact that we have evolved as a cooperative race
> instead of a competitive one.
In my view, as both of these aspects are inherent (variably) within the
individual, both aspects have contributed to our present situation.
My comment was that although competition
> is useful it is misused and possibly redundant.
It can be misused and 'employed' in distinctly unhealthy ways, but not
always.
As you state, it can be useful, and like any other tool, the application
is a measure of the mentality concerned.
It's the mentality that has to change.
>
> Anyway rather than an argument that really goes nowhere I would rather
> appreciate comment from someone who can actually make a positive
> outcome. I am a musician and I wouldn't expect some one who is an expert
> in programming to understand that.
I am involved in programming in the open source community, yes.
I am also a percussionist (tuned and untuned) and play bass.
I see from your site that you have a fondness for Pena, who is, in my
opinion very good, but there is something about De Lucia that I prefer.
Nor could a physicist be expected to
> know how a brain surgeon thinks, or either to know what it takes to be a
> writer.
I am also involved in the documentation aspect of a somewhat ambitious
project, as well as writing within the personal perspective aspect.
However we are all in this together and when the petrol runs
> out, and the consequences of the consumer greed and excesses becomes
> apparent, we will all have to deal with it.
Yes, but i think you are biting off a little too much for one discussion
in transposing from your personal musical situation to the group
environmental scenario.
The environmental aspect is a direct result of the individual
collective, yes, but nations have always (without effect) tried to
change nations, and individuals have always tried to change individuals,
but the only revolution that has any chance of bringing about global
change is the change that the individual can bring about within themselves.
This is the individual decision and level of responsibility that our
level of existence within this environment places upon us.
Authority is no more than another word for responsibility.
Speaking existentially, we have three basic rights:
The right to make all decisions on our personal existence;
The right to make the wrong one;
The right to suffer by it.
That's it!
We're individually stuck with that and the only road to survival lies in
our ability to adapt to the collective environment.
Just ask the next dinosaur you meet.
The only ones that still survive are the ones that have chosen to live
in the kind of isolated environment I have.
(Does this mean I'm one?)
>
> Below is the context of my enquiry, and what I am after is the fact that
> in Australia we do not have a bill of rights, thus no right to a
> livelihood.
I am resident in Australia - in the Kimberley, at present.
As a musician I cannot now make a proper living playing
> music,
This has not been my experience.
and I am looking at ways to trick the capitalist system that has
> displaced my profession with their tricks.
Ahhh...., 'tricks'.
No, I don't think that you will find that 'tricks' cut it.
At least not on any permanent or creative level.
I don't care for all the
> over-intellectualization for I would rather reserve that for that study
> of music itself.
I find that intelligence is best applied to all aspects of my existence.
Survival becomes somewhat difficult otherwise.
>
> So this is all I have so far in the way of an idea:
In trepidation I await,
Breath abate.
( I think it's original, so you have my unreserved permission to use it
in lyric form).
> Getting back to the copyright issue, if we consider that the collective
> right to the sound that is music should really belong (as it did before
> recorded music) to those who can actually play it.
And who were they actually playing to?
The musician's 'role' can't exist without the audience any more than the
actor's can.
From what I can assess of your situation, surely you can appreciate this.
In the old days of travelling musicianship, most of the playing was done
for no more than room and board, with perhaps a little travelling
supplies or a small (and I mean small) stipend to travel on with.
They were lucky to get that and would usually only do so if they were
good enough for mine host to want them back again if they happened to
return to the same area.
They walked to the next gig (usually a considerable distance), with all
risks inherent with the conditions of the roads back then.
Any money of substance was only made from playing at local weddings (the
daughter of a rich farmer, perhaps) and other special occasions.
Travelling was arranged around these events for that reason and was also
why travelling musicians were the source of all the gossip. Information
on regional events was their passport to survival and quite often it was
little more than that.
Sometimes less.
This of course is
> very vague, but I have to start somewhere. APRA collects money from the
> music in public places. I had thoughts that if the charge that is made
> to this music is doubled or even tripled that would then provide the
> funds for paying musicians to play. For example, an restaurant now that
> wanted to put on live music can draw from this to fund that music.
> Restaurants are particularly over-capatilised for the service that they
> provide therefore are not particularly resourced to afford it. Public
> performances can now be funded for public places where now buskers fight
> each other for very little reward, and with a decent wage one can afford
> to put a bit more effort into what they do. In public places people can
> show their appreciation in some computed device which only requires a
> statistic (which would lend itself to the more free expression of
> appreciation as it is not costing them anything). This is all in the
> context of our present paradigm and with the hope of creating a new one
> of greater simplicity.
Some of the above communicates, but some of it doesn't and results in
confusion, so some clarification may be required if you think it's worth
your time.
But if it helps, you seem to be somewhat disillusioned with the lack of
acceptance of your particular 'brand' of music compared to the more
commercial interpretations of the terminology.
I gave up on this one years ago.
I was reasonably successful within certain music genres, but not the
ones that led in the direction that I chose, so I made a decision:
Prostitution or integrity.
(1)You either produce a product (and no, it's not a dirty word, we all
produce a product of some kind or we are simply unproductive) that has
commercial appeal and therefore, viability.
(2)Or we play what we love, employing some form of basic employment,
that we don't have to become overly involved with, to cover our living
expenses in order to do so.
A group of us chose the latter.
One of us gets an idea, lays it down on tape and shoots it off to a
friend in Queensland, managing a recording studio (who shudders at the
noises of those he records, make) who lays down the bass lines.
He then sends it off to another acquaintance in Sydney, a guitarist who
has a lot of London-based recording experience, who handles the majority
of the melodic aspect.
We believe we create a better 'product' than anything we hear on the
radio, record, or on garbage collectives like 'Rage'.
We don't even try to sell it.
After doing this for some number of years - even decades, now, we don't
really want to.
Perhaps you could try doing something along these lines?
If you want an easy life as a muso, forget it and be grateful.
The expression that comes through in the individual performance doesn't lie.
You have either lived at depth and experienced the highs and lows that
go with that, or your 'music' is no more than an insipid 'playing of the
dots' that doesn't qualify for the term.
Thanks for the contact.
Regards,
--
David Palmer
Linux User - #352034
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