Meet Soo Doh Nim, friend to all Creative Artists

I’m a phonetic prankster as you’ll discover if you read much of my work or chat with me online or otherwise. Forget that sentence. Yeah, yeah, I know “Where is your work apart from here at the Free Articulator?” It’s coming, believe me, all you see happening at the Free Articulator is just part of the set-up.

This is a Creative Artist Marketing article. Soo Doh Nim is not a real person, but a great friend and you really should get acquainted with Soo, because she has a lot to offer every creative individual, and I don’t mean litigation. Read more

Radiohead - What will the fans (market) do?

I think this article: Radiohead bets on fast release, open pricing is another indicator of the music industry creaking at the seams. However, the line “It’s up to you” is a challenge to the public to embrace the independent artist’s new business model. It’s telling the audience to be honest about downloading and those who would contemplate simply taking it for free simply because they can, should consider well what they may be doing to the future of music and the industry of art & entertainment.

The question we should ask is: Are the public–the fans–as dishonest and corrupt as the industry itself, or are they truly loyal (and honest) fans who want to support the independence of artists whose talent and products they enjoy?

I think Radiohead are asking that question with “It’s up to you” which is really, another way of asking “Given the opportunity to steal, to take without fair payment, are you a thief?” it’s too bad they’re not publshing the figures as they occur, for the results would be very interesting. What Radiohead is doing is similar to Stephen King’s e-Book download experiment.

The Rise of the Independent Creative Artist - Prince, Radiohead Lead Way with Bold Marketing Moves

When the Free Articulator launched its first articles on the 4th of July 2007 it did so with the Declaration of Creative Independence, and the Code of a Creative Artist, a set of principles which state very clearly how Creative Artists will deal with the business and industry of artistic creative endeavor, and interact with society and civilization.

In September the Free Articulator published my article the Traditional Music Industry Shows Increasing Signs of Collapse. It was pirated within a day of publication and came to the attention of MySpace.

Earlier this year (July, 2007) Prince caught everybody’s attention with the licensing of two million copies of his new album Planet Earth to the UK’s Mail On Sunday. It was touted as a “give away” by the international media, though nothing could be further from the truth; Prince licensed the album to the Mail On Sunday; that’s smart marketing business, demonstrating an understanding and appreciation of what intellectual property rights are all about and how to use them effectively.

This licensing deal with the Mail On Sunday permitted the legal give-away of two million albums and raised the ire of the Music Retailers Association in the UK, who warned musicians everywhere “not to do the same or else…!” Precisely the sort of attitude and response that would encourage musicians everywhere to follow Prince’s example, and by the way, I’d love to interview Prince for our Intellectual Property Series, as I’ve been following what happened to his career since he lost the use of his name to his former-label and I’m thrilled to see his comeback garnering so much attention, as it simultaneously educates and redefines the business model of creative individuals with the industry, society and the public.

Now Radiohead has adopted the idea of the market setting the price for downloaded material and generated millions of dollars worth of free international advertising that purportedly sends a shockwave through the busines, and reflects the insight offered in my article on the inreasing signs of collapse of the music industry. The old model in the recording industry (detailed briefly here) doesn’t work any more, it is a rip-off of artists who have been kept ignorant of the industry’s workings, and disenfranchised of their rights through chicanery and ignorance that is becoming well-known worldwide.

However, as AJC points out in his blog Science of the Invisible, “It ain’t gonna work.” At best, he’s right: Radiohead’s move is free international promotion and that will work, is working, but has little ongoing traction or utility, as one needs to have a large audience, and be a brand that people and the media are aware of.

AJC is also right about what the music industry should do, but, changing a bad philosophical, moral code and business model to something morally sound and ethical requires a radical change in thinking and practise that takes a long, long time. The time to change required extends when you’re talking about an entire industry that is used to having open season exploitation of creative ignorance. Can such a leopard change its blotches?

The industry is a servant of the artist and their public, not the master. That’s the new model, the model of the independent Creative Artists who license their work to others for mutual benefit, sharing the wealth and potential of a work or collection on reaonable and fair terms without giving up ownership or paying for the rip-off of their own property. End the corruption, end the decay. Let’s have an industry we can trust.

News Flash: Free Articulator Catches Intellectual Property Thief Stealing NDK Article and publishing it on MySpace

It’s not hard to reprint intellectual property licensed under a Creative Commons License. As we declare in the footer of every page of the Free Articulator, the content published on this site is Creative Commons licensed. We encourage other publishers around the internet to reprint our content, enhancing the value of their site and bringing publicity to our contributors. But we do have a few conditions, as stipulated by the Creative Commons license:

The content must be attributed and link back to the Free Articulator - a standard practice in any field.

The content must not be a derivative of the original, but an accurate and unchanged copy.

The content must not be used for commercial purposes.

Today we discovered plagiarism and intellectual property theft of our content by a fellow named Colin Preston on his MySpace blog. The article that was ripped off was NDK Creative Artist’s “Traditional Model Music Industry Shows Increasing Signs of Collapse”, and the plagiarized version can be found here, until MySpace takes action as requested. Screenshot here.

Mr Preston failed to attribute NDK Creative Artist and link back to the Free Articulator, he made a derivative by modifying the content, and it is arguably a commercial use of the content as his MySpace profile is clearly a promotional tool for his services as a musician and producer.

“I’d be flattered and grateful if he had just done the right thing,” said NDK Creative Artist, who wrote the lyrics for the tuneback “Creative Commons for the Common Man“.

The article in question is, in part, an anti-piracy piece, and Mr Preston has pirated NDK’s work in order to make himself look reputable and anti-piracy. The gall, hypocrisy and lack of integrity of some artists is undesirable.

The Free Articulator has notified MySpace and Allforart, the Free Articulator, NDK Enterprises Limited and NDK Creative Artist will take further action as necessary.

We offer our content to the world with only a few stipulations; it’s not that hard to reprint Creative Commons material. Do the right thing.

If you would like to learn how to protect yourself in similar situations, click here to subscribe to the Free Articulator now - we’ll be publishing a series on intellectual property for artists soon.

Traditional Model Music Industry Shows Increasing Signs of Collapse

The entire creative industry (not just the music industry) has been creaking at the seams for some time now, but it’s not really the seams that are creaking (rather they’re rotting), it’s the skeletal structure of the industry that is showing signs of fatigue. The structure has been disenfranching both the creative side of the industry and consumers for quite some time and those predatory policies are now coming home to roost. The industry (in denial) wants to blame this collapse on piracy, but piracy is not the only factor. It’s just another lever used to Read more

News Flash — Allforart Takes Immediate Action to Protect Creative Artist in Copyright Infringement Case

The generosity of Creative Artists is a rather marvelous thing to behold. What is not so marvelous is now others seek to exploit or take advantage of that generosity through various types of chicanery. One of our Creative Artists has recently been told by someone for who he created an original work of art, that he does not own that work and that he “may at some point” get it back.

This is a most serious matter and Allforart is taking immediate action to manage this situation and achieve a satisfactory outcome for all concerned. As things develop we will keep you informed, and while we wish we could say more at the moment, we would prefer a softer approach for a worthy cause. However, if this does not work, then we’ll publish the full story so that other Creative Artists are not burned by similar attempts and can learn from the experience.

The Declaration and the Traditional Industry - How Creative Artists want to do business

Some people will be concerned when they read the Creative Artists’ Declaration of Creative Independence that we are ignoring the fact that there are good companies, doing good business and cutting ourselves off from the lucrative market that the traditional industry model appears to have a firm hold on.

Well, that would be an incorrect assumption on their part. We do want to do business, but on our terms and in a fashion that is based on unbreakable trust. That means doing honest business with Creative Artists, because Creative Artists do honest business, and even exceptionally generous business.

Read more