Celebrity Culture - BS Observations - Celebrity Cash-and-Burn

It’s ironic to me that the Free Articulator’s first front page, launched in 2006 made mention of Britney Spears in the most derisive tones, portending her crash long before the MSM made mention of it with regard to her folding marriage and desperate, but failed attempts to cling to the shreds of her career.

Since then, I’ve been fond of making fun of Britney Spears by saying “The initials say it all.” Meaning that they comment on the music, the woman, her character, and her career. The news that she has lost custody of her children is now exploding into the mainstream media (MSM) and dominating headlines and soundbytes internationally. It gives me pause.

The former Disney Mouseketeer has lost the plot completely. Whatever talent she has, or retains, is obscured, and all the money showbiz has offered, ($50,000,000 a year) for a twenty-something would seem insufficient to help her, though she does a credible (if soul-destroying) job of remaining in the media spotlight; a celebrity’s major job description and most precious social capital these days.

It seems to me that the attention we pay her as she shatters her career, ruins her life and that of those around her is more of a commentary on who we are as a society and civilization, than who Britney is as a falling star of pop culture.

I think the MSM today is feeding and fueling her plunge into obscurity as visibly as possible and that we are helping her along. I find that rather shameful. If we’re to believe the media attitude on this it comes across as “Nobody seems to care,” except the media who rush to publish so they can exploit this event to make money from corporations who’ll purchase more adspace this week to capitalize upon the circumstance of celebrity cash-and-burn (sic). “The meida maketh and the media burneth.” All we are supposed to do is stir the ash; fertile ground for the next media sensation to rise as phoenix and inflame our desire to consume.

As has been mentioned earlier, the Free Articulator will be taking a look at the cult of celebrity in a consumer soceity at a later date.

In the meantime consider what it means as society loses the values it once placed in glamorous graceful and cultured celebrities (holding to the illusion we considered reality at the time), and ponder for a few moments, if you will, who may gain what by destroying the value and inspiration celebrity once gave us.

Celebrity is a commodity traded by the value others place in the attention we freely give.

On who, or what, do you spend your attention today?

There is where the dollars flow.

Update: MySpace removes pirated NDK Creative Artist article from website

MySpace has notified NDK Creative Artist by email today that his article Traditional Model Music Industry Shows Increasing Signs of Collapse which was misappropriated by MySpace user and BMI Songwriter/Producer Colin Preston, as mentioned in the Allforart News Flash of 22 September 2007 in the Free Articulator has been removed from MySpace.

No apology, as requested, has been received from Colin Preston to date.

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.

US Corporate Censorship of Political Statements by Artists — Pearl Jam

If you monitor the art & entertainment industry closely you’ll see how careers are often destroyed simpy by denying access to broadcast channels and the opportunity to address the public in talk shows and current affairs programs. In America such censorship is emerging in a number of different ways, The Dixie Chicks’ statements about George Bush was but one example. The most recent example is to do with Pearl Jam and AT&T. Read more