Tech's Tug On Music (And Perhaps Hard Cider)
The Digital Freedom campaign brought a trio of real, live musicians to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a briefing on music creation and distribution in the Internet age. The initiative, backed the Consumer Electronics Association and others, launched last fall to oppose "crippling restrictions" on consumer rights to use new technology.
Grammy-winning producer Fletch Wiley demonstrated how he has been able to use collaborative software to work with musicians on their songs remotely. Popular children's musician Lisa Matthews gushed about the power of iTunes. Jennifer Hardin, a student at the Berklee College of Music, shared the up-and-coming-artist perspective.
Gigi Sohn, whose advocacy group Public Knowledge also helped start the campaign, said congressional staffers think they know what artists want (because the Recording Industry Association of American tells them). "But there's a big difference between what artists want sometimes and what publishers want," she said.
Technology, Sohn said, is a way for musicians to "free themselves" from their industry "gatekeepers." It is crucial that digital technologies and media that consumers buy are permitted to be used lawfully by them, she said.
The afternoon's comic relief came from Matthews, whose kiddie rock band has gained global exposure (sometimes in potentially controversial ways), thanks to technology. An ad agency in Ireland recently contacted her about licensing her gooey jingle "Bottle of Sunshine" for a client marketing an alcoholic beverage. The spunky singer hasn’t decided whether she will lend the track to the "hard cider" seller.
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