Sony Pictures’ ACID 5.0 has been on my machine for a few months but I signed a devil’s NDA that prevented me from talking about it. I gather it’s out so I’m allowed to write it up on up.

It’s a big write up so sit back, start a coffee, kill a tree and read on…

Read the rest of this page »

The RSS feeds are up and working at CC Mixter and they are based on the new genre/tagging system. So, for example, if you wanted to watch for every upload of just loops with a Sampling Plus license it would look like this:

http://ccmixter.org/rss/loops+sampling_plus

Or if you want to watch the remix uploads of a certain person you can add their sign-on name:

http://ccmixter.org/rss/remix+mhite

The feed link itself point directly at the MP3. If you have any suggestions or wishlist items let me know as I’m collecting them now. (Someone has already suggested including a streaming link in the body of the item for the feed.)

There are many worthy causes that we should all pay attention to, mainly helping people who wish they had problems like record companies suing them.

Having said that, after basic survival, right after basic survival is freedom of expression and the power of love, together the thing we call ‘art.’

That’s a lot to have at stake.

Matt of Beatmixed has reprinted a cry for help from ‘Mash the Planet” that states the situation plainly, without hysteria and yet very frightening.

I’d like to think that working with Creative Commons on a ’safe’ remix/mash environment is one way I’m trying to help out — convincing “big time” artists that letting their managers, agents and record companies make decisions about what is artistic expression is like asking an Islamo-fascist terrorist to schedule a Hannukah lighting ceremony. (There, see? I’m not afraid to walk right up to the Godwin line even if others like Phillip and Matt are more restrained.)

Elvis Costello & The Imposters is on Austin City Limits tomorrow night.

Part of me says: ‘Pump it Up’? wtf is he playing that frat-party song for after 50 albums 3000 songs later.

Part of me says: Shut up and enjoy a minute of life.

I’ve heard stories like this where the lawyers and (especially) agents get freaked at the mention of sane alternatives.

Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 10:39:44 -0600
From: Christopher Randall
   <chris AT SIGN positronrecords.com>
Subject: [cc-sampling] And away we go...
To: cc-sampling AT SIGN lists.ibiblio.org
	
Hey, all:
	
I just wanted to introduce myself, and let you guys know
that the archive of this list has been an invaluable
resource to me for the last couple months.
	
'Round about mid-September, I decided to take the
plunge and move the entire catalog of our label to
Sampling+ licenses. What this entailed was getting
yelled at by my lawyer, yelled at by the actual
owner of the label (who is conveniently my wife,
and thus someone I'm used to getting yelled at
by...), getting yelled at by the artists, and just
generally getting yelled at for several weeks,  as
I fought what seemed to be an uphill battle,
trying to explain what this was and why it  would
be a Good Thing.
	
Well, all's well that ends well, and our first two
actual releases under the CC Sampling+ license
are right around the corner. The first record,
called \"in a haze\" by the noise artist s.sturgis,
will be released on Nov. 23rd,  and is at the
pressing plant as I type this. 
	
We will be changing the licenses of all our releases
to Sampling or Sampling+ as each one gets repressed,
unless the artist in question has strictly forbidden it
(and we do have one that won't toe the line).
	
Here's the page where we've put up the info:
http://www.positronrecords.com/cc
	
And here's my blog entry where I first announced
the initiative, which is similar but more long-winded.
	
So, I just wanted to thank you guys for all your hard
work, on behalf  of my artists and myself. I am of the
considered opinion that, while the Sampling+ license
just legally allows what people are going to do
anyway, it creates a new perception of the label
and the artists on it, and in this business perception
is everything.
	
Chris Randall
Positron Records, Inc.
http://www.positronrecords.com
	

File under: But MAAAAA, everybody’s doin it!

In joegratz.net � Those \/\/4R3z d00dz in R3dm0nd Joe point out what we all know: even rich white guys hit the pipe. The Warez Krack Pipe ‘course. Anybody seen my XP reg number? Oh wait, hehe…

Legal sampling is definitely coming into it’s own.

Sure I’ve been away for a long time but I think you’ll find it was worth it because I’ve been hard at work (yes, actually work) with Creative Commons to create a remix site that isn’t quite like any other. Picture ACIDPlanet + RemixFight + Friendster and you get http://ccmixter.org.

We’re still in BETA but it’s relatively solid so we are opening the site to the public to participate.

There’s a lot to say about it so let me just list it all out:

• For the site’s launch we’re using the CC licensed tracks from the WIRED Magazine CD that hit the stands a few weeks ago. On the CD is none other than:
  • David Byrne
  • The Beastie Boys
  • Chuck D. with Fine Arts Militia
  • Danger Mouse & Jemini
  • Gilberto Gil
  • Thievery Corporation
  • …a bunch of other people you probably know I wasn’t really aware of…

  All of these artists have donated the tracks to the Commons using the Sampling+ and Non-Commercial-Sampling+ licenses. All of the tracks are available as VBR MP3s from CC Mixter and loss-less version are at the Internet Archive.

• We’ll soon be announcing a remix contest using any of those tracks with fabulous gifts and prizes for the winner.
• We still haven’t gotten broken out solo tracks but without a whole lot of effort I managed to get over 100 ACIDized loops from the CD tracks and uploaded all of them to CC Mixter.
• Even beyond the WIRED CD, the contest and loops, the site itself is pretty neat because it’s all built around sampling and remixing. Every track uploaded by one artist can be downloaded by another and posted back using our “Post Reply Remix” feature. We keep track of all associations and make it easy to follow the ‘chain’ of samples and remixes throughout the site. Of course you can sample many sources and we have easy ways of marking that and a great user interface for showing all that off. You’ll just have to check it out yourself to see what I mean.
• If all goes well CC Mixter will be a great way to make connections for collaborating because of our cross-linking between participants based on likes, talents and specialties. (Again, you’ll just have to see it in action)

So, go create an account, download some tracks, either the Wired CD cuts or anything else you find up there, remix it, and post it back up.

And when you find bugs ping the forums on the site.