Open Music Archive Projects - User contributions [en]

Future Projects

2005-12-04T02:16:26Z

86.143.86.77:

==Open Music Archive presents Free Songs==
'''Proposal for EASTinternational 2006'''

Artists Eileen Simpson & Ben White have recently initiated the Open Music Archive project to source and distribute music that has fallen out of copyright. The Open Music Archive situates itself within the current discourse surrounding notions of authorship, ownership and distribution, reanimated by a porting of Free/Libre and Open Source software models to wider creative contexts.

Property rights are founded on a principle of limitation and because copyright removes works from the public domain, they deny the legal possibility of free creative use by others. The Open Music Archive concerns itself with the public domain and creative works that are not owned by any one individual and held in common by society as a whole. We have painstakingly tracked down original 78rpm recordings, digitised them, and placed them in a web-based archive. The full tracks are available as source recordings for use and re-use as material for future creative exchanges and is a vehicle for collaborations and distributed projects.

For EAST international2006, we propose to continue to reanimate the archive by inviting bands to respond to source recordings by performing cover versions of songs at the opening event. The bands will select from a compilation of twenty source tracks from the Open Music Archive; mostly 1920s recordings of jazz, blues, and country songs (examples are included) The cover versions will be recorded and Creative Commons ShareAlike licences will be used to license the ‘new’ recordings so that their constituent parts become, in perpetuity, a legally protected creative resource.

In the gallery space, two listening posts will be installed: one playing the source tracks from the archive, the other playing the new cover versions recorded at the opening event. The archive research will be exposed on a wall pasted with biographical details, pictures and listings related to the lives and deaths of the various songwriters.

'''Background'''

From early in the 20th Century it was common practice among record labels to have singers or musicians "cover" a record that was a significant commercial hit. They would then release the song on their own label in hopes of cashing in on the tune's success. Today, covers continue to win audiences who like to hear a familiar song. New artists are often introduced to the record buying public with performances of well-known, "safe" songs; the chance of commercial success can be increased and credibility gained by using a proven hit. Popular tunes are relentlessly revamped by boy bands, a Stars in their Eyes contender, or Brenda from X-Factor.

Through our project, the commercial device of the cover version is negated; the tracks are unlikely to be familiar to the audience and they don’t generate money through royalties because their property rights have expired.

‘Open Music Archive presents Free Songs’ seeks to deconstruct the cover version, disrupt authority in the archive, and deny the legal and commercial structures of the music industry. We aim to enrich rather than deplete the public domain and reclaim what is public in an age of relentless privatization.

Future Projects

2005-12-04T02:16:14Z

86.143.86.77:

==Open Music Archive presents Free Songs==
'''Proposal for EASTinsternational 2006'''

Artists Eileen Simpson & Ben White have recently initiated the Open Music Archive project to source and distribute music that has fallen out of copyright. The Open Music Archive situates itself within the current discourse surrounding notions of authorship, ownership and distribution, reanimated by a porting of Free/Libre and Open Source software models to wider creative contexts.

Property rights are founded on a principle of limitation and because copyright removes works from the public domain, they deny the legal possibility of free creative use by others. The Open Music Archive concerns itself with the public domain and creative works that are not owned by any one individual and held in common by society as a whole. We have painstakingly tracked down original 78rpm recordings, digitised them, and placed them in a web-based archive. The full tracks are available as source recordings for use and re-use as material for future creative exchanges and is a vehicle for collaborations and distributed projects.

For EAST international2006, we propose to continue to reanimate the archive by inviting bands to respond to source recordings by performing cover versions of songs at the opening event. The bands will select from a compilation of twenty source tracks from the Open Music Archive; mostly 1920s recordings of jazz, blues, and country songs (examples are included) The cover versions will be recorded and Creative Commons ShareAlike licences will be used to license the ‘new’ recordings so that their constituent parts become, in perpetuity, a legally protected creative resource.

In the gallery space, two listening posts will be installed: one playing the source tracks from the archive, the other playing the new cover versions recorded at the opening event. The archive research will be exposed on a wall pasted with biographical details, pictures and listings related to the lives and deaths of the various songwriters.

'''Background'''

From early in the 20th Century it was common practice among record labels to have singers or musicians "cover" a record that was a significant commercial hit. They would then release the song on their own label in hopes of cashing in on the tune's success. Today, covers continue to win audiences who like to hear a familiar song. New artists are often introduced to the record buying public with performances of well-known, "safe" songs; the chance of commercial success can be increased and credibility gained by using a proven hit. Popular tunes are relentlessly revamped by boy bands, a Stars in their Eyes contender, or Brenda from X-Factor.

Through our project, the commercial device of the cover version is negated; the tracks are unlikely to be familiar to the audience and they don’t generate money through royalties because their property rights have expired.

‘Open Music Archive presents Free Songs’ seeks to deconstruct the cover version, disrupt authority in the archive, and deny the legal and commercial structures of the music industry. We aim to enrich rather than deplete the public domain and reclaim what is public in an age of relentless privatization.

Main Page

2005-12-04T02:09:06Z

86.143.86.77:

Open Music Archive is a collaborative initiative to source, digitise and distribute out of copyright sound recordings. The [http://www.openmusicarchive.org archive website] is currently under construction and will be open for anyone to use, edit and contribute to.

Open Music Archive want to engage in [[Future Projects | future collaborations and distributive projects.]] Open Music Archive Projects is designed as a space for collaborations to be discussed, developed and documented.

==OMA @ Open Congress, Tate Britain==

[[Image:OCslideshow_48.jpg|left|300px]]

Open Music Archive presented at Open Congress (Tate Britain 7th-8th October 2005)

[http://opencongress.omweb.org Open Congress] was Inspired by Free Software: software that challenges conventional practices of authorship, ownership and distribution. The innovative congress explored these implications for art, visual culture and cultural production in general. This was the Open Music Archive contribution to the open congress wiki:

We are currently working on a project researching and collecting music that has fallen out of copyright and is now in the public domain. This music will be distributed freely through a website (under construction).

For Open Congress, Ben will play a short DJ set of music made entirely of samples of the collected recordings, mainly sourced from 1920s 78rpm records. An accompanying [[Open Congress slideshow images | slideshow]] will uncover the process of tracking this material.

[[Open Congress performance images]]

[http://www.tate.org.uk/onlineevents/live/open_congress.jsp Tate Online Events Archive (video of the performance will be available here shortly)]

Listen to an excerpt of Ben White's live performance: [[http://www.openmusicarchive.org/projects/audio/Open_Congress_excerpt.mp3 MP3 (5.3MB)]] | [[http://www.openmusicarchive.org/projects/audio/Open_Congress_excerpt.ogg Ogg Vorbis (3.7MB)]]

==DJ Performance of Screen Tests, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art==

[[Image:BALTIC_02.jpg|left|300px]]

For British Art Show 6 Eileen Simpson and Ben White were invited to develop ‘Screen Tests’ with artists [http://www.chanceprojects.com Marysia Lewandowska and Neil Cummings]. Using tracks sourced from the Open Music Archive, Ben White created the soundtrack for Screen Tests and performed the soundtrack live as part of the BAS6 launch at BALTIC. Further live performances are scheduled for Manchester, Nottingham and Bristol.

[[BALTIC_images | Photos of the performance]]

==Open Music Archive presents an Evening of Free Music and Films==

[[Image:MyGoodniss_1.jpg|left|300px]]

Our new project ‘Open Music Archive’ exists to make it possible for artists and others to re-use artwork and the archive material that it was created from. We want people to be able to use and re-use artwork as material for future creative exchanges and to help to enrich rather than deplete the public domain.

For some time we have been working with ideas and works which exist in film and sound archives. We have been researching out-of-copyright material from which we have made new music and artist films and a website (www.openmusicarchive.org). Our intention is to release the source material and our new artwork into the public domain by performing live at My Goodniss vintage clothes shop in the Northern Quarter. All new artworks presented at the event will become in perpetuity, a legally protected creative resource.

We are going to put on a night of music and visuals in a vintage clothes shop in the Northern Quarter. The event relates to the Screen Tests showing at British Art Show 6 (29th Jan-April 2006).

Open Music Archive Projects:About

2005-12-04T02:02:58Z

86.143.86.77:

Open Music Archive Projects section was created using the following open source technologies:

==MediaWiki==
[http://www.mediawiki.org http://www.mediawiki.org]

==Apache Server==
The Apache Software Foundation provides support for the Apache community of open-source software projects. The Apache projects are characterized by a collaborative, consensus based development process, an open and pragmatic software license, and a desire to create high quality software that leads the way in its field. Apache Software Foundation consider themselves not simply a group of projects sharing a server, but rather a community of developers and users.
[http://www.apache.org http://www.apache.org]

==PHP==
PHP is a widely-used open-source scripting language for server-side applications and developing dynamic web content. PHP is the result of the collective efforts of many contributors. It is licensed under a BSD-style license, the PHP license. PHP, from version 4, has been powered by the Zend engine.
[http://www.php.net http://www.php.net]

==MySQL==
MySQL is the most popular and the fastest growing Open Source SQL database management system in the industry. The MySQL software uses the GPL (GNU General Public License) to define what you may and may not do with the software in different situations.
[http://www.mysql.com http://www.mysql.com]

Open Music Archive Projects:About

2005-12-04T02:01:53Z

86.143.86.77:

Open Music Archive Projects section was created using the following open source technologies:

MediaWiki
[http://www.mediawiki.org]

Apache Server
The Apache Software Foundation provides support for the Apache community of open-source software projects. The Apache projects are characterized by a collaborative, consensus based development process, an open and pragmatic software license, and a desire to create high quality software that leads the way in its field. Apache Software Foundation consider themselves not simply a group of projects sharing a server, but rather a community of developers and users.
[http://www.apache.org]

PHP
PHP is a widely-used open-source scripting language for server-side applications and developing dynamic web content. PHP is the result of the collective efforts of many contributors. It is licensed under a BSD-style license, the PHP license. PHP, from version 4, has been powered by the Zend engine.
[http://www.php.net]

MySQL
MySQL is the most popular and the fastest growing Open Source SQL database management system in the industry. The MySQL software uses the GPL (GNU General Public License) to define what you may and may not do with the software in different situations.
[http://www.mysql.com]