Today I learned about a really interesting phenomenon happening in France that reminded me of Kickstarter. I’m a little shaky on the details because the website is in French, but here is my understanding of what it is. Apparently this site called My Major Company allows unsigned bands to upload their songs on to their website where the public then has the ability to invest money in the artist. The site refers to the donations as “bets” and pretty much that is what it is. If a band reaches a certain level of success (100,000 Euros), then My Major Company will produce and promote their CD. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering what the incentive is for a person to donate money aside from the obvious, the production of their favorite band’s CD. This is actually the really exciting part. Everyone who owns a share, which is acquired by betting 10 euros, receives a portion of the CD’s net revenue. The share owners are actually considered producers of the CD. How cool is that? The artists themselves receive 20% of the net revenue. And then the share owners, also known as surfer-producers, divvy up 40% of the revenue if it’s between 0 and € 250 000, 30% if it’s € 250 000-€ 500 000, and 20% if it’s over € 500 000. I think this is a really neat idea that we should adopt here in the States. It kind of ties back to the CwF+RtB=$$$ formula. If anyone is interested, here is the website for My Major Company: www.mymajorcompany.com
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About
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In this course we will focus on a seemingly esoteric legal subject that is now located at the heart of many social, cultural, economic, and political conflicts: copyright law. While initially codified as a state granted monopoly designed to to encourage publishers and established authors to invest in culture, copyright law has now extended into every part of our day to day life and interaction with media. Moreover, the law is obviously and increasingly dangerously out of touch with digital culture. But what is really at stake in the copyright battles? Does our law reward profit, control, or culture? Should culture be owned? Does it even make sense to call it "intellectual property"?
In our efforts to better understand these issues, we will read both primary and secondary materials, covering subjects ranging from the birth of copyright to contemporary justifications for copyright reform, analyze relevant and interesting documentary films, and enjoy guest lectures from a range of established speakers.
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In this course we will focus on a seemingly esoteric legal subject that is now located at the heart of many social, cultural, economic, and political conflicts: copyright law. While initially codified as a state granted monopoly designed to to encourage publishers and established authors to invest in culture, copyright law has now extended into every part of our day to day life and interaction with media. Moreover, the law is obviously and increasingly dangerously out of touch with digital culture. But what is really at stake in the copyright battles? Does our law reward profit, control, or culture? Should culture be owned? Does it even make sense to call it "intellectual property"?
I think that this is a great way to unknowns to get their material “out there,” in a way that doesn’t involve illegal activity on P2P sites and the like.
The whole issue for emerging artists and the creation of a fan base is one thing only: IT’S EXPENSIVE!
Unless you’re signed and well-funded by a record label (or sugar daddy…) it’s incredibly hard to raise enough money to disseminate your music in legal ways. Sites like My Major Company and Kickstarter remove all the in between head ache and give creative people an outlet to showcase their talents.
I only wish I was a good enough musician or singer to find use for these kinds of websites, but for the time being, I’ll just be a distant admirer.
It’s also a really good business model for the label. When they produce these CDs, they have a minimal amount of publicity to do. The artists they sign already have a large fan base. And they’re practically guaranteed to have decent CD sales since it was at the behest of the general populous that they are creating these CDs. It’s incredibly smart of them.
I think this is a great idea for artists to have their songs be heard and have a potential chance to gain funding for projects, including recording and tours. A site like kickstarter seems to be in the the perfect phase of development right now. There is a good balance of people donating and a good balance of artists attempting to be heard and obtain funding. It will be interesting to see the implications of more bands catching on and attempting to use this model. The model may become over saturated and overused, making it difficult for donors to sort through the mediocrity to find talented artists in which they are willing to listen to and help.
That’s possible, however, I think that like youtube, a lot of the better bands will gain popularity through word of mouth as well as random discovery.
I’ve been a member of MyMajorCompany for two days now, and it seems as good as I’ve heard. One disappointing thing is that, since this is a way for people to make their favorite artists famous, most of the artists who receive donations have cheesy lyrics, simple arrangements and two or three guitar chords. I’m not saying I hoped everyone would find out hidden geniuses but then, I’m not absolutely sure what is promoted is actually better than what Universal Music feeds us. But who knows, maybe some geniuses will show up!!
except mymajorcompany and kickstarter, any other website you would recommend based on the same donation/money/bet/production model?
thanks!
Such a profound comment must have take a few hours to construct. True Genius!