Posts by Russell Brown
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On the Real Groovy closure, I can't help thinking that their "attitude" might have contributed to their demise.
There was an infamous incident when the late John Peel went a-shopping at Real Groovy and was treated like a silly old man by sales assistants who didn't know who he was (not that that should have made a difference in terms of basic customer service).
So he went along the road to Gary Steel's Beautiful Music store, allowed Gary to recommend some music (including Ermehn's first album, which he later announced on his show as "New Zealand gospel hip-hop") and spent his money there.
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i have a serious question. if the cullen fund is invested overseas, and growing, isn't that a bit like drawing foreign money into the country? something we need?
Someone will doubtless know much more about this than me, but I think one of the drivers of our current account deficit is interest and other investment income going out of the country. If we're investing elsewhere, such revenue comes back in too.
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Re Real Groovy:
Yep and, at the risk of being trivial, it wasn't piracy that took it down but naked competition.
I'm happy to take Chris Hart at his word that it was a disastrous foreign exchange deal -- and the reluctance of existing partners to tip in more cash -- that dealt the blow.
But I wonder how many customers there are like me. I used to go in there on a weekly basis; trading old CDs for new, spending cash money.
But I buy most of my music as downloads these days. The difference in price between buying the bits of a Soul Jazz label release on eMusic and buying the same music as a physical CD is very significant. And, actually, eMusic's more fun ...
And, of course, there's now a JB Hi-Fi only five minutes from my house.
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<che assumes there will still be a free market when wall st stops falling down>
See my post this morning. It's all socialism now, baby.
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Can I just take the opportunity to thank Russell for suggesting that I post this here? Sharing the trip with you all has been a thrill.
You underrate yourself: I tapped you because you write so well.
Although, as others have pointed out, doing so in your second language is unforgivably smartass.
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Relevant to the discussion: Stifled By Copyright, McCain Asks YouTube to Consider Fair Use
(translation: McCain never sought permission from copyright holders to use their stuff, getting pissed that it keeps getting taken down off youtube)
Doesn't this tell the story of the two candidates? Obama spends time discussing ways forward for copyright with Lawrence Lessig, and earns Lessig's ringing endorsement for his policies.
McCain keeps getting his clips yanked and starts bleating about fair use.
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Russell's high-cap broadband connection that he is flatlining the crap out of 24/7
I have, er, two of those connections. Good job, since Leo's been on the World of Warcraft Wrath of the Litch King beta programme ...
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You complain about sites earning advertising dollars, well, offer your own indy Hype machine. Don't worry about the dollars yet, they will flow.
I think there's a structure there already -- you can scrobble your Hype Machine listening to Last.fm, for example.
Australia's Modular Records (an "indie" in which Universal Music has a 50% stake, artists range from Jack Johnson to Wolfmother and Ladyhawke) has been very adept at harnessing that world -- but they have also dropped $6 million along the way.
It doesn't appear to be for lack of sales, though -- Wolfmother went 5x platinum in Oz -- so much as spending a hell of a lot of money.
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@Mark
I realise that I am about to open up an entire world of pain by saying this but if you are going to use peoples copyrights to bring people to a site and then advertise around it then you should pay for the content you are profiting from
But don't NZ On Air pretty much insist that any video they fund now appears on YouTube? It's a messy old world, alright ..
I am fully aware that we as rights holders gain promotional value from people seeing our clips and then become interested in the act and maybe purchasing the CD as a result or going to a show. But this is not a new model or argument. In every western territory in the world radio use the same examples and pay a fee for it, usually a percentage of gross. Now in some cases the 4 Major Labels have done deals to compensate under threat of being sued, but the Independents (28% of the world market and 85% of the music released in NZ) are left out. This is a simple divide and conquer strategy from the media companies so that they don't have to deal with paying Indies.
You're talking about YouTube's revenue share deals with copyright owners? That is interesting -- and a bit depressing.
For the past two years I have been on the board of an organisation called Merlin (www.merlinnetwork.org/home), there are 15 of us on the board and it includes people like Martin Mills (founder of the Beggars group) and Kevin Arnold (founder of IODA)-the whole list o the board is on the website. The whole aim of this organisation is to represent over 2000 labels in trying to create a level playing field for Independents when it comes to new media and emerging markets and models. It has been one of the most rewarding and frustrating things I have ever been involved in as trying to deal with the legal team at You Tube is like trying to catch sand in a wind storm, but progress is being made slowly but surely and the first deals are being signed that will allow NZ bands to receive income from these types of services and sites.
Good luck with that. Seriously.
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Woah again. Let's not be raggin' on Mark or the rest of IMNZ. They are actually the good guys -- although I'm still a bit surprised by his last post.
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