Aretha covers in Devon - links please

I recently started to write for Pulse on LinkedIn. you are supposed to stick to business but i have written about the new Aretha CD as an example of how marketing is changing online. So this blog can include more about my local interests. the project relating communication, quality and learning will continue but with most of the general issues in LinkedIn. these posts at "hellospiders" may be a little bit off topic.

I am part of two radio shows on Phonic FM and tomorrow on @wenotno 12 -2 we will speculate about the new Aretha CD with one track on YouTube and the originals. We now know the track listing so this will work out ok. Thursday Wild Show 10 will include any info from Wednesday.

Future shows will try to mix a route back beyond the 80s where Aretha seem to be starting. The new CD is moving forward in time. Previously we did some links when the Joss Stone Soul Sessions Vol 2 came out. These are in clips on YouTube as Phonic Soul Sessions A , B , C etc. Joss Stone seems to be going back in time. She will be touring with the Jools Holland Orchestra later this year. Some vocalists started with a big band and then went solo.

Part of the shows could be other cover versions done in Devon. Mostly Aretha but also songs associated with various times and styles. i have found two from video clips I recvorded at the opening of the Forum at Exeter University. Please send any other suggestions.

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Social video promoting events - Rougemont Global Broadcasting

This weekend I have loads to catch up on so will miss the Oktoberfest at Exeter Castle. It is good to see the castle being used again as a venue. a while ago there was Beer at the Castle organised by CAMRA and I thought that was great. I have heard there was some issue with a music licence but this seems ok now. Hope this continues.

When Jo Gedrych was promoting the idea of Exeter TV, a cable channel, I started a YouTube channel as Rougemont Global Broadcasting as a wayu of tersting out what was possible with cheap cameras. Gradually I think online options have become more plausible than the cable option, at least in the UK. ( In London the local channel is thinking about showing content that is not local at all)

I now have one of the cameras from Exeter TV - a Canon MV100 - but I use a Kodak Zi8 as it is closest to where phone cameras are heading. I have not given up on editing together more than one camera angle but it turns out that the audience have to do this for themselves based on various YouTube clips, maybe from more than one event.

This summer I went to the Beer and Music Festival at Seale Hayne. One reason I am reluctant to record at Oktoberfest is that I still have a mass of edits to do from this one. I am trying out a Sony Xperia Z2 in 4k mode. This may be very useful later but the files are much too large. Exeter wifi needs to be about ten times better before this makes any sense at all. Still, I have worked out which way to hold the phone and can upload within a few days. In theory there could be interviews in reasonable quality uploaded quite quickly. Couple of 4k examples below but not sure what happened when processed by YouTube.

So what I am trying out for Oktoberfest is a playlist on YouTube based on what I know about who is performing. If there is some new video that turns up it can be added later. Assuming there will be another Oktoberfest , (maybe in October?)

There have been a couple of retweets for the playlist so I am adding more clips, more retweets welcome.

Meanwhile the Heavitree Fun Day has turned out well this year for video based on Spin 2. a while ago I did some colour manipulation to disguise the identity of the children dancing into the camera view. I only started out trying to include the band. This year Parklife not only organised a great event but managed to find the people involved and check permission. So assuming this stays ok this is a new level in casual video. All that is intended is to extend the event and maybe encourage more people to the next one ( same venue, probably August Bank Holiday Monday unless raining, else follow on Facebook for new date )

Now the 4k ones from recently

There is no reason why a new level of production might not happen within a few years. there could be better cameras, sound from the desk, edit budgets. Many resources exist within Exeter and other places. but meanwhile a lot can happen with social media to put links together and bits of video from various dates and locations.

Another CEDA event coming up soon, btw.

Questions for Clive Davis re Aretha CD

This is  away to explore Tweets as interview. Maybe it is not surprising that the We Don't Know show has had no tweets in reply from Aretha Franklin or Clive Davis. We maybe have a few hundred listeners in Devon UK. But maybe Anthony DeCurtis will say something. He is a journalist and tweets about something. But I notice he contributed to a recent Clive Davis book. Maybe he won't ask too many questions off message.

There are a couple of things he could be asked. I got the impression from early news items about Great Diva Songs, or whatever the CD is to be called, that it would include divas such as Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington. But I have not heard of any particular songs in recent coverage. Has the decade focus moved forward? Is this because Clive Davis has a longer view than the rest of those involved ion the decision? Don't get me wrong. I think the Rod Stewart project with the great American songbook was entirely valid. But there is something here worth exploring.

Also as Executive Producer why did it take so long to find producers who would stay involved? I may have got wrong information but I have heard that both Dangermouse and Don Was were involved at the beginning. Now there is no info on any tracks they have done. Did something go wrong? Is there a Babyface / Andre3000 approach which others do not fit?

The event is on October 1st so I guess there will be info after this. Tweeting and blogging are both ways to ask questions. Sometimes new information turns up anyway. 

Martha Reeves / Can't Wait Till Summer Comes

This is just a post a bit longer than a Tweet. I think maybe Martha Reeves looks at the tweet herself.

Starting with an apology. I realise the summer is almost over. I should have done something much earlier.

Previously I have loaded a couple of videos based on the performance just before Xmas last year at the Phonenix, Exeter. I realise we need to do better productions if the performers are going to feel ok about this sort of thing. My friend Jo Gedrych has been trying to move towards a proper local cable channel with better cameras. I'm not sure this is going to happen by the way, still trying to work out how to best use the phones.

Anyway I meant to put Jo in contact with Martha Reeves in case they could work out how to do a video for I Can't Wait Till Summer Comes. This could be a release for Feb or March next year or any year assuming the video was already done.

I think Jo is in the south of France. Good location for some beach scenes but not sure where Martha is. Jo can be found through Facebook. Martha Reeves is @MARTHAREEVESvan on Twitter.

If too late for sunshine this year, maybe sometime. Any links welcome, needs some summer clips.

Revised txt for Leuphana course - Myth and Creative Commons

MYTH AND CREATIVE COMMONS

The final task of the Commons course is to pull all the elements together. So this is as final a version as I can attempt at the moment. It will be a  blog post as well as on the Leuphana site.

The trouble is that I am going off the track. The course content has been very useful as a challenge to assumptions about the commons. I now realise that any attempted commons exists in a society and there are other challenges and forces at work. The history of enclosure is very relevant and a useful warning. In reality there is a high chance that some form of enclosure will happen unless there is a strong struggle to protect a commons space.

I have tried to relate these ideas to Creative Commons as a legal option on YouTube, Flickr and other sites. Over time in most social media there has been a trend towards advertising and monetisation. The original culture is still part of the scene but may be obscured. It is hard to establish the basis for Remix on YouTube in the context of the extra adverts.

So what is taking me off track is an awareness of myth and delusion. During and after the Sidmouth Folk Week I have been noticing the Myth Circle on Facebook and the related blog. Most of my understanding comes from conversation though. I have also done several radio shows including folk music. I now realise that an FM station such as Phonic is paying to the PRS to cover all the copyright issues. so the freedom of presenters to mix things up is conditioned by this, not a model for normal life. Performers of cover versions in pubs are also covered by PRS paid by the premises. What will happen with social media? It may be that the promotion function is already understood by the record labels.

But even if the Commons as a resource for content is not actually happening it remains important as a myth. The myth allows creativity and appreciation.

Last weekend I was at a Beer and Music Festival at Seale Hayne with my colleague Jon Mahy. We work on the @wenotno show on Phonic FM. We recorded some video of the bands. Maybe there is a commons that includes the performance and the broadcast and anything the audience can do with the mix. We had mixed responses whwn we asked people about this. Some video has been loaded to Youtube but not with a Creative Commons licence. We do use Creative Commons when it is just our talk. Recently there is more streaming online that is also described as radio. How will this influence attitudes to FM and broadcast? Probably a mix of assumed commons by the audience and sophistocated efforts by marketing from the labels.

We need to keep talking to the performers. The psychology is some sort of group process. Not sure how this works but myth could be one way to describe it.