Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory — Filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett is working on a documentary that follows the work of social worker Dan Cohen, “who discovers the power personalized music has to ‘awaken’ and regenerate deeply locked memories in patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s.” The promo is incredibly moving, and reminds of the power of music. Rossato-Bennett is currently raising funds on Kickstarter to complete the documentary, and is still short of his goal, with three days to go. It would be great to see Copyhype readers help support such an amaing project!
A Hollywood Director Responds to Kim Dotcom: Can I Borrow Your Lamborghini? — Seriously funny. Bruce Leddy, writer and director of Cougar Town, among other projects, responds to the Megaupload founder’s recent open letter to Hollywood. “ I say, if Hollywood is going to spend all this time and effort making these movies and TV shows, employing hundreds of thousands of hardworking Americans and union members and then letting a guy like you become a multimillionaire off its work, it’s our own damn fault! Holy cow, are we dumb! LOL.”
UPDATE: Artists: Be The Change, Submit Comments! Deadline EXTENDED to August 10th — White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel is seeking public comments on federal IP enforcement. As the Trichordist points out, “If you care about artist rights, this is a good time to tell Victoria Espinel what you think.” A link to an online form for submitting comments is also included.
Three-strikes cuts piracy in New Zealand, says local record industry — The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand reports that online piracy rates have been cut in half since the introduction of that country’s graduated response program. As CMU points out, “Stats from South Korea, where three-strikes is also live, as well as these from New Zealand, both suggest graduated response warning letters can have an impact on file-sharing, though those who oppose the whole thing would likely interpret data differently.”
A+L Innovation Central Podcast – Brian McNelis of Lakeshore Records — Chris Castle sits down with Brian McNelis, Senior Vice President of Music and Soundtracks for Lakeshore Entertainment (which recently released the critically-acclaimed soundtracks to Drive and Lincoln Lawyer) to discuss the opportunities and challenges of running a music business in a digital age.
Copyright and the Little Guy Part 1 – Copyright Acquisition — The Cynical Musician takes on the trope that copyright primarily benefits only big businesses. He notes, “Without copyright, anything the little guy makes is up for grabs by the biggest bully, without any acknowledgement or compensation.”
The Big Lie — Jon Taplin doesn’t mince words when it comes to Kim Dotcom’s most recent music video released online. “In his brilliant attempt to square the circle of his fortune built on stealing from artists, Kim equates his struggle with that of Martin Luther King. He attempts to hijack the whole Occupy movement to aid in his redemption. But in deciding that he could make $ million by selling advertising on Megaupload–with an inventory of quantities of stolen digital content–it’s easy to think that Kim Dotcom believed he was above the law.”
Why DOES Google lobby so much? — Andrew Orlowski observes, “The range and depth of global lobbying undertaken by Google is now so formidable, it may be more accurate to describe the company as a political organisation with a legacy tech business attached.”
The Fat Cat Internet Defense League — Speaking of lobbying, Jeremy Nicholl over at The Russian Photos Blog takes a look at some of the big money behind the latest “digital rights” advocacy groups to sprout up. “It’s hard to raise a torches and pitchforks mob with a cry of ‘defend my venture capital’, but ‘defend the Internet’ will do the trick every time.”