art
DRM-free iTunes , EMI++
Kudos to EMI for their deal with iTunes to offer DRM-free songs on iTunes. It seems Steve Job's has also put his money where his mouth is.
What's amazing is that it's taken this long for the big boys in the music industry to realise that DRM is flawed by the laws of economics and physics. Other companies like eMusic realised this a long time ago.
No matter how they dress it up as a "premium" service, this hopefully signals the end of DRM protected media. RIP DRM.
Independent artists going big, Creative Commons growing up
Independent artists hit top 40
The BBC report that under new chart rules, Essex rock band Koopa have made chart history by becoming the first unsigned band to land a UK top 40 hit. This is brilliant! It shows what the Internet is doing for Independent artists.
What's really sad however, is that they used their fame in being the first "unsigned" band to get in the charts to... uh... get signed with a record label!
Wonchop hits MTV
On a related note, the animator Ben "Wonchop" Smallman, who first found his home at wonchop.hippygeek.co.uk, has released a music video for Hypocrite by Akira the Don. The video is going to be aired on MTV Europe!
Congratulations Ben! It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside to know that I made just a small contribution to his success by setting up his first web site, allowing him to share his animations with the world!
Creative Commons 3.0
The Creative Commons 3.0 licenses are now available. It's brilliant to see that they've taken into account the concerns of Debian Legal, which I mentioned to them back in 2004.
However, the "parallel distribution provision" suggested by Debian Legal was not adopted, which may or may not mean that the CC licenses will still not be considered "DFSG free". To be honest, this particular requirement doesn't really bother me. The issue centres on "Technological Protection Measures" or "Digital Rights Management" as the media industry likes to call it. As I see DRM as being flawed by the laws of physics (if it can be perceived, it can be recorded) and economics (this is the information age, not the industrial age) - it doesn't really bother me either way.
Creative Commons make a bit of a jab at Debian Legal by basically claiming that the fact that they're allowing documentation under the GNU Free Documentation License into Debian, means they would now be hypocrites not to allow certain Creative Commons 3.0 licenses.
Creative Commons Explained in Video
A new video takes an amusing take on trying to explain Creative Commons licensing.
You have to respect people who put this much effort into making the boring but important topic of licensing interesting. See here for previous videos on the same topic.
Angels Sleep
Lyrics
Verse 1
C G Am
It's been a year now, feels like yesterday, where does it all go?
C G Em F
We were sat outside, you were drinking vodka in the snow.
C G Am C G Am
It fee-eels so cold and I nee-eed you to hold.
C G Am
It breaks my heart to know you hurt inside and I feel it too.
G Em F
But when a state of mind is your prison cell what can I do?
C G Am C G Am
When your life's on hold 'caus it's not like you've been told.
Chorus
Em F C
The angels sleep inside their souls tonight, there's nowhere else hide.
? Am G
The thunder roars the rain it bites, it's going to be a long one
F C
if you don't share with someone what causes all that pain
G Am
to haunt you again.
Verse 2
C G Am
Life and love they can be hard to live, when you really care.
C G Em F
You've got so much to give, you'd make it work if you'd only dare
C G Am C G Am
See yourself for what you are, you've only seen so far.
C G Am
You think you see your face in other's eyes, but what about your own?
C G Em F
What you feel inside about yourself is all you've shown.
C G Am C G Am
And it's all so wrong, you've felt bad far too long.
Chorus
Em F C
The angels sleep inside their souls tonight, there's nowhere else hide.
? Am G
The thunder roars the rain it bites, it's going to be a long one
F C
if you don't share with someone what causes all that pain
G Am
to haunt you again.
By Ben Francis - 2005
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.
Obsession
I want you, because I can't have you.
Whenever my mind is blank, you fill the space.
When I think of you, I can think of nothing else.
Your elegence and quiet sophistication enchant me.
The spell distracts me, it comes without warning.
When it grips me, I am compelled to indulge.
When it leaves me, I'm afraid to divulge.
I know it's wrong, I hide it away.
I know you will come back, to haunt me.
But I keep coming back, for another taste.
Just one last time...
by Ben Francis 2005
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.
A Sleepy Revelation
The midnight hour had long since passed,
a hazy moon peeping from behind a grey curtain.
I walked carefully,
across a vast but fragile carpet of snow.
As I left the dim yellow light of the town centre,
where stragglers dodged the falling flakes,
my boots crunched shapes in the ground,
the only disturbance for quarter of a mile around.
My hair sprinkled with snowflakes.
My collar becoming damp.
In awe of a private showing,
of the Winter's opening night.
Just when I felt I was alone,
in this silent world of white,
in a quiet back street
I was confronted by a distant face.
Not the face of a man, woman or child,
Nor a face I knew.
A face of wild eyes and instinct.
It did not frighten but forced my feet to halt,
to observe the noble creature
disappear behind a black vale of darkness.
The creature belonged to a secret world,
living alongside my own,
yet one I knew little about.
A world with much to fear from mine.
Nevertheless, I was overcome with a sense,
that the creature knew more of my own world than I myself.
That somehow it possessed an overpowering wisdom,
a quiet understanding far beyond my own.
Now conscious of being the outsider,
the ignorant and the blind.
I clutched my coat and headed home,
a warm bed to find.
When morning came,
and a golden sunlight spilled
onto the wall above my bed.
I sat quietly and listened.
I was struck with a realisation,
that the chorus outside was not singing for me.
The notes not composed for my pleasure,
but sung in a language foreign to my own.
The earth did not belong to the human race,
but rather the human race was stranded on the earth.
Outcast from the rest of nature,
for its unwillingness to follow the rules.
by Ben Francis - 2003
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.
Urban Cage
Against a cold, grey backdrop of an urban cage,
your smile shines through.
As if somehow, you're on the outside looking in.
A harsh mist clears to reveal your wide gazing eyes,
that can cut through the concrete shells
and see a person inside.
There's a warmth in your presence,
that soothes a restless soul.
something in your manner,
that calms and controls,
in a way that shows freedom to a nation of people
who have forgotten the meaning of a simple word.
Concrete will crumble and time will pass,
but the feeling and meaning forever will last.
They can slay the rebles, they can fight,
with weapons and words.
Beat confessions out of the innocent,
justify crimes with false morals and lies.
But there are things that can't be beaten,
there are lines that can't be crossed.
Events that will never happen,
And hope can not be lost.
by Ben Francis - 2003
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.
But a Memory
As distant as a half forgotten dream,
Yet fondly remembered, safely kept.
Reminders lye softly in the warm glow of morning,
And the magic of a starlit black satin sky.
Birds sound their daily chorus,
echoing words once whispered by loving, smiling, youthful lips.
Soothing the scar of a dark black hole,
Where a heart once was.
The consistency of nature easing the pain,
Memories never forgotten, emotions never dulled.
The innocence of youth,
The blindness of love.
Distant now, but still lingering,
Hour after hour, day after cursed day.
The certainty of the single morbid thorn
Still remains on the unwilting rose.
But colour drains from its flesh,
Floating away on a breeze.
Off into the cold blue heart of the moon,
To rest there for an eternal waiting.
The oceans sing of their sorrow,
But the notes never fall on listening ears.
Time is slowed but moves on still.
Thoughts muddled, events blurred, helpless.
by Ben Francis - 2002
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.
