New Frank Zappa Book

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Paul Carr

I eventually got the contract for my Zappa edited collection this week ‘Zappa and the And: A Contextual Analysis of his Legacy’.  If everything goes to plan, it will be released toward the end of 2012, and I will use the blog to update interested parties about progress, etc. In the meantime, here is my initial concept of how the chapters are shaping up.

Introduction: Zappa and the ‘And’

Paul Carr

1.      Zappa and Horror: Screamin’ at the Monster

Richard J. Hand

2.      Zappa and his Cultural Legacy: Authorship, Influences and Expressive Frontiers in Frank Zappa’s Movies

Manuel de la Fuente Soler

3.      Zappa and God:  Music is the Best

Kevin Seal

4.      Zappa and the Razor: Editing, Sampling and Musique Concrète

James Gardner

5.      Zappa and Satire: From Conceptual Absurdism to the Perversity of Politics

Nick Awde

6.      Zappa and Resistance: The Pleasure Principle

Claude Chastagner

7.      Zappa and Censorship: Contesting the boundaries of freedom of expression

Michael Drewett

8.      Zappa and Creativity: His incorporation of time, space and place in performing, composing, arranging his music

Paul Carr

9.      Zappa in Suburbia: Return of the Sons of the Plastic People

Ben Halligan

10.  Zappa and the Freaks: Recording Wild Man Fischer

David Sanjek

11.  Zappa and Modernism: An extended study of “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It”

Martin Knakkergaard

12.  Zappa and the Avant-Garde: Towards a Way-Out of 20th Century Art

Michel Delville

13.  Zappa and Death: People who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read

Paula Hearsum

I am so lucky to be working with not only an excellent publisher, but some incredible writers from all over the planet, and hope that the book will present a contribution toward what is already out there. Wish us luck!

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Free Foundation Degree in Music For Wales

Posted on January 23, 2011 by Paul Carr

I got some good news this week. Over the last couple of years or so I have been working on developing a Foundation Degree that facilitates  anyone working within the music industry to gain credit for the skills they already have, in addition to building on their skill base weaknesses in both the classroom and the workplace.

Well – that qualification is now a reality (subject to validation)! I have recently obtained funding from the European Social Fund that basically provides the finance for a select number of Welsh based musicians to undertake this qualification, providing they comply with the following criteria.

  1. They live and work in one of the convergence areas of Wales
  2. They have enough experience within any area of the music industry – that would enable them to gain at least 60 university cat points. (See * below) via Accreditation for Prior Learning
  3. They are prepared to study part time on the Foundation Degree for around a  year and a half – at the same time as working.

Once your studies are finished, you will have the qualifications to move on to the final year of a degree, or simply use the qualification to improve your current working practices. After a degree is finished, you can also progress onto a post graduate qualification such as a Masters or PhD, or even a teaching qualification!

As stated, these places are free and the course is designed to be undertaken at the same time as working, saving successful candidates a great deal of money. The first 15 places will commence in South Wales in September 2011. Places are very limited and will be offered progressively over a three-year period.

This is just an initial post to inform interested parties of the qualification, but I will post more information over the next few months when it becomes available.

Can I suggest the following

  • You ‘like’ this Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FoundationDegree). I will use it to keep interested parties up to date with progress
  • If you are interested in a place, or would like to discuss specific details – get in touch with me on pcarr@glam.ac.uk
  • Share this information with anyone you think may be interested (please).

* This programme is designed for any occupation in the music industry – including, but not limited to, self-employed musician, instrumental teacher, music retail, small record labels, technicians, promoters, managers, etc, etc, etc.

So in short:

  • The qualification will cost the company/employer nothing!
  • Up to 50% of te qualification can be gained based on previous experience.
  • 25% of the qualification is based in the workplace.
  • The taught units focus on music industry knowledge and entrepreneurship.
  • Provides the basis to progress onto the final year of a degree, but this aspect has to be paid for.
  • You must live and work in a convergence area (see map above)
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Shepard Fairey Settles Copyright & Fair Use Of Obama Image : The New Rockstar Philosophy

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Paul Carr

Here is a really interesting copyright case – which has impacks for music.

The street artist Shepard Fairey and The Associated Press have settled their long-running legal battle over the well-known “Hope” campaign poster of Barack Obama.

…Mr. Fairey, who sued The Associated Press in 2009 as it began to accuse him of copyright infringement for using one of its photographs as the basis for the poster, said that he did not appropriate any copyrightable material and that his use of the photograph, which showed Mr. Obama looking up pensively, constituted fair use under copyright law.

…Because of the issues at stake and the high visibility of the parties involved, the case had shined a spotlight on the tricky legal issues surrounding the fair-use exceptions to copyright protections. One of the central questions was whether Mr. Fairey’s creation, which became ubiquitous on street corners and T-shirts during and after Mr. Obama’s campaign, constituted a “transformative” use of the photograph, a use that is allowed under the law so that creative expression is not stifled. (via NYT)

To read the rest of this blog – click on the link below.

via Shepard Fairey Settles Copyright & Fair Use Of Obama Image : The New Rockstar Philosophy.

You may also be interested on how the image has been used in other ways. Look at the 13th slide of the presentation below I done a while ago on Zappa and Politics. The ‘Perfectly Clear’ phrase comes from President Nixon in the 1970’s!!

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More Help Needed For Examples of Loops in Music

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Paul Carr

Ok – here is some more thoughts on the formulation of loops in music. As before, I would very much appreciate any additional examples you can offer me. See my earlier posts for more thoughts. All of the music is cross referenced in Spotify – so give it a listen!

Contextually Placed: When a melodic loop is synchronically placed against a changing chord progression or bass line. In other words the melody stays the same, but the harmony/bass changes – altering the ‘context’ of the loop. Listen to ‘The Spirit Of Radio’ by Rush at around 2.34 – 2.52,  or listen to the beginning of Nixon in China by John Adams, or the introduction of Tubular Bells from between 2.09 – 2.32.

Polyphonic: Where at least two interlocking melody lines work contrapuntally together. This type of loop, often builds up over time, and has the potential to have melody lines in the bass, tenor, alto and soprano parts. For example, listen to the start of Act 1 Scene 2 of John Adam’s Nixon in China or the introduction of Tubular Bells, from around 0.50

Terry Riley’s In C uses a similar technique, with the whole piece being based on loops. In this case the musician decides how many times the loop is repeated.

This is also used in Rock – For example listen to the introduction of ‘The Faith Healer‘ by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

The Unison: When two or more instruments play the loop simultaneously. This could be in the bass or middle, but is more likely to be in the melody line. For example, listen to the start of Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield

Instrumental Layers: In certain types of music, each instrument actually plays a looped part in the construction of the composition. This could range from one or two instruments – for example the drums and bass, to the entire rhythm section. For an example of the latter – listen to James Brown ‘Get Up Offa That Thing‘ .In this piece the drums, bass, keys, brass, vocals and guitars – all play loops!

Homophonic Loop: Where the loop is a chord progression. This could range from a heavy metal riff (in 5ths) – to chord progressions such Wonderful World by Sam Cooke.

Tension and Release: Some loops seem to combine both tension and release at the same time. For example a melody can repeat the same notes, but the lyrics can change. This gives the listener the essential mix of similarity (we love that) and difference (we love that too!). Listen to this track from Michael Jackson’s last album as an example of what I mean.

That’s about it for now, any piece suggestions much appreciated.

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How to Legally Sell Downloads of Cover Songs | DIY Musician

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Paul Carr

Firstly, let us say that if you are planning to sell a cover song, CD Baby has partnered with Limelight to provide the quickest and most convenient way to secure mechanical licenses. Limelight makes cover song clearance easy without expensive lawyer fees and complicated paperwork. Check out Limelight HERE.

But if you’d like to handle the the process on your own, follow the steps below:

Please note that the below is not official legal advice, we are not your lawyers, and you should always contact your attorney before entering into any contract such as a license.

If you have recorded a cover version of someone else’s song, and you plan to make that recording available over the Internet, the following information applies to you.

For the rest of this article, click on the link below

How to Legally Sell Downloads of Cover Songs | DIY Musician.

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Jay Z – A Great Example of Loops

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Paul Carr

In order to begin the process of developing a typology of loops for the conference me and Ben Challis are doing in March, I thought a good start would be analysing some of the tracks of Jay Z’s The Black Album.  Once you have read the post, I would be really interested in anyone’s thoughts on other pieces of music that fit into these categories, or just general points of view.

Anyway – here goes. It seems the main technique used on this album is that of using a single looped sample as a backing track for a composition.

Category 1: Single Looped Sample As Backing Track

When listening to “December 4th“ by Jay Z, it is obvious that the whole song is based on the instrumental introduction of “That’s How Long” by The Chi-Lites. Jay Z’s piece is in verse – chorus form, with both sections based on a pitch shifted sample of specific areas of the Chi-Lites earlier work, which essentially provides a background for additional percussion and of course the rap vocal line

A similar technique is used in Jay Z’s “What More Can I Say”, which uses “Something For Nothing” by MFSB as a backing track, using looping techniques to increase the size of specific sections of the original work, before adding rap and vocal lines.

As one would expect when using lengthy single samples, both of the above Jay Z pieces are very similar in style to the original compositions. So it seems logical that a development of this category would be the use of a single sample as backing track, but this time the ‘new’ composition changes in style.

Jay Z’s  “Encore” does this. Using a fragment of the introduction of John Holt’s “I Will” (originally by the Beatles) as a melodic riff, there is no similarity to the reggae style of the original.

This album also features a couple of original songs  (“Change Cloths” & “Dirt Off Your Shoulder”) that uses loop technology as the foundation of entire pieces, but as opposed to sampling other artists, incorporates the technology to loop original ideas.

 

It could be argued that this technique has a similar creative impetus to a rock band playing a riff. It is also arguably similar to the work that Robert Fripp done with his Fripptronics (see my earlier post)– often using a backing track made up from an improvised tape loop.

More next time with another catagory.

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Who owns your digital music downloads?

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Paul Carr

Here is an additional argument to what I posted the other day regarding the ownership of online books. It looks like something is in the air – as this blog focuses on music.

Steve Jobs once said, “People want to own their music.”

Someone better tell the folks who run the iTunes Store and its competitors. If you buy a digital music track or album from the iTunes store or one of its competitors, you don’t own it. Instead, you’re buying a license to play that track or album, and that license comes with an extremely limited set of rights.

Why does it matter? If you buy a CD in the United States, Section 109 of the Copyright Act gives you very specific rights under the first-sale doctrine. Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation explains those rights:

[O]nce you’ve acquired a lawfully-made CD or book or DVD, you can lend, sell, or give it away without having to get permission from the copyright owner. In simpler terms, “you bought it, you own it” (and because first sale also applies to gifts, “they gave it to you, you own it” is also true).

But the first-sale doctrine only applies to tangible goods, such as CDs. Digital music downloads (just like movies and TV shows and books) come with a completely different, much more limited set of rights. If you buy a digital album from an online service such as the iTunes store, Amazon MP3, or eMusic, you have no legal right to lend that album to a friend, as you could if you had purchased a CD. If you decide after a few listens that you hate the album, well, tough. You can’t resell it. You can’t even legally give it away.

For the rest of the article, click on the link below.

 

Who owns your digital downloads? Hint: it’s not you | ZDNet.

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Frippertronics and Loops

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Paul Carr

It seems to me that King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp has to be considered one of the pioneers of using loops as a creative compositional tool. Aside from his work with King Crimson, I am interesting in his use of technology – so I will be looking into trying to catagorize how he uses loops over the next few weeks.

Anyway – what follows is a video of Frippertronics, followed by a Grooveshark playlist of loads of his loop based music – well worth a listen.

Grooveshark Playlist

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Would you sell your Kindle to sell a used book?

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Paul Carr

I posted something related to this on Facebook a few days ago, and I think anyone who purchases digital media should read the post below. It outlines an important distinction between ‘ownership’ and ‘licencing’ of digital product. To give you an indicative example, I recently purchased a Kindle (which I am very happy with). It is a great device for uploading and reading PDF’s, has a good range of free books (that are out of copyright), let’s you preview chapters free of charge, and most importantly enables you access to books instantaniously – something I often need. However, I have noticed that lots of books I would like are at least the same price as the paperback versions. On the surface this may not seem too much of a problem, BUT – if I intend to lend the book or sell it on – I Can’t!!! Why – Because I don’t own the digital version.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the convenience of digital downloads is great, but as I have had these important right taken away from me – it should be reflected in the price of digital copies – be it a song or a book. As long as the ownership/licencing distinction is not reflected in price – there will always be a tendancy to look for illegal copies in my view.

Read the post below if you want more details.

The holiday season is upon us, and with it thoughts of peace on earth, goodwill… and the latest electronic media.  Visions of Kindles and Kinects dance in children’s heads (and no doubt yours as well), and iTunes store cards invitingly peek from stocking tops.  But as consumers embrace digital media, businesses and courts grapple with a question that has proved as elusive as it is essential:  when you “buy” an e-book, an MP3, or a downloaded TV show or movie, what do you really “own”?

With paper books and plastic discs, the answer was obvious, courtesy of a legal principle known as the “first sale” doctrine.  Put simply, under the first sale doctrine, a copyright owner can’t control what consumers do with a lawfully made copy of a copyrighted work after it’s been sold.  This idea has had a pervasive impact on individuals, commerce, and society. It enables libraries to lend books, museums to display art works, and Blockbuster (BBI) and Netflix (NFLX) to rent DVDs.  Online aftermarket sellers, such as on eBay (EBAY) and Amazon.com (AMZN), rely on the first sale doctrine to offer new and used copyrighted goods.  Retailers can sell CDs, DVDs, books, and video games below suggested prices because the first sale doctrine prevents manufacturers from controlling prices.  And every time you give a book to a relative, purchase a used textbook, or buy classic vinyl at a yard sale, you benefit from the first sale doctrine.

To read the rest of the post – click the link below

Would you sell your Kindle to sell a used book? – Fortune Tech.

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2010 in review

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Paul Carr

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 5,000 times in 2010. That’s about 12 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 52 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 99 posts. There were 31 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 110mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was March 12th with 121 views. The most popular post that day was “Dickie’s Such An Asshole”: Frank Zappa, Popular Music and Politics.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, killuglyradio.com, zappafan.net, search.conduit.com, and twitter.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for paul carr musings, robert fripp youtube, paul carr, paul carr musing, and youtube robert fripp.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

“Dickie’s Such An Asshole”: Frank Zappa, Popular Music and Politics March 2010
1 comment

2

Zappa Related August 2009

3

About Paul Carr November 2008

4

Rock At The Oval 9-16-72 December 2009

5

The Big Note – The Ultimate Gesture: The incorporation of time, space and place in performing, composing, arranging and producing Frank Zappa’s music December 2009
2 comments

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