MP/06

Been doing a little thinking about the way music is in the current climate. What struck me is that it’s essentially a global busking culture. Anyone can hear a song, anywhere, as they traverse the blogosphere or myspace world, and decide whether or not they’re going to pay for it, support it, get involved etc…

To be honest i’ve payed for most of the music i’ve got. If there’s an artist i really dig i’ll buy their stuff out of respect. If someone burns me a copy of the current top 40 i don’t care so much about it. Radio/tv royalties surely earn those artists and labels enough. But that’s the point. we make these calls. we justify what was in the old world called stealing.

What’s the distinction between the high quality version i can listen to on Youtube and the equivalent file on my hard-disk? As far at the computers are concerned, they’re the same 1’s and 0’s. We attach the value, it’s an arbitary construction and subject to challenge.

Anyway busking… I think busking works better online than in the real world at the moment. I’d like to bring some design sensibility and organisation to busking. Can we map the hot spots? Empower the performers so they get the most out of their 15 minutes of fame? Could we make them hugely famous? That could be funny…

I have to start somewhere. I’m going to start by creating a document that explains the rules and regulations of busking in Wellington to budding performers. The council documentation is confusing and contradictory and i’m buggered if i can make sense of it after a couple of hours.

I’m thinking A3 that folds up. the cover so far: