I had a conversation last Wednesday about this topic and needed some answers. Here is what I found.

PART I – RULES and GOALS

There are RULES and there are GOALS. The RULES are put in place to help achieve the GOALS.
RULE – You get to work by 9am because Bossman says so. That’s how you keep your job.
GOAL – You took your job because you wanted/needed to earn money for [fill-in-the-blank] and/or hopefully enjoy what you do.   : )

RULE – You have to pay fees to attain licenses to use/perform/enjoy/duplicate/etc. copywriten music.
GOAL – To pay the artists with the creativity, time, and ability to create (read: work) something good enough for you to use/perform/enjoy…etc. “You like a Quizno’s sub? Hey, we do to. But if you don’t pay for it, then we won’t be able to keep providing it for you.”

Summary: When we support artists, we allow them to keep providing us with the music we love. This is the GOAL.

PART II – As a Mobile Disc Jockey

Why Get A Performance License?
Music is property of the song writers who created it.
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/pdfs/…_biz_moves.pdf

What Is A Public Performance?
“A public performance is one that occurs ‘in a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered.’ A public performance also occurs when the performance is transmitted by means of any device or process (for example, via broadcast, telephone wire, or other means) to the public.”
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/termsdefined.html

What Type of License Should A Disc Jockey Get?
The ASCAP Music-In-Business [Blanket] License covers: “A piano player, disc jockey, or band performing at a reception, dinner or party.”
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/pdfs/…_biz_moves.pdf

What Does The ASCAP License Do?
“Whether your music is live, broadcast, transmitted or played via CD’s or videos, your ASCAP license covers your performances.”
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/licensingfaq.html

Aren’t Musicians, Entertainers and DJ’s Responsible for Obtaining Permission for Music They Perform?
“Some people mistakenly assume that musicians and entertainers must obtain licenses to perform copyrighted music or that businesses where music is performed can shift their responsibility to musicians or entertainers. The law says all who participate in, or are responsible for, performances of music are legally responsible. Since it is the business owner who obtains the ultimate benefit from the performance, it is the business owner who obtains the license. Music license fees are one of the many costs of doing business.”

Summary: If you perform as a Disc Jockey for a public event, the venue/business owner is required to have a performance license. If you are performing privately, such as at a wedding or anything more than a small social gathering of friends and/or family, you have to carry the license.

PART III: Legal Aspects of Downloading Music

Limewire or other companies claiming only for “Professional DJ use” – All parties involved would have to have licenses to make this legal, and I believe it still doesn’t meet Item D below. I would ask these “services” what type of BMI or SESAC license they have, as I doubt they have any, making it not “all good” as a DJ.

Non-Interactive Licenses
The Non-Interactive 5.1 license is intended for services that perform ASCAP music in a non-interactive manner, meaning performances of specific songs are not selected by users.

Examples of transmissions that qualify for Non-Interactive 5.1 include:

* ‘Webcasts’
* Streaming background music
* Previews or ‘samples’ (song excerpts that are 60 seconds or less in duration)

Interactive License
The Interactive 2.1 license is intended for services that perform music in an interactive manner, meaning performances of specific songs are selected by users. [Limewire, Pandora, etc.]

Examples of transmissions that qualify for Interactive 2.1 include:

* ‘On-Demand’ performances (e.g., Internet jukeboxes and music videos)
* ‘Custom radio’ (user-determined play-lists)

From those licenses:

“C. This license is limited to Transmissions originating from, and Transmissions that are accessed by Users from within, the United States, its territories and possessions, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. [meaning: You can not legally download performances from non-U.N. regulated countries if you live in the US.]

D. Nothing in this agreement grants you, or authorizes you to grant to any User, or to anyone else, any right to reproduce, copy or distribute by any means, method or process whatsoever, any of the musical compositions licensed by this agreement, including, but not limited to, transferring or downloading any such musical composition to a computer hard drive, or otherwise copying the composition onto any other storage medium.”

http://www.ascap.com/weblicense/reports/

PART IV – CARRYING RECEIPTS

I can’t find an answer to prove this, but I know that the large multi-ops in the area do it. In Washington State, you are required to carry with you to every performance a receipt of purchase for all copywritten music not in original form (everything on your hard drive(s) or duplicated CDs).

Thoughts?

-j

Note: I am not an authority on this and, while I have provided quoted material, this in only my opinion.  : )

Bad pirates, evil warlords, fill-in-the-blank awfuls that are running towards something unknown.  Meanwhile, average-dressed Person A goes to pay for something with also average-dressed, excited Person B next to them.  Out comes the wallet, and in come the bad people.  And, LOW!, just in the nick of time, it’s a Copital Won CC and the baddies are subdued.

Enter US Presidential Elections (minus the subduing).  The question has become not “Who will you vote for”, but rather, “What will you do when they win?”  America as whole will now have a bull’s eye on our backs as we claim responsibility for the decisions of our next president, much like we should have with the creation and destruction (and attempted resurrection) of one Brittany Spears.

With society now able to quickly create massive waves in a short time about what’s popular [read: youtube, myspace, and facebook] our individualism often changes from a decision maker to a response giver.  And here’s where it comes together: Be prepared.

Be prepared for what Brittany does next. Be prepared for what our youth become socially.  Be prepared for what our next president will do.  What’s in your election wallet?

You can now design your own Nike Shox NZ iD Shoe at NIKEiD.com. This was my creation. Fun!

The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees was absent but had not phoned in sick one day. Needing to have an urgent problem with one of the main computers resolved, he dialed the employee’s home phone number and was greeted with a child’s whisper.

“Hello?”

“Is your daddy home?” he asked.

“Yes,” whispered the small voice.

“May I talk with him?”

The child whispered, “No.”

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked,

“Is your Mummy there?”

“Yes.”

“May I talk with her?”

Again the small voice whispered, “No.”

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked,

“Is anybody else there?”

“Yes,” whispered the child, “a policeman.”

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee’s home, the boss asked,

“May I speak with the policeman?”

“No, he’s busy,” whispered the child.

“Busy doing what?”

“Talking to Daddy and Mummy and the fireman,” came the whispered answer.

Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked,

“What is that noise?”

“A helicopter,” answered the whispering voice.

“What is going on there?” demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.  Again, whispering, the child answered,

“The search team just landed a helicopter”

Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked,

“What are they searching for?”

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle…

“Me.”

Singer and Musician Sara Groves returned from a trip to Africa with insight worth sharing.  Her response from her web site is listed below.

Sara on her Spiritual Buffalo…

“There is a scene in the movie Dances with Wolves where the Sioux are on a much anticipated buffalo hunt. As they come up over a hill, they are shocked to see a field full of buffalo carcasses. The tragedy of that moment is that where the Sioux use every piece of the buffalo—the bladder holds water, the bone makes a tool, the skin is a covering for a tent- whoever has done this has taken the best part of the buffalo for himself and has left everything else to waste. There is no way to make good use of all that is lying in this field.

I was so convicted when I went to Africa that I am not using all of my spiritual buffalo. I have developed this one side of my personal relationship with God. I go to church, I have incredible worship, and I listen to incredible speakers. I have money to buy devotionals, and leisure time to do those devotionals. I have spent a lifetime grooming a personal faith in Christ, but have I been taking the best piece of the buffalo for myself? There has been a joy in discovering the good use of my life. There is a reciprocal redemption that happens when we enter into stories of helping our neighbor—not just around the world, but in our own communities. When I came home from Africa, instead of feeling guilty for my life, I began to hear God in a very clear way say, ‘that thing carries water, that thing makes a tool, that is covering for a tent.’ There is a beauty to the good use of a life, and to the acknowledgment that everything you have and do has a Kingdom purpose.”

http://saragroves.com/saragroves/

Here’s a thought:  Skip working out.

I figure that I spend 1 hour 30 minutes driving, exercising, and cleaning up 5 days a week.  $2.5 a day for gas, 15 miles on the car daily, club membership ($50).  Here’s how it plays out for the month.

30 hours
$100
300 miles on the car

…and for what?  1 less layer of fat on my body?  The ability to breathe a little easier when someone throws a football at the family picnic?  I don’t think so!  I’ve got things to do!  30 hours is 2/3s of a work week, for goodness sake.

Next week’s journal:  Skipping sleep!

(if it’s hard to read the sarcasm, there’s no way I would skipping working out.  I feel so much better now than before I started exercising.  Plus, I figure I’ll generate enough through staying alive longer (interest, SS, grand kids, etc) that it’s even financially beneficial to spend the money and time now for a bigger payout later.  I still hate the StairMaster, though…)

While being “in the groove” is mostly credited to “Performing very well” or “In a state of mind or mood conductive to playing music well”, and was used by jazz musicians as early as 1920, I believe the phrase actually comes from the stylus or needle of a record being “in the groove”.

While the common “record” that we know today was introduced as the Edison Blue Amberol Record in 1912, the first phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison on July 18th, 1877.  Previous to that, a device utilizing a vibrating pen to graphically represent sound on discs of paper, known as a phonautograph, was built by Edouard-Leon Scott of France in 1857.

The theory, in principal, is that the stylus or needle stays in the groove of the record to reproduce sound, what it was designed to do.  When bumped, the needle will often come out of the groove, causing disruption, chaos, and often the loss of a good time.  Thus, people look for the “groove” to get back to a normal, productive state of mind.

I enjoyed these quotes from the movie Karate Kid.  It’s amazing to me how some things mean much more as I get older.  Some of these are just funny, some have huge points about life.

Enjoy.

______________________________________________

Memorable quotes for
The Karate Kid (1984)

#10

Daniel: Hey – you ever get into fights when you were a kid?
Miyagi: Huh – plenty.
Daniel: Yeah, but it wasn’t like the problem I have, right?
Miyagi: Why? Fighting fighting. Same same.
Daniel: Yeah, but you knew karate.
Miyagi: Someone always know more.
Daniel: You mean there were times when you were scared to fight?
Miyagi: Always scare. Miyagi hate fighting.
Daniel: Yeah, but you like karate.
Miyagi: So?
Daniel: So, karate’s fighting. You train to fight.
Miyagi: That what you think?
Daniel: [pondering] No.
Miyagi: Then why train?
Daniel: [thinks] So I won’t have to fight.
Miyagi: [laughs] Miyagi have hope for you.

#9

Miyagi: Your friend, all karate student, eh?
Daniel: Friend? Oh, yeah, those guys.
Miyagi: Problem: attitude.
Daniel: No the problem is, I’m getting my [butt] kicked every other day, that’s the problem.
Miyagi: Hai, because boys have bad attitude. Karate for defense only.
Daniel: That’s not what these guys are taught.
Miyagi: Hai – can see. No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher. Teacher say, student do.

#8

[Miyagi karate-chops the tops off three beer bottles]
Daniel: How did you do that? How did you do that?
Miyagi: Don’t know. First time.

#7

Miyagi: Now, ready?
Daniel: Yeah, I guess so.

Miyagi: [sighs] Daniel-san, must talk.

[they both kneel]

Miyagi: Walk on road, hm? Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk middle, sooner or later
[makes squish gesture]
Miyagi: get squish just like grape. Here, karate, same thing. Either you karate do “yes” or karate do “no.” You karate do “guess so,”
[makes squish gesture]
Miyagi: just like grape. Understand?
Daniel: Yeah, I understand.

Miyagi: Now, ready?
Daniel: Yeah, I’m ready.
Miyagi: We make sacred pact. I promise teach karate to you, you promise learn. I say, you do, no questions.

#6

Daniel: Why didn’t you tell me?
Miyagi: Tell what?
Daniel: That you knew karate.

Miyagi: You not ask.
Daniel: Well, where’d you learn it?
Miyagi: Father.

Daniel: But I thought he was a fisherman.
Miyagi: In Okinawa, all Miyagi know two things: fish and karate.

#5

Daniel: Hey, what kind of belt do you have?
Miyagi: Canvas. JC Penney, $3.98. You like?
Daniel: [laughs] No, I meant…
Miyagi: In Okinawa, belt mean no need rope to hold up pants.
[laughs; then, seriously]
Miyagi: Daniel-san…
[taps his head]
Miyagi: Karate here.
[taps his heart]
Miyagi: Karate here.
[points to his belt]
Miyagi: Karate never here. Understand?

#4

Daniel: [after seeing Miyagi practice the crane technique] Could you teach me?
Miyagi: First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine.

#3

Daniel: Hey, where did these old cars come from?
Miyagi: Detroit.

#2

[Daniel is about to have his first match in the tournament]
Daniel: All right, so what are the rules here?
Miyagi: Don’t know. First time you, first time me.
Daniel: Well, I figured you knew about this stuff. I figured you went to these before. Oh great, I’m dead. I am dead. You told me you fought a lot.
Miyagi: For life, not for points.

#1

Daniel: Where am I, this ring over here?
Miyagi: Hai. Number three.
Daniel: What’s that guy kneeling like that for?
Miyagi: Don’t know.
Daniel: Don’t you know anything you can tell me?
Miyagi: Hai. No get hit.

I was in the back of a conference running sound when a gentleman dropped his pen behind the back row where I sat.  About to get up and help, I noticed what looked like a drip at the end of his nose.  A drip? I remembered a man at lunch getting up quickly to exit and blow his nose.  This was the same man.

What do I do?  For sure he’s sick (I’m watching him put a handkerchief to his nose again…).  If I touch the pen I know I’ll get germs, possibly actually snot.

Here are my thought options:

1. My Registered Nurse friend would be much more prepared.  She’s around old, sick people all the time.  Probably built up immunities to it.  Too bad she lives an hour away.

2. A small child would be perfect!  They don’t realize the danger or grossness.  Probably make them feel good, too.  A “life lesson”.  But this is a senior conference.  No kids around.

3. I could pick it up with a tissue or just wash my hands afterward, but that takes effort and I don’t see a tissue or sink near by.  Plus I’m working.

4. Sit and do nothing.

And that’s what I did.  Nothing.  What a selfish, frady-cat dipstick I am.  This old, sick man won’t be able to take life-changing notes because of me.  Worthless.

Here’s what happened next: A door at the side of the room opened and a woman walked in, and sat down close to him.  She slightly tipped her chair, reached back behind her, and picked up…herpen…that had fallen from her seat next to him while she was gone.

Sheesh.  I’m still a  dipstick…

I had a conversation last Wednesday about this topic and needed some answers. Here is what I found.

PART I – RULES and GOALS

There are RULES and there are GOALS. The RULES are put in place to help achieve the GOALS.
RULE – You get to work by 9am because Bossman says so. That’s how you keep your job.
GOAL – You took your job because you wanted/needed to earn money for [fill-in-the-blank] and/or hopefully enjoy what you do.   : )

RULE – You have to pay fees to attain licenses to use/perform/enjoy/duplicate/etc. copywriten music.
GOAL – To pay the artists with the creativity, time, and ability to create (read: work) something good enough for you to use/perform/enjoy…etc. “You like a Quizno’s sub? Hey, we do to. But if you don’t pay for it, then we won’t be able to keep providing it for you.”

Summary: When we support artists, we allow them to keep providing us with the music we love. This is the GOAL.

PART II – As a Mobile Disc Jockey

Why Get A Performance License?
Music is property of the song writers who created it.
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/pdfs/…_biz_moves.pdf

What Is A Public Performance?
“A public performance is one that occurs ‘in a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered.’ A public performance also occurs when the performance is transmitted by means of any device or process (for example, via broadcast, telephone wire, or other means) to the public.”
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/termsdefined.html

What Type of License Should A Disc Jockey Get?
The ASCAP Music-In-Business [Blanket] License covers: “A piano player, disc jockey, or band performing at a reception, dinner or party.”
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/pdfs/…_biz_moves.pdf

What Does The ASCAP License Do?
“Whether your music is live, broadcast, transmitted or played via CD’s or videos, your ASCAP license covers your performances.”
http://www.ascap.com/licensing/licensingfaq.html

Aren’t Musicians, Entertainers and DJ’s Responsible for Obtaining Permission for Music They Perform?
“Some people mistakenly assume that musicians and entertainers must obtain licenses to perform copyrighted music or that businesses where music is performed can shift their responsibility to musicians or entertainers. The law says all who participate in, or are responsible for, performances of music are legally responsible. Since it is the business owner who obtains the ultimate benefit from the performance, it is the business owner who obtains the license. Music license fees are one of the many costs of doing business.”

Summary: If you perform as a Disc Jockey for a public event, the venue/business owner is required to have a performance license. If you are performing privately, such as at a wedding or anything more than a small social gathering of friends and/or family, you have to carry the license.

PART III: Legal Aspects of Downloading Music

Limewire or other companies claiming only for “Professional DJ use” – All parties involved would have to have licenses to make this legal, and I believe it still doesn’t meet Item D below. I would ask these “services” what type of BMI or SESAC license they have, as I doubt they have any, making it not “all good” as a DJ.

Non-Interactive Licenses
The Non-Interactive 5.1 license is intended for services that perform ASCAP music in a non-interactive manner, meaning performances of specific songs are not selected by users.

Examples of transmissions that qualify for Non-Interactive 5.1 include:

* ‘Webcasts’
* Streaming background music
* Previews or ‘samples’ (song excerpts that are 60 seconds or less in duration)

Interactive License
The Interactive 2.1 license is intended for services that perform music in an interactive manner, meaning performances of specific songs are selected by users. [Limewire, Pandora, etc.]

Examples of transmissions that qualify for Interactive 2.1 include:

* ‘On-Demand’ performances (e.g., Internet jukeboxes and music videos)
* ‘Custom radio’ (user-determined play-lists)

From those licenses:

“C. This license is limited to Transmissions originating from, and Transmissions that are accessed by Users from within, the United States, its territories and possessions, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. [meaning: You can not legally download performances from non-U.N. regulated countries if you live in the US.]

D. Nothing in this agreement grants you, or authorizes you to grant to any User, or to anyone else, any right to reproduce, copy or distribute by any means, method or process whatsoever, any of the musical compositions licensed by this agreement, including, but not limited to, transferring or downloading any such musical composition to a computer hard drive, or otherwise copying the composition onto any other storage medium.”

http://www.ascap.com/weblicense/reports/

PART IV – CARRYING RECEIPTS

I can’t find an answer to prove this, but I know that the large multi-ops in the area do it. In Washington State, you are required to carry with you to every performance a receipt of purchase for all copywritten music not in original form (everything on your hard drive(s) or duplicated CDs).

Thoughts?

-j

Note: I am not an authority on this and, while I have provided quoted material, this in only my opinion.  : )

Prediction:  It won’t be the coders, or the producers.  It won’t even be the SEO guys.  In the end, designers will rule the internet day.

Why?  Here are three reasons:

1.  Designers connect most directly to the client. The world is about relationships, and the computer group that realizes this first will be the ones still around after the dust has settled.  So far, the designers are leading the charge.  This is seen more and more as individuals, using their name instead of a company name, and presenting person to person, are the ones getting the work.  It’s amazing what sitting down over a virtual cup of coffee can accomplish.

2.  Designers are the ones catching the vision and presenting it to the public. They are the direct link from a clients brain to a viewers eyes.  If they can make the connection, they get the job.  When I surf the internet and see a site that makes me say, “Ohh”, that’s (mostly) the designer doing his or her job.

3.  Good designers tend to be an artistic group. EMOTION!  This thing call the World Wide Web isn’t really about text and pictures, it’s about what you can do with it.  It’s a portal.  Artistic (read: emotional) people who have the skills to present emotion through code are the ones that connect closest to the end goal:  emotion.

You will always need the coders, photographers, manufacturers, but the designers will be the ones that Rule the Day.

(top picture courtesy of JasonReedWebDesign)

What is music? Such an easy question. Someone strumming on a cat string, beating a cow skin, or blowing a horn of some type. Physically, yes. But that’s not what music is.

In reality, music has nothing to do with instruments, voices, hands or feet.

For those of us that work a “9 to 5”, the rule is to be there at 9am. The goal is to make a living, buy a car, or whatever you decide. While hopefully we get more out of our jobs than just cash, the rule is put into place to achieve the goal.

In the same way, a guitar, drum, voice, or other instrument is put in place to express what is inside us: Emotion. And when emotion is expressed through music, you get every aspect of humanity played out on ivory keys.

There are two points you need to leave this article with:

1. Music is emotion.
2. You are a musician.

#1 – Music is emotion. Pause from reading for 10 seconds and think of the most powerful musical emotion you have ever witnessed. (pause) If you’re having trouble thinking of some, here are a few that moved hearts:

#2 – You are a musician, or a singer, a performer, or an artist. Why? You have emotion. “I can’t sing my way out of a wet paper sack,” you say. Me either. But my kids don’t know that. They think I’m the best singer they’ve ever heard. Again, why? Because I sing with emotion. I share what I feel with them through music, through song. “Jesus Precious Jesus” will always mean the world to them because I taught it to them; I showed them what it feels like to have passion from the heart and, hopefully, be somewhat on key.

Fact:  If you have emotion then you are an artist.

In conclusion, some people work all week so that they can “celebrate life” for 2 days on the weekend. What if seven days a week you could feel like that? That’s what music does; it allows you to deeply feel at any time. Pop in your headphones, turn up your car stereo, or just sit and sing.

Power, sadness, grace, anger, passion, fun. All music. All emotion. All you.