blog de notas de juan freire

My topic is the shift from ‘architect’ to ‘gardener’, where ‘architect’ stands for ‘someone who carries a full picture of the work before it is made’, to ‘gardener’ standing for ‘someone who plants seeds and waits to see exactly what will come up’. I will argue that today’s composer are more frequently ‘gardeners’ than ‘architects’ and, further, that the ‘composer as architect’ metaphor was a transitory historical blip.

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Kalika N. Doloswala and Ann Dadich (2011). The accidental criminal: Using policy to curb illegal downloading. First Monday, Volume 16, Number 6 - 6

ABSTRACT: Illegal downloading is a multifaceted social issue. In addition to the loss of intellectual property and revenue for copyright holders, it can implicate perpetrators into the criminal justice system. Despite legislative attempts to curb illegal downloading, lessons to date suggest these do little to reduce the activity. Drawing on psychological literature, this paper offers an innovative approach to address illegal downloading. Attribution theory aims to aid understanding of the causes of human behaviour and highlights the important role of perception. It suggests that illegal downloading might be moderated by increasing opportunities for engagement between the owners and users of intellectual property. Rather than using policy and legislation to restrain access to intellectual property, this theory suggests that policy that closes proximal distances and creates psychological contracts might be effective in curbing these practices. Examples from the music industry are discussed as evidence that this approach can be successful in changing downloader behaviour. To date, public policy informed by attribution theory has not been tested as a way to prevent illegal downloading. The paper concludes that there is a need to examine and critically evaluate non–punitive approaches to curbing illegal downloading from a policy perspective.

… Un reconocido músico se ha lanzado con todo a defender la ley Sinde, bajo el argumento de que las descargas son el cáncer de la industria. Por el contrario, Gómez Jurado respondió con un texto en el que insta a las industrias a reinventarse bajo este nuevo ecosistema digital. Provocativo y pendenciero, el cantante reviró desafiando a Gómez Jurado a que liberara sin costo su novela. “Si tienes huevos”, le retó el intérprete.

Y Gómez Jurado lo hizo. El fin de semana anunció en Twitter que su novela Espía de Dios —bestseller en 42 países— podría ser descargada sin ningún compromiso. Lo único que el autor pidió a cambio es que la gente donara un euro (o más) a Save the Children. “Dios mío, cuánto proxeneta, narcotraficante y ladrón del todo gratis que anda hoy donando a Save The Children”, respondió Gómez Jurado al ver el tremendo éxito de su iniciativa…

Ronaldo Lemos, Oona Castro et al.(2008). Tecnobrega: o Pará Reinventando o Negócio da Música. Aeroplano Editora [versión pdf completa]

Texto de Hermano Vianna para la contraportada:

Que a indústria fonográfica mundial está em crise, disso ninguém duvida. Todo mundo anda procurando o “novo modelo de negócios”. Escondido em Belém do Pará, o tecnobrega testa uma original economia cria há aos, na marra. As músicas saem direto de estúdios da periferia e são distribuídas nos camelôs da cidade, animando gigantescas festas de aparelhagem, sem mais depender da grande mídia ou gravadoras. Um mundo paralelo cujo funcionamento é finalmente revelado neste livro: estudo pioneiro sobre as novas indústrias culturais que comandam a vida musical mais popular no Brasil de hoje. Quem quiser pensar o futuro da música não pode ignorar as lições tecnobregas da Amazônia digital.

When you’re famous and say you’re writing a book, people assume that it’s an autobiography—I was born here, raised there, suffered this, loved that, lost it all, got it back, the end. But that’s not what this is. I’ve never been a linear thinker, which is something you can see in my rhymes. They follow the jumpy logic of poetry and emotion, not the straight line of careful prose. My book is like that, too.

Decoded is first and foremost, a book of rhymes, which is ironic because I don’t actually write my rhymes—they come to me in my head and I record them. The book is packed with the stories from my life that are the foundation of my lyrics—stories about coming up in the streets of Brooklyn in the 80’s and 90’s, stories about becoming an artist and entrepreneur and discovering worlds that I never dreamed existed when I was a kid. But it always comes back to the rhymes. There’s poetry in hip-hop lyrics—not just mine, but in the work of all the great hip-hop artists, from KRS-One and Rakim to Biggie and Pac to a hundred emcees on a hundred corners all over the world that you’ve never heard of. The magic of rap is in the way it can take the most specific experience, from individual lives in unlikely places, and turn them into art that can be embraced by the whole world. Decoded is a book about one of those specific lives—mine—and will show you how the things I’ve experienced and observed have made their way into the art I’ve created. It’s also about how my work is sometimes not about my life at all, but about pushing the boundaries of what I can express through the poetry of rap—trying to use words to find fresh angles into emotions that we all share, which is the hidden mission in even the hardest hip-hop. Decoded is a book about some of my favorite songs—songs that I unpack and explain and surround with narratives about what inspired them—but behind the rhymes is the truest story of my life.

The Fresh Air Interview: Jay-Z ‘Decoded’ [NPR music; with excerpts]

Jay-Z decoded: Exclusive extracts from the rap star’s memoir [Guardian]

Why collaborate at all? One could conceivably make more money not sharing the profits — if there are any — so why collaborate if one doesn’t have to? If one can write alone, why reach out? …

Well, as I said earlier, one big reason is to restrict one’s own freedom in the writing process. There’s a joy and relief in being limited, restrained. For starters, to let someone else make half the decisions, or some big part of them, absolves one of the need to explore endless musical possibilities. The result is fewer agonizing decisions in the writing process, and sometimes, faster results.

Another reason to risk it is that others often have ideas outside and beyond what one would come up with oneself. To have one’s work responded to by another mind, or to have to stretch one’s own creative muscles to accommodate someone else’s muse, is a satisfying exercise. It gets us outside of our self-created boxes. When it works, the surprising result produces some kind of endorphin equivalent that is a kind of creative high. Collaborators sometimes rein in one’s more obnoxious tendencies too, which is yet another plus.

There are also some more market-oriented, pragmatic arguments for collaboration…