It's the wine stupid!

“The best forms of copy protection
are new business models that destroy the motive to copy, not its
mechanism. A wireless flat-fee/advertising-supported jukebox of
unlimited capacity would strip us of our desire to make MP3 files. We
are transitioning, as my friend John Perry Barlow likes to say, from
an economy of nouns to one of verbs. An economy that emphasizes the
wine, not the bottle.”

Jim Griffin, testimony before the US
Senate Judiciary committee on the "Future of Digital Music“ in
November 2000

Open creation?

One of the most remarkable French scientists and humanists of our times is Joel de Rosnay. A great mind, curious and full of good old common sense as much as he is talented with elaborate concepts. There is a great post on the blog of his latest book about the influence mass amateurism exerts today on traditional players of the media & entertainment industry. There is a dramatic increase in the supply of content because the means to produce are now available to the masses at an affordable cost with a technical quality that is close to professional standards. This makes it more difficult for the demand side of the market to identify what content is suited to their needs. It is the mass-market version of the old story of information overload we have been coping with in established businesses over the past decade. In any event, the imbalance between supply and demand, between production and our collective ability to use, changes the rules of the game. This means a radical transformation of the value chain of creation, production, distribution and compensation and consequently a major shift in the relative power of participants... which may explain why some of the traditional players are going totally nuts over the effects of the Internet, trying to fight against the tide instead of using it. A new value chain can be supported and enhanced by players like jamendo I believe.

The SWISH report

Here is a document published on OpenDemocracy (= vibrant open journalism under a Creative Commons framework) earlier this month. It is a report from an imaginary  consultancy company specializing in geostrategic matters. The report contains recommendations to Al-Quaida for achieving their stated strategic objectives of disrutping the western world and asserting their own influence. Interestingly, the report shows how the current policies of the western world are actually ctalyzing and supporting the objectives of terrorists. Something that is clear when considering the rise of islamic extremism on the political scenes of the Arab world.

Bombs don't build democracies. Unilateralism breeds violence. Dissent promotes democracy. Period.

Enjoy the reading. Download 20060201_OpenDemocracy_SwishReport.pdf

Border change

Quoting from the site of Apple, at this location:

In order to be eligible, entrants must be 13 years of age or older, and
a legal resident of one of the 50 United States, including Washington,
D.C., Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of
Quebec), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland or the United Kingdom.

I knew the power of US Law is de facto global and that often the US don't give much of a dime about the sovereignty of other nations, but I was not aware there had been quite a dramatic change of borders recently. Did I miss something in the news? Oh, and by the way "Vive le Québec libre!"...

And here's a proof on PDF in case the text changes sometime:
Download 20060208_apple_itunes_billionsongscountdown__rules.pdf

Clear message on TV

Watching a piece of news about jamendo on French television network TF1 (here's the video), I realized how tough it is to convey a clear message about any subject on TV these days.

The message has to be:

1. simple even if it strips the subject of a lot of interesting and relevant substance



2. short enough to be able to say it in a couple of sentences



3. expressed in very basic terms without any trace of sophistication or subtlety



4. positioned in a way that fits with the editorial line of the programme



5. fun to watch

On the one hands it feels quite scary because if every piece of info we are getting is treated like that, then no wonder our understanding of contemporary issues is murky at best. On the other hand it seems to me the constraint is a good exercise for anyone who wants to use that medium for sending out a message. And I found the guys of jamendo quite targeted showing how they are using the great innovation brought by Creative Commons to offer a credible way for musicians to distribute their work and access listeners globally. Now, working with them I also know that they have a lot more to contribute to the community of artists, although that won't fit in a report of a couple of minutes. So the next question becomes: how do we get invited to a bigger show with more time to outline the opportunities of the Information Age for artists and society in general. I suspect the answer is to make sure jamendo has a position stated in 5 to 8 words as Tom Peters urges his readers to do... Sounds like a challenging and interesting exercice for me ;-)

Perceptions and intention

Perception is what defines the way we build our beliefs and behaviours... which is of course a belief too. Now, each of these pictures contains at least two images and one of them will seem most obvious to you.

Many situations in life are like that and certainly the huge emotion we are now witnessing with the drawings of Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. A fundamental assumption about the intentions of the creators of these drawings is what eventually shapes the behaviour we have concerning this matter. Which is also true of the stance of some Muslims around the planet. If they choose to believe the intention is to offend and demean their culture and faith (and it would be interesting to see how such a belief may have emerged over the past 50 to 100 years), then of course their reaction will be violent (as it is). On the other hand, if they were to assume a positive intention at least for the creators of the drawings then their reaction might be different. To make that assumption of intention it would be handy if they believed that there is room for more than one worldview on the planet, which is something we western believers in democracy and freedom of the press could be promoting more actively. Obviously the idea that there are many ways to see the world is not conveyed when one party in full control of one country decides to embark on a crusade to teach a single truth to the world (syndrome of "you are with us or you are against us"). This universe works on the basis of mirror effects: what I give is also what I get. If I give understanding, dialogue and genuine compassion, then that is what Iget in response most of the time, even if there are exceptional cases when the least violent appropriate answer is actually quite assertive. It may be time to review world governance...

I have seen the drawings. Most of them are boring like hell, a couple are not very respectful of the Prophet (and I believe it is the right of the authors not to be respectful provided they are not insulting in the expression of their opinion) and a couple are funny. And this is only my opinion. Up to you to make yours and here are the drawings: Download lesdouzedessinsduprophte.pps

By the way I believe in complete, unrestricted and responsible freedom of expression and I am ready to promote or defend that value no matter what.

 

The awakening of Titans

So the time has come. Indian and Chinese companies have grown to a size that allows them to buy western companies. This is a milestone in business history. By the way, it may be time to consider teaching Hindi and Mandarin in our schools because that's where the action will be in the coming centuries.

I am really impressed to hear some of the reactions to the recent bid by Mittal Steel on Europe's Arcelor. There was even somebody on French radio france Inter saying that there should be an independent expertise on Mittal Steel to assess its financial situation before the deal goes through. That's pure manipulation of information because Mittal Steel is quoted on the stock market in New York (NYSE; symbol: MT) and therefore, unless we challenge the long held belief that markets are perfect, we must consider that it is properly valued and that they have the right to attempt a hostile take-over of Arcelor. Personally I don't have an opinion on the matter as I don't know the steel industry very well, but I am shocked at the way this piece of news is covered. It definitely is either a protectionist reaction tainted with a bit of xenophobia or yet another manifestation of inconsistency and variable geometry in the rhetoric about market logic.

And, as all these interesting events are taking place our European leaders are conducting the very important business of negotiating exeptions to the Union's VAT legislation or having urgent useless crisis meetings to find ways to repel "the Indian predator" as Mittal is described in a shockingly insulting way...

I wonder how things would have been presented if a European company was to go after an Indian, a Chinese or a Brazilian one...