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| jamendo (Photo credit: pigheadskin) |
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In this episode:
We talk with Martin Guerber from Jamendo the creative commons music site.
Here are Doug's notes from the interview.
Give us an overview of the project
#1 Platform for CC music! (in the world!)
Free model (plus pro version, of course)
50/50 cut.
2004 by French guys involved in Open Source.
an attempt to break down barriers between new artists
1.5 million users! 4 million unique visitors per month!
370,000 tracks by 50k artists!
400 new tracks a day!
One of the oldest (Tom says mature) music websites on the web! (...or at the very least in Europe)
Jamendo is (or at least was) underground.
GEMA and French collection societies of complete douche-bags (my words, not Martins)
Martin has been with Jamendo a year and a half or so.
There has been a lot of uproar about the “new” Jamendo. What are some of the reasons behind that?
technical structure and design needed an upgrade!
simpler now.
too many features before and hard to maintain.
wanted better integration of *other* social networks with Jamendo
OpenID would be a good fit. You heard it here first!
It *might* be in the works.
They want to push content to the users!
What has been some of the fallout from that situation?
Doug says - metal bands don’t like purple (my assertion!)
Martin says they didn’t handle the release well.
Website is more track-oriented now Martin says.
How do bands get selected for the home page?
Martin puts the bands on the front page!
Artwork is important! (Tom and I agree!)
(accurate!) Tagging is important!
How much do you see non-profits such as FMA & dogmazic as competition and how much do you see them as co-conspirators in the fight for free culture?Jamendo looks at them for ideas.
Jamendo and CCMixter did a joint contest for Christmas music!
Jamendo Pro launched in 2009! The main goal from the start was to make something sustainable and easier for the artists to make money!
Where did the project name originate?
Jam...got that one!
Crescendo!
What are the ambitions for Jamendo going forward?
obviously looking to enhance the artist experience!
crowdfunding *could* be on the way.
booking *could* be on the way
building a toolbox
grow the business side
What is the most popular license on the site?
Martin doesn’t know, but guesses BY-NC-SA.
What is the Creative Commons culture like in France?
big French community active on Jamendo.
Creative Commons France isn’t in a lot of contact with Jamendo. Martin wants to bridge the gap in the future.
many people are not aware of CC!
in Europe, CC is more known in Germany and Spain.
Do you have any personal artistic projects, unrelated to Jamendo?
playing guitar for 12 years
How do cross-border licensing stuff work with Jamendo?
GEMA rears its head again!
Jamendo is lobbying European Commission to be more clear on author’s rights.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authors'_rights
Any financial band success stories you want to share?
“a bunch of artists make good”
top artists can make $20,000 a year through Jamendo
What do you like to listen to?
indie-pop
electric pop & rock
historically, a lot of punk rock: Rancid, Bad Religion, etc
rising Jamendo stars:
Emerald Park
Shearer
Uniform Motion
We Are FM ← just quit their collection rights society!
Who are some people you think we should try to get on the show (aka, who are the important people in Creative Commons music today)?
Kellee Maize ← #1 Google result for “female rapper”
