Dark Ambient Radio participates in the crowdfunding of C3S, a collecting society for the digital age!
Geschrieben von DarkAmbient am July 17 2013 - 16:40:15
Most dark ambient music producers are not as aware of the copyright aspects of their work as they should -- many seem to not care at all. A nice attitude that suits the dinosaur institutions, which are failing to adapt to modern times' music production, dissemination, and consumtion processes. But independent little web radios have 'to face the music' in the corporate world and bear the unfair distribution of assets.
A ray of hope comes in the form of an emerging new collecting society, which is currently in a critical state in it's startup process. If you are European resident and a music producer, consider to apply for a membership and take part in the crowdfunding (go to http://www.startnext.de/en/c3s, click on the Investment tab, select the number of shares you want -- usually one -- and send the filled-out membership application 'Mustervertrag' to Startnext.de). It is also possible to become a supportive member, if you are not a music producer.
Click on 'mehr lesen' below for some official PR text -- to learn more about C3S.
Erweiterte News
Concerted investment in a fair alternative to the GEMA? The crowdfunding has started!
For quite some time, the German music collecting society GEMA has been facing criticism from artists and consumers. Up to now, no alternative collecting society exists. Authors who want to make their musical works public must become members of the GEMA. The initiative Cultural Commons Collecting Society (C3S) wants to change this situation. Last Sunday, a crowdfunding was started in order to enable concerted investment in a fair alternative to the GEMA (http://startnext.de/en/c3s). The date for the founding has been set: September 25th, during the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg.
Digitalization has transformed the needs of both consumers and artists. For a long time, people have waited for an adaption to the circumstances and a restructuring. But neither the GEMA itself, nor politics, or the German Patent and Trademark Office are able to alter the current situation. This is why the C3S (Cultural Commons Collecting Society) was created as an initiative for founding a new, alternative collecting society. A community, acting in a social, open and democratic way.
In the run-up to the crowdfunding, 770 people have declared that they wish to immediately become supporters and members of the C3S. A music sampler, curated by a team of the C3S and containing GEMA-free music under Creative Commons licenses, was downloaded 16.000 times within 60 hours[1]. GEMA-free platforms like Jamendo.com list up to 40.000 artists [2]. European politics stipulate new requirements for collecting societies ? the C3S has already implemented them into its concept [3, 4].
The demand for a new, European collecting society is obvious. m.eik michalke, spokesperson for cultural politics of the C3S, explains: "Our goal is a collecting society that supports conventional licensing models as well as the promotion of new, user-friendly models like Creative Commons.?
As a European cooperative association, the C3S wants to crowdsource a minimum of 50.000 Euro in order to be able to continue its work. The core objective, however, is the founding of a cooperative with 3.000 members, financing the start with ca. 200.000 Euro ? a concerted effort of investing in the future of music. Tino Kreßner, CFO and founder of Startnext, says: ?Crowdfunding and cooperative associations share a fundamental characteristic: it is all about joining forces to support an idea. For Startnext, the financing of the cooperative association of the C3S is an important milestone, because it is our goal to especially support the founding of cooperatives and social businesses.?
Musicians and music lovers, individuals, companies and organizations ? everybody can participate by registering on the Startnext platform (http://www.startnext.de/en/c3s) and participating in the crowdfunding, or by becoming a member by purchasing at least one 50 Euro share.
If the project is successful, there are no more obstacles to a fair, transparent and flexible collecting society. Everyone can be part of it.
[1] http://freemusicarchive.org/music/C3S/C3SIX__The_C3S_Ignition_Mix/
[2] http://artists.jamendo.com/de/home
[3]http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/de/pressroom/content/20130708IPR16829/html/MEPs-support-easier-licensing-for-EU-wide-online-music-services
[4] http://bit.ly/18bL1dc
About the C3S
The C3S started in 2010 as an initiative for the founding of a modern collecting society for music.
An increasing number of musicians can not, or do not want to, be represented by the GEMA. The C3S is conceived as a European cooperative association (not as an economic association), where all users have the same right to vote (not only those with a high income). It is the goal of the C3S to use modern communication technology in order to enable uncomplicated processing and optimal fairness of distribution.
Unlike the exclusive representation of an artist's full catalog of works, which is required by the GEMA, the C3S will allow the licensing of individual works. Apart from the classical copyright, the support of all Creative Commons licensing contracts will for the first time create market equality for alternative licensing concepts. After the successful start in Germany, the area of certification will be gradually expanded all over Europe.