Lyndahere And The End Of Great Big Sea XX...Some thoughts.

I am glad GBS will soon be going dark, for not one day less than is Best for the men who have made both Magic and Moments. I will be glad when the blaze of those lights returns, not one day later than is Best for the men who have such a wealth of Magic and Moments yet to come. @lyndahere Between the Rock and a Hard Place July 26 2013

I am a Great Big Sea purist. I love their music first and foremost. So I disagree with what @lyndahere or Lynda Elstad wrote on her recent blog post on June 26, 2013 copied below about the end of Great Big Sea for the time being. I am not looking forward to the day when the Great Big Sea XX is over for the time being.

As she does not take kindly to any kind of criticism or debate ideas different than her own I have to put them on this blog. I have been threatened in the past for comments I have made in response to her comments on her blog Between the Rock and a Hard Place.

After reading Lyndahere’s latest post on her blog confirmed what had always been obvious to me about Great Big Sea. She was counting the days until Great Big Sea XX has finished and the members of the band were off doing their own thing. On one hand I have got to admire her for her honesty. 

On the other hand it has always been obvious to me from the start of the year, her past experiences and actions exactly how she feels about Great Big Sea. She has wanted them to take a permanent break so Alan Doyle can achieve the greatness he deserves with her at his side following “her guidance and advice” as long as I have been a fan.  

Lyndahere in my opinion fails to understand what makes Great Big Sea and also Alan Doyle. The three founding members of the band Alan Doyle, Bob Hallett and Sean McCann have been friends and creative and business partners for several decades. These men share a common love of many things including music, family, friends, their religion and of St. John’s and Newfoundland. They have always had other individual ventures professionally for example writing and making music, writing books, acting or running a business in St. John’s or personal ones raising a family and being part of a community. They are generous with each other and have in my opinion never held each other back professionally for the benefit of Great Big Sea.

It is only when a fan goes to St. John’s and spends some time there do they really understand this. There are the constant goodbyes and reunions with their wives, families and friends. Their wives knew this when they married them. They let them go and do what makes them the wonderful, talented and creative men they are and to earn a living doing something they love. To be a successful Great Big Sea wife is to trust your man, let them go and do what they need to and they will come back. They are supportive and loving with their men and share in their successes and life’s joys and disappointments when they are home and away. Their women have their own lives, careers and families. Unlike Lyndahere who does not seem to be able to let Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea do anything without her. No matter how much time it takes or how much it costs she is always there watching, taking photos and filming.

Lyndahere perhaps selfish in her wishes. Great Big Sea bring a lot of happiness to people who go to concerts and they love to make and play music together simple as that... It reminds me of something I wrote in another blog post about why fans go to see them but not for her. “I will start off with @lyndahere states she never goes to a Great Big Sea concert to be happy or as a respite from being unhappy. No not her. She goes to concerts for different reasons (the words she uses sound kind of like an elaboration of happiness for example thrilled, amused, entertained but never mind) to think more deeply about the music. To be happy is not illegal or a crime even for just a couple of hours when I last checked in Canada or America nor is it anywhere in the Western world. @lyndahere writes “Others feel differently, I know. Many others and much differently. I have been hearing about – and witnessing the great big happy for years now, some of it on occasion a bit disquieting (especially when the great big happy transforms swiftly into the great big mean mere moments after the show’s closing cord) some of it genuinely impressive and powerfully inspiring”. Whatever the reason people pay for a ticket while interesting is not really important. I think it is fabulous and I am sure that Great Big Sea do too, that people with whatever time they have and whatever money they have left over from life decide to spend it going to a traditional folk music concert. It gives them an opportunity away from the preoccupations around of life like a job, raising children or going to school, family and friends.”

As long as Great Big Sea continue to fill venues of whatever size they chose and want to play together they will continue to play music. Great Big Sea taking a holiday will not change Lyndahere’s life as she follows Alan Doyle and his band. No matter how hard Lyndahere tries she will not drive a wedge between the members of Great Big Sea with her endless words, photographs and bootlegged live recordings. Lyndahere will soon grow tired of following Alan Doyle and his band around and will try to separate him from the rest of his band as she has Great Big Sea. Lyndahere has the opportunity to do something worthwhile here. For example, write the book she has talked about, do a course in some kind in writing or photography or just stay put and celebrate the ordinariness of life we all have. She should move on and create a happy and healthy life for herself like everyone else rather than trying to influence others of which she has no chance.

'From Between the Rock and a Hardplace' published on 26 July, 2013.

"There's no way I'm pretending that I don't believe they can all benefit substantially from such a lengthy break, professionally and personally. It will give them the freedom they need to invest themselves fully in the plethora of exciting, challenging solo projects which, up until the moment GBS goes dark for the predetermined period, they've each been forced to schedule around their Mother-Ship commitments, whenever such scheduling was possible. And when it wasn't, another opportunity was lost. 

This upcoming break allows them an extended period of time to move forward into becoming  all that these new projects might possibly bring out in them and make of them, without having to repeatedly step back into behavioural patterns and interactive roles which have been so thoroughly established over the past two decades. It gives them the opportunity to seek out and embrace that which brings out their Best, the Best of each of them. These are all good things, wonderful things, to any and all who care about the Men who make up the Band. 

But what then of GBS? If it is true that the present source of artistic creativity can be more readily found in the solo efforts rather than the group work, if it is true that the Best of each individual band member is more likely to be discovered, encouraged and emergent outside of the confines of the collective effort...what is the rationale for the continuation of that collective effort? Beyond, of course, the obvious one of cash flow (assuming, again of course, it's even pragmatcially possible to move beyond that financial rationale, especially given the stellar success of this multiple-sellouts XX Tour). 

 Because they can make Magic.  Even when it's not the strongest music they're capable of creating or performing, even when they're exhausted or discouraged or fighting petty wars amongst themselves, even when the weather or the venue or the equipment or the tour schedule (or the crowd) sucks in all the worst possible ways...they are capable of making Magic.

This is something they do, something they have done, together, though I strongly suspect that the Power of all that they have created together - this multi-year history of wonderful shows and grand times, the accumulated memories of  two decades of unforgettable nights out at the best fuckin' party in the world that so many of their audience participants bring along with them to the shows, like the priceless gifts they truly are - is great  enough to withstand some personnel changes, if it should happen to be that such changes turn out to be what's Best for the personnel in question (no, not Alan - very sorry, but there is no losing Alan...call that subjective or objective, even call it unfair if you wish,  but also call it True), and still remain Great Big Sea in all the ways that matter. In all the ways necessary for Magic to continue. 

This  is a world sorely in need of Magic, and of Unforgettable Moments as well - however that Magic and by whomever those Moments are made. I am glad GBS will soon be going dark, for not one day less than is Best for the men who have made both Magic and Moments. I will be glad when the blaze of those lights returns, not one day later than is Best for the men who have such a wealth of Magic and Moments yet to come. 

Until all of this happens, while the Continuing Birthday Party which is the GBS XX Tour keeps rolling along, heading inexorably toward its ever-nearing conclusion, now is the time to partake, whenever and wherever possible. Because the only thing better than the memory of yesterday's dizzying Magic or the hope for tomorrow's  unforgettable Moment is seeking out and finding both of these things today.

It can be a wonderful experience, an awesome experience. Kind of like cake and ice cream for the heart and soul. Make mine Devil's Food and Mocha, please and thanks. And,  no, I wouldn't object one bit to a lovely dollop of whipped cream on top." 

Life in the Village with Russell and Twitter...A reflection.

Yesterday an Italian Russell Crowe fan was blocked from his Twitter account in front of over a million followers. @Russellcrowe to @franzecchini What could possibly be the point in tweeting that? Blocked 24 July 2012. The original tweet deleted. @franzecchini to @russellcrowe I meant that I don’t like her as actress not as person of course, just a point of view…Can’t understand why u blocked me 24 July 2013

I first followed Russell Crowe over three years ago in 2010 and stopped in April of 2012. Previously I had followed a Russell Crowe Facebook site that posted his tweets from Twitter. I was under the impression for a long time I was friends with him and sending posts to Russell Crowe not a fan page. I didn’t realise until much later he didn’t have an account on Facebook and the only social media account he had was Twitter. I stopped using my Facebook account in 2010.

At the time I joined the village a fictional space in cyberspace where he and followers known as villagers congregate and live by a specific philosophy that promotes caring and kindness not only towards Russell Crowe but to each other there were approximately 50 000 members. Russell Crowe was on a break from making movies spending time with his family, involved in his football club and doing the odd documentary. He tweeted American women (whose description shall remain private), his mates from Australia and America and the rest of us. Today gone are the young pretty women (whose description shall remain private) and is now more interested in comments. Twitter was seen as tool of amusement and relief for his boredom when away from his family and a way to defend himself against the journalists and newspapers.

Part of me is grateful for his presence on Twitter and social media. I have met many nice people and engaged in some delightful and fun twitter conversations. I have shared in the delight people get from being tweeted by him and his friends in particular more than once. (I was only tweeted once by Russell Crowe over two years and I eventually moved on). I have been introduced into some wonderful music through him for example Alan Doyle, Great Big Sea and Scott Grimes. I have been introduced to some interesting people that I would not have normally met like Allan Hawco who writes and produces a wonderful television program Republic of Doyle in St John’s Newfoundland. In 2010 Russell Crowe filmed an episode with his co stars from Robin Hood and I have remained a fan of the show ever since.

Russell Crowe has done many nice things and made a lot of villagers extremely happy. He has taken on the role of the birthday God wishing people happy birthday some who once they got their tweet were never seen again. He has retweeted for good causes, people have their questions answered, their comments responded to, their artwork praised and become Twitter friends with a famous actor/celebrity. I have seen him promote a range of musicians and artists for example Alabama Shakes. His followers have shared in the making of his movies, publicity stints and the ups and downs of his football club in Australia South Sydney. Perhaps one of the really nice things he has shared was his relationship with his children.

But for all the feel good stuff there has been a dark side as there is with any engagement with social media. I have witnessed some extremely bad bullying. I have seen people who as fast as they become friends with a famous actor ignored, dumped and occasionally publically ridiculed to a point they have to protect their Twitter sites. For anyone who follows Russell Crowe knows he is extremely loyal and I imagine quiet generous to his friends and business partners in his life. This is perhaps one of the most unspoken rules of being in the village loyalty not only to him but his friends as well. Any kind of criticism constructive or not may not be taken too kindly in particular when he is having a bad day.  

It can be quiet devastating to those who get blocked for expressing an opinion. For many of them English is not their first language and they can be quite blunt unintentionally with what they say. Non English speakers are not as skilled as some Americans are at expressing themselves in the way he wants to be tweeted to. They are often unskilled or do not know what is expected when tweeting an actor/celebrity like Russell Crowe. To be humiliated in front of more than a million people can be a sole destroying experience to say the least and not deserved. Then there are those that get away with a lot worse behaviour and are never blocked or publically humiliated. People lose faith and move on very quickly. If they are really keen they can just create a new account and off they go again trying not to make the same mistake.

I have seen some other not so nice things. I have seen people ignored and blocked for no other reason other than their age or their photo or they might say the wrong thing on a wrong day when he is not at his shining best. Some women are more likely to get tweeted if they are young and pretty and have a nice looking photograph. And once tweeted off they go. So what is new in this world? And that is a frustrating thing for older mature women who tweet him regularly. There have been huge put downs and the total outright criticism of people’s art. Twitter no matter how controlled reveals a lot more than the user imagines. I didn’t like some of the things that were happening and I felt like a fool letting them take place unnoticed. There is a long list. Despite Russell Crowe revealing a lot about himself, there is part of me that remains loyal in not revealing what I learnt.

As the fan and the blocked fan’s followers and regular Russell Crowe villagers tried to explain the unspoken rules of village and comfort her, her apology seems to have fallen on deaf ears. If a villager speaks up they should be warned they may be ostracised into the village wilderness in public or just ignored not only with Russell Crowe but with other groups and individuals associated with Russell Crowe as well. Yet there are people who continue to follow him in the thousands. What is interesting in watching the Russell Crowe justice system in action is the number of villagers who just stand by and watch it all happen, without speaking up and without defending the victim. All for the promise of something as insignificant as a tweet. A tweet that buys silence to humiliation and suffering of someone they may have called an online friend and the fandom associated with being an online tweeting 'friend'.  

Over the years he has endured many sensational episodes from what he has written on Twitter and reported by journalists. They range from Jewish circumcision, to criticising the media, opinions of politics, his separation from his gorgeous wife Danielle, to the heart break of missing his children, to the release of nude photos and his weight loss journey. I found this story about his Australian citizenship quest the most interesting.


'Oscar-winner Russell Crowe denied citizenship' by Vicki Roach News published by news.com.au on 26 June, 2013. ( No copyright infringement intended)

Because of this, he fails to meet the criteria for permanent citizenship under the Family and Community Services Legislation Ammendment (New Zealand citizens) Act 2001.

"Apparently I fall between the cracks,' said Crowe this week when asked about his citizenship status during an interview to promote the hit new Superman movie The Man of Steel.

Crowe intended to become an Australian citizen in 2006 at an Australia Day concert on the lawns of Parliament House, which was to be telecast live on Channel 10.

But the ceremony was canned at the eleventh hour because "the Government wasn't able to facilitate the process in time,'' according to a Ten spokeswoman. "He's keen but ... there are obviously certain protocols that need to be adhered to."

Seven years on, Crowe still hasn't satisfied those protocols.

"It's a very complicated situation,'' he said.

"This is the country I choose to live in, this is the country in which I spent my formative years, so it's kind of frustrating.

"But I am not the only person in that boat - there's a whole bunch of New Zealanders who have committed to a life here, who have had children here, who bought their first houses here, who have been productive, taxpaying members of society.

"I know why the rules are in place and I understand and respect that but there has to be some form of arbitration where you can sit down and state your case.

"These rules are not big enough to engage with the complexity of people's lives."

Crowe arrived in Australia in 1968. He has lived in Australia for 37 of his 49 years.

"As a young kid, I stood on the hustings at Watson's Bay and gave out pamphlets on how to vote for Gough Whitlam at the polling booth.

"I got a (Centenary of) Federation medal (in 2003). I was made into a stamp. Until recently I had an Australian wife. I have two Australian children. But I still fall between the cracks."

Crowe said while he identified as Australian, the most important reason for him to become a citizen was his two boys, Charles and Tennyson.

"If something goes down overseas we have to go to two embassies," he said.

But the actor also admitted that despite throwing his support behind Julia Guillard via Twitter last week, his current immigration status meant that he would be unable to follow that up at the polling booth come election day, since only Australian citizens can vote.


 

Lyndahere, Bullying And Other Stuff...Some thoughts.

This post was originally going to be just for the record. Today Great Big Sea received their gold records from Warner Music in Canada, a wonderful time for Great Big Sea and their fans. They had also performed huge concerts at the Ottawa Blues Fest, Toronto and Pittsburgh in the US with over 40 00 fans this week. A very exciting time for them and for all of us who want to see the boys do well.

Not for @lyndahere or Lynda Elstad. Of course she wasn’t invited to the big occasion at Warner Music. It must have been disappointing for her to miss out on seeing Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea collect their gold record without her. She had been there a large step of the way. The event however, did not go unnoticed by her on Twitter and after the brief complementary congratulations tweet she moved on.

That day @lyndahere had started on bullies and bullying on her Twitter sites. They grew more intense as the day went on. Then a tweet claiming a Newfoundland man she encountered was a coward. On the day Great Big Sea were receiving their gold record she was calling a Newfoundland man a bully and a coward. Yep  it is not about me it’s about you.

@lyndahere is not taking and following her own advice “it’s not about me. It’s about you”. And we all know who really this whole thing is about.@lyndahere. It all dissolved very quickly once she got the response she was after and off she went onto to another concert.

It is truly unfortunate for her no is a dirty word. The world is full of adventures and perhaps @lyndahere should find one that appreciates her as she would like to be appreciated. Unfortunately self-esteem and self-respect can’t be bought in the way she buys an airline or bus ticket or books a hotel room for the next concert.

There probably is no point in going into bullying yet again because well she will do what she always does, use the same methods to get what she wants and the same responses. On a lot of the previous big occasions for this band @lyndahere has done something to attract attention. These are recorded on previous posts throughout the last year. The "It's not about me. It's about you" gabble is wearing a bit thin for all those involved as it is just not true.

@lyndahere Ha – 1^st time a pissed-off me ever called a NL man a coward @christinatownie responded, “Well, yes, that isn’t really a big deal here”.  15 July 2013

@lyndahere Recalling Dad’s advice re bullies: Confront or capitulate will both escalate. Instead, remain who you are, do what you do, love who you love. 15 July 2013

@lyndahere to @alanthomasdoyle When in doubt – always in doubt it seems it's go with “It’s not about me. It’s about (insert loved one)”. 14 July 2013

@lyndahere to @alanthomasdoyle The hard part is knowing what’s Best to do, in lieu of info. A well-intentioned guessing game played with love. 14 July 2013

@lyndahere Without cowards, there would be no bullies. 14 July 2013

@lyndahere to @alanthomasdoyle “Believe in the Best I know of you; try to do the Best I know for you.” Only answer I have. Perhaps only answer there is. 14 July 2013

@lyndahere to @alanthomasdoyle You’re still King. Caring trumps bullying. 14 July 2013

Lyndahere and Ground Hog Day

This is a post for a rainy day. And is one of those days. On Twitter @lyndahere wrote “Coming to the second Jubilee Auditorium on a tour is Déjà vu all over again. Identical” 15 March 2013.

Her tweets and stalking remind me of the 1993 movie Groundhog Day staring Bill Murray and Andi MacDowell. It is the story of a weather man who visits a small American town of Punxsutawney Pennsylvania to report on the annual ritual of the coming out of the groundhog. He wakes up the next day to discover he is trapped in town due to a snow storm that comes in after the groundhog ceremony. Then again when he wakes up the next day it is the same morning of the day before over and over again and everything that has happened to him is repeated. If he repeats the same behaviour towards people as he did on the day then the day will be repeated, but if changes his behaviour and the way people respond to him then a whole range of new and exciting possibilities open up. He remembers what has happened on each previous day. In order to change the events he changes into a better person he would like to become.

I recently viewed some @lyndahere’s bootlegged videos and some photographs of Great Big Sea in particular the video of when they distributed the anniversary cake. It was very sweet of them to show their appreciation of the audience and involve them in the celebrations. She always seems to be in the same location and that is right in front of Alan Doyle on stage. The videos are the same, focused directly on him only briefly moving to something else happening on the stage. I am amazed she always manages to get these seats or the same position so close to the stage.

And she is very close indeed and actually invasive. It would be interesting to know if she actually gets tickets to those seats closest to Alan Doyle or she just takes that position without any consideration for anyone else who will be only attending that concert. Yet here is a person who prides herself on her sharing via a blog, photos and videos with others for those who cannot attend. It must be like Ground Hog day for her. If she changed her behaviour and how people responded to her then it may open up a whole range of new possibilities for her like it did for Bill Murray’s character in Ground Hog Day.

Lyndahere, Posts And Permission...Some thoughts.

“The world we live in is surrounded by art. From the songs we sing in the shower, to the diary we write, the books we read, the movies we watch, and the video games we play– our day is filled with artistic expressions created by ourselves and others. Find the artistic expression that best suits you and use your imagination to create new, original works. Look for inspiration in the works of other authors, and respect their rights in order to encourage them to continue creating works that will move you”. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (2007)

First things first concerning posts. The most recent posts from her blog Between the Rock and a Hardplace were put up very quickly indeed. The posts official title was “Take Me Anywhere You Want To Go Tonight” Where Truth Resides : Alan Doyle Band in Peterborough & Great Big Sea in Charlottetown (in progress) 5 July 2013 were about Alan Doyle’s back to back concerts for his own band at the Peterborough's Little Lake Music Festival and Great Big Sea in Charlottetown PEI. There was lots of gabble about what she wanted to do and lots of humming and harring about to go or not to go to Great Big Sea (although I don’t believe there was really any doubt). And yes there was a lot of trumpet blowing about how hard she tried to get there and her yet for the hundredth million time VIP seating she had on tickets brought in the presale of GBS.

Then there was the “bubbling resentment” of the cameraman stealing her bootlegging opportunities who was telecasting the event rather than a real sense of celebration on someone else getting something she doesn’t have the exclusive rights on in the Great Big Sea fandom world. There was nothing about the music in particular a new song by Alan Doye she had bootlegged and put up on Youtube and distributed the links by social media. Other than one photo of Alan Doyle and Sean McCann no mention of any other members of either the Alan Doyle Band or Great Big Sea or any of the bands or musicians and artists who played at the festival.

She did not attend the shows Alan Doyle did in Croatia and usually some sickly sweet kind of criticism follows something she did not attend. According to @lyndahere he "was tired, weary and exhausted". I would have thought Alan Doyle would have been rather refreshed as he had performed without @lyndahere in his face with her camera and video recorder. “As those who follow Alan on Twitter would already know, he arrived in Peterborough (for his Alan Doyle Band gig on the opening night of the Little Lake Music Festival) via Toronto, coming there directly from London (UK, not ON), en route from Croatia. And he would be leaving soon after this show to drive back up to Toronto to catch a few hours' sleep before flying out early the next morning to make it to Charlottetown in time for Great Big Sea's first Summer XX Tour show…

He was jet-lagged and weary when he got to Peterborough but still working as hard as always, treating this show's mid-afternoon sound check more like a performance, putting on a show for the several dozen folks who'd arrived early to get good positions all around the perimeter of the fenced-off VIP area occupying the grass in front of the stage.

A woman with a toddler approached him, more requests for the making.  Alan took one look at the little girl balanced on her mother's hip...and  a dear, weary man showed the stuff of which he's made. 

What finally pushed me over the edge into "Yes" was the thought of how exhausted Alan was going to be by the time he was out on that Charlottetown-via-Croatia/London/Toronto/Peterborough/Toronto stage. If he was willing to work that hard to make it to the places his music was leading him, then I could work as hard as I could to be there to see and hear him make his music”.

The cameraman filming the event and telecasting was more important than the music and the musicians and artists who played at the event according to @lyndahere. The ‘camera dude’ as she politely referred to him had permission to be there and he was doing his job. He probably has a family to support and the money that job generated in turn generated money for the community. While I don’t know the details of the telecasting of the event I do know that is an opportunity for them to advertise their event and to bring money into the community. It was their first festival and hopefully an opportunity for those who don’t live in PEI Canada and around the world to see Great Big Sea in concert professionally filmed.

“That access area gave me a great view of the crowd - which is always enjoyable, often enlightening - and not at all a bad view of the stage. Except for the fellow running the big-screens camera, it would have been an excellent view of the stage.

But for the rest of the show, the view was simply what it was, not so bad when I figured that Camera Dude was the one making possible for the thousands of folks all the way back in that huge Big Red Music Fest crowd to see the great show the band was putting on, a sight I get to see more frequently than most.

Though I am not one bit sure I would have been anywhere near so generous if it had been my view of Alan that Camera Dude had been blocking.” 

Permission in regards to copyright doesn’t seem to be a hard concept to understand. To the best of my knowledge @lyndahere has never asked for or applied for permission to record live performances of Alan Doyle, Great Big Sea or any of their friends they perform with. Permission is needed to record live concerts under the Berne Convention and copyright laws in both the US and Canada. It is polite to ask a musician or artist if you can record their live show.  

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (2007) has produced a pamphlet for children, young people, teachers and parents on copyright and intellectual property titled “Learn from the Past, Create for the Future. The Arts and Copyright”.  The pamphlet recognises the importance of the arts in children and young people’s lives, describes copyright not only of others work but their own work as well and the different types of copyright infringements including plagiarism and piracy. I refer a lot to resources provided to children and young people because they describe copyright in an interesting, relevant and easy to understand way.  The resource provides a glossary, further reading, biography and online resources. It also provides an example of a permission letter for gaining for those who want to use other people’s work.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (2007) describes the Berne Convention and how works do not have to be registered to be subjected to copyright protected. They are protected from the moment they are created. Under the Berne Convention authors works have rights economic and moral rights. “In summary, no copyrighted work can be reproduced, translated, adapted, exhibited or performed in public, distributed, broadcast or communicated to the public without the permission of its author. This is what is meant by the phrase all rights reserved found in many works”. Then there are the copyright laws regarding sound recordings.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (2007) writes about permission letters…

“Before using (copying, adapting, performing, distributing, etc.) a copyrighted work, you must ask for permission from the author or other right holders. This permission can usually be requested by letter or e-mail…

Sometimes, the most difficult part in requesting permission is identifying and finding the contact details of the current right holders. If the author of the work you want to use is dead or otherwise transferred his rights, you may have to do a bit of research to find the current right holders…

 For music, remember that there are related rights as well as copyrights to consider. If you only want to use the sheet music, then you only need to contact the author (or the music publisher). However, if you want to use a recording, you need to contact the author (or publisher) of the music, as well as the producer of the recording. Information on who to contact can be found on the sheet music or on the CD packaging. Alternatively, you could contact a collective management organization that could help you identify and locate the right holders…

There is no way @lyndahere doesn’t know how to contact either Alan Doyle or Great Big Sea. They then inform people how to write a letter to ask permission to use specific types of works. There is a copy of a letter on their site.

In conclusion The World Intellectual Property Organisation (2007) writes “In general, performers can prohibit the recording and broadcasting of their live performances without their consent. They also have the right to prevent, among others, further copying and Internet transmission of their music recordings. For example, a band can prohibit fans from videotaping their live performances. They can also prohibit fans from uploading copies of the band’s album on the Internet.

Without these rights, performers would not be paid for their interpretations. If anyone could record and freely broadcast an artist’s performance then some people who would have paid for a ticket to attend the performance may prefer to watch the free broadcast. Recordings copied without the artist’s consent also do not provide any income to the artist. If an artist cannot earn income from his interpretations, he will have to make a living with another job and may therefore perform and record fewer works for us to enjoy.

In several countries, performers also have rights similar to authors’ moral rights. These rights protect performers against the distortion of their performances. They also allow them to ask that their names be mentioned in connection with their performances”.

Reference

The World Intellectual Property Organisation Learn From The Past, Create The Future The Arts and Copyright 2007

'Great Big Sea closes out Big Red Music Festival with high energy set' published in the Guardian on the 30 June, 2013 at Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Hands were clapping and feet were stomping during a high energy set by Great Big Sea to close out the inaugural Big Red Music Festival Sunday night.

The Newfoundland band, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, took the stage at 9:15 p.m. in front of thousands of screaming fans.

"It's great to be back in Charlottetown," said frontman Alan Doyle between songs. "We've always had a great night out here. Thanks so much for taking care of us."

The band's fondness for P.E.I. is well known. The group's first show outside of  Newfoundland was in Charlottetown in 1993.

Before the Newfoundland band took the stage Sunday, audiences were treated to David Myles, Larry McCray and Serena Ryder.

Myles, originally from Fredericton, N.B. but who now calls Halifax home, was up first and the crowd was modest to say the least, but he put on a great show. 

Next was McCray, a young bluesman from Magnolia, Ark. who showed the audience what the blues is all about. Unfortunately the crowd was small, but they were treated to some fantastic blues.

Fans began pouring into the city's new event grounds before Serena Ryder took the stage.

Great Big Sea's final set was a closing of three days of music that also included acts such as Our Lady Peace, Hedley and Ludacris.

Indie rock band Metric was supposed to headline Friday's show.

That performance was cancelled due to poor weather.

Jeff Burns, of Cape Breton N.S., said he enjoyed the rest of Friday's show but was disappointed Metric didn't play.

"They made up for it though," he said Sunday, noting that individuals who had a receipt from Friday could return it for free admission to Great Big Sea. "That was a nice gesture since we waited in the rain Friday."

Jarrod Yeo, a Saint John, N.B. resident who is originally from Summerside, said he enjoys returning to the province to "listen to some tunes and catch up with friends."

Yeo said he was looking forward to seeing how the new venue would pan out.

"I think they've got a winner," he said. "The numbers tonight are a true reflection of what this weekend was all about."

RR

Lyndahere, Copyright And Sharing...Some resources.

“Given right time & place hear the right song & it can permanently affect the course of a life. CBC SC & OZ Vanguard. @lyndahere on Twitter 30 June 2013

@lyndahere “I really like people who know how to share. Or who are at least willing to learn how to share. Sharing rocks. 18 June 2013 on Twitter.

It is Sunday and I am wondering what to write when I decided to re-read and make corrections to some of the posts I had written on earlier when I started this blog. They were mostly on copyright and criminal stalking. Most of what I had written still remains central to my understanding of copyright and stalking except one essential point and that is the distribution of her bootlegged videos. 

Lyndahere or Lynda Elstad provides links from her social media pages to her YouTube account and distributes the links via social media rather than the actual bootlegged videos. The bootlegs still remain unacknowledged and not retweeted by Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea and loading videos up onto YouTube on a massive scale continues. The only time a @lyndahere bootlegged video was acknowledged was by Murray Foster and it ended up in a 'twitter brawl' as fans who criticised the quality of the sound were personally attacked by fake accounts.

It is hard trying to understand and explain the concept of copyright. It is hard trying to explain to fans how their decisions to watch bootlegged videos and distribute links to that music may not be in the best interests of the musicians and artists whose creative work it is. To be honest fans like @lyndahere are simply not interested in listening to either me or the musicians and artists involved and continue to place their own needs of attention seeking, writing a blog and fan famdom above that of the musician and artists music they love. I will wait until the musician or artists are ready to share it with me by whatever means they choose.

There are several brilliant resources I found on the Internet that help parents and teachers explain copyright according to the laws of various countries including Canada and the US. Childnet International, Young People, Music and the Internet is a ‘guide for parents, carers and teachers about digital music at home and on the go’ and recognises the importance of music in young people’s lives and provides information about how to access it legally and most importantly safely. The pamphlet states on copyright material “Copyright can seem confusing but applies to digital music just as it applies to physical CD. Copyright protect the artist and creator and allow them to be rewarded for their work. Some people are happy to use their work for free, but most artists rely on copyrighted material to guarantee income.

Copying music you’ve bought to your computer or player can generally be done without legal consequences. However, distributing the song to others without the permission of the rights holders is a very different story. Unauthorised copying and distribution of any copyrighted material is breaking the law and that includes file-swapping of any copyrighted music on the best-known P2P networks such as Limewire. The recording industry has taken action against many people who have done this, with some large fines resulting”. There are of course exceptions to the copyright under fair usage in Canada and the United States.

Another excellent resource in the United States is the ‘Music Rules’ program designed for students in grades 3-8 years and “is a free educational program designed to help lay the foundation for respecting all forms of intellectual property, especially music recordings. Made possible by The Recording Industry Association of America, the program also promotes musical and artistic creativity and encourages students to use computer technology responsibly”. There are teacher, parents and carer, and student’s resources including lesson plans that would be interesting and relevant to a student’s life. By completing the program students would engage in the process of understanding how hard musicians, artists and others actually work to create music and how their actions impact on them. I learnt a lot just reading the material provided in particular the process of creating music.

In the teacher’s guide they provide three terms relevant to this post…”Songlifting

A general term for making and/or distributing illegal copies of copyrighted sound recordings…U.S. Copyright Law The federal law that protects copyright owners from the unauthorized reproduction, adaptation, performance, display, or distribution of original creative works… Fair Use Under U.S. copyright law, “fair use” allows someone to reproduce or make use of a portion of a copyrighted work without permission under certain conditions. Examples of fair use generally include criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research”. The parents guide outlines the penalties involved in copyright breaches “Criminal penalties for violating copyright can run up to 5 years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines, and these penalties apply even when the violation does not involve financial or commercial gain. Copyright violators can also be sued for damages in civil court, including the parents of under-age violators, even if they were unaware of their child’s actions”.

The Music Rules program essentially helps students and adults alike to engage in respect for intellectual property. “Remember it is illegal to take or make copies of online songs, games, videos, and software unless you have the copyright holder’s permission”.  Upon completion of lessons the teacher and students sign a certificate that states the student  “has learned the rules against ‘songlifting’ and pledge to respect all forms of intellectual property, obey the copyright laws that protect intellectual property, always use computer technology responsibility, always use Internet technology safely and never accept illegal copies of songs online or on disc”.

With all @lyndahere’s comings and goings from St John’s one has to ask again where does she get all her money from for tickets, travel and accommodation. There doesn’t seem to be any shortage of money. I was also wondering why a person with this much unidentifiable income and such a need for helping someone doesn’t want do it for someone who actually needs it. Despite filming at charity events attended by Alan Doyle, Great Big Sea and others she never seems to offer any of the income that could be made available from YouTube or the money and time she has available for travel and accommodation to helping people others less fortunate than herself. I am sure that Russell Crowe’s South Cares charity at his Australian rugby club would have liked some of the money that could have been raised by her bootlegged videos of the Indoor Garden Parties she attended and bootlegged in St John’s and New York city.

There have been a number of tweets and comments on her Twitter and blog to justify her actions of bootlegging and stalking. The latest one from @lyndahere to @alanthomasdoyle on Twitter “Given right time & place hear the right song & it can permanently affect the course of a life. CBC SC & OZ Vanguard. 30 June 2013. I am not sure exactly what she means by this tweet. I am wondering what she hopes one of her bootlegging recorded videos will do exactly. Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea have already signed significant record deals with record companies in Canada. They have both sold thousands of CDs, made official videos that have had hundreds of thousands of hits, their songs played on radios throughout the world and sold out concert venues. So what does she hope to achieve through her bootlegging? Attract new listeners for Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea? Her blog suggests otherwise.

So I guess she means the fans. There is no doubt that being introduced to Great Big Sea and other artists and musician’s music can change lives at any age. And yes they have changed mine. Despite scraping and saving for nearly two years the thought of attending a concert in St John’s Newfoundland motivated me to get out of my comfortable cocoon at home and travel. I loved Newfoundland and hope to return very soon. So yes I understand that music changes lives but the chances of one of her videos changing her life or that of those she so persistently films is very little as the research indicates the article below. Success in the music world just as it does in life takes hard work as it does any of us to achieve anything we desperately want. And yes some people like to live and work ethically and morally and do things the right way regardless of whether she does or not. 

'Odds of Becoming a YouTube Celebrity by Book of Odds.'

Twenty hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute; in turn, users stream seventy-five billion videos per year. With all those videos, what are your chances of making a dent in the YouTube universe and garnering, say, one million views?

Slate.com writer Chris Wilson recently addressed  just that question, concluding that “[y]ou might have better odds playing the lottery than of becoming a viral video sensation.” Wilson gathered data on about ten thousand randomly selected YouTube videos and found that 1 in 2.39 videos was viewed no more than ten times after one month, while just 1 in 401 reached ten thousand streams.

The odds are heavily stacked against the user, so much so that in Wilson’s sample, just one video cleared one hundred thousand views, and none went over a million. His article’s title was “Will My Video Get 1 Million Views on YouTube?” The answer, according to Wilson’s data, was a resounding no.

And yet, anyone who has visited YouTube enough times knows that there are plenty of videos with at least one million views—too many, in fact, to count. Can we use Wilson’s data to estimate a video’s odds of getting one million views? We can, but first we must apply some corrections.

As with many data sets, Wilson’s YouTube stats are heavily skewed, with a huge number of videos bunched at no more than a few views (most commonly zero), and an ever-decreasing total as the numbers get higher. There are, for example, 2,226 videos with no views in their first month, 237 with one view, 158 with ten views, and just 23 with one hundred. Any statistical estimation demands a more or less normal distribution, where the data resembles a bell curve rather than the power law.

This can be accomplished by taking the natural logarithm of the video streams plus 0.5 (which is there to make all numbers positive, as you cannot take the natural logarithm of zero—it also results in an almost perfect skewness). We can then find the average of that number for the sample as well as the standard deviation; from there, we can find the odds of a video getting any number of views.

Let’s go through a numerical example. The average of our “transformed” number of views is 2.56; the standard deviation is 2.26. The natural logarithm of 1,000,000 + 0.5 is 13.82. One million page views, then, is (13.82 – 2.56)/2.26 = 4.98 standard deviations away from the mean. In nontechnical terms, that means it is a very unlikely occurrence—something we already knew! This, however, can tell us how many YouTube videos will garner one million views in its first month on the site: about 1 of every 3.1 million.

Those are pretty long odds, but they may be overstated. As you can see in the graph, the statistics are very good at predicting video streams at fairly low viewer numbers but seem to overstate the odds (claiming that the odds are longer than they are in actuality) at very high numbers.

This might have to do with the theory of the fat tail. The vast majority of YouTube videos are user-generated and of little interest to more than a few people. These heavily impact the sample averages and distributions, making high view count videos seem less likely than they actually are. For example, compared to Wilson’s actual results, the statistical method under-predicts videos with ten thousand views by about 50 percent and videos with one hundred thousand views by about 150 percent.

It seems likely, then, that the odds of reaching one million views are being underestimated even more severely, though it is difficult to venture a guess as to how much. It must also be pointed out that our statistics cover only the first month of a video’s life; certainly, its odds would improve if we went out a full year.

Still, regardless of what the true odds of your YouTube video getting one million hits are, we can say with certainty that they are very, very low. Then, again, if a video of a dance down the aisle at a wedding can beat the million mark twenty-eight times over in just two months, why can’t yours?

Originally published on Book of Odds

Great Big Sea And Their Good People Fans...A fan project.

‘Good people’ is a song written about the good people we find in this life. The song describes how the Earth may be running out of natural resources and space but it will never run out of good people.

On the CBC radio music video of 'Good People', Alan Doyle and Bob Hallett describe how they came to write it. It was written by Sean McCann and Great Big Sea's friend Paul Lann after they had visited a pub near Paul's cabin called the End Of Line which is where the chorus came from....“Good people aren't hard to find, they're right around the corner, at the end of the line, it's true!”

Great Big Sea's 'Good People Project' has been asking for fans to tweet their picture and identify the particular concert they are attending. They are then screened on a huge video screen during the performance of the song. It is a way for Great Big Sea to show their appreciation to their fans. Yes there are a lot of wonderful Great Big Sea fans not just in Canada but throughout the world.

Image from kukoshuko.wordpress.com (no copyright infringement intended)

Good People (lyrics)

The world today can be a scary place;
Hard to keep your faith in the human race.
We're runnin' outta trees,
And we're runnin' outta space,
But we'll never run out of good people.

Ask 'em for a shovel,
And they'll dig you a hole.
Put the coffee on,
And drag you in from the cold.
If you get lost,
They'll show you where to go,
Even give you a ride, good people.

Good people aren't hard to find:
They're right around the corner,
At the end of the line, it's true!
Good people got peace of mind,
And I'd like to spend some time with you!
Ooh ooh ooh.

A man ain't nothing if he ain't got a friend,
Down and out without a penny to spend.
The bells above will ring in the end,
For good people.

Good people aren't hard to find:
They're right around the corner,
At the end of the line, it's true!
Good people got peace of mind,
And I'd like to spend some time with you!
Ooh ooh ooh.

[Accordion Solo]

Rich and poor are born to be free,
Fly around the world or sail the seven seas.
There ain't no place that I'd rather be,
Then here right now, with good people.

Good people aren't hard to find:
They're right around the corner,
At the end of the line, it's true!
Good people got peace of mind,
And I'd like to spend my time with you!

Good people aren't hard to find:
They're right around the corner,
At the end of the line, it's true!
Ooh ooh ooh.

The world today can be a scary place;
Hard to keep your faith in the human race.
We're runnin' outta trees,
And we're runnin' outta space,
But we'll never run out of good people.

An image from the Good People project shown during a concert recently on the Great Big Sea XX tour.