Soggy Musings of Day Two in a Dimly-Lit Starbucks

Yesterday after our sessions had ended, a few of us wandered into the Church of Scientology. Needless to say, this could be one for the grandchildren. However, since this blog is principally for our sessions, this story shall have to wait for another post.

The first session of the morning was by far the most enlightening look into the current state of the recording arts industry that I've encountered since Lars Ulrich's legal assault on his Napsterite fans. Samantha Murphy's 10am "P2P: An Artist's Perspective" was quite inspiring in that many of the points she brought up were entirely relevant and at times eye-opening. Murphy, the host of one of the oldest artist-driven podcasts on the 'Net, is entirely free of record label influence and has turned down a recording contract. She is turning her website smtvmusic.com into a legal filesharing website for college students to experience new music from both signed and unsigned artists who have pledged their support of this project. The basic message of her session is that we as broadcasters need to fight to keep the Internet free so that artists can continue to release their art.

The 11am "Ins and Outs of Resumes" session was jam-packed with those eager to make their resumes better and more noticeable. In a fiercely-competitive job market, having a resume that lists your flexibility and willingness to venture into any avenue of journalism is a must as the profession continues its dramatic change. Basically, showing off your strengths can become a plus when you're being considered for a job.

The noon "Truth About Jobs and Internships" session dealt with your options in searching for either a job or internship. It was hit hard on us that experience when looking for both internships and jobs are an absolute must; I'm still unsure if I want to continue toward a Broadcasting degree or if I want to switch to News-Editorial, for I enjoy writing immensely but I also enjoy certain aspects of broadcast production as well. However, I think I'll go for internships in both areas just in case. In this session I learned that for print internships/jobs, campus experience isn't the only experience you should have. Time to get cracking ^_^

The 1pm "Sum of All Fears" session was quite informative, as it dealt with listener reactions to the September 11 attacks and the 2004 Hurricane season. Ned Waugaman from Arbitron (the radio equivalent to the Nielsen television ratings) stated that in general, listeners were very pleased with the radio coverage of the September 11 attacks and radio was the preferred source of information during the 2004 hurricane season.

More soon
-Richelle Stephens

P2P: An Artist's Perspective

I was actually really excited to attend this session. Not only was the speaker, Samantha Murphy, a singer/songwriter, but also she has interviewed one of my favorite musicians, Elvis Perkins. Importunely, this session was not printed in the original booklet, which is why only about 8 people showed up. Murphy had a very interesting view on artist and their promotional need.

Murphy has created not only her own podcast, but also a website (SMtvMusic.com) that is a legal alternative to file sharing. This site is made for the "poor" college student to be able to listen to new artist without paying the huge corporate record companies. Basically what she is doing is providing free publicity for bands that she believes are talented enough to be in the public eye.

She had some very good ideas, but I did agree with her on some of her ideas. For instance, her views on record companies are that the larger companies steal from their artist, which they do. A band makes about $2 or maybe a little more off their CD. Larger companies are also more prone to control their artist. I know bands that had to change most of their songs and clothes in order to comply with the label's standards. However, there are record companies who are doing it right. I brought up the point of Saddle Creek Records, a closely-knit record company out of Omaha, NE. Getting a Saddle Creek artist at KNWD is like Christmas for me. The label is mainly artist run and is most likely one of the fairest labels out in today's society.

I think it is good to have someone like Murphy in that industry that is in it to truly benefit the artist and also college students.


Mary Manno

What the Law Allows

Podcasting, as it turns out, is currently surrounded by lots of legislation. This session explored in-depth copyright issues. We discussed Copyright laws that have been passed, the first in 1790, as well as one in 1976 that removed the defense that something was for educational purposes.

We talked about what things were eligible to receive copyrights, and which are not. Ideas, facts and titles are some examples of things that cannot necessarily be protected.

But podcasts are interesting in that it has not yet been determined if news content on them can be considered news. While stremaing is viewed legally as as public performance, a DPD podcast is distribution. Podcasts were called the TIVO of radio.

We learned that a copyright is valid for 95 years from its publication and 120 years after its creation.

Laser-dropping, the process of cutting two or more clips from a song and randomly using them on the air or in a piece, is not exempt from fees that have to be paid for permission. We also went into the importance of getting people to sign releases after they have participated in interviews online. The professor from Michigan who was leading the discussion shared a rather lengthy anecodote about a gubernatorial candidate whose campaign was ruined after he said something on a college radio station that ended up being spread all over the place until even the AP picked it up and ran with it.

Finally, we talked a little about Napster and the ligation in progress.

Jim Mustian