Soft Machine³ - Arts Tech and Other

From the Archives: November 2008

In his TED presentation, you will see John Q. Walker demonstrate his “performance re-creation” technology to an uncritical, naïve audience.

“Imagine hearing great, departed pianists play again today, just as they would in person. At the 2007 EG conference, John Q. Walker shows how recordings from the likes of Glenn Gould and Art Tatum can be analyzed for precise keystrokes and pedal motions, then played back on computer-controlled grand pianos.”

Imagine… Undead Music.

This is not about the music or the musicians. It is about a fetish for dead, perfect things reproduced with ultimate fidelity for your greedy, selfish pleasure.  Making music is a thing of the past, and your music needs are fulfilled by corporations who pander to this fetish for profit. You faithfully purchase the regurgitated masterworks, and listen to them on your hi-fidelity entertainment system.

Meanwhile, Glenn Gould and Art Tatum haven’t given their permission for this use. That is to say, owning the rights means one doesn’t need,  their permission. You pay a premium to the rights holders and they can continue to hold the monopoly forever. Pay close attention to what John Q Walker says during the TED talk. Not many people are going to fork over $50,000 to buy a Yamaha Disklavier to listen to piano music.

Copyright is forever. Public Domain be damned. Lock the vaults, add minor value to the works, and presto you have another monopoly for another century. This is from the Zenph Studios site, where they address “Labels and Studios” (emphasis mine):

The Diversity of Copyright Laws

The USA has strong copyright laws; sound recordings essentially don’t go into the public domain until well into the 21st century. But, in the European Union (EU), for example, recordings go into the public domain 50 years after their first release. Small recording companies in the EU already re-issue CDs of historical mono recordings in volume. That’s been a small concern to the labels, but in 2006 the situation gets troubling. 1956 was the start of early stereo, which is how we still listen nowadays. Starting in 2006, the “good stuff” from 1956 forward starts going into the public domain. Year by year, labels will lose European rights to the most prized, profitable recordings in their archives. With global retailing, CDs made in the EU are readily available anywhere.

The way around this is to create new, highly-desirable music recordings, which establish a new copyright. A modern re-recording can be a premium product, protected with the latest Digital Rights Management (DRM). For a modern re-recording to be acceptable to discerning jazz, classical, and pop listeners, it must be faithful, note-perfect, and identical to the original performance. That’s our business.

Where to begin? The fact that copyright isn’t forever is troubling to these people. These people are not musicians as much as they are businessmen, audio and software engineers and technologists.

“Faithful, note-perfect and identical” doesn’t describe most live performances. Perhaps he is referring to re-recording of studio performances.  Either way, he’s uniquely positioned to make sure that the “public domain” of mid-century works never happens, those who resist are turned into “pirates.”
 
Musicians not needed. Live performance not needed. Perfection is the standard, and very few humans make the grade. iPod. iGod. Don’t you feel special “owning” all this music? Yes, it’s yours! At least until the device breaks, the DRM expires, or the format is no longer supported. Then you can look forward to the next trendy offerings from the corporations. Perhaps smell-o-vision and 3d moving imagery to accompany the music.