hi this is for y'all? ---------- From: Sal Randolph <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 21:31:44 -0500 To: ANNOUNCEMENTS N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: An Invitation to Join the Opsound & Opcopy Projects
Dear Friends of the Free Biennial & Free Manifesta, I'd like to invite you all to be part of two new projects I'm working on, Opsound and Opcopy. Like the Free Biennial and Free Manifesta, both are experiments in creating social architectures as artworks exploring gift economies and free culture. Opsound will be an open access sound resource and copyleft record label, collecting all kinds of sounds for free use and also releasing actual records and cds (which will be bought, sold, and distributed in the usual manner, with money returning to the artists). I'm expecting that we'll be collecting some amazing material, and over the next few months releasing records and organizing events and parties in New York, Frankfurt, and Berlin (at the very least). All kinds of music and sound can be entered into the Opsound open pool -- of course we're looking for music, but I'm personally also very interested in collecting other kinds of audio material including spoken texts, noises, field recordings, etc. Opsound will be encouraging a proliferation of microlabels, both online and real world, the first of which -- the Opsound house label -- will concentrate on experimental electronic music. Opsound is also looking, less formally, for anyone interested in working on video material to be part of an upcoming cd/dvd combo release. Opound has a sibling project, Opcopy: Open Copyright Action, which is an experimental political organization exploring new ways of responding to an increasingly restrictive climate where more and more of our collective cultural material is being privatized and controlled. Opcopy will begin by collecting varying and differing opinions on copyright issues to try and engage in a more interesting level of debate about questions of intellectual "property," the public domain, and free culture (free in both the sense of "free speech" and the sense of "free beer"). You are most cordially invited to post your own position on the matter on the opcopy site. Please feel free to write with questions or suggestions, and to pass this invitation along to anyone you think might be interesting/interested. All the best, Sal ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sal Randolph [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.opsound.org http://www.opcopy.org http://www.highlala.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AN OPEN CALL TO MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS Musicians and sound artists of all kinds are invited to join the Opsound project. Opsound is a record label using an open source, copyleft model, an experimentin practical gift economics, a laboratory for new ways of releasing music. In its first phase of operation, Opsound is gathering material for an open sound pool which will be drawn on for the creation of a series of online and real-world microlabels. All material for the sound pool will be released under a Creative Commons license (the "Attribution-ShareAlike license "), a copyleft license in the spirit of open source software license which allows for all kinds of copying, remixing, use, and reuse while retaining an attribution to the original artist. Anyone is encouraged to contribute sound files to the open sound pool, including field recordings, ambiences, incomplete improvisations, monologues & dialogues, spoken texts, unfinished experiments, detached soundtracks, vocal solos, strange noises, bedroom laptop, microsound, generative, glitch dub, idm, minimal techno, blip hop, hip hop, turntablist, downtempo, uptempo, reggae, ragga, raga, roots, breakbeat, basement punk, garage band, indy, shoegazer, psychedelia, noise, song, be-bop, free jazz, Modern composition, avant-anything, etc. Sound files can be complete pieces of music, or elements intended be combined into something new. DEADLINE: There is currently no deadline, and entries will be accepted on an ongoing basis. You are, however, encouraged to enter your material as soon as is conveniently possible. HOW TO ENTER: Please visit the Opsound site at http://www.opsound.org, read the guidelines and faq, and then use the entry form. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: SAL RANDOLPH 212-219-9328 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ARTIST STARTS NEW EXPERIMENTAL RECORD LABEL AND POLITICAL ACTION GROUP TO EXPLORE COPYRIGHT ISSUES New York, March 11, 2003. New York artist Sal Randolph announces the launch of two new art projects, Opsound and Opcopy, which continue her recent explorations of social architectures as art forms. Opsound -- (http://www.opsound.org) responds to recent upheavals in the music industry by creating an alternative structure for musicians and sound-based artists wishing to share and release music under a copyleft, or open source structure. Opsound will gather a pool of sound material from artists and encourage the development of both web-based and real-world micro labels to release artists' work. All work will be released under a Creative Commons license which permits free copying and modification (the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, http://www.creativecommons.org). Opsound also expects to function directly as a record label in its own right focusing on experimental electronic music. Opcopy -- Open Copyright Action (http://www.opcopy.org) takes the form of a political organization working to promote the public's access to culture through the restoration and broadening of the public domain and the repeal of restrictive laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (known popularly as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act). Opcopy will focus on raising the level of public debate on copyright issues by supporting direct art actions and will encourage an ongoing engagement with diverse opinions. "With the recent Supreme Court decision endorsing the Sonny Bono act," Randolph says, "it's become clear that we cannot rely on the courts to protect us from bad policy. The only way to proceed is to make artists and the general public more aware of the Destructive quality of these laws, and to get them changed." Randolph's recent social architecture projects include Free Manifesta (http://www.freemanifesta,org) and the Free Biennial (http://www.freebiennial.org), both of which were open access exhibitions of free art in public spaces involving over 300 artists. Her project Free Words (http://www.freewords.org) involves a worldwide network of volunteer distributors who infiltrate copies of the uncopyrighted book Free Words (no rights reserved) onto the shelves of bookstores and libraries. Her website is http://www.highlala.com Opsound 648 Broadway Suite 1005 New York, NY 10012 212-777-1156 http://www.opsound.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] Opcopy Open Copyright Action 648 Broadway, Suite 1005 New York, NY 10012 212-777-1156 http://www.opcopy.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++