[Nettime-bold] E-FLYER FOR NET.MUSIC CYBERSALON & SYMPOSIUM - Wednesday 11thApril 2001

[richard barbrook <richard@hrc.wmin.ac.uk>]

NET.MUSIC CYBERSALON & SYMPOSIUM

<please forward and circulate>

Wednesday 11th April 2001

The ICA,
The Mall,
London SW1

Sponsored by the ESRC Immateriality Seminar Series

Schedule

1.00pm-2.00pm   Registration (food and drinks are available at the ICA).

2.00pm-3.30pm   Symposium session 1: the new aesthetics of interactive music.

3.30pm-4.00pm   Break (food and drinks are available at the ICA).

4.00pm-5.30pm   Symposium session 2: the new political economy of
interactive music.

7.00pm-8.30pm   Cybersalon discussion: interactive music as prophecy of the
future.

8.30pm onwards   Party and exhibitions.


Participants

We have so far had expressions of interest from:

Richard Barbrook (HRC, Westminster)
Ray Holiday (Wildlife Records)
David Laing (Westminster)
Matt Black (Coldcut, Ninja Tunes)
Andy Cameron (HRC, Westminster; Romandson)
Paul Taylor (Salford)
Tim Jordan (OU)
Kwela Hermanns (Westminster)
Warwick Metcalfe (Ericsson)
Lewis Sykes (CID, Cybersalon)
Steve Goodman (Hyperdub)
Iris Garrelfs (Sprawl)
Benoit Faucon (Les Echos)
Pat Kane (Play Ethic)
Charlie Gere (Birbeck)
Ian D (Salford)
Lee Marshall (Worcester)
Eva Pascoe (Zoom)


Outline of Event

In his seminal text 'Noise', Jacques Attali celebrates the prophetic power
of music. What is pioneered first within music-making is later adopted as
the political economy for the whole of society. For instance, the constant
turnover of hit records in the 1920s prefigured the mass consumerism of
late-twentieth century Fordism. According to Attali, each epoch of
music-making creates its own specific social, technological and aesthetic
forms. For instance, twentieth century music developed some apparently
unbreakable paradigms: stars, fans, record companies, copyright laws,
pieces of plastic, top 40 singles and experimental albums. Yet, at the
beginning of a new century, these fixed Fordist forms are being superseded.
What began with a few skilled DJs mixing vinyl now involves almost
everybody with access to a computer and the Net. This new situation won't
just create new social, technological and aesthetic paradigms for
music-making. As in the past, music is pioneering a new political economy
for the whole of society. Napsterisation is a prophecy of the peer-to-peer
future.

This cybersalon and symposium will examine the impact of this
transformation within music-making - and its consequences for the rest of
society. Since copyright laws and technological fixes can only slow down
this process, the event will concentrate on analysing the emerging social,
technological and aesthetic paradigms. Musicians, fans, academics and
policy-makers will be invited to give their views about the new situation.
The event will begin with a two-session symposium in the afternoon. Each
session will be structured around a series of short interventions followed
by periods of discussion. In the evening cybersalon, the chairs of each
session will summarise these findings and talk about the wider social
consequences of the new forms of music-making.

The first session will look at the new aesthetics of interactive music.
This could include DJ culture, mixing, sampling, digital recording,
Napster, MP3, music toys, on-line jamming and the latest technological
developments. This session will discuss how far new methods of production
and distribution are creating new aesthetics. What will be the sounds of
the age of composition predicted by Attali?

The second session will examine what happens once the existing legal and
economic structures of music industry are no longer viable. The spread of
new music technologies reflects the emergence of new methods of making
music. However, when peer-to-peer computing becomes ubiquitous, how do
musicians get paid for their work? How do people receive acknowledgement
for their ideas? Can the copyright laws be updated for the new situation?
Can music exist as both commodity and gift?







-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Richard Barbrook
Hypermedia Research Centre
School of Communications and Creative Industries
University of Westminster
Watford Road
Northwick Park
HARROW HA1 3TP

<www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk>

+44 (0)20 7911 5000 x 4590

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"While there is irony, we are still living in the prehistoric age. And we
are not out of it yet..." - Henri Lefebvre
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The HRC is involved in running regular cybersalons at the ICA in London. If
you would like to be informed about forthcoming events, you can subscribe
to a listserver on our website: <www.cybersalon.org>.



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