The record industry might loathe it but cyberspace has become one of the main forces undercutting the traditional means of acquiring music. No longer do music fans have to go to the record store to purchase their favorite songs –they can download them, even for free, over the internet – and artists need no longer rely on the juggernaut record company machinery to sell their music and make a name –they can sell directly to their fans over the web. BBC online provides us with one such story of artist and fan getting their ultimate satisfaction via the internet. It carries the story of Ahmed Fakroun a Libyan musician who had seen his career all but buried in the mid 1980’s when his country became a pariah state following its alleged links to terrorism. This pioneer of world music saw his carrier resurrected when Western DJ’s recently unearthed his music, remixed it and popularized over the web opening up the door for Fakroun to reissue his music. He now sells his music online to a new generation of audience from the comfort of his home town,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7434014.stm
4 comments:
This initiative seems an unwelcome distraction from the UNEP when there is all ready a much simpler way to stop tragedies such as the Ivory Coast disaster being repeated.
Ban the export of hazardous waste from rich to poorer countries for any reason.
The Basel Ban Amendment is a much more comprehensive solution.
http://www.ban.org/index.html
Thank you, yes, quite often initiatives by UN agencies appear to be insufficient and somewhat delayed. But you've got to consider there predicament -they often have the best intentions at heart but their hands are tied by the fact that they have tailor-make their projects to the satisfaction of a majority of the UN member states -and we know that many governments don't have their citizens best interest at heart. So, sure, the best solution to the hazardous waste problem could be to ban their export to poor countries but without some sort of world-wide consensus we may have to settle for solutions agreeable to a majority of nations represented at UNEP. The outcomes of this UNEP initiative will give us a clear idea of how effective the organization can be at tackling this ever growing problem with hazardous waste. Let's wait and see what becomes of it while the hard work of lobbying governments to ban waste export continues.
Cyberspace is a great way for artists to share their work, but how do we find them? I was looking for South African artist Loyiso Bala on iTunes and couldn't find him. I hope big music stores like that one don't ultimately drown the smaller venues.
I guess Youtube might be another popular option that will allow artists to share music with people who may not know an exact url.
Thanks for the comment. Big online stores like itunes often allow little known artists to fall through the cracks but you will likely find their music on sites dedicated to selling world and alternative music or sites dedicated to a country's artists. Ahmed Fakroun, the Libyan artist I profiled, sells off of 7digital's online indiestore.
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