c&binet creative infrastructure thoughts

if anything, we need to simplify how rights management happens. Encourage reuse of content and related income generation, and allow the artists whose content is being used the ability to make money too (along side the artist doing the reusing). Are pirates of today the content producers of tomorrow? Dunno. I don't really understand rights management well enough to debate it. I do know however that it's not working. Somehow they need to wrap up ownership of content with the right to reuse it provided income goes back to the original artist. Reusers shouldn't need their own legal department in order to do this. If we think in terms of Darwin and evolution, more robust organisms come out of reuse of the original blueprints (DNA :-)) and improving on them (we're basically DNA mash-ups!). If each new "product" or organism had to pay a royalty in order to make use of those blueprints this planet would be a whole different place. Ok the analogy is a bit dodgy but perhaps you get my point.

Ok so now onto the fantastic folks I've met so far. It was great to see a familiar face in Paul Tarplee from twofour (sitting on my right at this moment). Also a really cool guy from a company that owns the rights to the Enid Blyton estate (noddy through famous five, mallory towers...). How cool is that?! Then there's Robert from an independent record company, audio networks (they work with Nik Kershaw). Very progressive business model there and also very transparent. Alex Stanhope from the TSB (running the next session after coffee). Managed to heckle the Secretary of State (Ben Bradshaw) last night. In a friendly way ofcourse - he's actually a really good bloke. Genuinely gives a damn. Also met a very clever Canadian from Nordicity. Actually there are a number of great Canadians in the audience. Coincidence? I think that in many ways perhaps they're tackling alot of the issues we're discussing here in far more open ways. I'll probably want to look more closely at what they're doing over there now after being exposed to their thinking.


Clare Reddington of course from iShed, flying the flag for Bristol and the Watershed.