Today we’re launching the first piece of a series of tools to help us turn Downhill Battle into an organizing force. To The Editor is a new tool that let’s you send a letter to the editor at your local newspapers (US only for now). The major labels have controlled the discussion about the future of music from top to bottom, but now we’re going to go bottom-up to redefine the issue:

Send a Letter to Your Local Newspapers.

This tool uses our new software, Local Ink, developed by Downhill Battle Labs. It’s a simple but powerful way to connect people with their local media outlets, and we’ll be making the software free and open-source. Organizations are paying thousands of dollars for this kind of functionality– now they don’t have to. That’s how the playing field gets leveled on the internet, and it’s exactly what we’re working towards in the music industry.

JAPAN IS SERIOUS about this stuff. On May 10th Isamu Kaneko, the developer of the popular Japanese filesharing client Winny, was arrested. By May 20th freekaneko.com had raised $100,000 for his defense. $100,000 in 10 days. Right now the defense fund (which just started accepting contributions from outside of Japan) is up to over $130,000. We’re impressed, and we wish him well.

Back at home, here’s an article about one family that’s been targeted by the major labels, and a reminder that there’s nothing at all reasonable about the RIAA lawsuit strategy.

OVER THE PAST FEW months, we’ve found ourselves working on more and more software projects that help us in the fight for a better music industry. There’s been some great work done by programmers who’ve signed up on our get involved page. But we want to take on even more projects and get even more people involved. So today, we are very pleased to present:

Creating the Labs also represents the beginning of what we see as a second phase of Downhill Battle. We started from scratch in August 2003 and things have grown wildly fast since then. Up til now, we’ve been generally organized around single, big impact projects and events, and the response has been amazing. Now we’re ready to get more systematic, and if we can pull it off, we’ll be devastatingly effective. Downhill Battle Labs is starting this by organizing and accelerating our software projects, many of which, in turn, will help us get more people involved in more ways. We want every concert to have people flyering inside or outside, we want every newspaper to get letters to the editor about why the major label monopoly needs to end, and we want everyone who’s excited about fighting for a better music business to be able to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. There’s amazing enthusiasm, largely because people sense that things are ready to change– we just need to find ways to harness that energy. So we’re building, and building, and building.

Check out the new Downhill Battle Labs.

IT’S JUST THIS SIMPLE. Take a look at the chart on the left-hand side of this USA Today article. It’s another reminder of the unbelievable shakedown of musicians that is status quo in the music industry. There’s a tendency for everyone who’s interested in these issues– musicians, record labels, music fans, policy makers– to get so caught up in the details of how the music industry works, that they lose perspective on how thoroughly broken things are. There is absolutely no justification for a system that works like this. The only reason it persists is because the major labels have blocked competition from the outside while they’ve turned their lawyers and accountants against musicians on the inside. And the only way things will get better is if the public decides to stop keeping these companies alive.

P.S. On the chart, where is says “independent promotion”– that means payola. It’s supposed to be illegal. For more on artist royalties, check out Steve Albini’s famous article and then read The Reasons.

SO THE BILL WE MENTIONED on Wednesday never made it to the Senate floor, which buys us some time (until June 1, we’re told). The p2p companies and some ISPs are fighting this, and hopefully there can be something of a public interest voice as well– we really need some hearings. Thanks to everyone who called their Senators.

THERE’S SOME TALK that the RIAA and possibly the movie industry are trying to quickly push through legislation in the US Senate that would, among other things, use the Department of Justice to investigate and criminally prosecute filesharing. What a totally ridiculous idea. The only way the bill will actually pass is if there’s never a hearing or any debate on the floor, and that’s exactly what seems to be happening. The legislation left committee with no debate and could be passed as early as tonight with a voice vote in the Senate. But just one Senator could put a hold on the bill and demand some real debate. So, if you have a moment, please drop a line to your Senator and tell them you care about Senate bill S.2237. Find your Senator’s contact info here.

NICHOLAS HAD AN INTERESTING email conversation with the head of a songwriter’s association last week, and we think it’s kind of an interesting look at how some of this stuff gets debated. It’s not comprehensive or even very methodical– it’s just a little back and forth, but it gets at some key issues. Songwriters are an important ally to convince: they’ve been screwed in a whole bunch of ways by the major labels but they also have a lot of nervousness about the changing industry because they’re some of the only creative people that actually get paid in the current system. We’re sure that they’ll get much more money if filesharing is legalized and monetized, but that’s hard to swallow for a lot of people. Our long-term challenge is to create the resources and information that can make a solid case to musicians, songwriters, and indy labels, while weakening the major labels ability to stop progress.

“I’ve been a professional writer for 20 years and have no great love for record labels but at least they do…”
Read the conversation here

 

CHECK OUT OUR LATEST interview, just posted, with front man Tunde Adebimpe of TV On The Radio (he’s the one on the right in the picture).

TV on the Radio

The band started the way it happens in books: by messing around in their loft, making a few tapes, and daring to play shows before they really knew what they were doing. (Of course it helps that they are incredibly talented.) Despite their success and the mysterious ringing of their cell phones (see interview), Tunde vows they will stay at Touch and Go Records for as long as possible. This is a heartening sentiment that I have heard recently from just about every musician I’ve spoken with for this interview series. It seems that the charade of money and glamour that the big five labels offer is gradually being exposed for what it
is: a house of cards. As the majors weaken, the independent music movement is becoming stronger and stronger. While the executives ponder how to reverse this, the answer is obvious: independent labels put out music for music’s sake. Sales are simply a great side effect. And though everyone loves packaging, talent speaks for itself.

Read the interview here, and see ‘page 2′ of this blog (above) for news on upcoming interviews with more super indie rockers and rappers.

TUESDAY WE POSTED ABOUT the DMCRA, a bill that would reform the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Well, there’s a Congressional hearing going on right this very moment, and Codewarrior from DMusic.com is blogging the hearing live. Sounds boring, but actually makes for pretty interesting reading: follow part 1 of the hearing here (here’s part 2). And this a good rundown of what’s wrong with the DMCA.

SO IF YOU CLICK on the tab that says “Page 2″ (look above), you’ll see our new page 2 blog that we started on Sunday. It’s intended to be a little bit more freeform than this main page. The goal is to help strike a balance between keeping regular readers updated with interesting tidbits and news, while still having posts on the front page that get at bigger issues and that make more sense to first time readers. We realize it can be frustrating sometimes to stumble across a new website and see a post about some random minutia that you have no context for. Anyway, check out page 2, also take a look at the news and readings tabs for more good stuff.