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Yes, I know it inspired Tolkein to write The Hobbit

Apr 28, 2013 | 0 comments

The bog

Confession: I have lived for eight and a half years in walking distance of Moseley Bog and had never actually visited until this morning. Not entirely sure why that is, or what it was I’d pictured that had prevented me from setting foot inside until now (despite having been past thousands of times), but it’s where I’m going to be going walking pretty frequently from here on out.

It was a lovely way to start a crisp, overcast spring morning and it’s only going to get nicer as the weather improves (assuming it ever will). The place is far bigger than it appears from the street. These things, I’m starting to find, usually are.

There are multiple paths and walkways through Joy’s Wood (named after the woman who spearheaded its preservation from the threat of developers just 15 years ago), some signposted and boardwalked, others more of a dirt trail through thin, moss-laden trees that lead to open grass areas.

You don’t have to venture far from the road to lose the sense of suburban South Birmingham. The traffic noise in the distance fades into the constant rustle of the trees and disappears beneath the bubbling songs of the finches and jays and the repetitive rapping of the woodpeckers who live there.

Didn’t even know we had woodpeckers.

I’m led to believe there’s also an incredible display of bluebells in Spring, if that’s your kind of thing (and it’s starting to be mine), though they’re late this year because of how cold it’s been. Something to look for each time I go back, I suppose.

I picked a tree stump on the edge of the wood as a place to sit, drink my flask of coffee and write. I’ll be doing that again, weather permitting. Perfect spot. The occasional dog walker to say hello to, but other than that, quiet and fairly isolated – a broad, undulating grassy area on one side, a tangle of trees on the other.

A place to sit and write

It made me think about the fact that these places – the woods, the parks, the rivers – are not situated in neighbourhoods, but rather – the other way around. Neighbourhoods are cut out of these places. Built around and within them. The further I walk into the green areas around South Birmingham, the more I realise that the terraced houses and suburban streets are more of a facade than they are representative of the area.

And while we may have tamed these spots, built barriers around them, constructed pathways and erected helpful signs, I’m increasingly reminded that they were here before we were. And the more time I spend in these places, the more I feel like this is my neighbourhood rather than the Poundland on the Kings Heath High Street or the endless wall of brick houses on every side street.

Path through the bog

Yesterday, I managed an eight mile hike that took me alongside streams, out the back of Sarehole Mill, along the river Cole on trails through woods and then onto the canal system through the back of Digbeth and into town. I was never far from civilisation, but it felt like a different part of the country. A different part of the world.

Or maybe I’m only just starting to figure out what this part of the world is actually really like.

Anyway… today, I walked less than half that distance, and the fact that I was so incredibly close to home the whole time was the thing that really stuck in my head. This has been here all along.

I should probably make the most of it.

Taking my ball and going home

Apr 15, 2013 | 1 comment

Brummie

It turns out that everything I post on both this blog and my music blog gets automatically reposted on a site called The Brummie. Recently, I’ve been a frequent contributor, without even really realising it. I kind of have mixed feelings about that.

First, I think it’s great that there’s a website that brings together news and information from around Birmingham. Really. Potentially, that’s a very useful thing. I also think that having a hub that gives people pointers to a wide range of different bloggers from around the city is a really helpful thing to do and may even contribute to the overall sense of community among local writers and citizen journalists. Cool.

Unfortunately – that’s not actually what’s happening. As far as I can tell, The Brummie is merely scraping people’s web content without permission from their RSS feeds, re-presenting it as if the content was submitted voluntarily to their site.

I have three problems with that:

1) As a site that aggregates content, they have more ‘Google juice’ simply because of the sheer volume of words being published on their site. So if someone goes looking for something and it turns out I’ve written an article that may help, Google is more likely to point them to that article on their site rather than mine. That’s not a major problem, as they’re still going to be getting the same information, and there’s no commercial ramification to that. But it’s not ideal.

2) It looks like I have contributed willingly, which I would only do to a publication that I was very familiar with and felt comfortable submitting to. And that depends on everything else that appears on the site. I’m never going to write for the Daily Mail, and I don’t want to be part of a publication whose other contributors would happily consider it. Context is important to me. And so are things like presentation, layout and design. Simply reposting my words in a different environment imbues them with all sorts of unintended meaning.

3) When people comment on my posts on their site, they erroneously think they’re communicating directly with me. The only reason I know that there had been any discussion at all of a music post (let alone a message from the featured band themselves) was that Mark Blackstock who runs The Brummie was kind enough to let me know in an email.

I’m giving the benefit of the doubt when it comes to intention here. There’s no sense that Mark and his team (if such a team exists) are doing anything designed to be exploitative. And he’s keeping within the rules (strictly speaking) of the Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial Licence that applies to everything on my website. He’s not doing anything wrong.

And all the same, I have asked him if I could please opt out for the reasons cited above. Of course, it would have been nice to be asked, but I probably would have expressed a preference not to be included – while fully admitting that there is nothing to prevent him from going ahead anyway.

The moment there’s a revenue stream derived from that site, then it falls foul of the licensing conditions for my work. But even though it plays within the boundaries of what’s permissible with my writing, it does so in a way that detracts without adding anything, which is more a problem in terms of the spirit of the deal.

I don’t know whether my site will be removed from The Brummie. I’m not going to do anything further about it either way. I’ve asked nicely, and I hope that Mark will respect that and let me bow out. I may be taking my ball and going home, but I’m not going to make a fuss.

If not, and you’re reading this on The Brummie, any of its affiliated websites, or some other website that has simply scraped my content off the RSS feed and presented it as if it had my consent, then I encourage you to head to the actual source of this post: https://andrewdubber.com.

Right… where were we?

Mar 11, 2013 | 0 comments

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I’m back – suitably rested and refreshed. I’m in Birmingham and I start back at work today. Things may resume. I’m realistic enough not to aim for normality, but I’m ready for a bit of routine again. As of today, my research sabbatical is over. I’ve been away from work, and I’ve been travelling a great deal. And while I may have a bit of a tan (see above) – I have certainly been working. More on that in a second.

My first big news is that since I last wrote, I have become a professor. My new job title is Professor of Music Industry Innovation. Obviously that includes a lot of stuff about digital technology in the music industries – but also innovation around enterprise, independent business and alternative culture, and music as a tool for social change. And then there’s all that radio stuff I tend to go on about.

Of course, I couldn’t fit all of that on one business card, so Music Industry Innovation has had to act as shorthand for what it is I study.

In terms of what I’ve been doing, well it’s been a little while, so let me bring you up to speed.

Over the past few months I’ve finished my book Radio in the Digital Age and packed it off to the editor; completed a journal article about European jazz agencies and the internet that’s been accepted for publication; an article about New Zealand jazz for the forthcoming AudioCulture website; and I’ve made a start on a piece for a Latin American journal about radio.

I have a couple of academic conferences coming up, and I’m going to be presenting a paper about Bandcamp and independent music discovery at Severn Pop at the University of Bristol on the 25th of this month. In April, it’s the big conference that brings to a close the wonderful Rhythm Changes European Jazz research project I’ve been involved with for the past few years.

But all that’s just the tip of the iceberg. 2013 looks to be an interesting one, to say the least.

I’ve been in some pre-production meetings for a documentary film I’m going to be making with the guys from Blue Hippo Media, who made the excellent Last Shop Standing. My documentary is about the network of independent music collectives in Brazil – Fora do Eixo.

I’ve been studying them for a couple of years now, and there’s lots more to be done. By connecting live music venues, artists and festivals as well as labels and studios around the country, the collectives have developed a separate economy from that of the mainstream music industry… to the point where they now actually have their own currency. Really. It’s a fascinating story.

More on that on my Brazil research blog.

I was on TV in New Zealand talking about music business and music culture in the digital age. The show’s called Media 3 – and you can watch that here (skip to 18m 30 for my bit).

I’ve also been working on a couple of e-books. Music in the Digital Age has been a work in progress for some time now, but it’s already available for download if you’re interested.

The other book is called The 360 Deal – and all going well, it should be ready and available by the end of the week.

I’ve been keeping it pretty well under wraps just so I could get a head start on it before launching it. It’s essentially an edited collection of very short essays by people in the music industries. I’ve asked a whole bunch of really smart and interesting music people to give, in around 360 words, the best piece of advice they could possibly give someone just starting out on their music career.

The range of advice is astonishing, and the calibre of contributors is quite humbling. Like Music in the Digital Age, The 360 Deal will grow as time goes on. My aim is to end up with 360 pieces of advice by 360 people in 360 words. The book is going to be available for sale for $3.60 (or more, if you prefer) with all proceeds going to Music Basti – a charity in India that brings music workshops to homes for children affected by extreme poverty.

It’s a really good cause – and the book is astonishingly great (I can say this, because I really only compiled it – other people have done the writing). It’s turning out to be an incredible collection of music industry wisdom, practical and pragmatic advice, and completely inspirational writing. I can’t wait to show it to you. With any luck you should be able to see that by Friday.

And finally, I guess, I’ve been having conversations with some really fascinating people in the music and tech sectors and there are some interesting projects in the works. All I can really say about that for now is ‘watch this space’…

It was lovely to be away – but it’s also nice to be back.

Local photo walk

Oct 21, 2012 | 0 comments

Highbury Park

This morning, Jake and I decided to go for a walk. It was foggy and the leaves had been starting to fall, so we thought we’d take our cameras. We had just planned to go around the block, but before long, we found ourselves strolling through Highbury Park. It was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

Jake’s camera is significantly more impressive than mine, and that tends to show up in the photos. But all the same, I’m quite pleased with some of what I came up with.

Below are a few tasters, but for the full collection – my ones are here – and his ones are here.

(more…)

Mostyn’s Music Management Mentoring

Jun 14, 2012 | 0 comments

My friend John Mostyn knows a lot about managing musicians and bands. He’s done it for a while now.

He downplays it these days, but you may have heard of, for instance, The Beat and Fine Young Cannibals. Lots of stuff since, of course – but those are the ones that I get excited about, as I am of a particular age.

Anyway… He wants to share that experience with other music managers and self-managing musicians. Sounds like a very good thing to me. And you might end up hearing wonderful stories like this one.

Go to John’s blog for details of the free Managing Music workshop.

Bit of a Culture Shock

Jun 10, 2012 | 0 comments

I went to a church just down the road this evening to watch the Culture Shock concert.

This group of musicians — all of whom live very locally, but who represent a whole range of different faiths, cultures, backgrounds and musical traditions — got together five days ago to collaborate, write a whole bunch of music, and see if they could perform together.

Tonight, they showed it could be done. A hundred people turned up, ate Indian and Jamaican food, and then enjoyed a fabulous night of cultural encounters and celebration.

Apart from the absolute gold that this provides for my research into musical hybridity, it was a really fantastic night, and so great to be able to sit amongst all this, catch up with a bunch of friends and neighbours, and just think “this is where I live”.

Loved it.