it’s silly season … let’s shut down the net

Posted on August 8, 2007 | Filed Under digital content 

elton.jpgDuring silly season we’re regularly blessed with more or less entertaining absurdities by the media. Of particular interest was Sir Elton John’s article ‘Why we must close the net’ published on August 1st in the british paper The SUN. He claims the internet is destroying good music, because it “has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff” and continues saying: Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet. I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span. (there is a good comment on that at createdigitalmusic.com)
The European Commission however thinks otherwise. The creation of an open and competitive single market for online content is one of the key aims of the EU’s i2010 initiative. Due to arrive in the second half of 2007 - after silly season I guess - is a communication on content online, which is intended to encourage the development of innovative business models and to promote the cross-border delivery of different kinds of online content. Several contributions on questions regarding the rapid convergence of audiovisual media, broadband networks and electronic devices were made in a public consultation procedure to help shape the communication and are available online. Not suprisingly Sir Elton was not part of the contributors; in my favourite quote of the SUN article he says: Let’s get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging. Although I do not agree with Sir Elton and will not be marching for protest, I will still stop blogging for now and leave my PC to join an “analogue” live session of the australian band architecture in helsinki.

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Comments

3 Responses to “it’s silly season … let’s shut down the net”

  1. gregor on August 13th, 2007 2:18 pm

    So much about the “analogue” live session: austrian radio station FM4 will submit the videostream of the concert from today for a whole week on its website http://fm4.orf.at/

  2. gregor on August 14th, 2007 1:22 pm

    Elton John’s request to tear down the internet has had somewhat of lingustic impact already since the term “Elton Johning” has found its way to the an online dictionary where it is translated as “Unplugging from the internet to get some creative work done” Check http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Elton+Johning
    to see for yourself!

  3. Promoting European Content Online - Is DRM the right way? : contentandcarrier on October 12th, 2007 10:55 am

    […] gave an outlook on the forthcoming Communication on Creative Content Online (see the related post here). Among other things the Commission is planning to set up an “EU Platform on Creative Content […]

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