Magyar

Description:

The fist part of my research will consist of the mapping and analysis of the netlabel scene situation: I want to find out
how netlabels consider the necessity of their excistence, and if they have an ideological goal. In my opinion, netlabels
represent an important part of the open source program, where artists can share and modify their version of the input
to execute their full rights as consumer of a digital product, and to express their creative impulses. So are labels set up
to publish underground artists who don't have a shot at the traditional music labels, for the sheer love of music, or rather
to create a platform where artists can exchange ideas and to extend the music market? I will look where netlabels are
located, and whether the scene is growing and if it could be slowly changing the face of music industry as a whole.
What is the essential point of this scene, and where is it taking us?

The second part of the research is to connect the findings of the first part, to a academic framework. Here I will apply
open source/content theory, network theory, and more general new media theory to this phenomenon. Several media
theorists, and writers have written literature about open source systems, and its true potential to society and user
communities.You will find a number of them in the resources section. Merging these two parts, I will eventually come
to a research report, serving as my final dissertation. This research is joined, and further examined in reality, by my project.





Date Progress
June 10, 2005

Together with my mentor I have revised the rough version of the final project, which reassures me that I am on the right track with this research. Seeing the positive response from so many netlabels (thanks to Surfaces netlabel and Ljubljana Digital Media Lab for mentioning me on their site!) and the good reactions I receive, I am quite positively excited to finish this thing as good as I just can. Not many (if any) academical researches have been conducted so far, so I hope to bring this phenomenon under the attention of other scholars and media activists.

Last week I was introduced to Atilla, who is part of the team that introduces Creative Commons to Hungary. As we speak, the translations of the licence are finished, and are being checked by the CC group in the States. If all goes well, they will start making this public in some weeks through several communication channels. Hungary is one of the latter European countries to develop a CC license, so the group is quite motivated to reach their goal.

The further I get into this research, the more I regret not having another half year to expand its scope even further. As much of this topic is related to copyright, DRM and legal matters, it would be an interesting research even for law students in co-orporation with media students like myself.

May 30, 2005

Lots has happened since my last posting, so let me try to catch up with my diary:

Last week I attended another workshop by Nextlab, this time on the topic of 'Low Cost Alternatives in Art-Technology Projects'. The idea behind this workshop is to put existing, affordable elementary technology to a new use. One could take technology, for example from children's toys (often containing simple light-sensors, contact microphones or infrared sensors), and use them to broadcast signals, sound, light or any kind of artistic expression. It was an interesting workshop (quite probably having a follow-up soon) which could be an interesting side-project for sound experimentalists for example. Afterwards, we also spoke again with Akos Maray, the lead developer of Nextlab, about FLOSS developments abroad (in Senegal, specifically). Akos was the developer of Icecast.

I have kept in touch with artists from the Minimum Festival, as some of them have serious interest in publishing on netlabels. They want to know how things work, who gets selected, and what happens next. I've taken it seriously to give them all the information they need, providing them with tips, contacts and examples. Some of those guys really do have talent, and would definitely not be misplaced in some netlabels' line-up.

I have also drawn up a rough version of the final research paper, presenting it to my graduation counselor. We'll discuss any details and remarks soon over Skype. Of course the process of reading and learning never quite stops, but I have taken up the pen, to start writing things down. My deadline is a month from now, and I look forward to produce a quality piece of research on this topic. I canceled my order of the Bruno Latour book ('Science in Action'). It's been three months, and still no word (the clerks don't know anything). A friend of mine, who will visit me in a week or so, will buy it in Holland, and bring it over. I believe it will be of valuable importance for this paper, and I do not want to lose any more time over it.

May 17, 2005

The festival was a positive experience, and a great introduction into the electronic underground scene of Budapest. I have spoken with many performing artists, about my research, and the option to publish soundscapes and music on netlabel environments. Despite the fact that some already knew about these labels, none of them had previously released any material in this way. Many reacted positively to the idea.
Our performance was later described by some people in the audience as "interesting and noisy", which was basically what we were aiming for, so we can call it a success. I expect photos and other visual material to appear on the festival's website soon.

From now it's not longer possible to download the questionnaire from the website. I have gathered a large amount of data from insiders at netlabels to draw conclusions from. I would like to thank all the contributors once again for their positive comments and helpful information. All contributors will be mentioned in the research paper. Those who are interested (I will send out a mail in due time), I will be happy to send you a copy by e-mail. The final deadline is set on July first.

May 10, 2005

We've been programmed by the Minimum Festival on its third day (appropriately themed "Sajátgép / Elektronikus Hanggubanc", which means something like "Computer / Electronical Sound-Knots"). We're going to use PureData as a tool to experiment with sound and music. We're also going to totally tweak and kick James Brown's "This is a man's world" around for kicks.
On another note, after a continuous series of mistakes, my book from Bruno Latour is finally arriving tomorrow, and the shop manager has been fired by his superior. It's taken the book more than two months to arrive, instead of the promised three weeks. This book is getting more precious by the minute :-)

April 28, 2005

I have found good articles about Digital Rights Management which, combined with articles and resources of Creative Commons and GNU GPL will illustrate the copyright debate in quite a good way. I have updated the resource list. Yesterday I have attended a workshop on Max/MSP and Jitter (also mentioning the free version Pure Data). Being my first introduction to this software, it was quite interesting. To me it was mainly a great example how we can make the software work for us (instead of vice versa) in every possible way.

April 20, 2005

My attention in this week has been on reading and compairing books. You could say it's been (and still is) a literary period for me. That's also why I haven't updated as regularly lately. I have come into contact with Guy van Belle (Waag Society), who could prove a very interesting person to learn from regarding live streaming events: he has lots of experience in this. I've also registered for an upcoming conference called Independent Radios. I think Nextlab, situated in Kultiplex cultural center (where tilos web radio is based) is also quite experienced. I have also had contact with people at Reboot.fm, in Berlin.

April 14, 2005

In the past week I have been setting up a basic structure for the research, dividing it into chapters. That still deserves some attention. I decided that I will not contact more netlabels. I hope those that are still working with it, will send it back soon. The answers are showing some real interesting results so far. I have also presented the work in progress to all the people active at C3, plus some interested students from the Intermedia Department at the Budapest art academy. That seemed to go quite well, and people were really interested in especially the legal implications, and the financial dangers for artists. The real concept of Creative Commons or GPL was still quite new to some...

April 7, 2005

I've been getting a lot of very positive feedback from netlabels and supporters all around the earth. The suspicion that this kind of research hasn't been done academically is confirmed, and the initiative is appreciated. I have started to organize the returning questionnaires (as the number is steadily growing),
to get a clearer view of the opinions. I have also posted items on forums of Scene.org and Index.de, to reach even more people. Sending a message down to several mailing lists has resulted in a giant growth of visits to the website. Currently busy with digging up netlabel/tracker history.

April 4, 2005

Every day more netlabel are reacting positively to the research. So far, twelve labels have agreed to
fill out questionnaires, and the number is increasing rapidly. I have included a download button online. The word is spreading in mailing lists as well. For ideas on the streaming project, I have contacted several people with lots of experience in this.

April 2, 2005

After selecting a number of quality netlabels, I sent out requests for their cooperation in a questionnaire I
have developed. Even though it's weekend, three netlabels have already reacted positively to the research (iD.EOLOGY, Hippocamp.net, Thinner/Autoplate), which really boosts my enthusiasm even more. I've sent them the questionnaires and wait for others to check their mailbox after this weekend.

March 31, 2005

The new idea for a streaming project is taking more and more shape. I'm playing with the idea to organize
an evening/party in a gallery in Berlin, where we'll play real-time streamed music from a select number of
netlabel artists. I will let you know what happens when I know more. For now I am starting to map and describe the history of netlabels (Tracker scene, Demo scene), as an introduction to the topic. The network of C3 turns out to be really great for lots of contacts, so I am able to reach far into the scenes. I also often take the chance to see one of the many small exhibitions/performances/installations by young artists who work with digital media, sound and image. Really great to be in a place where things are so booming, and where people really want to make a change!

March 30, 2005

Today I attended a workshop of Audio Streaming by Akos Maroy (on behalf of Nextlab Budapest) , downtown in Budapest. It made me really very interested in the possibilities of streaming, which I didn't consider until now as a potential side-project for this research. One option would be to gear up the servers and motivate a group of netlabel artists to perform simultaneously over different channels. I am considering if it wouldn't even suit my topic better than the ultrahang festival (food for thought!). My ordered books still haven't arrived from the bookstore: I wonder if their ordering system is any good. A colleague/student suggested to check out the small media library of the Intermedia Department of the art academy downtown.

March 29, 2005

In the process of developping a questionnaire to send to several selected netlabels around Europe and
the US. I have made a cool map through TouchGraph Google Browser, which shows me how incredibly big the network of netlabels has already become. Before sending it around, I'll find out the right person's email addresses, to increase the chance of response (I am not too confident in "info@"-addresses). Unfortunately, because of unexpected international guests I haven't been able to check out the Ultrahang concert last Saturday (damn!). Nevertheless, I spoke with many people who did visit, and I heard it was a huge success (again: damn).

March 23, 2005

I feel that I get deeper and deeper into the realm of open-source software. People who I've met so far,
colleagues and even the other intern are very much focused on it. My surprise at the lack of interest at my own university (only contrasted by the work of some like my tutor Mirko Tobias Schäfer) is growing by the day. I am curious why this is? Why do some people accept digital restrictions, high prices and surveillance, while others do something about it, protest, and use free alternatives?

March 20, 2005

Put the website online on the C3 server. The Hungarian translation is still not finished, but the rest seems
ready to get started with. Didn't spend too much time with designing it, since it should serve a functional
purpose foremost. I have found a good bookstore downtown and immediately made an order for some
more useful books, like 'Science in Action' by Bruno Latour.

March 11, 2005

The definitive line-up of the Ultrahang Fesztivál is available, and I decide to focus on next year's event as a
possible project. It seems to me that the three-day innovative underground festival in Budapest is much
more interesting than any other big pop-oriented festival. The festival seems to be quite popular, and by
giving free tickets away for some concerts, the organizing committee has quite similar ideals as most
netlabels do. I decide to go with my instinct. I made reservations for a concert too (a night with Sophie
Rimheden (S), Louie Austen (A), Kevin Blechdom (USA), Frisk Fisk (H) and Suefo(H)) .

March 8, 2005

Started with programming this website to explain the nature of this research, and to keep others updated
on my progress. I made a rough sketch of the functionalities it should have, like a contact facility, a
Hungarian translation of the most important parts, a list with links to topic-related websites and netlabels,
and a regularly updated progress diary.

March 3, 2005

Official start of research project at C3. Installing workplace, Creating a work plan.