schoolkids get anti piracy lessons

mms

sometimes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4055753.stm

blimey its a real mess innit............

"He said as well as educating children about music piracy, it would also protect young people planning a career in the music industry from "unscrupulous" individuals"


blimey its a real mess innit............

i never got popstar lessons at school, luckily they didn't try and impose false hopes on us in that way, we got recorder lessons and to take our fave records in once a year for a class vote.
 
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grimly fiendish

Well-known member
for crying out loud. that's pathetic. absolutely pathetic.

1) what a staggering waste of teaching resources. shouldn't our children's classroom time be spent on something useful and important?

2) if we're going to teach them about "good" and "bad", shouldn't we begin with the fundamentals - you know, citizenship, community etc - as opposed to "how to keep record company bosses fat"?

3) thing is, as any fule kno, teaching something to kids in a didactic way like that is guaranteed to make them laugh and point and actively ignore it. piracy will triple overnight.

and this is me saying this: those who remember the great file-sharing debate might recall just how conservative i am about the whole thing!

(off-topic: MMS, you really got to take records in for a class vote? wow, that's cool. but didn't it lead to unfortunate kids getting violently pummelled because of their love for uncool sounds?)
 

mms

sometimes
grimly fiendish said:
(off-topic: MMS, you really got to take records in for a class vote? wow, that's cool. but didn't it lead to unfortunate kids getting violently pummelled because of their love for uncool sounds?)

hmm, the teacher basically decided that over the kids, taking off any records he didn't like sharpish. Very few people actually took their fave records in tho, probably because of this fear you speak of. People were violently pummled at school anyway, regardless of their tastes in music!
And anyway living in a box by living in a box won the only year i can remember so coolness as usual didn't come into it .
 

redcrescent

Well-known member
Thanks for the link, mms. All I can say is 'bloody hell'. But if it's as successful as all the anti-drugs and anti-sex talks we got as kids in school, I'm not worried...
A thought. Why don't they use the money to get schools in poor districts some proper music-making equipment instead (how many Dizzees out there with no access to gear)? If they'd just spend some time and resources to get people some musical education instead of churning out mass-produced shit with little artistic value they might find more people willing to plonk down hard cash for quality original recordings.
Or is that being totally unreasonable?
Unscrupulous individuals in the music industry? Naaah!
 

mms

sometimes
redcrescent said:
Thanks for the link, mms. All I can say is 'bloody hell'. But if it's as successful as all the anti-drugs and anti-sex talks we got as kids in school, I'm not worried...
A thought. Why don't they use the money to get schools in poor districts some proper music-making equipment instead (how many Dizzees out there with no access to gear)? If they'd just spend some time and resources to get people some musical education instead of churning out mass-produced shit with little artistic value they might find more people willing to plonk down hard cash for quality original recordings.
Or is that being totally unreasonable?
Unscrupulous individuals in the music industry? Naaah!

odd u say that, i went to the job centre when i lost my work some weeks ago and the lad infront of me was dressed in the grime mc kinda uniform of airforce ones and us baseball cap, getting put forward for some shitty job at house of frazer or whatever, pulls out a book on how to get into the music business when putting the job forms into his bag.
my flat mate is making a documentary for a comp about hackney and earlier handed me a demo cd by some would be grime producer they're interviewing.
it's not necessarily the equipment people need, it's the initial budget to get the first white label off the ground, the guest spot on the pirate, the good show and the good contacts, either way it will be tough but it's ridiculous to train up a generation of would be x factor contestants.
funny these statements on unscrupulous buisness practices have come up from the guy who was robbie williams writing partner. this is the same robbie williams who commanded 80 million from his record label and probably sealed the fate for alot of would be emi signings or underperforming artists in one foul swoop.
 

redcrescent

Well-known member
Maybe this came out a bit wrong on my part, sorry.
No, I wasn't suggesting record companies should start recruiting programs in schools, though some record execs would no doubt love the idea. This isn't new anyway: Providing underfunded schools with much-needed equipment in exchange for classroom time (e.g. doing market research for certain products) is a widespread (and loathsome) practice in many poor school districts in the US, for example. In no way would I want that.
But major record companies still have too much money, as 3 album EMI deals for 80 million prove. Why spend huge sums trying to 'protect' their catalogue of current artists by trying to stop downloading instead of supporting people's musical talents, regardless of whether they reap the immediate benefits or not? I think it seems safer to bank on the fact that people who make music (most of whom will never make music professionally) generally buy more music themselves and get others to do the same, than on some abstract notion of 'protecting the shareholder value of record companies' or whatever through classroom indoctrination.
Not very practical, I know, but the majors must for their own good come round to the facts and see they cannot continue flogging dross at inflated prices, or they will go bust. And they can't defeat p2p. Giving away free musical equipment with no strings attached is, if you will, one way of atoning for their many wrongdoings. The bastards might even profit from it.
Re.: Dizzee. I mentioned him because everyone knows the story of him putting together beats on a school computer. But what if he'd never had access to one? Of course you are right about stage/radio time, phone numbers and contacts, but the equipment problem is a huge and sometimes insurmountable hurdle to many potential music makers, don't just think London grime. By virtue of the existing culture and available infrastructure, any grime MC in the UK is in an infinitely better position than most other aspiring artists in many countries of the world.

Oh, and if writing Robbie Williams tunes wasn't enough to qualify you for the 'unscrupulous' category, Chambers has also worked for (deep breath) Hilary Duff, Natasha Bendingfield, Busted, Mel C, Jewel, Kylie Minogue and a long, long etc.
'Underperforming artists on EMI' e.g. Mariah Carey? EMI/Virgin paid her almost $30 million to get out of their 5-album deal with her...
 

puretokyo

Mercury Blues
Speaking of EMI throwing money around like a football wife's knickers, does anyone know the juicy details of EMI's deal with the DFA?
 

mms

sometimes
puretokyo said:
Speaking of EMI throwing money around like a football wife's knickers, does anyone know the juicy details of EMI's deal with the DFA?


nope but they seem to be able to do what they want, they are producing my mates band hot chip next year which is a bonus for them.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Maybe they should just sack the National Curriculum and replace it with the Corporate Curriculum, instructing kids on how to become mindless worker drones at the beck and call of The Man. Why bother with history, literature and culture when you can increase profits?

This makes me feel queasy.
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
baboon2004 said:
Maybe they should just sack the National Curriculum and replace it with the Corporate Curriculum, instructing kids on how to become mindless worker drones at the beck and call of The Man. Why bother with history, literature and culture

... and freedom, creativity, the joy of discovery ...

Makes me feel ill too.
 

mms

sometimes
baboon2004 said:
Maybe they should just sack the National Curriculum and replace it with the Corporate Curriculum, instructing kids on how to become mindless worker drones at the beck and call of The Man. Why bother with history, literature and culture when you can increase profits?

This makes me feel queasy.


innit. i'm currently working in the city as a temp.
it's donkey and carrot out there in late capitalism's hot spots, much joy when offered overtime, no independent thought thank you.
 

jenks

thread death
you should try teaching in these schools - a very public spat between the two jug eared Charleses has done nothing to hide the fact that there is a smaller and smaller window of opportunity for delivering anything which may allow for originality and creativity - there are league tables, there is performance management, there are departmental monitoring groups to make sure you stick to the subject/ curriculum/specification.
i recently went to see The History Boys by Bennett, the lead character tells a trainee teacher not to become a teacher, he says that you think you'll warm yourself off their vitality but you won't and you'll end up with weary cynicism and call it philosophy - when i look around both the classroom and the staffroom i can't but help feel that he has got it right.
from my position in front of the interactive whiteboard it doesn't seem to be about giving kids more computers, christ we're awash with the things, it's more about giving them access to their imaginations - we spend so long shoe-horning information into them to pass this exam/that module that the days of the inspirational teacher who allowed you to bring in your favourite records is disappearing fast.
last anecdote: last year i handed out copies of Blake's Innocence and Experience and the first question a student asked was: 'which assessment objective?' oh the irony - WB spinning somewhere in Bunhill fields!
 

mms

sometimes
jenks said:
you should try teaching in these schools - a very public spat between the two jug eared Charleses has done nothing to hide the fact that there is a smaller and smaller window of opportunity for delivering anything which may allow for originality and creativity - there are league tables, there is performance management, there are departmental monitoring groups to make sure you stick to the subject/ curriculum/specification.
i recently went to see The History Boys by Bennett, the lead character tells a trainee teacher not to become a teacher, he says that you think you'll warm yourself off their vitality but you won't and you'll end up with weary cynicism and call it philosophy - when i look around both the classroom and the staffroom i can't but help feel that he has got it right.
from my position in front of the interactive whiteboard it doesn't seem to be about giving kids more computers, christ we're awash with the things, it's more about giving them access to their imaginations - we spend so long shoe-horning information into them to pass this exam/that module that the days of the inspirational teacher who allowed you to bring in your favourite records is disappearing fast.
last anecdote: last year i handed out copies of Blake's Innocence and Experience and the first question a student asked was: 'which assessment objective?' oh the irony - WB spinning somewhere in Bunhill fields!


jenks please stop this kind of talk, the management are worrying about your mental health. ;)
 

puretokyo

Mercury Blues
mms said:
nope but they seem to be able to do what they want, they are producing my mates band hot chip next year which is a bonus for them.

Goodo, I enjoyed that 'Playboy' track of theirs, I'll look foward to that.
 

jenks

thread death
i am not worried about my mental health - i can always come on here and ask for reading lists. not so sure about the future mental health of the kids i teach though...
 

redcrescent

Well-known member
re.: Corporate Curriculum.

From the 'Adopt-a-Classroom' program. For corporate sponsors:
"For each classroom you adopt, you make a $500 donation [...] The teacher and students of your adopted classroom send letters, art work, and email throughout the school year. You may visit the classroom and become as proactive as your schedule permits (my italics) [...] As you participate in subsequent years, you enjoy the cumulative effect of your efforts with each new class of students, as well as develop a lasting and meaningful relationship with the classroom teacher."
 
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