BeatPick Blog on music licensing, creative commons music, gigs

This past week, two of BeatPick’s artists, Henrik Frenzel and Simon Wolfe, were selected for the soundtrack of a nonprofit video created by the Majority Leaders’ Office of Steny Hoyer, in Washington D.C. The Majority Leader is the second-ranking official in the United States House of Representatives. That’s huge, but what is more important to us BeatPickers, is not the politics of this debate but the music surrounding it (yes, politics are important to, but BeatPick does music not politics)!

The video begins with a serious tone, using Henrik Frenzel’s song “See You in Paris,” which is a beautiful slow tempo score from his album Wide Screen Music. The uplifting turn in the video is when Simon Wolfe’s “Power and Glory”, from his album Moving Sound, takes over. The song is a powerful motivational vote for change.

No one can deny that adding music to political statements makes it that much more emotionally stimulating. Who can blame them when most people think of politics they think BORING. Without Henrik Frenzel and Simon Wolfe’s songs, this video would have been just that, less meaningful, boring and impersonal. And not only does an important issue actually receive more attention but so do our much deserving artists.

In no way do the songs of our artists in this video represent their personal opinion. BeatPick and our artists are neither Republican nor Democratic, nor American or European, nor Eastside or Westside! What BeatPick is, what we are, and proud to be, is a FairPlay Music label.

Link to the video and to their website

During the ICommons Summit, the founder of CC, Lawrence Lessig, discussed the endless possibilities of using the cc and how it is economically sound and profits all who use it. He also explained that the future of CC lies in what he called the “crossover” possibility for users, to pass from free services to commercial licensing within the same web site. BeatPick was ecstatic to find that Lessig’s example for such a new typology of web sites, was yours’ truly BeatPick.com! Creative Commons is the basis of how BeatPick works; giving independent artists greater opportunities to break into the money crazed music industry. Without Lessig’s ideas and revisions of the Internet, society and copyright laws, BeatPick wouldn’t be here today.

[”It is no accident that those who understand this are those closest to technology. Our challenge will be to find ways to explain it so other creators get it as well. “Lawrence Lessig.
http://lessig.org/blog/creative_commons.]

As always, our hats off to the creators and innovators of what we believe to be the best thing to happen for all struggling artists in every field. To see BeatPicks placement within the ICommons Summit, click and watch the video below. Our site shows up on the big screen about fifteen minutes into Lessig’s presentation.

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This past June 21^st 2007, for the first time ever, the European Festival of Music (a free live music celebration held every summer in European cities), was held in Second Life! What is Second Life you ask? Well, let me tell you-it is the strangest, most fascinating and coolest freaking thing on the net. It is a 3-D virtual world entirely constructed and owned by its 8,006,758 users from around the globe. What makes it even cooler to us Beatpickers is that two of our Italian artists, Piergiorgio Lucidi and Leo Pari, performed at this virtual event in 3d characters! It gets even cooler, because not only did two of our artists join this event but so did one of our very own BeatPick colleagues, Teodoro Pizzolante and his band Madreperla!

Second Life has incorporated all aspects of real life on the Internet, so it comes to no surprise that this virtual world has opened it doors to the music industry, because for us, what is life without music? Independent artists now have another outlet for reaching a global fan base with little expense or effort!

[”Second Life is the future right now, offering endless possibilities for artists” - Nick Rhodes, Duran Duran]

What will come next for Second Life and Beatpick…maybe a BeatPick office in this virtual world? Who knows, but for now, stay tuned and rock out to our artists video performance on second life!!