Koblovsky, Jason

I'm an international DJ/Podcaster/Promotions Consultant. I'm a part of the Electronic Dance Music sector of the music industry which is basically always on the forefront of technological change within the Music Industry. My part of the industry drives a lot of the technological advances within music. Rather than engaging in debates and heated emotions around copyright on all fronts, I want to bring to the forefront some of the things that are on my mind and I've seen in my profession. Existing laws should be modernized around the changes we've seen in all industries and where those changes stand today.

In my industry, due to the competitive nature of it, we have organizations and companies lobbying the government with respect to their own best interests to position themselves (not talent) on top. This is nothing new for the entertainment industry, they do what they can to get the advantage over the other, and are often extremely harmful to others while doing it including their own talent. The truth, more often than not, is not revealed because of this. It's usually half truths with a heavy layer of fog. I apologize on behalf of the music industry for the behavior some have displayed to consumers, artists and government. This war some are responsible in creating in this industry has to end here, and I hope other like minded Canadians in the Industry speak out on this to help move forward. There is a part of the music industry outside Warner, EMI, Universal, Sony/BMG who's moved on and those voices and needs can't be ignored any longer. Those needs must be met outside the before mentioned labels in order to foster in a profitable future in this industry.

For a period of time over the past few years I helped a friend start up an internet radio station in Canada. Together we were able to bring some of the best ranked talent in our industry globally to this station, along with a huge majority of the indie labels in our selected genre to use this station as means of promotions. On several occasions, even today, the main concern of those that are innovating legitimately is being sued out of existence by rights holders, and a complicated system of copyright collectives, sometimes no copyright collective exists for certain things. The threat of being sued looms high over the heads of those trying to push the industry forward (on several fronts) even when consent is given by the labels and rights holders. All it takes is one complaint on copyright on the grounds of something stupid like "moral" rights or yanking that permission to bring down years of blood, sweat, tears, and money to try and move this industry forward. There are only a few brave souls who stick it out because they want to make a difference, and music means more than a paycheck. Often times we end up with laws around the globe that too heavily weigh on the side of rights holders, and make it impossible for innovation to occur because it gets too expensive, and not realistic on what money is actually being made in the marketplace as it stands today. That in turn negatively effects income within the industry and what ends up in the pockets of talent.

Through my research on the issue of copyright as a promotional consultant for artists, I've come to know a lot of the leading independent voices on different value chains that are open to the industry, and how under represented artistic talent has become in the digital marketplace. Often times artists in my industry have to pay out of their own pocket for digital promotions consultants (who are often not industry specific) to deal with things that are now necessary and contribute to the general success of that artist and works that the labels should be responsible for since it's the labels job to ensure return on investment. The artistic talent should NOT be fronting the bill for this alone. Often times I've heard how these digital promotions consultants are charging as much as it would cost for the artist to hold a concert at the Air Canada Center in Toronto, when in house promotions experts and webpage designers at the labels should be able to do this at a cost of no more than $13/hour (which is the same wage as a junior copy writer) to handle artists profiles, and digital promotional material needed to ensure return on investment. Often times when artists do this on their own and try to connect with their audience directly through their online profiles and social networking (they have paid unjustly for), they are confronted with DMCA takedowns on their own material from their own labels and distributors, due to disputes with sites like Youtube. The responsibility of promotion clearly lies with the distributors, and labels to set up themselves since they can't seem to agree on where they want their content posted. Some artists often don't get the level of promotions necessary to succeed due to the fact these hired consultants are not industry specific.

Through my research I have learned that the main goal of copyright is to foster innovation and investment in industry. It is my strong belief that what needs to be looked at is how restricting copyright has become, and how much this is hindering investment and innovation on a global scale because of the obsessive behaviors of a few over trying to get control back and position themselves at the top. Over the past 2 years a record number of talent globally have split off from EMI, Universal, Warner, Sony/BMG because they are not full filling their obligation to this talent in promoting within the marketplace. These labels are actively refusing to do this. They have refused to change and follow the audience, and promote effectively where the audience is located. That's their choice and part of what free market principles are all about. Because they have made the choice to neglect the needs of the artistic community, they will not be able to position themselves as market leaders again no matter what laws are put into place. So the questions become who needs our help, how do we protect the future market leaders, and allow them to emerge and drive change and innovation? With respect to this question, we need to pay more attention to the needs of Canadian Artists who are not tied in with the old monopoly and who are all about developing value chains around where the consumer is, which includes the P2P networks.

I think any legislation that will stand the test of time would need to be extremely flexible and already "built in" to handle any change. Gerd Leonhard "the media futurist" is one of our industries top indie economists and has really good take on what we need to do here to ensure we have that flexibility in the system. He has developed a book called Music 2.0. that is a compilation of essays from some of the top global independent copyright experts globally. His conclusions are about building copyright into the networks, and allow innovation to drive income and investment in industry. His idea would not only be extremely appropriate within the digital marketplace right now, it would also handle any future innovation in the digital pipelines beautifully. You can view a short clip that explains this a bit more:

http://blip.tv/file/818159

Innovation is the driving force of income within each and every industry, not copyright! We are so obsessed right now on a global scale on how to protect idea's which innovation builds on. Industry has effectively made copyright today intimidating, extremely expensive, and confusing when trying to focus on new and exciting projects to drive industry and even human knowledge forward. We have given too much control to rights holders to try and spark incentives to innovate when in fact that's the very problem. If we were to lessen the grip a little bit, and show people that they're not going to be sued to death for innovating, make things less confusing and more affordable, then there will be a flood of innovation in all industries, because there will be proper incentives to move forward with that necessary innovation. Canada could be a global leader in driving innovation forward. In order to make "copyright" flexible enough to handle future innovation we need to rethink how that's applied in digital terms, and build it into the networks, as Mr. Leonhard suggests. We need to rethink the amount of control that's given to rights holders in order to ensure innovation isn't hindered by excessive controls through law. Otherwise we risk the possibility of a standstill in all industries relating to IP, or even worse, laws that are irrelevant and unenforceable in today's marketplace.

Thank you very much for the time and opportunity to have my say.

Jason Koblovsky
Ontario, Canada