SOPA/PIPA and You

Unless you've been sleeping under a buffalo, you've heard of the blackout that many sites (including this one) imposed on January 18th in protest to the SOPA/PIPA bills under consideration in congress. In our case, we replaced the site with a form that would make it easy to send an email to your member of Congress saying you oppose these bills. (If you still want to, please go ahead. I'll wait.)

But why would you?

I know why Wristband Radio is put completely at risk by this legislation. Simply put, it hits us where we live. Currently we work directly with the rights holders of the songs we play and count on the safe harbor provision of the DMCA to protect us in the event of a dispute. If someone who owns a song we've been given permission to use suddenly doesn't like that we're playing said song, off the site it goes. Done and done.

The version of SOPA that was originally proposed would allow someone with an ulterior motive to knock us off the internet without a clear way to address or appeal the validity of a copyright claim or to take steps to avoid an interruption in service to our listeners. We're here to bring you music and this could stop us even if we've done nothing wrong, so we oppose SOPA/PIPA unconditionally.

But why would you?

Under SOPA/PIPA, the person raising the objection of "piracy" is supposed to be a rightsholder, but it's not a great leap of imagination to see how it might become tempting for competitors, critics, or even authorities to start issuing notices of violation to ISPs and search engines for less than ideal reasons when a site puts up something they don't like.

Anyone operating a website, or enjoying one on a regular basis, stands to suffer from these (frankly) heinous pieces of legislation. Imagine for a moment, that they pass. What would we, as Americans, get in exchange for this devil's bargain? Not that much, really.

Free speech in this country would be put severely at risk. Costs to operate in one of the few markets that's still growing in our current economy would rise, for some enough to put them out of business. Other businesses could suddenly find themselves shutdown without warning or due process. We'd accept all of this misery to save "Crappy Sequel 3" and "Flop Album You've Never Heard Of" from being downloaded for free by people who were never going to buy them in the first place.

And it wouldn't work.

So why should we?

Mittens, Mochas, and Music: A Benefit for Project Hope

Brand-Spankin'-New local music group, The Kronberg Ensemble will be playing live, classical music for a great cause. Our neck of the woods has been in need of more live classical for a long time. Now, I'm not saying don't go see the Omaha Symphony and Lincoln Symphony Orchestras - they're great. It's just that there is so much great music out there and The Kronberg Ensemble is just the right group to play it. Each group member is extremely talented and passionate about her/his respective instrument. What's even better, they're hip! So, whether you're new to classical or have been listening for your entire life, you will be thoroughly entertained ny their performance next Wednesday.

The main goal of this performance is to help out Project Hope, local charity that provides emergency food and other important supplies to those in need. To support this cause while witnessing amazing live music, all you have to do is bring an item from the list below. It's a great way to get your long weekend started and to discover great music.

Click HERE for the official event flier. Or join the event on Facebook.

WHEN: Wednesday, 12/22/11 from 4:30-6:30pm

WHERE: Fox Hollow Coffee 1919 Papillion Parkway (115th and Blondo) in Omaha

HOW MUCH: It's Free, however Project Hope is in need of the following items:

Hats, Mittens, Scarves, Coffee/Tea/Cocoa 

and....

Bar Soap

Bathroom Tissue

Body Wash

Shampoo / Conditioner

Deodorant

Diapers, especially sizes 4, 5, 6 and pullups

Dish Soap

Feminine hygiene products   Kleenex

Laundry Soap

Razors

Shaving Cream

Toothbrush and Toothpaste

Thank You, Steve Jobs

‎Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

— from Steve Jobs' commencement address to Stanford in 2005

When Josh and I started Wristband Radio, we wanted to take advantage of how far the Internet had come in order to create a local radio station that served a local audience. The insight that made this focus so clear for me had come from a moment I had two years before. On the day the iPhone 3G launched, I was taking my new prize home from the Apple Store and had stopped for groceries. On the way in, I downloaded the Pandora app, installed it, and started to listen to it as I walked through the frozen food section.

I stopped short (next to the frozen peas) as I realized what I was doing: I was enjoying a channel that was playing nothing but great Jazz bassists. It was streaming to me not over a wire or even on my home wireless network, but in the frozen food section at the grocery store. I thought, "That's it. Traditional radio is dead. We're just waiting for the body get cold." So when the opportunity to work on Wristband Radio came up, there was no doubt in my mind how to proceed.

If you go to our How to Use page, you'll see that there are apps that allow you to listen to WBR on every major smartphone. But at the top, you'll also see that you don't need any of them to listen to Omaha's great local musicians on an iPhone or an iPad. Apple's consistent support for HTML5 meant that I had a proof of concept for this station working in a single line of markup code. If all I needed to worry about were iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches, and the Safari browser, I could've written and tested our player in less than a day. Most of the work I've done on the technical client-side code has been to detect and support everyone else.

I can't tell you what a thrill it was to hear my station on the same iPhone that had inspired me to realize how the world was changing. During testing, WBR "just worked" right from the browser on every iOS device, from my Dad's original iPhone, to both iPads, to my current gen iPhone 4. When the iPhone 4S ships later this month, I already know that WBR will be ready for users to enjoy.

This kind of direction doesn't form in a vacuum. It came from Apple's commitment to supporting some of the best new web standards. In turn, Apple's vision for the browser came from the man who gave us the iPod: Steve Jobs. Music is in that company's DNA because it was so important to its co-founder and two-time CEO. Jobs dragged the music industry kicking and screaming into the 21st century with the iPod and with iTunes, the first legitimate venue for buying digital music to gain traction both with the labels and with users.

If it hadn't been for Jobs, it would be a different world for musicians and music-lovers. If the the industry had its way, we would still be listening to a handful of artists over the air and buying plastic discs as listeners. As artists, we'd still be scraping at the door for a handful of records deals. As it stands now, WBR artists have many of their albums in the same iTunes and Amazon stores that sell songs by whomever was just splattered all over the cover of Rolling Stone.

The world has changed and we are better for it. We listen to whomever, wherever, whenever.

On behalf of myself, my wonderful business parter Josh, the 150 talented local artists we play, and the listeners who've made this project worthwhile, I want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you, Steve Jobs. Thank you for everything.

Andrew Neely

Technology Manager, Wristband Radio

Add the Music to Your Browser

You can now launch the music player directly from your favorite browser, without even being on the site. It's so easy to setup; just drag the Play Music button from the front page directly to your bookmarks bar and your set. If you'd like to see it in action, just watch this handy screencast we made. It's never been easier to listen to great local music!

(Special thanks to Surreal The MC for providing the backing track to the video.)

Book and Music Compilation Bring Indie Music to Light For a Good Cause

A good cause is always worth supporting, so the fact that the Children of Mercy book and CD compilation help out two causes make this project a must-see. Children of Mercy: Tale and Teachings From The World of Independent Music is a collection of stories and essays by several elite members of the indie music world, including Electric Needle Room's Matt Beat and Will Simon of Thunder Power and editor of Omahype.com. This book will not only open the eyes of the outside world to the independent music scene but also raise money to fight Cystic Fibrosis.

Along with the compilation CD, the book brings to light stories from the independent music scene while it raises money for the fight against Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that has affected the son of one the contributors, Swedish musician and writer Ola Nyberg. Ron Trembath, creator of the project, pursued funding for the book publishing on Kickstarter and obtained over $2900 in pledges to ensure that 100% of the profits and royalties from the book go to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in the US, as well as the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in the UK. 

Beat and Simons, are just two out of a 40 + team of artists, producers, label runners, promoters, writers, and listeners from the world of independent music that have contributed their essays on life in the independent music scene. A wide array of topics including, DIY, effects of the internet, performing, break ups, and indie history will be found in this treasure trove of indie music perspectives. The book seeks to open the eyes to the outside world on how tough it can be to be a solely independent musician as well as highlight why it might just be the only true way to be a real artist in the musical world. It also gives advice to those currently living the independent music "dream" or those that are interested in creating music without the fear of losing their soul to the media monster know as the mainstream.

The compilation CD was released on The Beechfields Record Label on February 8th and the book was released through Marquette Books LLC on April 1st. From Seattle to Omaha to the U.K., this project uses a global angle to tackle a global issue.

The book is available on their website as well as on Amazon.  In store copies can be found right here in Omaha at Soul Desires downtown.

Currently, The Children of Mercy team is working on releasing a second compilation album to be released through Workerbee Records (Ames, IA) with a release date TBA.  Probably around winter 2011 or early 2012. Be on the lookout for that on Children of Mercy's Facebook.