Music streaming revenue structures stacked against artists

Streaming services like Spotify and Pandora pay many millions of dollars each year for the rights to the music they play. But how much of this ends up back with artists and songwriters? The answer: not an awful lot.

Artists and their worlds

A catalogue essay written for 'Tall Tales and Other Adventures: a University of Southern Queensland, Dogwood Crossing, Miles and Flying Arts research project.'

Art spaces in community and economic development : connections to neighborhoods, artists, and the cultural economy

There is growing interest in the arts in community and economic development, yet little research examines the dynamics of community-based arts institutions to inform urban planning and policy. Drawing on interviews with participants and organizers of small and midsized art spaces, the study explores the factors that influence their involvement in neighborhood revitalization and outreach, support for artistic communities, and efforts to build bridges to commercial cultural sectors. Art spaces function as a conduit for building social networks that contribute to both community revitalization and artistic development. But issues pertaining to the location, organization, and management of art spaces may limit their community and economic development potential. The article concludes with proposals to craft stronger arts-based community and economic development programs.

She’s done alright for a girl : strategies for teaching women artists

While evidence suggests that up to 65% of visual arts graduates in Australia are women, women artists are still dramatically under-represented in most sectors of the industry, from institutional exhibitions through to commercial gallery representation. Gender awareness in art school education was a prominent aspect of second wave feminist activism in this country, however the outcomes for women artists, particularly as their careers proceed, often remain discouraging. Over approximately the past ten years, the Visual Arts discipline at Queensland University of Technology has integrated a range of gender awareness strategies into its teaching program across both studio practice and history/theory areas, with relatively strong outcomes amongst female graduates, both as artists and arts workers. Employing practitioner reflection and praxis-based research, this paper takes stock of the approaches that have been trialled over this period and reflects on the combination of both explicit and implicit strategies employed, as well as student responses to them.

The Down Under book and film remind us our copyright law’s still unfair for artists

Australian copyright law is broken, and the Australian Government isn’t moving quickly to fix it. Borrowing, quoting, and homage are fundamental to the creative process. This is how people are inspired to create. Under Australian law, though, most borrowing is copyright infringement, unless it is licensed or falls within particular, narrow categories. This year marks five years since the very real consequences of Australia’s restrictive copyright law for Australian artists were made clear in the controversial litigation over Men at Work’s 1981 hit Down Under. The band lost a court case in 2010 that found that the song’s iconic flute riff copied some of the 1934 children’s song Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gumtree. A new book and documentary tell us more about the story behind the anthem – and the court case. The book, Down Under by Trevor Conomy, and the documentary, You Better Take Cover by Harry Hayes, bring renewed interest and new perspectives on the tragic story.

A Submission to the Inquiry into the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Bill 2008 (Cth)

A right of resale, or droit de suite (a right to follow), is a legislative instrument under intellectual property law, which enables artists to receive a percentage of the sale price whenever artistic works are resold. A French legal scholar, Albert Vaunois, first articulated the need for a 'droit de suite' in connection with fine art back in 1893. The French Government introduced a scheme to protect the right of resale in 1920, after controversy over artists living in poverty, while public auction houses were profiting from the resale of their artistic creations. In the United States, there has been less support for a right of resale amongst legislatures. After lobbying from artists such as the king of pop art, Robert Rauschenberg, the state of California passed the Resale Royalties Act in 1977. At a Federal level, the United States Congress has shown some reluctance in providing national recognition for a right of resale in the United States. A number of other European countries have established a right of resale. In 2001, the European Council adopted the Artists' Resale directive and recognised that the 'artist's resale right forms an integral part of copyright and is an essential prerogative for authors.' In 2006, the United Kingdom promulgated regulations, giving effect to a right of resale in that jurisdiction. However, a number of Latin American and African countries have established a right of resale. The New Zealand Parliament has debated a bill on a right of resale.

The Phraseology and Structure of Latin Building Inscriptions in Roman North Africa

This study analyses the diction of Latin building inscriptions. Despite its importance, this topic has rarely been discussed before: the most substantial contribution on the subject is a short dissertation by Klaus Gast (1965) that focuses on 100 inscriptions dating mostly from the Republican period. Marietta Horster (2001) also touched upon this theme in her thesis on imperial building inscriptions. I have collected my source material in North Africa because more Latin building inscriptions dating from the Imperial period have survived there than in any other area of the Roman Empire. By means of a thorough and independent survey, I have assembled all relevant African Latin building inscriptions datable to the Roman period (between 146 BC and AD 425), 1002 texts, into a corpus. These inscriptions are all fully edited in Appendix 1; Appendix 2 contains references to earlier editions. To facilitate search operations, both are also available in electronic form. They are downloadable from the address http://www.helsinki.fi/hum/kla/htm/jatkoopinnot.htm. Chapter one is an introduction dealing with the nature of building inscriptions as source material. Chapter two offers a statistical overview of the material. The following main section of the work falls into five chapters, each of which analyses one main part of a building inscription. An average building inscription can be divided into five parts: the starting phrase opens the inscription (a dedication to gods, for example), the subject part identifies the builder, the object part describes the constructed or repaired building, the predicate part records the building activity and the supplement part offers additional information on the project (it can specify the funding, for instance). These chapters are systematic and chronological and their purpose is to register and interpret the phrases used, to analyse reasons for their use and for their popularity among the different groups of builders. Chapter eight, which follows the main section of the work, creates a typology of building inscriptions based on their structure. It also presents the most frequently attested types of building inscriptions. The conclusion describes, on a general level, how the diction of building inscriptions developed during the period of study and how this striking development resulted from socio-economic changes that took place in Romano-African society during Antiquity. This study shows that the phraseology of building inscriptions had a clear correlation both with the type of builder and with the date of carving. Private builders tended to accentuate their participation (especially its financial side) in the project; honouring the emperor received more emphasis in the building inscriptions set up by communities; the texts produced by the army were concise. The chronological development is so clear that it enables stylistic dating. At the beginning of the imperial period the phrases were clear, concrete, formal and stereotyped but by Late Antiquity they have become vague, subjective, flexible, varied and even rhetorically or poetically coloured.

The Roman Republican Navy : from the sixth century to 167 BC

Työ käsittelee Rooman laivaston kehitystä, toimintaa ja osallistumista laajenemispolitiikkaan, jossa Rooma kasvoi kaupunkivaltiosta Välimeren hallitsijaksi. Rooma on aikaisemmissa tutkimuksissa nähty maavaltiona vailla kiinnostusta merenkulkuun. On katsottu, että ainoa merkittävä merisota Rooman historiassa on ensimmäinen puunilaissota (264-241 eKr.) ja että siinäkin roomalaiset (jotka historioitsija Polybius kuvaa vasta-alkajiksi) menestyivät Karthagoa vastaan turvautumalla laskusiltoihin, joiden avulla he saattoivat muuttaa meritaistelun maataisteluksi. Polybiuksen kuvaukseen on aina tähän asti luotettu. On katsottu että Roomalla ei ollut laivastoa ennen ensimmäistä puunilaissotaa ja että Rooma kaikissa sodissaan panosti merisodankäyntiin mahdollisimman vähän. Tämä työ pyrkii kumoamaan nämä käsitykset. Laivasto oli osallisena ja ehdottoman välttämätön kaikissa Rooman laajenemispolitiikan käänteissä. Arkeologian tiedot osoittavat, että ennen ensimmäistä puunilaissotaa Rooma kehittyi ja siitä tuli merkittävä kaupunki nimenomaan kaupankäynnin ja ulkomaisten kontaktien seurauksena. Se ei siis ollut puhdas agraarivaltio. Roomalaisilla oli laivasto jo viimeistään 500-luvulta lähtien eKr. ja sitä käytettiin Rooman laajentaessa valtaansa Italiassa. Näin ollen ensimmäisessä puunilaissodassa läntisen Välimeren herruudesta kilpaili kaksi merivaltiota, Rooma ja Karthago. Toinen puunilaissota (218-201) tunnetaan yleensä Hannibalin tulosta Alppien yli Italiaan, mutta se oli myöskin merkittävä merisota ja karthagolaiset hävisivät sen nimenomaan merellä. Rooma osallistui kilpailuun itäisen Välimeren hallinnasta ja kukisti Makedonian ja Syyrian laivastot, jotka eivät olleet mitenkään Rooman laivaston veroisia. Kaikista Rooman vastustajista Karthagolla olisi ollut suurin mahdollisuus pysäyttää Rooman laivaston voittokulu toisessa puunilaissodassa. Laivastoa käytettiin moniin eri tarkoituksiin. Suuret meritaistelut eivät ole ainoa osoitus laivastojen mukanaolosta ja merkityksestä, vaan on myös otettava huomion sotalaivojen rakenne ja toimintaedellytykset. Sotalaivat oli rakennettu taisteluita varten ja niissä oli hyvin niukasti säilytystilaa. Niiden oli päästävä laskemaan maihin aina kun miehistö tarvitsi vettä, ruokaa ja lepoa. Laivastot saattoivat toimia vain niiden rannikoiden tuntumassa, joiden satamiin ja laskupaikkoihin niillä oli turvallinen pääsy. Roomalaiset olivat hyvin tietoisia tästä. Suuret merentakaiset sotaretket Afrikkaan, Espanjaan, Kreikkaan ja Vähän-Aasian rannikolle perustuivat kaikki siihen, että Rooman laivasto hallitsi purjehdusreittejä ja sopivia laskupaikkoja ja saattoi huolehtia joukkojen ja varusteiden kuljettamisesta kaukana taisteleville armeijoille. Samalla Rooman laivasto kävi itsenäistä sotaa merellä ja haastoi ja kukisti kaikki Välimeren merivaltiot. 130-luvulle eKr. tultaessa se oli lyönyt vihollisensa ja riisunut aseista liittolaisensa; Rooman laivasto hallitsi Välimerta yksin.

Dancing and Professional Dancers in Roman Egypt

The main aim of the study is to create a many-sided view of dancing in Roman Egypt (1st - early 4th centuries AD) and especially of the dancers who earned their living by dancing as hired performers. Even though dancers and other performers played a central part in many kinds of festivities throughout the ancient world, research on ancient professional dancers is rare and tends to rest on the ancient literature, which reflects the opinions of the elite. Documentary written sources (i.e., papyri, ostraka) the core of the present study are mentioned rather superficially, easily resulting in a stereotypical view of the dancers. This study will balance the picture of professional dancers in antiquity and of ancient dancing in a more general sense. The second aim characterizes this study as basic research: to provide a corpus of written sources from Greco-Roman Egypt on dancing and to discuss pictorial sources contemporary with the texts. The study also takes into account the theoretical discussion that centres on dancing as a nonverbal communicative mode. Dancers are seen as significant conveyors of social and cultural matters. This study shows that dancers were hired to perform especially in religious contexts, where the local associations on the village level also played an important part as the employers of the performers. These performers had a better standard of living in economic terms than the average hired worker, and dancers were better paid than other performers. In the Egyptian villages and towns, where the dancers performed and lived, the dancers do not seem to have been marginal because they were professionals or because of some ethnic or social background. However, their possible marginality may have occurred for reasons related to the practicalities of their profession (e.g., the itinerant life style). The oriental background of performers was a literary topos reflecting partly the situation in the centres of the empire, especially Rome, where many performers were of other than Roman origin. The connection of dancing, prostitution and slavery reflects the essential link between dance, body and gender: dancers are equated with such professions or socio-legal statuses where the body is the focus of attention, a commodity and a source of sensual pleasure; this dimension is clearly observable in ancient literature. According to the Egyptian documentary sources, there is no watertight evidence that professional dancers would have been engaged in prostitution and very little, if any, evidence that the disapproval of the professional dancers expressed by the ancient authors was shared by the Egyptians. From the 4th century onwards the dancers almost disappear from the documentary sources, reflecting the political and religious changes in the Mediterranean east.

« Le roman est agréablement traduit » : Étude comparative sur la visibilité des traductions et des traducteurs en Finlande et en France à travers des critiques des livres

Pro gradu -työssä tutkitaan ja vertaillaan käännöskirjallisuuden arvosteluja Ranskassa ja Suomessa. Empiirinen aineisto koostuu kaikista Helsingin Sanomien ja Le Monden vuonna 2003 julkaisemista arvosteluista. Lehdissä oli yhteensä 2691 arvosteltua kirjaa, joista 845 oli käännöksiä. Päätavoite on ollut selvittää näiden valtasanomalehtien kritiikkejä tutkimalla, kummassa maassa kääntäjän ja käännöksen asema on näkyvämpi ja minkälaisia julkaistut käännöskritiikit ovat. Lisäksi tavoitteena on ollut tutkia, kumpi lehdistä on avoimempi vieraskielisiä kirjoja ja käännöksiä kohtaan. Kirja-arvostelujen lähemmälle tutkimiselle luodaan pohjaa perehtymällä kääntäjän ja käännöksen näkyvyyteen liittyviin seikkoihin. Tässä käytetään hyväksi Koskisen (2000) tutkimusta. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan myös, millainen on hyvä käännös eri kääntäjien ja tutkijoiden mielestä, sekä muita saman aihepiirin tutkimuksia ja aiheesta vallalla ollutta keskustelua. Lisäksi selvitetään, miksi laadukkaat käännösarvostelut ovat harvinaisia ja mistä tämä johtuu. Analyysivaiheen kvantitatiivisessa osassa perehdytään käännösten määrälliseen osuuteen sekä aineistossa että Ranskan ja Suomen kokonaisjulkaisumäärissä. Aineiston käännösarvostelut luokitellaan niiden sisällön mukaan. Tässä on käytetty soveltuvin osin Gullinin (1998) kehittelemää mallia. Käännösarvostelujen sisältöanalyysissa kiinnitetään huomiota niiden käännöstä ja kääntäjää koskeviin kommentteihin. Arvostelujen laadun ja kriitikkojen käyttämien arvosteluperusteiden pohdinta nojautuu aiheesta aikaisemmin tehtyihin teoreettisiin sekä empiirisiin tutkimuksiin. Pro gradu -työ sisältää myös erillisen katsauksen käännettyjen lastenkirjojen arvosteluihin sekä arvostelujen ulkopuolisiin kääntäjiin ja kääntämiseen liittyviin artikkeleihin. Koko tutkimuksen ajan lähestymistapa on vertaileva Le Monden ja Helsingin Sanomien välillä. Tutkimuksesta selviää, että Le Monde julkaisee huomattavasti enemmän kirja-arvosteluja. Molemmat lehdet sisältävät kuitenkin suhteellisesti yhtä paljon arvosteluja käännöskirjoista. Helsingin Sanomissa on enemmän vieraskielisten teosten arvosteluja, ja käännösten ja kääntäjän asema on huomattavasti näkyvämpi lehden kritiikeissä. Suurin osa Le Monden käännösarvosteluista sisältää vain kääntäjän nimen bibliografisissa tiedoissa. Helsingin Sanomissa vain alle puolet käännöskirjoista on arvosteltu tällä tavoin. Myös kritiikit, joissa kääntäjän nimeä ei mainita ollenkaan, ovat yleisempiä ranskalaislehdessä. Suhteellisen pieni osa käännösarvosteluista arvioi käännöksen laatua. Näille arvioille on ominaista perustelujen ja analyysin puuttuminen ja ne ovat usein lyhyitä. Arviot ovat sävyltään enimmäkseen positiivisia tai neutraaleja. Hyvin yleistä on myös se, että kriitikko sekoittaa kaksi eri asiaa: kääntäjän ja kirjailijan tyylin. Yleisin kriitikkojen käyttämä arviointikriteeri on tutkia käännöksen ja kohdekielen tai käännöksen ja lähtötekstin suhdetta. Monesti arviointikriteeri jää täysin epäselväksi. Helsingin Sanomien kritiikeissä kääntäjiin viitataan huomattavasti useammin myös itse arvostelutekstissä. Lehti tuo näkyvästi esille kääntäjiä muissakin kuin kirja-arvosteluartikkeleissaan. Sen sijaan Le Mondessa ei ole pelkästään kääntäjiä käsitteleviä tekstejä.

New Perspectives on the Roman Coinage on the Eastern Limes in the Late Republican and Roman Imperial Period

The Ph.D. thesis discusses the monetary development in Roman Syria and Judaea in the Late Republican and the Early Imperial Period, from a numismatic, archaeological and historical point of view. In effect, the work focuses on the 1st century B.C. to the 1st century A.D., that is, the assumed time of introduction of Roman denarii to the region. The work benefits from the silver coin hoards of Khirbet Qumran recently published by the author. Though discovered as early as 1955 at Qumran, where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls had been found prior to that in 1947, most hoards remained unpublished until 2007. A second important source utilized is the so-called Tax Law from Palmyra in Syria. Its significance lies in the fact that Palmyra used to be one of the most important cities on the Silk Road, along which luxury goods were transported into the Roman Empire and Rome itself. During the research conducted, studies of the provincial coinage of Judaea (A.D. 6-66) shed new light on the authority of the Roman governors in economic and monetary matters in eastern Mediterranean regions. Furthermore, a new suggestion as to the length of the mandate period of Pontius Pilate is made. The extent of Emperor Augustus monetary reforms as well as the military history of Judaea are discussed in the light of new analytical studies, which show that the production of Roman base metal coins appears to have been a highly controlled process, contrary to popular opinion. Statistical calculations related to the coin alloy revealed striking similarities with Roman and other local metalwork found in Israel; a fact previously unknown. Results indicate that both Roman and local metalwork consisted of outstandingly systematized practises and may have exploited the same metal sources. Information: Kenneth Lönnqvist (*25.7.1962) has studied at the University of Helsinki since 1981. Furthermore, Lönnqvist has lived in the Mediterranean countries and the Near East, and made research there at various scientific institutions and universities for ca. 7 years. Contact and sales of thesis: kenneth.lonnqvist@helsinki.fi

Locus Bonus : The Relationship of the Roman Villa to its Environment in the Vicinity of Rome

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship of the Roman villa to its environment. The villa was an important feature of the countryside intended both for agricultural production and for leisure. Manuals of Roman agriculture give instructions on how to select a location for an estate. The ideal location was a moderate slope facing east or south in a healthy area and good neighborhood, near good water resources and fertile soils. A road or a navigable river or the sea was needed for transportation of produce. A market for selling the produce, a town or a village, should have been nearby. The research area is the surroundings of the city of Rome, a key area for the development of the villa. The materials used consist of archaeological settlement sites, literary and epigraphical evidence as well as environmental data. The sites include all settlement sites from the 7th century BC to 5th century AD to examine changes in the tradition of site selection. Geographical Information Systems were used to analyze the data. Six aspects of location were examined: geology, soils, water resources, terrain, visibility/viewability and relationship to roads and habitation centers. Geology was important for finding building materials and the large villas from the 2nd century BC onwards are close to sources of building stones. Fertile soils were sought even in the period of the densest settlement. The area is rich in water, both rainfall and groundwater, and finding a water supply was fairly easy. A certain kind of terrain was sought over very long periods: a small spur or ridge shoulder facing preferably south with an open area in front of the site. The most popular villa resorts are located on the slopes visible from almost the entire Roman region. A visible villa served the social and political aspirations of the owner, whereas being in the villa created a sense of privacy. The area has a very dense road network ensuring good connectivity from almost anywhere in the region. The best visibility/viewability, dense settlement and most burials by roads coincide, creating a good neighborhood. The locations featuring the most qualities cover nearly a quarter of the area and more than half of the settlement sites are located in them. The ideal location was based on centuries of practical experience and rationalized by the literary tradition.

The Reorganisation of Provincial Territories in Light of the Imperial Decision-Making Process : Later Roman Arabia and Tres Palaestinae as Case Studies

The dissertation examines Roman provincial administration and the phenomenon of territorial reorganisations of provinces during the Imperial period with special emphasis on the provinces of Arabia and Palaestina during the Later Roman period, i.e., from Diocletian (r. 284 305) to the accession of Phocas (602), in the light of imperial decision-making. Provinces were the basic unit of Roman rule, for centuries the only level of administration that existed between the emperor and the cities of the Empire. The significance of the territorial reorganisations that the provinces were subjected to during the Imperial period is thus of special interest. The approach to the phenomenon is threefold: firstly, attention is paid to the nature and constraints of the Roman system of provincial administration. Secondly, the phenomenon of territorial reorganisations is analysed on the macro-scale, and thirdly, a case study concerning the reorganisations of the provinces of Arabia and Palaestina is conducted. The study of the mechanisms of decision-making provides a foundation through which the collected data of all known major territorial reorganisations is interpreted. The data concerning reorganisations is also subjected to qualitative comparative analysis that provides a new perspective to the data in the form of statistical analysis that is sensitive to the complexities of individual cases. This analysis of imperial decision-making is based on a timeframe stretching from Augustus (r. 30 BC AD 14) to the accession of Phocas (602). The study identifies five distinct phases in the use of territorial reorganisations of the provinces. From Diocletian s reign there is a clear normative change that made territorial reorganisations a regular tool of administration for the decision-making elite for addressing a wide variety of qualitatively different concerns. From the beginning of the fifth century the use of territorial reorganisations rapidly diminishes. The two primary reasons for the decline in the use of reorganisations were the solidification of ecclesiastical power and interests connected to the extent of provinces, and the decline of the dioceses. The case study of Palaestina and Arabia identifies seven different territorial reorganisations from Diocletian to Phocas. Their existence not only testifies to wider imperial policies, but also shows sensitivity to local conditions and corresponds with the general picture of provincial reorganisations. The territorial reorganisations of the provinces reflect the proactive control of the Roman decision-making elite. The importance of reorganisations should be recognised more clearly as part of the normal imperial administration of the provinces and especially reflecting the functioning of dioceses.