DIGITAL ART AND ARTISTS

Issa, a recording artist who has slowly gained a cult following since the early eighties has completely reinvented what it means to be a singer-songwriter in the modern world. For one, she left Warner Bros. and started her own label way before the music industry started to plummet. Nowadays, she travels around touring and recording with one backpack...one backpack! She offers her music to fans for whatever it is that they want to pay, including nothing. Radiohead started this trend- it has proved to be lucrative. On average, Issa's fans spend $1.25 per track, which is considerably higher than the $.99 of itunes. Also, she depends on her fans to contribute money for recording and studio time. She really has created a completely new, ingenious business model for creating, performing, and selling music. Since the music business is the pits these days, I'm sure we'll be seeing more and more recording artists following in Issa's footsteps.
The Atomic Tom video is incredible! The band members had their instruments stolen and decided to use their iphones to perform and record themselves on a nyc train- it almost sounded like a real band.
The Story of Cosmetics was an eye-opening documentary about the toxic, often carcinogenic properties of many ingredients in cosmetic products. It's really appalling that baby shampoo contains toxic ingredients- these cosmetic companies are really doing a huge disservice to its consumers. What's more surprising is that many European companies have banned theses ingredients- but American companies use them nonetheless.
The other problem, which is not touched on in the video, is that conventional cosmetics that are packed full of petrochemicals are far more expensive than natural ones. A natural bar of soap sold at Whole Foods, for instance, can cost up to $5, whereas products like Dove cost far less. Many Americans simply don't have enough money to choose healthy products. This problem also holds true with organic vs. conventional foods.
The remix wikipedia entry was interesting- it touches on the idea of intellectual property and how important it is within the context of remixing. The U.S. Copyright Office information on Fair Use goes into detail about what is considered legal reproduction of intellectual property. The other links about copyright also touch on this issue.
"Right Wing Radio Duck" is a great video about what's going on economically. It touches on the growing gap between rich and poor and the way Wall Street has screwed many Americans. This video was interesting because it incorporated excerpts from the original donald duck cartoon.
The snow white remix by Pogo was really cool- he used clips from the 1937 Disney film to create a really awesome song. The problem is that he can't release a lot of his work because Disney is threatening to sue..he was originally working for Disney but they decided they didn't want anything to do with some of the work he did.