ROUNDUP: Free Local Music But Artists Get Paid
Plus an unhackable voting machine and robots to improve growing berries.
Motherboard's Claire Woodcock, has an article up called "Libraries Are Launching Their Own Local Music Streaming Platforms." More than a dozen public libraries in the US and Canada now offer a music streaming service, paying local artists for a non-exclusive license to stream music to their communities.
Developers Preston Austin and Kelly Hiser developed the software for the Madison Public Library's Yahara Music Library in 2014. They took that work and created the open source MUSICat software. Then started a company called Rabble to administer MUSICat. It can be used by libraries as long as they agree to pay artists for including their music. Rabble also works with libraries to help them get started with the project, create websites and more.
Rabble released an emergency version of MUSICat for libraries to use for free during the pandemic. It is getting third-party grants and foundation funding as well. It normally charges libraries for help setting up the software, with different rates for libraries serving more than or less than 150,000 people.
Each library sets their own rules about what they include. As an example, New Orleans' "Crescent City Sounds" accepts albums released in the last five years. To be included, artists either need to reside in New Orleans or play gigs there regularly, and submit at least one track from an album. Crescent City Sounds tries to select albums that will expose users to different types of music. Right now it has 29 albums and artists that include surf rock, funk, hip hop, Mardi Gras Indian music and more. Each artist gets a $250 payment for a five year license.
Another example is Capital City Records in Edmonton. It includes more than 200 local musicians and has led to library-focused music events and even some vinyl album pressings.
Other libraries with MUSICat based services, include Seattle, Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh, Fort Worth, Nashville, Chapel Hill, Appleton, Davenport, Eau Claire, Austin, Minneapolis, and Portland. More than 2,000 artists are featured in total across all the MUSICat installations.
Here are some other topics I wrote about this week
Working from Home from Overseas
Waabi’s Plug-andPlay Autonomous Truck System for OEMs
Mineral’s Robots Could Save farmers Fertilizer, Pesticides and Labor Costs
Cloud Gaming Apps Come to 2021 Samsung TVs
Professor Gilbert’s Unhackable Votion machine Available for You To Try to Hack
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