Indie record store owner to Hollywood’s (ex-)MP: Get bent!

January 30, 2006 D. H. McKee

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The owner of She Said Boom, my favorite indie record store in Toronto, has posted a notice in the window of his shop decrying Sam Bulte, the Liberal Member of Parliament who takes huge campaign contributions from the entertainment lobby and then tries to enact draconian copyright laws that mirror the US’s worst legislation, stuff that has criminalized tens of millions of music fans, to the detriment of musicians and fans alike.
Here’s why: last year, Sarmite Bulte’s committee released a report whose recommendations would radically strengthen corporate control over Canadian music, at the expense of the public interest. If enacted, these changes would give major record companies more power to:
– install more invasive ‘anti-piracy’ software on our computers;
– restrict legal iPod use, and control how and where we enjoy music we have paid for;
– place punitive tariffs on new music uses and channels that don’t serve corporate interests; and
– restrict how music fans discover new music by controlling podcasts, music blogs and other legitimate fan activity on the internet.
Sarmite Bulte says that artists support her reforms. This is like saying Wal-Mart employees support low wages and cheap imported goods.
Boing Boing: Indie record store owner to Hollywood’s MP: Get bent!

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As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

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Like blogs of old, this one is a personal document of the comings and goings of me. Articles I’ve written, links I’ve posted, videos I liked, etc. Here, a first-person perspective is the way to go, at least for now. So, this is my site. I’m D. H. McKee, a sometimes artist, sometimes writer. Mostly just a guy on the internet.