The Culture Karma Blog

By Mat Morrisroe of Culture Karma

I’m going to start off my contributions to this blog in probably the very worst fashion, by writing about something that’s actually not currently in the news. I’m sure it’s blog suicide, but it’s one of the reasons that I was so interested in starting the blog as I think it expresses at least part of the essence of what this blog is all about. The topic non du jour is Orange Rock Corps. As a brand, Orange have always (seemingly at least) been a ‘nice’ brand, from the pre-FT days when they featured Stephen Fry’s vocal talents in their advertising before his ubiquity and even their Geordie call centre staff seem warm and a bit reassuring. However, many brands manage to say one thing in their communications whilst not delivering on their promise. Just like a predatory guy at a party telling his target that he’s “not like other guys” they throw around buzz words like ‘community’ all the while wilfully behaving like rogues. Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Harrison, Associate Editor of The Word Magazine

Today’s Twitter-frenzy around Lord Mandelson’s appearance at the C&binetforum bigwigs’ retreat – the “Creative Davos”, as we are being urged not to call it – proves that nothing puts virtual bums on digital seats like a proper star turn. I was on C&binet panel about filesharing on Monday night and the hashtags did not fly at anywhere near the same velocity. I got the feeling that the audience was rather disappointed that they didn’t get an entertaining ding-dong between copyright absolutists (representatives of the Featured Artists Coalition, UK Music, Virgin Media, the BBC and Warner Music) and a music journo (me) who would surely call for the end of copyright, the Man to be burnt in effigy and the reign of sweet anarchy.

Unfortunately, we all seemed to agree on the main points – that it’s not unreasonable for artists to decide whether or not their work should be shared, and that three-strikes-and-you’re-choked is about as reasonable a sanction against persistent uploading as can be imagined – leaving the panel a conference organiser’s nightmare: one where nobody got irate and the fur did not fly. Maybe they should have put Nick Griffin on instead.

The nearest we got to sparks came in audience questions, specifically from delegate Anita Ondine Smith of  Seize The Media. She questioned the panel’s diversity – and yes, we were all white males, although I think she was getting at the fact that the other panelists represented large media interests and there was no-one from the Pirate Party/Copyleft brigade to be seen (at least I hope she was. I’m not sure that race or gender qualify or disqualify one from taking a position on filesharing). She also raised one of the favourite touchstones of copyright liberationists, that quote about candles from Thomas Jefferson: “He who receives an idea from me receives [it] without lessening [me], as he who lights his [candle] at mine receives light without darkening me.” (I wasn’t taking notes so this is pinched from here). Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Harrison. This first appeared in the October 2009 issue of The Word Magazine.

Free. Free. Free. Free. The word is everywhere and it doesn’t sound as cheerful as it used to. “Free” used to extend the promise of a life-enhancing little extra to brighten your day. Years ago, when I was learning the magazine huckster’s trade, I was told that you could secure an interview with Kurt Cobain or Kylie Minogue or the Risen Christ if you liked, but none of them would be as good on the cover as the word FREE in bright red on a bright yellow background – even if the cassette you were giving away only had Hothouse Flowers and the Paris Angels on it. It didn’t matter. Free was fun. Free was your friend.

Now free has turned nasty. Never mind the burden of encumbering crap you’re faced with in the course of your day (farewell, thelondonpaper, we hardly knew ye). Free is now lapping around all our ankles like a rising flood. It carries not the promise of a nice little something for nothing, but the threat of working for nothing, at least for those of us in what are now called (pretty generously when you think about it) the “culture industries”. What happened to the music business is now happening to everyone else – “they came for the A&R men, and I did nothing…” – and worse, it’s got influential cheerleaders. Read the rest of this entry »

Hello, we are Culture Karma, a collective comprising journalists and media and marketing executives who believe that business and organisations are part of society too.  We believe that businesses should be judged not only on their bottom line, but also what they do to support and enrich the arts, culture and society.

This blog exists to praise the good work of organisations, heralding organisations and executives who show genuine support.  We want to be positive, so it’s more about applauding the good than criticising the bad.

If you want to get involved, or know of work that deserves the credit (it could be someone else’s it could even be your own), then get in touch.