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musicians weigh in on filesharing

HALSEY BURGUND RELEASES ONLINE RECORDING TOOL TO FACILITATE PRO-FILESHARING MUSIC

July 21, 2005 – Press Release

Musician, Halsey Burgund of aesthetic evidence and Bring Your Own Voice, is releasing an online recording tool that he developed to facilitate the collection of spoken voices for his music. This technology enables any user with an internet connection and a microphone on their computer to record, in high fidelity, their voice or any other sound. There are no software requirements other than a browser equipped with the free Macromedia Flash plug-in. Burgund developed this technology initially to enable him to collect voices of musicians around the world who support filesharing.

http://www.aevidence.com/filesharing/filesharing.php

He is asking musicians to record themselves stating “I am a musician and I support filesharing” as well as explain their reasons for supporting this technology. By bringing together a large group of musician’s voices into one piece of music, Burgund hopes to counter the music industry’s insistent claims that filesharing is hurting musicians.

Burgund believes in copyright and other intellectual property laws, but feels that as big business lobbys Congress more and more, the copyright laws are being shifted to benefit corporate copyright holders whose main intentions are to make money, not to spread culture and help further the creativity of our society.

“This project is a great way of stirring up debate and bringing musicians together to raise awareness of the important role filesharing plays in the freedom and distribution of culture in today’s internet world” says Kembrew McLeod, professor at the University of Iowa and author of “Freedom of Expression” (2005, Doubleday).

Professor McLeod along with Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky, are supporting this project with their voices and their words.

This online recording technology supplements Burgund’s Bring Your Own Voice booth - a portable recording booth he sets up in various locations to collect the voices of willing passers-by.

About Halsey Burgund:

Halsey Burgund, the motive force behind aesthetic evidence and Bring Your Own Voice, builds his music around words that are spoken and recorded in a completely non-musical context. The notion of creating music out of everyday expressions not normally considered musical is the cornerstone of his approach.

By incorporating voice recordings of otherwise uninvolved individuals, this music not only explores the vast array of textures the human voice can exhibit, but also is able to offer a unique opportunity to participating individuals.

Burgund recently released his first album, ‘words and voices’, of songs written in this style.