Fair Music Award for Tonga.Online @ Ars Electronica 2007
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- Created: Tuesday, 11 September 2007 21:43
Good news for the Tonga.Online project from Mica – the Music Information Center Austria, which has started the Fair Music Initiative recently. On Saturday 8th September the project received the newly-created Fair Music Award in the context of this years Ars Electronica Festival - together with female:pressure, Freibank Music Publishing, and Extraplatte as this years other laureates.
Fair music initiator and jury president Peter Rantasa on the award: “The fair music award is meant to go to projects showing commitment, those who already prove today what a fair music business of tomorrow may look like. We are giving an award to the Avant-Garde of fair music". In a joint jury statement he agreed with the Executive Director of the European Music Council Ruth Jakobi, the composer, academic teacher of composition and president of Austro-Mechana Dieter Kaufmann, the ORF music journalist Irene Suchy and Ars Electronica director Gerfried Stocker that Tonga.Online is an important contribution to fair music and, thus, a worthy laureate: “In a climate of conflicting priorities between the Global North and South, the Tonga.Online platform contributes to preserving cultural diversity, as well as fighting for peace and freedom of expression in the region.“ Irene Suchy added: “To me, fair music incorporates fair distribution of resources. Neither should the Global North fleece the Global South, nor the rich the poor, nor the man the women, nor the white the black. What’s most urgent is to create the utmost fairness in the world. All structures boosting processes leading towards this goal shall be supported“.
Peter Kuthan replied on behalf of AZFA and the other partner organisations in the Tonga.Online Project: "We feel very much honoured that Tonga.Online/mulonga.net has been chosen and recognised by the Fair Music Award. This is an encouragement for our joint endeavour to promote Tonga culture and Tonga music in the region and internationally. We welcome such support for the projects ambitions to strive for fair rewards and sustainable benefits for the Tonga community".
And project partner Keith Goddard wrote from Harare: "KUNZWANA Trust is honoured that its commitment to fair reward for all musicians and instrument makers has been recognised with a Fair Music Award. The Tonga.Online Project which KUNZWANA Trust is hosting in the Binga area in Zimbabwe is an IT project intended for promoting and disseminating the culture of the Tonga people of the Zambezi/Gwembe Valley. The Mulonga website is the fulcrum for this project and the award will go a long way towards encouraging the Tonga to build on the archive already established including the body of sound recordings which have been collected".
The event ceremony also saw national and international experts discussing aspects of the value creation chain and new models for more fairness in the music business.
more (with pictures): http://www.mica.at/detail.asp?Id=12478&TemplateId=1812&ChannelId=1822&SetupId=73&SelectedNav=2
What is the aim of the fair music Initiative?
According to the website of the initiative "fair music is the first global initiative for fairness and justice in the music business. Initiated by mica – music austria, fair music stands up for the establishment of fair rules and regulations in the music world: protection of artistic freedom, well-balanced contracts for musicians, fair remuneration for composers and musicians, as well as a fair distribution of opportunities for smaller producers worldwide and especially for musicians of the Global South and considerably strengthening the position of artists and listeners. fair music adopts the idea and empirical knowledge of the Fair Trade Organisations and takes it to the world of cultural goods and services. It is committed to the development of standards of fairness for the music industry. To reach these aims, together with the International Music Council (IMC – an international NGO in formal associate relations with UNESCO) and music and cultural NGOs, the initiative will be developing standards music products and distribution channels must meet in order to receive a fair music seal of approval. The online platform www.fairmusic.net offers both the latest information and an opportunity to join the initiative".
read more about the initiative and the award: http://www.fairmusic.net/
about MICA: http://www.mica.at/
and about the award winners:
http://www.mulonga.net/
http://www.extraplatte.com/
http://www.femalepressure.net/
http://www.freibank.com/
