Plagiarism in music - part two

0

Read Keith Harris's take on the recent music and plagiarism debate published by  Music Tank
Keith brings a personal perspective as the UK plugger for Marvin Gaye's 'Got to give it up' - when it was released in the UK in 1977.

Read More »

Plagiarism in music

0

The recent US jury decision that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke had copied Marvin Gaye's music to create Blurred lines has opened up a number of debates around music, creativity and plagiarism.

catch up with the debate with this playlist of radio programmes on  Bob of Broadcasts (Music and copyright)

Same tune different song

 

Honest musician’s fear of plagiarism

The Barlow-Morgenstern Method

 

 

Read More »

Missed your orientation? Cant remember anything about the first week? or still confused?

0

Get ahead, refresh your memory of what was said in your orientation session with 9 short library videos on this youtube playlist.

The drop down menu in top left of the video will help you navigate to the different topics which include wifi access, using the self-issue, the purpose of reading lists, how to renew books and much more.

Read More »

0

Welcome to new and returning music students at the University of Westminster

I've just discovered the oatmeal and love this cartoon on the state of the music industry

Read More »

Guidance on copyright in sound recordings

0

This week the Intellectual Property Office has issued guidance to copyright in sound recordings.

Copyright in a sound recording will usually be owned by the record producer and is separate from any copyright in the content of the recording. For example:

• the composer of the music will be the author of the musical work and will be the first owner of the copyright in that music
  
• the lyrics of the song are protected separately by copyright as a literary work and will usually be owned by the person who wrote them
  

This guide gives an overview of the copyright and performers` rights in a sound recording, including how long they last. 

More information here. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/copyright-in-sound-recordings/copyright-in-sound-recordings

Read More »

0

Read More »

621.3893 - What happened to the music tech books?

0

If you have recently strolled down the first floor of the library to go to the shelves to look for your favourite music technology books at 621.3893, you may have asked yourself  - What's happened? Why are the shelves empty? 
Not to worry - the shelves have been emptied as the books were increasingly out of date - instead you can now search for the most up-to-date information in recent editions and look for specific chapters on your topic in Safari E-books. You even have access to substantial training videos on your topic.All available via your desk-top
Safari E-books are available through Library Search - just type Safari and click on the online access link.

Read More »

Next Big Sound

0

Next Big Sound is well worth investigating if you are interested in researching musicians and the impact of social media. It measures fan interactions with artists and claims to cover 85% of the recording industry. Next Big Sound have released an overview of 2013 which shows the artists with the most social media reach and the top artists on streaming sites.

The university library doesn't subscribe to this resource, but a free sign up gives you basic reports on artists which you can customise and are sent to you as an email update. As an example here's the report on Lady Gaga.

Top Performers February 2, 2014 – February 8, 2014

Lady GagaView Profile » new Page Likes +214K -6.2% new Followers +7.53K +200.5% new Pageviews +133K -26.9% new Video Views +168K -23% Thanks to Sally Ann Gross for highlighting this resource

Read More »

Why not Scoopit for music?

0

I've added a "Scoop.it for music" widget to this blog (top right hand side).  Scoopit is a fast and easy way to share great content with you. It can include news stories, reports, ideas and articles. The people at Scoop.it say "we wanted to make the Web smarter by creating a place where quality content – ideas that matter – could be curated and shared by a community of experts, professionals and passionate people".  The reports on music and marketing that I mentioned in the previous post are stored there alongside other music related material that's currently being reported on.

Read More »

Music and marketing

0

This week (2 October)  the US journal, Advertising Age has produced a special report on music and marketing

Topics (amongst others), include headphone brands; music and advertising; why vinyl is making a comeback and the power of jingles.


The library also has an  online subscription to past issues of  Advertising Age. To find and access the magazine, type Advertising Age into the "Books journals and more" tab of Library search - click on the online access link and via Business Source Complete you can browse issue by issue back to 1990 or use the "search within this publication" link to look for a particular topic.

Read More »

Hello, welcome to new students

0

Welcome to the University of Westminster.  I am your academic Liaison librarian,  which means I look after the music courses by buying books, e-books and other resources. I will be teaching you how to research and evaluate information effectively so that you can find appropriate information to write and create great assignments. I run this music blog as a way to get useful information or interesting resources out to you.
To get the best out of it you can subscribe or follow by email and get a regular updates.

You can follow the library on Twitter at @UniWestLib;we are using #GreaLibStart for orientation if you want to ask some library questions.

I hope you enjoy your time being a student at the University of Westminster.
Eleri Kyffin

Read More »

New on the shelves - BPI yearbook and IFPI Recording Industries in Numbers

0

The 2013 edition of the BPI Yearbook has just arrived in the library. You can find it on the reference shelves in the reference only statistics collection at 338.4762138932 BRI. This years' edition includes a special feature on streaming which relates to the  BPI's Digital Music Nation report.

Another keysource for music statistics with more of an international focus is the IFPI Recording Industries in Numbers - you can find the current edition near to the BPI yearbook at the same number.
Both books contain statistics about sales and trends in the music industry.

IFPI have also just released their 2013 Digital Music Report  

In this connected world, thanks to Music Tank I've just found this article about Spotify's revenue over the last year.

Read More »

Learn to Use RefWorks in 20 Minutes

0

I found this 20 minute tutorial to refworks in.Youtube.Refworks is a reference management tool that the Library subscribes to.
Search in Library Search for refworks - sign up once and then you have access to the resource.
You can manage your references by exporting them from Library Search and most other electronic resources. You can import references from other libraries once you are in Refworks. You can create bibliographies and use the "write n cite" function to create citations while you are writing.

Read More »

Lilac "things" for music - Helsinki Bus Station, Snopes, Confused of Calcutta

0

Last week I went to a librarians conference -  Lilac   and found out  many "things" that struck me as relevant to music as resources and ways of thinking about information.I thought I would blog about three of those "things"

"Thing one" was catching up with my reading on the train to Manchester and finally getting around to  Oliver Burkeman's weekly column - "this column will change your life". This particular essay was about the Helsinki bus station theory - a perseverence lesson for all creative people - including musicians. In essence the theory goes, don't keep trying to create from scratch even if the feedback isn't great, persevere and make it better - new and original isn't always the best in a world that "fetishises originality". Helsinki  bus station theory says "stay on the bus". This probably applies as a life lesson for so many things, from practice - rehearse and make it better, to writing - keep practicing your writing, it's the only way to improve . Read the full column here

"Thing two" I discovered was via our keynote speaker JP Rangaswami.who was talking about the role of librarians in teaching people about what being accurate means, and that using our skills as information providers, librarians have a key role in helping people to understand the worth and value of information and  transmitting that knowledge to our audience.

In that capacity I thought I would mention a website that JP had highlighted, Snopes.com which sets out to debunk urban myths. For example I've always believed Mamma Cass choked to death on a ham sandwich but Snopes has debunked that one for me, as in fact she died from a heart attack.

There are all sorts of categories on Snopes that you can check out  from music to scams to computers and movies etc. Follow them @snopes

"Thing three" that I found useful was JP Rangaswami's  library and information theory. JP said that Stories are the DNA to carry information ; society is bound by stories; we (society) are the future of storytelling. The library is a place where stories are generated and created –  Libraries and librarians are better than the internet  Relationships and learning are part of the stories – we need to make our own stories. I tried these soundbites out on some music students but I don't think they were impressed. Find out more about JP at his very readable Confused of Calcutta blog  - I particularly liked this entry. JP also has a TED broadcast "information is food" which I've included.

·  

Read More »