[LAU] An appeal to famous artists?

[pshirkey at boosthardware.com]

>
> (Sorry for the long introduction but) What I am getting at is this:
> Should we make an appeal to artists to produce something using only
> Open Source software?
> What do you guys think? Isn't it the best time to promulgate such a
> message, with the social media and all? And if yes, what would be the
> best way?
>
> Or am I completely wrong? And there is something in the big picture I
> didn't see?
>


There are already several famous artists using open source tools. Get them
to produce and release the music publicly and with a reasonable license
and I will be happy to include it in the "Best of mix".

Getting these people to admit that they use open source and then having
that information presented in any "credible" news source is a completely
different matter. The reason is that Avid basically control all the print
and online media in the music and multimedia production industries. They
do that essentially by buying up as much advertising space as possible.
That way the publishers are reliant on Avid and associated companies and
tie in products/manufacturers/etc... to pay their bills. So hence they are
reluctant to publish anything that upsets the status quo and affects their
bank balances.

There is actually a lot of professional production done with Linux and
open source software. Harrison consoles are used in Hollywood and many
large motion pictures were mixed on their hardware/software running  JACK
+ ARDOUR.  The Weta studio in NZ produces Peter Jackson films entirely on
Linux based systems using their own custom built MAYA competitor. At one
point a couple of years back they actually had one of the most powerful
super computers in the world.

Considering that both the Lord of the Rings and Avatar were produced on
those systems that is a pretty powerful statement for Linux as
professional multimedia production platform.

Anyway it is really just a matter of time before more musicians realise
the power of free software on the Linux platform. Given the state of the
global economy, more and more people are looking for ways to save cash and
cutting down on expensive software and hardware purchases is one thing
that will be prioritised by larger numbers of people. Given the choice
between pirated software and libre software most people will choose the
latter if they have the option available to them. So in that case it is
really about SEO. Making sure that we are publishing and linking as much
information about the state of the art and getting it highly ranked so
that people actually find it when they are searching online.

Advocacy on forums plays a significant role too. However it is hard to
advocate on the Avid forums and there is a concerted effort by Avid and
it's dependant companies to shutdown anything that competes with their
bottom line. They have more vested interest in doing so and can afford to
spend money on the design aspect to make their products stand out.

If you really want to help Linux Audio you could find a way to fund a
design team to spend a couple of months on making our online presence more
palatable to the same people that are targeted by AVID et al. Then find a
way to fund them to continually update there work and keep it competitive
with the marketing presence of Avid.



--
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd