Free Music Archive
Total cost of project including all sources of funding:
$300,000Expected amount of time to complete project:
1 yearThe Free Music Archive is an interactive digital library of royalty-free media. The project began at NYC community radio station WFMU, and we are working with a group of established media curators to fill the website with quality content. The FMA provides contributors with a platform to build community around the unique content they choose to share, and this new approach will be easily integrated into daily operations via its open-source API. By utilizing public domain and Creative Commons licensing, the FMA will offer a wide range of rights-cleared material for a variety of uses while building grassroots support for the free culture movement through the local focus of its curators.
The FMA will serve as a creative hub supporting the free exchange of art and ideas. One section of the site will be devoted to remixes derived from source material found legally on the FMA. Our open source licensing app and Intellectual Property resources will help users navigate the complexities of intellectual property law.
The FMA will help independent artists and media curators reach broad audiences in a neutral, ad-free, centralized online database. The website's social functions and interactive features will foster dialogue and participation. Locally-oriented information and discussion will help users connect with artists and events in their area, building a bridge between online and local communities.
Phase 1 of the FMA launches this December with a library that includes music, news, radio theater, interviews, and spoken word. Phase 2 will expand to include video, hyper-local tagging, and an integrateable API with publishing, licensing and encoding tools for curators and artists. We can achieve our goals with support from the Knight Foundation.
4 commentsHow will your project improve the way news and information are delivered to geographic communities?
Improvement
Community radio stations like WFMU have always provided their communities with free access to local music and news. But outdated copyright law and music industry practices handicap our participation in new interactive forms of cultural dialogue where "the medium is the message". The FMA will help established audio curators flourish in the Internet age via an open source platform that encourages collaboration and information sharing. The FMA will provide an environment where local artists, media-curators, and residents can interact with each other, engage in dialogue, and share the results with the rest of the world.
0 commentsHow is your idea innovative? (New or different from what already exists.)
curatorial layer, powerful unprecedented combinations
Pre-existing podsafe music libraries have failed to catch on in today's oversaturated media environment because their user-generated content lacks curatorial oversight. The FMA draws inspiration from the community-generated approach, but applies a curatorial layer that has traditionally distinguished broadcasters like WFMU. Each curator brings a unique lens, a local perspective, and a passionate audience. The FMA will be the only open source media community centered around established curators, respected artists, and participatory audiences. The network effect of this powerful combination could be a show of force necessary to reform intellectual property law for the digital era.
0 commentsWhat experience do you or your organization have to successfully develop this project?
Experience
WFMU is the world's longest-running free-form radio station. WFMU serves our community by emphasizing localism and diversity within our programming. Rolling Stone Magazine, The Village Voice, CMJ and the New York Press have all at one time or another called WFMU "the best radio station in the country" and the station has also been the subject of feature stories in The New York Times and on the BBC.
The station maintains an extensive online presence at WFMU.ORG, including 11 years of webcasting and over 8 years of audio archives. In November 2004, we launched a podsafe MP3 site, “On The Download,” and also began podcasting (we now offer 19 programs as podcasts). WFMU launched a station blog in February 2005, which is consistently ranked among the top 5 music blogs. Beware of the Blog is chock full of articles, MP3s, movies and more, all assembled by a consortium of WFMU staff members and listeners. In 2006, WFMU launched mobile phone streams, delivering our programming to web-enabled mobile phones.
In 2006, WFMU was awarded a grant from the New York State Music Fund to make contemporary music of all genres more available and accessible to diverse audiences within New York State via the Free Music Archive. WFMU is otherwise 100% listener-supported, and donations coming exclusively from blog readers and online listeners have increased exponentially in recent years. The FMA will expand WFMU's web presence through an adaptable platform that will strengthen as fellow curators join the community.
WFMU has 6 full-time and 3 part-time employees, including a Licensing Director and a Technical Director who are dedicated to overseeing the Free Music Archive through its next phase.
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