Newswise — Block M Records is the University of Michigan's new recording label that makes performances available to anyone worldwide, primarily through Internet streaming or fee-for-download.
"Through Block M Records, works by U-M School of Music students, staff and faculty performers and composers may be recorded, produced and released," said Mary Simoni, one of the school's associate deans and professor of performing arts technology.
And while performers are keeping busy performing for the label, Block M Records is giving student audio engineers valuable experience in music production for a record label as well as engineering credentials. These student technologists also are gaining experience in audio compression, metadata tagging and database design and management.
"We are delighted to be taking the lead in this exciting venture at the convergence of technology and art," said U-M President Mary Sue Coleman. "This project offers manifold benefits to students, faculty and staff alike by protecting and encouraging the creative process and by making all kinds of music more broadly accessible to audiences everywhere."
Block M Records allows the University to retain control over its intellectual property by applying a technology transfer model where faculty inventors---in this case, performers, composers and engineers---receive a percentage return on their invention (e.g., a recording).
"In short," Simoni said, "intellectual property rights stay with the University."
This is how Block M works: Louis Nagel, U-M professor of piano recently completed a tour featuring selected sonatas by Haydn. Nagel recorded the sonatas at U-M's Hill Auditorium with Professor Jason Corey and a cadre of U-M audio engineering students. Nagel authorized Block M Records to release the recordings for electronic distribution. Students (or anyone else) interested in Nagel's recordings can listen to them by Web streaming over the Internet or downloading them for a fee.
Through Block M Records, faculty retain the copyright to their works and license content to Block M Records. A faculty member typically signs contracts with commercial labels that often require the performer and/or composer to relinquish some or all of their rights. Under those commercial contracts, the faculty generally receives a very small percentage of sales as
royalty. However, with Block M Records, U-M retains control over the recording, production and distribution and the faculty member will see a greater return in royalties from their work.
"I am delighted that Block M Records is now in full swing," said Christopher Kendall, dean of U-M's School of Music. "It has powerful implications for our students and faculty as a teaching tool and for the recognition of our many outstanding School of Music recordings. It will be fascinating to watch the project develop and to see it help us explore the unique, complex synergy between music teaching and technology."
Another example of Block M advantages involves U-M faculty Mark Kirschenmann, Katri Ervamaa and Michael Gould, who are engaged in contemporary improvisation involving trumpet, percussion, violoncello and electronics. Their avant garde music is less likely to receive a commercial record contract. But their music is vital to U-M's commitment to performing and teaching across a wide range of styles, Simoni says.
"With the collaboration on recording, producing and distributing the work, U-M and its School of Music outwardly convey a commitment to diversity in music making," Simoni said.
Block M Records benefits U-M students by exposing them to various aspects of audio encoding for Web distribution. A student could aurally identify and solve musical problems that result from audio compression. In a hands-on environment, students learn how to process audio data to achieve the highest fidelity possible for online distribution and how to acquire metadata (data about the music) from concert programs by entering data into software so the correct information is displayed in Web-based music services.
The school's former dean, Karen Wolff, under whose guidance the Block M Records initiative was begun, said, "Listeners, potential students, alumni and anyone with an interest in hearing music performed by our students and faculty will be able to download it for personal listening or study. In this way significant performances and compositions will be preserved and shared beyond our campus."
Block M Records is managed by the School of Music with the support and guidance of the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Office of the Provost, the Division of Research Development and Administration, the James and Anne Duderstadt Center, the Office of Tech Transfer, and the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University Library. Block M Records is a subsidiary of the Internet Publication Project---a campuswide collaborative research program that explores the convergence of multiple technologies to support Web-based publication of media-rich scholarly and creative research.
For more information on the School of Music, visit: http://www.music.umich.edu/ .Block M Records: http://www.blockmrecords.org
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