« royalty f(r)ee »

We are very excited to be working on a new audio project for OPEN Signs, a satellite exhibition of Transmediale 11, in collaboration with Canadian artists, Ross Birdwise, Nathan Jonson and Trevor Larson. 

royalty f(r)ee is an automated music sequencer built in the open source programming environment, Pure Data. It randomly loads and sequences sample sets provided by a diverse group of musicians. Each time an artist's sample is selected it will programmatically determine the length of the sample and multiply it by a dollar-per-minute algorithm based upon SOCAN fees, so that over the course of the exhibition, the piece will also act as a royalty counter. 

Additionally, the 'ownership' of the piece will consistently be in a state of flux. We will start with 100% ownership, but with each sample played by another artist, their 'slice of the pie', so to speak, will increase, vis-a-vis everyone else's.

In this way, we hope to question prevailing conventions around notions of ownership, control, creativity, and creative economies.