More arts election asks, Spotify turns up support for Australian music, AI bots are dragging on Wikimedia and more.
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, OpenMIC and NAVA join the Australian arts industry associations I listed last week in calling for specific actions from government this Election. While there are differences in the asks, we are seeing some things requested by more than one organisation including increased funding, local content quotas, investment in workforce development and AI regulation that protects copyright and creators. Another thing that rings out clear across the election wishlists is a call for greater protection of artistic freedom and the independence of arts organisations.
Spotify has been vocal in the past about how it sees itself in the industry, but it continues to be singled out for its role in a reshaped music industry, including criticisms of the royalties it pays and how it is influencing the listening habits of Australia’s music listening audience. Likely prompted by a range of motivations, the music streaming market leader is turning up its support of Australian music with a multi-faceted campaign rolling out soon.
The Wikimedia Foundation has talked about the increasing cost of AI web scraping bots accessing their free knowledge. They cite increasing bandwidth costs from AI web scraping bots. This automated traffic is puting increased strain on the Wikimedia infrastructure and diverting IT and technical focus. The Foundation is exploring how to respond.
Also: QUT has been encouraged to dump dance degrees, Taiwan is taking legal action for undersea cable sabotage and Meta allegedly knew children were on Horizon Worlds.
What's been going on?
Here’s WTF happened this week:
More arts advocates outlined what they are looking for from the federal election
Other arts industry associations have used the election to call for increased funding, workforce protections for artists and stronger artistic independence in the wake of increasing political interference.
