This is a most interesting use of political geodemographics – The Copyright MPs.

Found this via Digital Copyright Canada – Terry McBride, NettwerkMusicGroup,

So “Cause” and “Data”, why is this so important to a brand and thus so important to our Artists? In today’s world many fans expect their musical Artists to support causes that reflect what they themselves relate to; view it as supporting a cause through osmosis via the Artist. Such causes can be common things such as fair trade or greening. Or in the case of an Artist like Radiohead, simply a musical style; or State Radio a social stance. In today’s world of instant news and search, the ability of a fan to find out loads of information on an Artist is quite easy, thus the chance to dislike an artist is also easy… Whether we like it or not what you stand for these days is as important as the music for music fans, especially Uber fans. So what causes do you think are key to attracting you to a Musical Artist?

So why is data valuable? Well as in the early days of BDS and Soundscan, data when viewed properly allows one to see patterns of interest that can be monetized in many different ways. Nettwerk in the early days was one of the first companies to correlate data and micro market records on a city-by-city basis. Many Artists such as Sarah and BNL owe their success to such an approach. So looking at Myspace what is valuable data on an Artist page? I, for one, would say that the number of friends is not valuable, yet the number of times a song has been played is. Especially in some cases the second of the four tracks listed. We have found that which ever song is listed first, can actually impact digital track sales. I also think that scanning fan comments can also be valuable as it crowd-sources a general feeling towards the Artist. What other points of Data do you think are key to gleam from something like Myspace? read more …

I spend lots of time looking at science, social science, qualitative data and quantitative data, but had not thought of data form the music scene. Of course there is data, of course it has a purpose, and of course it is critical to the industry!

the CLA has submitted a Copyright Letter to Ministers Verner, Prentice.  The letter discusses the cost of government data among other interesting points important to that community.

There is an excellent article in the Toronto Star about why we have little understanding about the social demographic situation in Canada! Bref! No one can afford the research! In the article Truth carries a painful user fee; Carol Goar tells it like it is right now in Canada when it comes to access to our public data:

The United Way of Greater Toronto had to pay the agency $28,000 for government data showing that family poverty deepened in Toronto between 2000 and 2005, while low-income households made modest gains everywhere else.

It had to spend its donors’ money to prove that Toronto has the lowest median income of any major urban centre in the country.

It had to dip into its charitable givings to marshal evidence – already collected at taxpayers’ expense – that a one-size-fits-all poverty strategy won’t work for Toronto.

Finally an article that is so pointed on why the cost recovery practices of Statistics Canada are impeding citizens and civil sector organizations from doing their work. This type of analysis is critical in a democratic society, we cannot leave this type of research only to governments, particularly when the results may be pointing to some of its failures. An well, it is also not on the private sector’s radar!

Thanks Ted for posting this on the SPNO-Data List.

The inspirational Free Our Data blog out of the UK reports on a mention of their efforts in Parliament, where Mark Todd, MP had this to say in argument against:

I should like briefly to comment on the free our data campaign [our emphasis], which has suggested that the correct path is to distribute Government data virtually for free, or at cost. The difficulty of that model, which relies on the argument that that would generate substantial economic growth and tax revenues that would easily repay the amount lost in revenues directly associated with the sales, is that I am afraid it places a substantial reliance on any Government—not just this one—to continue to fund the development and maintenance of the quality of data in those organisations. At the moment, the organisations have revenue streams on which they can rely to invest into the future. Simply relying on the Treasury to bury its hand into its pocket periodically to develop data into the future is wishful thinking. That is not the path down which we should be treading.

More of the debate can be found here.

This is what the liberalization of data is all about:

The Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics Agency, in partnership with the Strategic Social Plan (SSP) of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Memorial University, developed a government and public-wide system that embraces an integrated, evidence-based approach to policy and program development through collaboration within and across government departments, and economic and social sectors. Termed the “Community Accounts“, it is the first Internet-based data retrieval and exchange system in Canada with unrestricted access to view and analyze data down to the community level. It provides citizens and policy makers with a single comprehensive source of key social, economic, and health data and indicators that would not be readily available, too costly to obtain, or too time consuming to manually or otherwise retrieve and compile.

via: SPNO GANIS

an excellent data sharing initiative from Nova Scotia.

A community embodies a wide range of characteristics. Nova Scotia Community Counts presents socio-economic and other data that illustrate the unique nature of each community. With easily accessible information, Community Counts also allows comparisons of community resources among regional, provincial, and national levels to present a more complete picture of Nova Scotian communities.

via: Social Planning Network of Ontario’s Ted Hilderbrandt