Category: Podcasts

Podcast: AI and Voice Replication with Tim Friedlander

Friedlander

In this podcast, I talk with Tim Friedlander, voice actor, musician, and founder of the National Associaion of Voice Actors (NAVA). Tim joined me to talk about AI — its potential threats to his profession, his experience meeting on Capitol Hill, and his views on why this subject matters.

Contents

Voice
  • 00:32 – Tim’s background.
  • 03:07 – Political voiceovers.
  • 04:31 – Voice acting is acting.
  • 06:20 – About NAVA.
  • 10:25 – Size of NAVA and the market.
  • 12:35 – Experiences on the Hill.
  • 17:04 – Economic value of the market.
  • 18:53 – Resistance to the cause.
  • 21:46 – The challenge does not end with licensing.
  • 25:24 – What’s resonating on the Hill.
  • 28:55 – No FAKES Act.
  • 33:29 – Reasons why this conversation matters.
  • 40:15 – AI as a tool for creators.
  • 44:50 – Is it too late to respond?
  • 48:45 – The climate has changed for Big Tech.
  • 55:30 – No FAKES reprise.

Podcast – Artists’ Rights with Musician Blake Morgan

Blake Morgan

If it can be difficult to keep up with artists’ rights in the news, that goes double for music. Fortunately, there are some incredible artists who devote as much energy and passion to rights advocacy as they to do making music—and among those individuals is Blake Morgan. Singer/songwriter, recording artist, indie label owner, and producer, Blake epitomizes the hard-working, middle-class artist—grateful to make music for a living, but still a guy with a mortgage and bills to pay. In this podcast interview, Blake and I discuss the major threats he sees to artists’ rights and why he keeps fighting the good fight. And to say the least, his optimism is infectious. Hope you enjoy!

Photo by: Taylor Ballantyne

Episode Contents

  • 02:37 – Why I fight for artists rights.
  • 07:22 – The biggest threats facing artists.
  • 11:52 – The American Music Fairness Act
  • 16:27 – Dying of “exposure.”
  • 18:40 – A middle-class face on the cause.
  • 24:00 – Spotify’s “big payouts” to artists.
  • 30:00 – Support for the TikTok legislation.
  • 36:10 – Private equity investment in music catalogs.
  • 45:00 – The VanGogh diversion.
  • 46:10 – Advice to the next generation.
  • 50:11 – The latest album Violent Delights.

Articles/Posts Cited:

Spotify “Loud & Clear” Payout Report

“Same Old Song: Private Equity is Destroying Our Music Ecosystem” by Marc Hogan

Trichordist Guest Post:  “A musician’s View of the TikTok legislation” by Blake Morgan

Podcast: On Being Among the Banned with Author J. J. Austrian

Pride month is more than celebratory in a time when book bans are on the rise in the United States, and 26% of the titles banned “have LGBTQ+ characters or themes,” according to PEN America. With politicians like Ron DeSantis determined to make “anti-wokeness” part of the Republican brand, this neologism for hate-speech has taken the form of book and media censorship in school and public libraries around the country. One of these banned books, entitled Worm Loves Worm, was written by a close friend named J. J. Austrian, who joins me for this episode of the podcast. Illustrated by Mike Curato and published by Harper Collins in 2016, Worm Loves Worm is a story for young children about two earthworms getting married and trying to figure out which is the bride and which is the groom while navigating the not-so-helpful advice and opinions of the other bugs and critters in attendance.

Show Contents

  • 01:22 – How does it feel to be among the banned?
  • 03:42 –  The creation of Worm Loves Worm.
  • 08:12 – What children get from Worm Loves Worm.
  • 09:36 – It’s not about sex. Indoctrination to what?
  • 12:23 – Attacks on the transgender community.
  • 15:03 – Did you expect the backlash when the book first came out?
  • 18:34 -Is it hard not to look at the negative comments?
  • 20:19 – The “shotgun wedding.”
  • 21:50 – Increase in attacks since it was first published.
  • 24:10 – More worried about middle grade and young adult readers.
  • 28:10 – Ever criticized for writing about a subject that’s not your subject? (outside your lane)
  • 34:45 – Do you have Woke Mind Virus?
  • 37:15 – A conversation about satire.
  • 44:33 – How banning can affect the author.
  • 47:44 – The victim’s narrative.
  • 50:15 – Hope for the future?
  • 52:44 – The Printing Press and the Internet
  • 57:05 – Love is love.