SPOTLIGHT: Call To Action Music Videos
Current research shows that the numbers of Americans who are watching and sharing videos online via sites like YouTube and Vimeo has more than doubled over the last 5 years to a whopping 71 percent. Watching videos online now outranks social networking, online banking and other activities as the most frequent online activity.
As new features and capabilities are being added to video sharing sites including the ability to sell music, merch, tickets and more, it is clear the potential impact call to action music videos can have in raising awareness, generating funds or promoting action for a cause or issue an artist cares about–while at the same time promoting an artist’s music and brand.
10th Anniversary of 9/11: How to Get Involved
As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches we are also reminded that October 7th–the anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan–will mark ten years of our nation continuously at war. The significance of these events provides us with a unique opportunity to honor those who have lost their lives, to remember the sense of community that arose in response to the attacks, and to lay out a vision toward more peaceful outcomes in the future. Outlined below are several ways to get involved in commemorating the anniversaries by promoting peace, creativity and community service or by generating funds to continue important work in this area. Please help spread the word by sharing the following recommendations with your fans and networks.
ATC’S RECOMMENDED NON-PROFITS FOR 2009 HOLIDAY GIVING
ATC’s recommended non-profits for giving include: Sweet Home New Orleans, The Roots of Music, Jail Guitar Doors, Energy Action Coalition, Students for a Free Tibet, Innocence Project, DonorsChoose, Future of Music, Heifer International and more…
Below is a list of ATC’s recommended non-profits for the 2009 holiday giving season. Please let us know if you have any questions. Happy Holidays from the ATC staff!
Arts Corps
Arts Corps is Seattle’s largest nonprofit arts organization working to inspire creative habits in young people through a passionate corps of teaching artists. They hire professional teaching artists who work with a variety of art disciplines and place them in school and after-school sites in the area. They have also been picked to lead the MusicianCorps Seattle pilot.
LIVE EARTH + THE TIBETAN FREEDOM CONCERTS: MUSIC’S ABILITY TO INFLUENCE
A recent study on the impact of the 2007 Live Earth concerts may lead some to deduce that large-scale concerts have little influence in social change. ATC’s research and experience shows the opposite: when done right, concerts can be an extremely effective way to build movements.
A recent report on the public opinion impact of Live Earth, the environmental concerts from 2007, drew the conclusion that the event and campaign seemed to have “no immediate impact on American public opinion” on climate change, but that it “did reinforce and amplify attitudes about global warming amongst those watchers who were already concerned”. Cynics are likely to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say that mega-concerts or musicians cannot change how people think or act.
MUSICIANS JOIN THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO CLOSE GUANTANAMO
Musicians including Pearl Jam, REM and Tom Morello have joined a coalition calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay and the release of records that detail the use of music as an interrogation device.
A multitude of sources including the Associated Press and BBC News are reporting on the diverse group of musicians who have joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo this Tuesday. The musicians’ announcement was coordinated with the recent call by veterans and retired Army generals to shut Guantanamo and is part of a renewed effort to pressure President Obama to keep his promise to close the prison in Cuba in his first year in office.
HOW DOES THE GOVERNMENT SPEND OUR TAX DOLLARS?
We recently came across this interesting breakdown of how the U.S. government spends our tax dollars and how these areas of spending measure up against each other.
The War Resisters League took the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009, analyzed spending areas and reorganized the government breakdown to more accurately reflect how tax dollars are being spent. They then go on to compare U.S. defense spending to the rest of the world.
Here is how we measure up:
“U.S. military spending – Dept. of Defense plus nuclear weapons (in $billions) – is equal to the military spending of the next 15 countries combined.
