Class started back today, so I thought it a good time to reflect on where Music Manumit Lawcast is and where it is headed. Part of the goal for winter break was to figure out what exactly MML would be and when. I would not say there is a definitive answer to that, but we are certainly further than we were.

I don’t think there’s anything here that could be construed as legal advice, but if you think you’re getting legal advice, you’re wrong.

Nick is moving to DC, which may make for better communication this summer, or at least more in-person communication, since I’ll be in Baltimore. Since the last post, I have discovered Red Emma’s, so if anyone is a regular, please say hello. I’ll probably be at the apartment a lot this summer, but I will try to make it over to Red Emma’s as much as possible as well.

As of the moment, we will be doing a monthly audio show. I don’t want to overburden myself. My grades were ok this past semester, but not what they should be. I was sick for two weeks and that had a lot to do with it. Adjusting to a new town and being away had a lot to do with it too, but the point is that I’m going to have to step it up this next semester. I need to get ahead so that if I should get sick again it won’t set me back. Nick wants to amp it up and if I get sufficiently comfortable with the new material we certainly will. Nick can certainly

For anyone curious, my courses this semester are:

• Property
• Fundamentals of Intellectual Property (which is a term I don’t particularly like, but there’s no going back)
• Sales
• Legal Writing
• Constitutional Law

I might as well take the time to tell you the courses I took last semester so you can place my comments on various topics appropriately:

• Civil Procedure (which I’d suggest deals with some constitutional issues)
• Torts (a grab bag of various topics not limited to malpractice, nuisance, and, above all, negligence)
• Contracts (similar to Sales, but Sales is the UCC side)
• Legal Writing
• Legal Research

Nick studied some environmental law and has a background in the related area of zoning law, but really I just think Earth Day is something to celebrate and Nick agreed we should do something, so we’re doing something. I was hoping to have an online concert with artists like David Rovics and Emcee Lynx involved, but given my schedule for the semester, I doubt something that ambitious will be happening unless someone wants to help bit up the slack.

The Summer

1) The Basics

A weekly podcast and daily posts (during the week).

2) SportAZine

Right now it looks like we are going to be adding a 12-episode mini-series to the list of shows over at Sportazine.com. Stephen of Cyberunions may be hosting the show with Doug. The show will be on sports and social movements as well as fan-owned and athlete-owned sports teams and clubs. This is not set in stone. Alternatively, the show may be about technology in sports or just sports in general. Stephen is currently in Mexico (though he is from Boston) and his Internet access for the summer is still up in the air.

3) A call to action

What does my story about SportAZine have to do with the Lawcast? This is home base for the summer and I wanted to let you all know what was coming up. Also, I wanted to put out the call to get involved. The mention of Stephen and I’s potential show is mostly to show you that if you have an idea, we might be a voice for it. This summer is the rare opportunity to A) have a built-in period to podcast without thinking “gawd, I don’t want to do this the rest of my life” and even though any summer could be that opportunity for students, B) you’ll have a full-time support staff — me! The more time I can work on raising money to file as a 501(c)(3) and the less on producing content, the better for everyone in the long run!

So, as long as your ideas relate to sports, free software or music law, feel free to toss them out!

4) Another idea to get you thinking.

I’m going to be a busy man with all the projects, so I haven’t sought out anyone to help with my idea for the Movie Manumit Podcast. I’d love to have a reason to discuss all the Creative Commons video content up on blip.tv, Vimeo, YouTube, Archive.org and Public Domain Review. Please note that while blip.tv, Vimeo and YouTube all allow at least some CC licenses, I could find no way to search for said content. So lame! I hope those sites get around to fixing that problem!

I spent a lot of time going through the catalogs of StoneAge Records and Quote Unquote Records. Expect to hear more about both labels on the Music Manumit Podcast. I got many of the music only shows ready to go for the semester, though I’m not completely done for the semester!

Nick and I recorded a show and his audio failed. I will probably put my side up on Archive.org for remixers. Tom and I also recorded a few shows and I released a couple new Punkcasts.

I discussed the show and various issues with Craig from Open Metalcast as well as the others I mentioned in the first post and earlier in this post. I visited the University of Maryland Law School briefly. I read some Property, some IP and some Con Law. I started listening to some new podcasts to get me ready for the semester. Among those podcasts are:

Constitutional Law

• 60-Second Civics
• History of the Constitutional Convention
• 10th Amendment Center Podcast
• Librivox: United States Historical Documents

• USPTO Intellectual Property Education

As I mentioned before, I was already listening to Life of a Law Student. I listen to some others. Perhaps Nick and I will do a review of the podcasts at a later date.

I do not necessarily agree with everything said on those podcasts (or the NOFX video I linked to above), but I think they will help my understanding of my courses this semester.

Here’s a feel good song about going back to school:

“Work, Consume, Die” by SOB Pariassound (post-punk) – CC BY-SA – Website

Don’t forget you can leave audio feedback at (512) 686-6329.

As regards to the new direction of Sportazine (that is, the content Nick and I produce), there is a wide range of what Sportazine can be. In this post I will give you the (1) lower bound, (2) my projection, (3) a realistic stretch goal and (4) the true goal, which will need some energon and a lot of luck. 

The Lower Bound
At the very least, this is a part of my summer job for 2012. SportAZine will likely be a small component of that job, but with no overhead and the infrastructure for the site already there, there’s no reason not to have it be part of the job. First year law students often do not get paid positions. I do not expect to bring in a lot with this project, but at least the work will be mine, rather than the IP of a judge or law firm. It is true that this might limit the connections I could have in comparison to a clerkship with a judge, but ultimately I want to learn what I want to learn. I do not want to leave up to chance whether cases that interest me go before a judge. I’ve taken jobs just because they were jobs before. It’s not a good idea. My aspirations in the law are likely to be material for a later post, but for now it is more important that you understand the lower bound, rather than why the outcome is the lower bound.

Projection
Given my track record with Music Manumit Podcast and Nick’s enthusiasm, I feel like Nick and I’s shows will to keep going through the school year of 2012-2013 on a weekly, rather than daily, basis. This projection has two variables that could significantly change things.

The first of those variables is Nick’s time. Nick is currently in between cases. I’ll let Nick say/post what his expertise is and what he is looking for, but there is the chance that he will become significantly busier.

The second of those two variables is how I continue to do in school. I believe I have things figured out after the first semester but new professors, new material and life changes can change all of those things. I started this project in place of a summer internship; it is important for me not to lose sight of that.

Additionally, I project posts will become a mix of content for athletes, sports lovers, lawyers, law students and prospective employers. That is both a projection of the intended audience and the actual audience. I make this distinction because of course the actual audience will be prospective employers. However, I want to make it clear up (as I think I have) that I am a student and showing prospective employers I didn’t sip martinis at the beach all summer is the primary motivation for the blog currently. Once the summer is past, Nick and I will have to reevaluate.

Realistic Stretch Goal
Realistically, I think we, as a community, can do a lot. For example, on top of the weekly posts, I want to coordinate work on Wikipedia. While there are a lot of individual articles, the depth of legal information on Wikipedia is lacking. I am not entirely certain how to coordinate those sorts of projects into the structure of a blog and audiocast. Trying to build a framework for some of these stretch goals has been the true challenge in getting the new SportAZine off the ground. By comparison, when I was President of the Madison Linux User Group, if we had a project to coordinate, we would go to a coffee shop and meet in physical space and do something. It was the same situation when I was planning music festivals in Chapel Hill.

While having an online community presents new challenges for me personally, looking at the Linux Outlaws community and even at the Music Manumit Podcast community, it is clearly possible to start new projects and get community involvement. For example, this very show springs out of Nick being a listener to the Music Manumit Podcast. Additionally, amsterdammack has done great things in helping Music Manumit and has been inspired to start his own music show, Music Message.

However, those two examples for Music Manumit both apply directly to Music Manumit projects. Working on the legal information on Wikipedia doesn’t directly relate to SportAZine, unless there is some way to set up a Wikipedia commit team. There may be. That will be a project for me as soon as I click “Publish Post.” Probably what will happen is the Wikipedia group, should there be one, will be named something like “SportAZine, OSP and Music Manumit” which isn’t the catchiest name in the world, but will allow me to manage things more smoothly.

The next post is not yet planned (though we have a list of about 60 topics), but one of the first posts will be a call to get involved. I’ll post information about the Wikipedia articles in that post.

The Sky is the Limit
The discussion has already begun on turning this project as a whole into a 501(c)(3). It is as a 501(c)(3) that I feel there can be the most synergy with the other two projects; Open Source Playground dot Org and Music Manumit Lawcast. I have already begun thinking about other potential audiocasters to get involved and to potential members of the board. For example, I am hoping to get Cyberunions involved. I will attempt to keep as much discussion about the potential of a non-profit in the open as possible without flooding the feed. If people feel like just posting questions to a social network is best, I can do that.

The cost of filing to become a Non-Profit is $850*, so I will need to raise some cash to get this off the ground as tuition alone for me is about $40k. One of the many things I need to do is set up the site for Google Checkout, Paypal, etc donations, but for now you can donate to the cause using Flattr. If you don’t feel like you have enough information to determine whether you should donate, don’t worry. I’ll be posting on a daily basis in summer 2012. There will be plenty of content from which to make an eventual decision.

I feel like getting this to be a full 501(c)(3) would be climbing to the top of the mountain, but to really take to the sky, the non-profit would need to be able to sustain at least one full time employee – me. Assuming I can raise the funds to file, I would like this to be my full-time job after graduation. Yes, this site is for future employers and I want to be my own future employer, but I am one-semester into law school. I have not even started course work in patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets or in technology/Internet law, so I feel required to cover more than one set of tracks. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, as they say.

Conclusion
I hope that helps tell you about what is to come. The project is a journey for Nick and me. I hope you’ll join us!

It’s not the summer yet, so I don’t know if I’ll post tomorrow, but at the latest, I’ll be back next week! In the mean time, for your musical enjoyment:

“Start Again” by Alex (pop) – CC-BY – Website
Reason: Starting a blog, again.

*This is not legal advice. Nothing on this page, show, blog or *cast will ever be legal advice. I am not licensed to practice law in any jurisdiction (Nick is, but I don’t know which ones!)