ColumnWe’re upset about the ruling in Kesha’s case against Sony–wanting out of her contract after enduring alleged sexual misconduct from the label’s Dr. Luke. But despite the disappointing ruling, we are happy about one thing: There are a lot of people who are publicly supporting Kesha in a variety of heartwarming and powerful ways.

If you are a regular reader of this column, you probably know that I am incredibly interested in Kesha’s case. A lot of that interest stems from my own experiences — I relate to what the singer went through and continues to go through. The case also peaked my interest because I was incredibly curious — and a bit worried — about which direction things would go. Sadly, my gut was right, and Kesha did not when her case.

According to Jezebel, on February 19, Shirley Kornreich, a New York Supreme Court judge, “ruled that Kesha ‘must remain contractually bound to Sony and Kemosabe, the record label created and run by Dr. Luke.’” Kesha claims that Dr. Luke “drugged and raped her when she was 18 and continued to abuse her throughout their creative partnership.”

The judge decided that the injunction was, basically, a request to “decimate a contract that was heavily negotiated and typical for the industry” — and not a “for physical, psychological and sexual safety.” Way to go, Kornreich.

What makes this decision even more heartbreaking is Kesha’s injunction. Jezebel reports that part of it said, “I know I cannot work with Dr. Luke. I physically cannot. I don’t feel safe in any way.”

While Kesha didn’t win her legal battle, she’s got a lot of support from the public and fellow pop stars.

If you want to see how many people on Twitter think that Kesha should not have to fulfill her contract with Dr. Luke, just search the hashtag #FreeKesha. Men and women both think the singer’s experience should be taken seriously and that she shouldn’t have to work with someone who makes her, basically, physically ill.

And since the judge’s decision, quite a few pop stars have spoken out in support of Kesha.  JoJo, Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson, and Lady Gaga tweeted support to Kesha. Taylor Swift even donated $250,000 to help the singer with her financial needs. And most recently, Adele gave her support to the singer in an acceptance speech.

Now, none of the above can take away the pain Kesha feels or the trauma she went through. The positive public outcry, though, is refreshing. Women and men report sexual assaults every day and often times don’t get taken seriously. So, when the public creates a #FreeKesha hashtag and calls bullshit on a ruling that seems incredibly misguided, one can only hope that victims will get better treatment in the future.

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Image of Kesha via Shutterstock

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ColumnThe music industry is a tough place to find success. Musicians have a hell of a time breaking into it, and even when they do, they face a lot of tough competition. And if you’re a female in the industry? Go ahead and multiply the “this is impossible” factor by a whole lot of tambourine shaking.

We could go on and on about the various issues that affect women in the music industry. Hell, we could even write a book about how it’s even difficult to be a die-hard female fan. (If I had a nickel for every time a male tried to one-up my music fandom or grab my ass at a concert, I’d have a lot of cash… but I digress.) This week, however, we’re going to discuss just how terrible one female artist has it right now…

You may remember Kesha (previously known as Ke$ha) from such “club bangers” (ah, music terminology) as “Tik Tok,” and “Timber.” Sure, these songs aren’t amazing, but hell, who cares — they’re fun. While Kesha used to be known for her (hilarious) on stage, vulgar antics (penis props, glitter body paint, etc.), she’s been out of the spotlight for some time. The reason? It’s complicated and pretty fucking gross.

The first reason: In October 2014, Kesha filed a lawsuit against Dr. Luke, her former manager. As we previously reported, the lawsuit claims that Dr. Luke drugged, sexually abused, and physically assaulted the pop star. The assault revelation happened while Kesha was in rehab for bulimia.

The second (more recent) reason: Kesha has been out of the public eye since filing the lawsuit against Dr. Luke. Why? Because, apparently, Kesha is still under contract with Dr. Luke… the person she says sexually assaulted her.

According to Bust, Sony (the company Kesha and Dr. Luke work with) isn’t releasing Kesha from her contract, despite all of Kesha’s claims against Dr. Luke. (Kesha has even gone so far as adding Sony as a defendant in her lawsuit, “claiming the executives at Sony were aware of the abusive nature of Dr. Luke and condoned it through their inaction,” Bust reports.) So, as everything stands right now, Kesha has to continue collaborating with Dr. Luke to work. Kesha is desperately trying to wriggle herself free from the contract, but until the singer gets word on an injunction she filed in September that asked a New York Judge to “allow her to record without Dr. Luke,” she’s stuck.

Yeah, that’s a whole lot of not cool.

While Dr. Luke is saying that all of the noise Kesha is making is an “obvious contract renegotiation strategy,” we’ve got to agree with Bust and second that we also find it difficult “to believe that a famous and successful star would jeopardize her career and the reputation of a man who was key to her success just to get out of a contract.”

This is a big problem for a big (HUGE) reason: It shows that women in the music industry are pretty much told to shut up if they have a problem in the “workplace.” Kesha works in a studio and now, because she has a problem with one of her co-workers (who allegedly assaulted her), her company is telling her she can’t work until her contract is up. But Dr. Luke? He can just go on working — business as usual. Even if Dr. Luke is innocent, it seems incredibly unfair that both people involved with this story aren’t getting equal treatment.

All we can say is we hope this entire thing ends soon (and ends fairly), and we get to see Kesha back on a stage doing her thing.

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Image of Kesha from Martin Lehmann – Shutterstock

The post Hey, it’s the Sh!tty Music Industry and Kesha is Living It: #NowWhat appeared first on EcoSalon.

There’s a lot of strange stuff happening in Hollywood lately. I can barely wrap my head around all of the debates about free speech, talk about terrorism vs. “cyber vandalism,” and safety. But I’ve tried. While I’m not quite sure what to make of everything that’s happening concerning the cancellation of the release of “The Interview,” I’ve complied a few thoughts that have been bouncing around my head.

1. Free Speech vs. Safety Vs. Money

On December 17, Sony confirmed that it would no longer release “The Interview” on December 25th as scheduled.

Ugh.

OK, I know that people are quite irritated that a company “caved” to the threats of cyber “terrorists,” and that, yes, it is a blow to free speech. But come on. Everyone knows why the company decided to pull the picture – because of money. Many theaters were baulking at the idea of showing the film as planned, so Sony decided to pull the release… for now. I doubt this film is going anywhere and free speech? It certainly isn’t going anywhere, either.

As many people have pointed out, Hollywood isn’t exactly known for its openness and willingness to produce offbeat movies (aka movies that won’t make money). Heck, it’s still somewhat taboo for men to exhibit “full frontal nudity” in films distributed in the United States. Sure, anyone can make a movie and release it, but that doesn’t mean it will get backed. Free speech should be protected, but I seriously doubt the pulling of “The Interview” is going to allow this right to unravel. And as a reminder: There are plenty of people in the United States (and all over the world) being silenced by violence who dare to be black, a female walking alone at night, gay, etc., every day.

2. How in the Heck Will the World Handle this Type of Thing from Now on?

Yup — I have no idea how anyone will handle this in the future. But it’s quite disturbing that this incident has snowballed into a massive, international situation. President Obama even commented on the hack, expressing that he thought Sony made the wrong move by catering to “terrorists.” Sure, Obama needs to respond to this stuff – it is, technically, a matter of national security. But what is the world going to do about this? This probably won’t be the last time a hack like this occurs. How will America respond in the future? How will other countries respond? We all need to start thinking about how to handle Kim Jong-un and similar leaders in other countries who make threats. This type of stuff can get out of control quickly, and when people respond without thought, disaster is inevitable.

So, what do you all think about this mess? Should Sony have cancelled the release? How should America respond? How do we and other countries respond to these types of threats going forward? I’d love to read what you have to say – please comment.

Resource

Sony Hackers Threaten a New September 11

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Image: Gerry Dincher

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The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a gadget geek’s dream date and the source of many tech news “leaks,” debuts and reviews. So why were green issues apparently under wraps as the world’s biggest tech executives made early keynote speeches there, on the mainstage of the trendsetting tradeshow, Wednesday?

Nobody was asking – or so it seemed – green questions, discussing environmental issues or highlighting eco-friendly features of the technologies on display. Not live, on blogs or in broadcasts. And certainly not in detail.

Microsoft executives, for example, hyped their gaming projects for 2010 including the release of a “prequel” game Halo: Reach, part of the wildly popular Halo franchise. But they didn’t say how many physical copies of the game they expected to manufacture, and if these included recyclable components.

Earlier, CNN syndicated a feature story by Ben Parr of Mashable predicting TV on computers, 3-D in your home, a range of increasingly smart mobile phones and e-book readers would be among the technology concepts out of CES 2010 to effect consumers worldwide, for years to come.

Great insights! But where are the eco-details? Like: how greenly manufactured (or not) were those 3-D TVs by Sony, or the super thin ones by LG? How enduring are those armies of new e-book readers, and are they lower impact than used books or books from recycled paper?

It’s frustrating that “green” aspects of new products don’t appear to be as important as gigabytes and screen size by now in general and tech trade media. Consumers care. As EcoSalon previously reported, consumer demand for green gadgets is strong in the U.S.

At least NBC Universal, the official broadcast partner of CES 2010, assigned morning news man Al Roker to a segment on national television where he discussed, with Fast Company’s Paul Hochman, several items from exhibitors including the Regen Renu, a 9×9, sweetly designed solar panel that when fully charged can power an iPod for six hours.

To be fair, there was a reference to nature reported by Gizmodo’s live-blog summing up the Sony keynote speech when executives promised a 3-D version of Shark Week – brought to us by Discovery and IMAX (for viewing on a Sony set).

Even with lackluster discussion early on at CES concerning the environmental impact of mainstream gadgets, the executive director of the Green Electronics Council, and the Electronic Products Environmental Asessment Tool (EPEAT, pronounced like “repeat”) Jeff Omelchuck has high hopes of CES and the people who pay attention to it.

EPEAT is a green standards and ratings organization for the computer, laptop and display industries, that could do for electronics what LEED did for buildings, or the Motion Picture Association did by rating movies, namely to make them easier to understand before buying (or selling).

Omelchuck explained Wednesday afternoon, upon arriving to Las Vegas, that he expected to see more discussion – and marketing – of green aspects of the technology on display by this year’s conference end.

“Consumers are getting smarter,” Omelchuck said, “Brands can no longer say things like “˜we’re energy efficient compared to ourselves last year,’ or “˜this is made from some recyclable materials,’ and convince a consumer their product is green. The manufacturers are recognizing they have to meet stronger criteria. Before there was really no historical market data to prove demand for greener electronics existed. Each year our understanding gets better.”

We hope it gets so much better that a separate Greener Gadgets show held by the same conference organizers, the Consumer Electronics Association, won’t even be necessary someday. Though, this year’s takes place in Manhattan, Feb. 25th.

Love gadgets but hate e-waste and greenwash, too? Read up on CES, and e-waste issues below. Then, let manufacturers and bloggers know “green” should be a priority as high or higher than any other cool factor when it comes to new tech toys.

Basic Reading:

“No matter how cynical most may be right now about eco-friendly electronics, eventually everyone attending will have green ingrained in their heads.”- A blog post via Treehugger entitled “CES 2010 A Steaming Pile of Hypocrisy? Does it really matter?”

“Computing will play a role in protecting our planet from climate change and other environmental issues”¦There are over 250 million cars in the U.S. alone and the latest ones have more computing power on them than our first manned rocket ships providing opportunities to help drivers avoid traffic jams, [and] offering real-time tips for efficient driving”¦We also need to ensure that we improve the efficiency of PCs.” -A blog post by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer for Huffington Post, ahead of his CES 2010 keynote speech

“EPEAT, an eco-label for consumer electronics, has”¦existed behind the scenes as a business-to-business eco-rating system helping giants like the U.S. Federal government purchase low impact computers. Now, EPEAT is going business-to-consumer, making their bronze, silver and gold ratings publicly available as a reference point for shoppers”¦” – A Core77 feature story on EPEAT and eco-ratings of computers and other electronics

Further Resources:

The home page of EPEAT, which stands for Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool

An eWeekEurope.com news feature about Greenpeace’s efforts to stop the illegal shipping of ewaste to developing nations

Gizmodo’s “The Best of CES 2010” special section

Live, streaming video of CES 2010 events via Crunchgear

Engadget’s coverage of CES 2010 news, events and products

Image

This is the latest installment of EcoMeme, a column featuring eco news, tech and business highlights by columnist Lora Kolodny.

The post EcoMeme: Media Missing the Green Point at CES 2010 appeared first on EcoSalon.