Bredonborough Rising at and across
08.43
Bredonborough.
Rising at 07.15 and across the grey, damp street I…
II...
… to morning reading and computing…
09.44 Prof. Gary Marcus was on at the end of Today on BBC R4, c. 08.50. He played his guitar at the end of the interview, adding considerably to the words IMO. After all, if you’re talking about a book on the process of learning the guitar, why not play it? This was the Minx’s advice to Prof. Gary as we were leaving Hampstead yesterday evening. Gary was inclined not to take the guitar, he told us. T’s ace suggestion worked.
Closing down the desk.
15.41 DGM HQ.
Leaving a sad Wife c. 10.30. A wet journey to a damp Valley, arriving c. 13.12 I…
II...
Loading-in and setting-up the desk. Handing some problems to Indeg to solve, involving inter alia government forms to fill. As one moderately capable in the English language, with a moderate grammar school education, I stumble pitifully when reading official English.
15.53 I have
failed! Meeting with the North American Federation Of Guitar Circles in Purgatory at 09.00. This includes Leo from Mexico, but the title North & Central American Federation Of Guitar Circles hasn’t quite caught on; and the name for its constituent members, NAFGeeks, continues.
Curt has e-mailed a correction… Technically (or, more accurately, geopolitically) Mexico is part of North America; something the paler tribes that dominate the States and Canada consistently choose to forget.
Apologies to Leo, the Republic of Mexico and all its citizens.
16.08 E-flurrying to Theo Travis on the subject of the running order for T&F 3: Tragically Alive In Italy. It sends people to their cars to weep in private, apparently.
23.05 An afternoon computing and e-flurrying.
Kitchen conversation with David at 17.30…
… and David’s report on the DGM / Panegyric meeting with a leading London litigator and our future-plans for The Horror That Is UMG. On the DGM site we have this…
The Ethical Company
Recognisable features of the ethical company, in the literature and discussion of business ethics, involve these attributes:
transparency,
straightforwardness,
accountability,
owning-up,
honesty,
fairness,
common decency,
distributive justice.
Recognisable features of a company whose base is ethically challenged are these:
dissembling,
use of threats,
unkindness to employees,
a widespread use of gagging orders,
an inequitable distribution of company income.
A company that would rather conduct its business:
verbally (particularly with regard to disputed issues) instead of committing its views to writing;
commonly resorts to litigation, or employs the frequent threat of such; employs gagging clauses as standard policy;
pays its directors highly disproportionate sums in comparison with its employees;
this company is suspect and should be avoided wherever possible.
It is a sad commentary on current business and public life that this needs to be written, or debated.
transparency + straightforwardness = honesty
accountability + owning-up = responsibility
distributive justice + fairness = equity
common decency = goodwill
The Four Pillars of The Ethical Company
Honesty
Responsibility
Equity
Goodwill
(DGM 2002)
So, how does a small, mobile, independent company that aspires to intelligence and an ethical code, deal with one that has consistently failed in respect of The Four Pillars and is the largest music company in the world? How about, we have a responsibility to do something to honour our aspirations. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing and its various
permutations. So, what are we to do, now after six years of being blocked by UMG?
UMG look on this as a business problem, at a settlement-figure of around £20,000. Our own projected figures are very different, but difficult to verify because UMG will not give us relevant information. For us, this is only secondarily a commercial dispute, but a moral problem with industrial nuance; where the original violations were available to simple settlement, but the ongoing denials, obfuscations and evasions have now caused greater concern than the originating offence.
To prepare a High Court writ is around £50,000 and to go into court, a further £250,000 minimum. This is factored into UMG dealings with any smaller firm / artist: something like,
Godzilla vs. Bambi. Does this mean we are unable to act? Actually, otherwise. Bambi has a gentler temperament than mine. More on this continuing story later.
Calls from the Sistery Person and several from the Minx. An evening of e-flurrying and catching-up.
23.07 It waits…
