A Tune in the Key of Money

The more value these stocks lose, the peppier Johannes Kreidler's "Stock Charts Melodies" sound. How ironic! (Yes! Intended!)Kreidler, who is from Germany and not yet 30 years old, used Microsoft Songsmith to compose the melodies. He linked musical notes to the declining values of shares of several corporations you have definitely heard of, to produce music you would never listen to for any other reason, but that the video is entertaining.More thought-provoking is Kreidler's 2008 project, the somewhat confusingly-named "Product Placements."  Actually, it's a protest against German intellectual property rules, which require permission be given even for the tiniest musical samples.Kreidler challenged GEMA, a membership organization for musicians, to process the permissions required for a piece of music containing 7,020 samples. In Germany, that's a LOT of paperwork! The 33-second composition itself is probably not destined for your iPod. But the 15-minute doc about Kreidler's absurd request, and GEMA's absurd responses (subtitles in English) is delightful and very funny.