March 26, 2009
This is how the modern music industry works. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee for monetization. All you can do is become ‘followable’ and possibly ‘respected’/’critically acclaimed’, but that does not mean you have earned the right to ‘deserve to get paid for it.’
I have mixed feelings about this guy (he seems like a douche / he seems fairly bright) but this image and this paragraph are kinda on the money. It gets into some of the same ambiguity and unquantifiable-ness I was talking about regarding music videos, the “meme” economy being a big part of why people are still making them at this point. We’re all just trying to hold people’s attention really, and hoping everything will flow from there. Then again, that’s pretty much what marketing has always been, right?
June 7, 2008
The Hype Cycle →
Short, sharp overview of hype as it pertains to mass taste, mostly in the musical sphere. I like the tone here: quick and direct, without the blahsiness that usually haunts writing (and there’s not enough of it) on this subject. It’s depressing to think that something so powerful and personal (art/music) can be so totally sucked dry, but somehow just calling out the process and being aware of it kind of makes it feel less defeating. It’s there (hype), but it really is a silly game, when you think of it.
(As opposed to when you just get caught up and act on it without any real thought and intentionality, which I always find makes me feel like a total lemming / hollowed-out shell of a person. You know, like talking shit about something that’s totally in line with what I like but I can’t like it because people like me like it and I’m just way too special to be like anyone else so etc etc, downward spiral, THE VOID, etc, soul-crush ego-panic)
Also, these are products and we’re selling them, and that’s capitalism. But that doesn’t mean these products aren’t art. I digress.
