101 Culture

This is a blog about the emergence of a digital culture. What might it look like? What can we see already?

And all my other details are kept at benmason.org.


Searching music industry

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#Rihannalive and why everything online needs to be an event

   
I just caught the end of Rihanna's album launch gig live online from Nokia.

It was quite amazing to watch a gig live with what, due to Twitter, seemed like millions of others live online.

As Jay-Z made a surprise appearance, it just emphasised how important it is that putting content online is made into an event. Doing something live is a way to keep it scarce and therefore valuable.

Someone tweeted, " hope the bootleggers recording this so i can watch it later too ". I'd say the music industry probably has a lot to look forward to with this format. It's scalable to any size of artist. And with the power of Twitter to spread content fast and bring vast audiences together, it works as marketing for big brands as well.

#rihannalive trended. Even #BrazilLovesRihanna seemed to be everywhere.

The gig was a mile from my house. And I could have got a ticket through work (Hyper does the Nokia Music social media work). But I caught it by accident after seeing a tweet.

The much discussed 'attention economy' is easily understood in this situation.Kudos to Nokia.

Another artist speaks out against Lily Allen

There have been some nice points from Steve and John since my two rants about music and the music industry. And Lily Allen has resigned from the cause, since her 'illegal' mixtapes were found on her website.

But I have to post this either way. An open letter in song, using an Allen track as the backing, from Dan Bull. "have a ban CDs appeal - then people would pay to see bands for real"

And while we're here, let's remind ourselves of The Amen Break, a mini-documentary about a 6 second drum break on which the whole genre of Jungle is based on and for which the list of the copyright owners stretches around the world but nowhere near the original creator. It's well worth a watch if you haven't seen it already.

Value music and pizza, not records

Lily Allen takes a stand against FAC, the group of artists that is speaking out against the governments plans to cut the internet connection of 'music pirates'.

But all her thoughts come from a desire to protect the industry, not protect music. "you get a huge debt from your record company, which you spend years working your arse off to repay. When you manage to get a contract, all those pretty videos and posters advertising your album have to be paid for and as the artist, you have to pay for them"

The recent music industry has been built around recording technology. The record was the item of perceived value. The first album was sold in 1909. The industry has honed itself to produce records, mostly polished collections of 3.5 minute tracks.

But consider a definition of music: "an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner". It's a form of communication. The internet has made communication cheaper and easier. It should be a great thing for music.

We may lose a few record labels. We may lose some recording studios.

But people still desire great music. So there will be commercial value in it somewhere. People just need to think a bit more laterally. I was in a pizzeria last week and someone made a simple point. In that situation, we're willing to pay for pizza and beer. But the cutlery, table, chairs and plates are considered free. Even the music in the background is considered free.

So if there is to be a large music industry, it needs to adjust its model so that recordings are perceived as free or cheap, because as I've previously explained, they're not scarce anymore, but that something else in the music is expensive.  Either make recordings much cheaper to produce and easier to buy or hide the cost in something of greater perceived value. I'd recommend trying both.

UPDATE:
A song pushed my way by @shakeandvac

"Re-issue ! Re-package ! Re-package !
Re-evaluate the songs
Double-pack with a photograph
Extra Track (and a tacky badge)"