Comments on: The Web, Social Media and the Democratisation of Music

By: EightyOne » Blog Archive » The Web, Social Media and the Democratisation of Music

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:57:59 +0000

[...] In the wee hours of this morning, I posted only my second addition to the NixonMcInnes blog: a 1000-word essay entitled The Web, Social Media and the Democratisation of Music. [...]

By: links for 2009-08-11 « Alastair Keeble on Social Media

links for 2009-08-11 « Alastair Keeble on Social Media — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:28:49 +0000

[...] The Web, Social Media and the Democratisation of Music @ NixonMcInnes: Social media goodness. Transl… (tags: Digital Music) Leave a Comment No Comments Yet so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Click here to cancel reply. Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:

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By: Chris Reed

Chris Reed — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:40:53 +0000

Top post.

Though I can’t help feeling that what we’re really seeing is a retun to pre-20th Century traditions, when music was only experienced (and then recommended) live. Certainly, in this digital era when the recorded product has been so commodotised and easily-copied, the thing that I think “the music industry” really has going for it is offering experiences (i.e. gigs) which have to, by their very nature have to have limits of attendees. And social media is fantastic at hyping these experiences. Limited demand + keen fans = top buzz.

Chris Anderson’s Free book (excerpt in last month’s Wired UK) is also really good on this – bands in China and Brazil giving away CDs for free to drive traffic to live gigs. Reminds me of the whole “wandering minstrel” or “travelling circus” tradition…

Anyway, I’ll get off my high horse now. Enjoyed the post very much… I expect you’re all busy bees down in Brighton, but I’m heading along to (my first) #openmusicmedia tonight in London. Looks like the sort of thing you might be interested in… http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127844745118 @openmusicmedia

By: Ross

Ross — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:01:03 +0000

For me music is one of the coolest things about social media. I cannot remember how I discovered new bands/DJs/artists without the collective social media brain, and the thought of making do with the selection of my local music shop seems prehistoric when compared to shopping through Amazon or iTunes.
Another area worth mentioning are sites such as http://www.sellaband.com/ – communities where users can choose to support new bands, and properly sidestep the usual industry mechanism. Properly awesome stuff.

By: Max

Max — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:24:26 +0000

Fantastic post – really captures the massive change that music is still going through thanks to technology.

The redistribution of power that cheaper technology’s brought may mean that an even smaller number of artists get that ‘lucky break’ with a major label deal (thanks to falling sales of hard formats), but instead a larger number of people have the opportunity to make and widely circulate music, very quickly.

As you point out – social is playing a bigger part too. Sites like soundcloud (one of my favourite places to pick up new music) also provide the opportunity to connect with, and get your music heard by, DJs and independent label owners.

The chaps with pony tails and suit jackets might be lamenting all this, but for kids in Hackney or Manchester, it can only be a good thing!

By: David W

David W — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:12:39 +0000

Social networking is definitely a musician’s best friend!