The Music Industry's Downward Spiral

Today's in class discussion regarding the changes underway in the music industry as a result of new media got me thinking about several examples where this is both a good and bad thing. For many in in the music industry, jobs will be lost by those that are unable or unwilling to change how they do their work. At the same time, it takes a lot of dead weight off of the industry, as the middle man plays a smaller and smaller role.

It is a change that is really good for the lesser known musicians. They now can do almost all of the work as far as promoting goes either in their own living room, or with a small investment at a recording studio. It promotes new bands becoming popular based more on merit than on luck or chance. It also opens up the niche genres to a much wider audience than ever before possible.

The change also benefits larger artists. Bands like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails are making the transition to releasing content on their own terms. They have the money to finance larger promotional campaigns that are a trademark of the major labels, yet at the same time maintain full control of how this campaign is run. They keep more of the profits, and they end up releasing material that stays truer to their original vision.

The following is an interesting analysis of Trent Reznor's opinions on music in the digital age by Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose, creators of Digg.

Nerds in the Digital Age

I recently completed an online ethnography of the table top wargaming community. I mainly focused on the community surrounding a set of two integrated games called Warmachine and Hordes. The day after I submitted my ethnography, Privateer Press, the maker of these two games, made an announcement on their website. The company announced that they would be releasing a second edition of the rules. All of the current rules would be completely revised for clarity and ease of play.

The interesting thing about all of this is that Privateer Press will be unveiling the working copy of these new rules on their website. They players to use the rules on their own, and then write back on the message boards about their likes and dislikes of the changes. It allows the entire community to test the rules and give feedback before the new rulebook goes to print. I don't think anything similar has been done before. It really speaks to how the internet has given a voice to the masses, a way for the larger community to directly affect their favorite pastime.

Politics - In the Land of the Blind

With recent current events being what they are, I've found myself paying more and more attention to politics. I obviously turn to the internet for a lot of my information, but I do so while keeping in mind the concept of political polarization. Although I didn't have a word for it until monday's class, I nevertheless sensed the presence of polarization in all of my internet interactions. The seemingly constant bickering between sides, the inability to work together on any issue, and the apparent stagnation of the idea of compromise are all trademarks of this phenomenon. All that said, I still didn't realize how polarized the internet actually could be until my dad sent me a link to what he described as a 'hilarious blog.' This link sent me to iOwnTheWorld.com. It was here that I found the political cartoon I post here.


And yes, that is only page 1 (The rest of the comic can be found here: The Obamas #18). I consider myself to be a left leaning moderate. I don't really agree completely with either political party. However, the picture of Bill O'Reilly slanting towards the left made me cringe. I can't stand watching his show, but the reason for that is usually because I find him too pushy and biased towards being conservative. It is hard for me to imagine how far right a person has to be to feel that O'Reilly has a liberal slant.