December 19th, 2008 4:48pm
Music and Ownership
I was reading this marketing/strategy fellow's blog and came upon a post about "discovery," and the way that people seem to assume a sense of "ownership" over the discoveries they make.
Listen to what happens when someone tells someone else about something they found on the internet without giving proper credit to the other person... who discovered it first. You might recognize the spirited protests, as one person shouts across the room at another to set the record straight. "I told him about that!" "I sent her that link yesterday!" "I saw that video like two weeks ago!"Of course, my mind started processing this concept in the context of music... I can remember feeling "that feeling" a lot back in the day, before the blogs, before iTunes and iPods, before Bittorrent and before Napster and before Pitchfork. Seeking out new and different music was a lot of work; it took a lot of time, and a lot of effort, and a lot of love to do it... and I think to a large degree that really influenced how personally attached (and how protective) you were of "your" music. And, in many cases, you probably also lived in a kind of isolation, absent of other fans with which to share in your fandom. I know that in my hometown, the chances of finding another fan of that Psych/Grindcore-band-whose-album-you-had-to-mail-order-from-Japan were pretty darn slim. But I'm wondering: have those extra special feelings of connection become greatly lessened, or even quelled, in the modern era? I don't mean to suggest that no one out there is feeling any "connection" to music anymore-- I'm talking specifically about those strong feelings of quasi-ownership; those really intense feelings of connection and protectiveness that can come with a really remarkable "discovery." Has that slipped away, due to the ubiquity (and subsequent "devaluation") of music, the constancy of communication, the ease and cheapness of information? Is it harder to feel a personal connection to something when you know your "discovery" was also just discovered by a million others? You may have just heard about this new artist for the first time, but Google will tell you very quickly that you're not the first. Then again, it'll also tell you that you're not alone in your fandom. Maybe what's happened is that we're trading that feeling of connection to a "discovered" band for a feeling of connection to a "discovered" community around the band. When you think about it, that's probably for the better. What do you think? I realize that I'm not addressing the dark side of this "ownership" issue, which at its worst is manifested as attention-hungry bloggers basking in the glory afforded by handing out full-album RARs, and at its almost-equally-as-bad is manifested in the neverending race of online "flag-planting." I'm not addressing it because it seems like it probably deserves its own dedicated discussion.
12/19/08 5:39 pm
BMR says:in the beginning of the mp3 blog finding a good one was like seeing someone walking around with a Sebadoh pin on their backpack (back in the day). I might strike up a conversation about the esoteric band with this person and maybe even see what else they liked (either by what shirt they were wearing, or what other pins they had, or by more rock talk).
The community was 1 on 1 when when in person and with the good blogs it feels like one on one still. Of course, I wanted to foster that and reached out to folks like you and Sean.
And if I find something good, I mean, I can still feel like I own it and want to share it with this community. But that is from someone who makes it a point to find the new and wants to be a pioneer. I don’t think that is the necessarily the way new music fans feel about their music.
Just as I write this, I am thinking of Jason Anderson and his whole scene and that really blows that theory. They own it all, right with him – the music, the show, the memories. They are unusual though, right?
12/19/08 6:36 pm
Pinder says:If your connection to a band is lessened after it’s been “discovered” by millions of others, you can regain that sense of connection if there’s a backlash that you don’t take part of.
I’m sure there’s some hardcore Voxtrot or Black Kids fans left. Right? Anyone?
If you like the band enough, just keep your connection no matter what. I don’t give a crap what anyone says about Guns N’ Roses or Chinese Democracy, it’s still my favourite band since I listened to Appetite for Destruction everyday at the age of 12. I still think Stone Roses Second Coming album was way better than the first one. I thought Liars album about the witchcraft was awesome.
If your personal connection to a band is lessened cause other people now like it, maybe you didn’t really like them enough in the first place. You don’t need a community all the time.
12/19/08 6:59 pm
karen says:that ownership feeling is definitely something that’s very real to many of us. i hate to say anything along the lines of “kids today…,” but i’m pretty sure there’s something to that earlier experience that people are missing out on now. scouring zines, mailordering records, word of mouth (in a different way that we see now), all of that. it’s hard to separate it from some cynicism and from possessiveness toward music, but it’s a good, meaningful feeling. (well, it’s a meaningful-feeling feeling, anyway.)
and this is a somewhat separate issue, but there’s something valuable about liking something without really knowing who or how many other people like it. a lot of old-time indie types i know never completely had that because they got into music in college within a community, but i had to scratch out every little fact and every piece of music from a small town in high school. that really adds something. i’m not sure if what it adds is directly related to music or in any way necessary for a real, pure appreciation of something. but it was a big deal to me and it’s still part of my identity in some ways.
12/20/08 10:19 pm
Jonathan says:As long as songs and artists hold meaning for listeners, there’s ownership. If you have a new favorite song every week, it’s like having a new girlfriend every week. Just because Matt at Fluxblog posts a new perfect piece of pop goodness every weekday doesn’t mean that those songs actually have to mean anything to you. Thanks for the thoughtful post.