For this week, one of the articles I read was Lingel & Naaman's "You Should Have Been There Man: Live Music, DIY Content and Online Communities. I chose this article because I've always been a fan of music and have some experience in the DIY underground music scene, albeit many years ago. One of the discoveries made by the authors was that people who document live shows, often miss out on much of the experience; it is hard to concentrate and enjoy yourself when you're essentially doing a job, even if it's one you enjoy doing. The benefits, however, while typically non-monetary, include an increase in social capital from other music fans that could not attend the show for a variety of reasons. So, essentially there is a trade-off between enjoyment of the moment and producing a document for others to enjoy innumerable times in the future. My question is: what considerations would need to be present to justify the loss of enjoyment? Some of the interviewees mentioned that they would record only certain songs (those that are likely to get a lot of views). How would you balance the trade-off?
One of the distinct advantages of Web 2.0 is that it has helped not only in democratizing art but also facilitating its creation. As a (former) musician, I adore that people now have the technology to create music irrespective of temporospatial boundaries and without onerous financial investments. Musicians can now live in disparate parts of the country or world and still make music together thanks to file-sharing and reasonably-priced software. Another outgrowth of this phenomenon is the culture of mash-ups. To give a brief bit of background, mash-ups are essentially additions to or the manipulation of previously recorded material. One of the earliest and most notable examples of mash-ups was known as 'The Grey Album," which was released by an artist named Dangermouse in 2004. The Grey Album combined previously recorded music by the Beatles and Jay-Z. Predictably, EMI, the owner of the Beatles recording copyrights balked and distributors of the Grey Album were sent Cease an...
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