CODIFYING CODPIECE

This post originally appeared on the AVNation.tv site. 

 

Andrew Robinson, formally an editor at Home Theater Review, continues to make waves among the Ivory Towers holders of Audiophilia, and I like it.

I like it a lot.

Mountain Fresh Air

Andrew is a breath of fresh air, like a straight-line wind of fresh air, inside the hobby world of home theater. One of the first Salvos I heard was in the form of his report/ review of the Rocky Mountain show, where he barely contained a direct and well-deserved dressing down of the exhibitors. His premise? That the high fidelity, high-resolution proponents and manufacturers have effectively priced themselves out of any community growth.

In effect, the audiophile holy rollers codifying the culture has resulted in them shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly.

Perhaps this is a pushback from the consumer and "PROsumer" products, which have had a seminal rise with viable budget-conscious buyers options. There is something to be said for defending quality and excellence, but when it comes to the result of circling the wagons, it also creates a wall. Every manufacturer is looking to draw folks in with their array of 'oh, Wow' products posted as glossy equipment pornification in magazines and blogs. What happens for the rest of us once we get past these obvious, select client-only devices?

Gilded Cages/Ivory Towers 

When I started out as a young man attempting to cobble together a better system, many of my best tutors owned remarkable systems but took the time to show me why they decided on the gear they had but, more importantly, showed me how to choose the quality at my budget. There was an entry-level ability, one with room to grow.

Codification when it comes to standards or procedures – the process to ensure the best work is accomplished – is valid, and I know that this is what many in the hobby are trying to do in their heart of hearts. Sadly, what a mid-level enthusiast like myself endures feels like the strutting of Codpieces, no longer concerned with the qualities; it has morphed into the bejeweled and feathered presentation of superiority.

Killing A Culture

A funny thing happens when you start to codify a culture rather than strengthen it begins to deteriorate.

In the early 1980's I was deeply involved in the nascent alternative and punk culture. When you think of punk, it often consists of the image of a metal-studded leather jacket and buzz cut or Mohawk-topped youth. But this was not the case at the start. If you had attended an early punk or American hardcore show, the folks in the audience and on stage ran the gamut of looks. From plaid shirts and sports jackets to surfer types with long hair and buzz cuts wearing loafers and Dr. Martens boots. Look at Iggy and the Stooges- not your atypical punkers with bowl cuts and rocker's hair.

Those early days were amazing times of breaking the bonds of the corporate music monopoly and spurring a revolution in DIY ethos from The Cleaners From Venus/Martin Newell cassettes to the Detroit sound. Rock music was stripped of its over-embellished predecessors' indulgences back to the blues roots made to snarl with Les Paul's electrified steel-stringed guitar. As the genre gained traction and its ranks started to swell, a change occurred. Slowly but surely, the scene began to stratify into semi-distinct subgroups – perhaps because of outside scorn or a desire to be unique, the fans of these new genres began to codify what look was acceptable.

 Where once it was okay to attend a Dead Kennedys show with long hair, it soon became a daredevil proposition; this much to the lament of the scenes provocateurs and stars. Like the WWI trains, before the biases could be healed, travel was already in motion, and the lines of battle were drawn. To be sure, there were always the talented (The Clash, Elvis Costello, Fugazi, The Ramones ) and those less so, but with the stratification and codification came a loss of power and message. And snobbish aspersions were cast upon anyone not in the clique.

Audiophilla, Auto-Asphyxiated

The audiophile hobby has turned into an elitist club not because it is necessary to do so but because those promoting it as such find pleasure in dismissing others.

Am I wrong? Prove it – Andrew is the only one, so far, in the hobby media to welcome those of us who are just starting out or have defined budgets. If not for him, I would stick to my high-resolution digital music and headphones.

In the end – This is bad for the hobby and the business of AV integration. If I am reluctant because of the closed-shop mentality of the hobby, why would I pursue the next step?

 

Retrograde, in Reverse.

Looking back at past innovations leads to the future.

The innovations of the past are more than examples of wrong turns or outdated methodologies and they are more than modern entrails readings. What the study and working knowledge of past technologies are is inspirational. One prime example is how telephony engineers re-examining the process and patent for a frequency jamming resistant torpedo controller developed by ‘the worlds most beautiful woman’ just prior to WWII lead to our modern smart-phone communications - a process called CDMA. The fact is that nothing is built out of the blue but is based on processes that came before, something akin to Broca’s brain.

 If you are a fan of Scientific American magazine you might recall that some of the most thought provoking articles were not the five page with pull out centerfold on DNA mapping but were located near the back of each edition. Just before the ads selling Name a Star services and other science fandom accessories were the magazines anti- agitprop agitators such as James Burke and his ‘Connections’ articles. Mr. Burke’s column took the reader on a delightfully wandering path to discover how things actually came to be, like how the water wheel lead to breakthroughs in modern computing. The BBC series based on his writings only added to the wonder and prodded one to never take for granted any common device - each has so much history and wonderful things to teach us about why our modern world works the way it does.

I was re-reading  the fantastic AV shout article 'What Goes Around, Comes Around: A Historian’s Response to Unified Communications' By K. Daniel Armstrong recently  and it got me to thinking.  The past is something we are bound to repeat, whether we know it or not. Sometimes this is a good thing, a very good thing.

When I was just cutting my teeth in presentation and live events industry, I was promoted to become a programmer and system engineer using the then cutting edge live show controller Dataton. I presumed that most of my time would be bonding with CRV’s and industrial DVD / Laser disc players. Then they sprang the slide projectors on me. For those of you who are flummoxed by the large spinning discs of plastic some of us used to listen to music on - Slide projectors were these loud, finicky lightboxes that went clickity-clack when you needed to change an image on screen. They were film projectors in slo-mo and my blood ran cold every time the company booked me on yet another, bigger show with them.

It was the best thing that could have ever happened to me- being put on these shows. I had the good fortune to meet and learn from the slide men- gentlemen who had been working and making these industrial revolution sewing machine looking boxes sing and delight audiences for decades - and my world changed. Slide folks were practitioners of an ancient art that,on first pale, looked and acted as if completely divorced from more ubiquitous technologies of audio and video which were slowly encroaching on their native lands. These folks taught me about form and function, about how to properly space text and how a show flow should feel. Being given the privilege of learning from these masters just how the art of multi-image worked, seeing the analog mechanics just enthralled me. The lessons I learned, of stripping things down to their fundamental processes, seeing beyond the shiny gloss has helped me to continue learning with a wide eyed fascination.

The past repeats itself in new ways everyday. 

 

It's Not Just for Breakfast Anymore!

Fiber Optics and the coming revolution in Live Events signal distribution.

 

When
you mention the word fiber to most event staging folks it is likely that the
reaction will be a commiserating hand on the shoulder and a comment that their
doctor said the same thing to them followed by an invitation to compare
medications prescribed as well.  
In truth for most of us employed in the collection
of industries I like to call the Live Life any practical experience with fiber
optics is usually limited to having one of those color changing tubes shaped
like a Christmas tree.  Oooooh pretty! There is a good reason the industry
has paid very little mind to the coming revolution in topology- we need to be
confident in the pathways and conduit which we send video and audio down.
 We cannot ask of a do-over when things go amiss, its live People!

Because
of the nature of these live events the staging industry is resistant to and
even 
suspicious of changes to the main backbones infrastructure.  One only
has to take a look at how long it took DMX to truly take hold and the rather
limp implementation of the ACN protocol, which has many called for applications
and improvements yet still is relatively unknown.  One only has to look at
how few shops implement Ethernet control on their devices to understand the
situation. Don’t get me started in how bumpy the early days of wireless mics
were!  Beyond the confidence factor and mantra that you are only as good
as your last show - heck these days you are only as good as your last CUE!-
there is often a good deal of information and skills ramp up required.

I spent
ten years away from the event staging world earning my living in the cushy
upholstered rooms of an AV manufacturer- helping folks get their residential
and corporate boardrooms systems designed and tech supported.  These types
of projects always involved some cutting edge product, technique or interface
but alas, fiber was almost never used - unless it was as a run to the pool
house from the main living area to prevent damage from a lighting strike. When
I reentered the world of live events the first few months were like looking at
the fishbowl from within. So much had remained the same with the switchers,   miles and miles of Copper and DVI connectors!  A DVI connector would have
caused a near riot if spotted being installed to a home or boardroom - how
quaint! But the changes were almost too daunting to consider with full blown
media servers which have built in tools for projection geometry/ image masking,
HD-SD everywhere and Fiber by the reel stacked on tall shelving units with bins
of SC and LC connectors.  I would be lying if I did not feel just a bit
intimidated by it. 

Fiber
is just too much to learn and the terminations are so finicky as to require
special epoxies and clean suits in special rooms like those you see in Intel
commercials, certainly not a field termination system! I mean, really the price
alone is prohibitive enough to restrict its use to esoteric shows or the ‘Big
Boys’ only.  Well Buck-O’ I am here to tell you in the simple words of
Col. Sherman T. Potter - Horse Hockey! Well, mostly. The Truth is that Fiber is
not nearly as delicate anymore and new termination tools make the job easily
mastered by anyone who has terminated BNC connections.  Tactical fiber and
connectors make the topology as rugged if not more than its copper compatriots
- Heck the military uses this stuff in the field nowadays. The issue of cost is
where the ‘Well, mostly” part comes in but it might not be on the scales of differential
you have pictured in your head.



On
Episode Seven of AVNation.TV’s Live Life Podcast we tackle this emerging and
growing use of Fiber on Live Shows.  We dig deep into the topic with
experts Barry Grossman of WorldStage Inc and Bill Brady of Alford Media. We
learn the basics of fiber, pitfalls to avoid and the practical knowledge to begin
your conversion from copper. Fiber has solutions for event companies of all sizes
and we ask- when will your shop be next? Join us for an entertaining and
informative hour of all things fiber - I promise it will wake you up!

I’m a 3D Believer

Thoughts on the DIY revolution of 3D printing and AV Nations DIY show about this.

For those of you who have heard my commentary (okay, lets be honest here - Rants) on AV Week against 3D Television the title of this post may have given you pause. Rest assured my  assessment  of 3D video as a less than worthless are still in tact.  What I am becoming a full frenzied devotee of is the world of object printing .

Photo Courtesy of Bennett Harris/ HarrisEducational

If you are unsure of what 3D and object printing have to do with one another you are missing a movement that very well may change how we do nearly everything. What I have just written is a bold statement and one fraught with the dangers of over extended presumptions ala Steve Jobs euphoric babblings prior to the unveiling of the Segway.  Even so it can be said with fair confidence that 3D object printers will change how my kids interact with products. It may be that someday soon it will seem as imperative to business success to have a 3D printer version of an offering as it is to have a social media outlet today

There are a number of methods but essentially the printers produce an object by progressively adding substrate in a precise manner to create the item.  Depending on the process and materials used this could take hours or days and vary in quality but the end result is an actual item (key fob, drawer handle, gear or anything really).  This is the ultimate cyber-geek dream - coding to generate a physical item. It is all the code with the satisfaction of ‘hand crafting’. (Although in my experience most heavy users of 3D printers are heavy Techshop people).

To say that is is the coolest thing since Shopbot would be an understatement, if only slightly. The design to concept timeline can be cut down dramatically and can be done from the comfort of ones own bedroom - if so desired. Forget made in America, made in China - this is made in your home. People are making full scale models with working parts, scale models for Architecture and image mapping pre-production as well as one-of-a-kind customized design hardware.   

Photo Courtesy of Bennett Harris/ HarrisEducational

Beyond the gee-whiz factor of the above this process has huge potential and my futurist self sees an end to manufacturing as we know it.  It will be disruptive like nothing else we can image, it may cause revolutions and riots worldwide, (yeah, really deep reality distortion field event horizon now), economies will change.  

Right now the technology is still  nascent but I see a none too distant time (25 years?!) where my kids will be “downloading” the things they want to buy rather than going to a store (so horse and carriage!) or waiting for a delivery to arrive. With the advance in circuit boards that can be etched with the components as part of the board rather than added later and soldered - almost any device can be printed in parts then assembled.  Granted this excludes large ticket items like cars and appliances but in the increasingly miniaturized electronics world I would be surprised if someone has not already done this in a proof of concept.   

Are you ready to take control ? It is (almost) yours for the making.
Manufacturers and retailers  will not take this lying down of course, not to mention the angst it will cause the labor force who rely on the jobs these sectors provide, and a serious fight is ahead. I fear that we will see attempts to put DRM restrictions on the proliferation of object codes and organizations like the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) sprout up to defend those who  pioneer the delivery and ‘receipt’ of such devices. It would be wise to review how the music industry did (good grief, still does) resist online proliferation and how it is an unstoppable channel when people decide just how they want products delivered. heck, look how hard publishers fought Amazon until it was clear that their clients demanded to get all titles via the online clearing house.  

 

This grand future and nail biting  is a bit off  into the future (but not by much!) and right now the projects are fun and provide a way to keep ‘the little grey cells active’ as Hercule Poirot would say. On Episode 11  of the DIY Show with great guests Robert Gusek, Michael Kohler, Anthony Zoit and Jonathan danforth  we explore 3D printing, the tools, the techniques, how to get started,  what can and cannot be done and where it is all going.   

I invite you to take a listen then tell us about your object printing experience, desires, concerns or straight out questions.

Oh God, not Another Social Media Blog Post!

Originally Posted on rAVepubs.com January 24th, 2012

 

Guru, Sage, most exalted wizard!  Trust me I have been called worse, just ask my first wife <rimshot>.   At the risk of sounding terribly coquettish- I have had these names tagged to me at one point or another usually by some act of willful spitefulness.  To be clear,  I do not cotton to being called such names and if you ever hear me use these terms about me or anyone else run don’t walk, away as fast as you can.  

What I am is a social media enthusiast and I know you should be too.   Yes, I know you think you have heard it all before but this time I want you to listen.  Yes, listen for this blog post is simply an invitation to hear some truly inspirational individuals tell you why. 

AV Nation and rAVe Pubs have a new show, ‘AV Social’.  Social as in a the ole 50’s bobby sock Ice Cream social, or the AV industry version - Social as in single malt scotch sippin. The hosts and panelists are all AV people (and a few celebrities)  who share a passion for the industry and the great things that come of using online social communities to generate new jobs, support your clientele and develop business relationships you may never have had the opportunity or chance to make otherwise.

If you are a fan of AV Nation (and good heavens why would you not be!) the story of its origin may be familiar.  It all  started as a conversation on Google + between some  AV folks making contacts on the newest platform on the block.  Tim Albright  posted the statement -I’ have always wanted to do a show on the AV industry, how about you?’  Do you recall the old 1940’s musicals  where Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney (bear with me Millennials) decided they needed  to put on a show and one says ‘We can use my Dad’s Garage!’.  AV Nation came about just like that; Tim had access to a good recording setuPreviewp and the rest of us had ideas and lots of opinions and so a show was born. 

Why does this matter to you? 

Because it is about community not just, but sometimes, photos of my fabulous sushi lunch. Community includes not just your associates, team members and clients but the collective online AV industry.   These conversations with AV folks from around the street and across the country and the globe build relationships where you and your company can grow.  

If you know anyone who is an installer and spends time on Twitter then you have undoubtedly seen ‘#avtweeps’ at the end of many messages.  AVTweeps is a group that began to chat on twitter regularly about products, support issues, helpful resources as well as lunch, the game and anything else we thought interesting. The group was given its moniker by the irrepressible Johnny Mota, a designer, programmer, social enthusiast and regular contributor to the growing conversations.  What started out as a small group now numbers well over a thousand and includes major manufactures, trade periodicals  and trade organizations- we even have a prominent presence at trade shows like Infocomm and CEDIA .  If you are not joining in the conversation, or at least monitoring the posts or the monthly#avchat, you are missing out on great opportunities. 

The inaugural ‘AV Social’ show features a special guest who, I think, exemplifies just how powerful and constructive social media is for our industry.   

I am not a marketing type.  I do not have a degree in communications or design, nor have I studied advertising- (unless you consider reading ‘From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor’  or ‘The Clue Train Manifesto’ as  an education in these disciplines).  What I do have is a desire to help others and show the company I work for in the best, but honest, light.  Through my work in building a social plan and framework  from the ground up for a major AV  manufacture I found and helped resolve issues and concerns for clients both famous and reclusive by hearing their ‘cries into the wind’ on social. Most of these cries are an attempt to get the attention of the company an individual presumes to be at the center of an issue.  

This is how I met one Cindy Gallop.  Ms Gallop posted an aggrieved message on the night of the Grammy’s a few years back mentioning how my companies “tower of power” - as she called it- was on the fritz and was preventing her from watching the show.   Because I keep a set of keyword searches open and running on Tweetdeck I picked up on her message within minutes of her posting.  The main concern was to find a way to fix Cindy’s  issue immediately and barring that set the wheels in motion to get her dealer in the loop quickly. 

Only later, after several conversations and following her twitter account did I realize that Ms Gallop is quite famous - even infamous.  She is a world expert in marketing and company branding giving talks on the subject of social media, cultural influence and advertising around the globe and is a TED icon.  Cindy is what we like to affectionately call an influencer, that is a central person whose opinion is respected and attended to by others.  This is not why I jumped to help her when the system she spent a good deal of money caused her consternation but our conversations turned to a relationship that continued long after I departed the manufacturer.  

How important is having a social media presence?  Important enough that Ms. Gallop agreed wholeheartedly to join us on our little start up of a show for the full hour - even when I provided several built in escape hatches for her into the show-  based on a relationship started in a twitter conversation.

Take a listen to the show when it posts Wednesday January 25th  and find out why we are such evangelists about turning customers into clients.

 

 

This is Not a CES post, Not a CES Post

Originally posted on on Ravepubs, January 19th, 2012

 

This is not a post about CES, No, not at all.  But as you brought it up - just a few thoughts

CES is huge, I mean really huge.  You may think that Infocomm or CEDIA is large but neither one of these have left our dear friend Richard Fregosa curled up in tiny trembling ball on the plush carpet of the LG booth. Actually this did not happen, nor do I suspect Mr Fregrosa exhibits any
public displays of trembling- ever.  It is I who would suffer the ‘who put my knees on backwards today’ walk from canvasing the infinity that is CES.  And yes, I would wind up a puddle on the LG carpet, a booth babe nervously poking at me to see if I was still breathing. Just reading RF’s twitter posts and blog missives for CEPro have me holed up in the corner of my office with the first heat rash symptoms of a  trade show specific agoraphobia.  

When a show can be compared to the infinite universe you know for sure that it is just too damn big.  Watching the Twit.tv folks record iPad Today live walking around the ‘iLounge’ section of the show and twice realize that they had left the section only after someone pointed it out to them -just made me happy it was them not me.

You might argue that the show obviously needs to be as large as it is, just look at all the booths they filled and all the attendees. Phil Swann of TV Predictions.com summed up my feelings when he tweeted:

“@SwanniOnHD: Hard to believe the stuff u see on the #CES2012 floor; much should have been left on the cutting room floor”

Then there is the Gizmodo post by Mat Honan . Gizmodo lives and breaths this stuff so it is worth noting when he says:

“Then it's time for a meeting, so I scuttle out through a maze of ocular and aural assaults, past booth after booth of headset-wearing pitchmen doing their best Billy Mays. Deep in the middle of the din, I meet yet another PR person whom I'll never see again in my life, and settle in for a demo of another product I already know I'm not going to write about.”

With too much space to fill we find ourselves swallowed up in detritus and ephemera.

We, as a culture, are fervently fond our ability to spread out, to take up space. Our homes are a testament to this early pioneer spirit of owning our own spread.  It is also a testament to an entire economy which fuels innumerable bloated shows  full of stuff to fill our abodes with.

In my last post “Knit One, Purl Two”  I touched on the opportunities and advantages of going small - how compression can generate new and exciting ideas. Limitations are liberating, forcing new solutions and even revisiting older ones that we should not have abandoned, Like moderate homes with porches.

I own a fairly modest home, a 1901 colonial which, with the finished attic, is about 1900 square feet.  This is, in reality much too much space.  In reality I only use about half the space for actual living, the rest just accommodates stuff - mostly items I do not need and could be put to better use.  The house was purchased as it fit my other priorities of being near mass transit and within walking distance of a local deli/grocery store/ bara porch, this and the small patch of green in the back.  Given my druthers I would have preferred a smaller house on the same lot with less house  more grass and more porch.  So yes size does matter, just not how we have been taught.  

Recently my wife and I performed the annual post X-mas purge of toys, clothes and other miscellaneous items from the house. Each time we do this, (and we do it at least twice a year which is two times too few for me), I am appalled at the sheer volume of items we have accumulated which we have no real need for.  I think part of the issue is that we actually have the space to keep all this flotsam and jetsam. My parents, most likely subconsciously, purchase too many things for the kids because we can fit it. While anecdotal, when we lived in an apartment the items the grandparents brought in were far less and smaller.

I KNOW it will draw guffaws and hackles but  there is much to said for houses that concentrate on function rather than flash.  I am particularly fascinated with the work of Lugi Colani’s Rotor House concept design or perhaps something along the lines of Normal Projects Origami apartment.  The attraction here is beautiful design with emphasis on natural light and economy of space by creating multifunction without appearing industrial.  While the homes are in the vein of Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie homes these homes far more than ranch homes redux, the point is more environmental rather than ornamental.  

There is a larger social effect beyond taking up less space. In a time before ubiquitous air conditioning folks would spend a great deal of time on their porches and stoops - knowing their neighbors and keeping an eye the general welfare of the area. Even today, communities where people use their porches on a regular basis tend to have  lower crime rates.  These communities also generate less trash and are greener in general in particular, if not completely, because there is less space to accumulate random stuff. The trend may be bad for the folks from ‘American Pickers’ and CES exhibitors but not our industry.

In the cloud based future there is less need to have and store a physical medium, for example our playback and storage devices are small and mostly portable.  The trend is for more personal listening (headphones and headphone amps were everywhere at the show, every online magazine commented on just how pervasive the units were).  Even when a more traditional listening experience is desired the new compact speaker systems are comparable with their larger space hogging brethren -(taking into account economy of scales).   

This would, of course, mean a shift in just what and how home media and automation items are created and sold.  Homeowners will be more interested in controls and media delivery that lives and moves from personal device to the home and back again.  Interoperability, quick replacement transition and customization will be the hallmarks of a new mass market controls.

We may feel a bit pressured by this coming small world but the trends of global urbanization and explosion of multifunction products that incorporate a video monitor, storage, Internet connectivity and control in one box show an inevitable path.. This years CES dichotomy of too much floor space and compact offerings are the rune stones. But then again we were not talking about CES, were we?

 

Knit One, Purl Two

Originally published on rAVe Pubs December 16th, 2011

 

"If you want to destroy this sweater - Just pull this thread as I walk away...”

- Weezer

Go ahead 'n' pull, you might get what you want or a surprise worth waiting for, depending on yourpoint of view. With the music business  still in disarray and profits bleeding out like a moonshine still at the wrong end of a ATF shotgun, the pundits have declared, yet again, Rock’s demise.

A recent article on CNN discussed the rise of (pop) Country Music sales and radio play as other genres are waning, which *of course* was accompanied buy the hackles of "Rock/ Rap is Dead/Dying.”

There is no denying that modern country music has been on the rise for some time. Hell, NYC has had at least two successful country radio stations.  I have nothing against country music -- well, I do have a lot against country pop, more on that below.  I am a fan of the true roots hillbillies like Hank Williams, the current alt rock decedents of Hank -  Lucero and the rockabilly revivalist Reverend Horton Heat. Unless you want to get caught up in a day long discussion of music history and Situationist aesthetics don’t even hint at asking  me about my Jan Dek fetish.

I do not dislike pop music because it is so prevalent but because it is too easy to like. Top 40 songs are genetically engineered to draw you in and crash your mind on to the rocks of  the island of the Sirens. These songs do not ‘stimulate the little grey cells’ - as Hercule Poirot would say- rather they lull them into a catatonic state suppressing the desire for challenging compositions.  Admit it, you have caught yourself humming along with the muzak in elevator.... and if alone, enjoyed it.  Oh yes you have, and  I’ll bet a dollar bill that you tapped your foot, too.   

It is undeniable that mainstream rock and rap sales have been in decline recently, but  I would not go so far as to start dusting off and updating the obituaries.  These genres have been pushed into smaller spaces - off into the anterooms.  I find this to be an opportunity.

Unlike many I am quite comfortable in small space, the constraints actually promote more creativity by forcing new angles of thought on how to get around them (more about this in my next post).  I could emulate William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch Story telling or Jan Dek’s (I told you I am obsessed) musical interpretations and smash the boundaries à la the 1984 commercial.  Yet, even these follow strict rules and delineation -- just not the ones we have been previously accustomed to.  

Smaller spaces or musical communities can generate more heat - (canned heat?) - confined as they are, once things get cooking.  Underground or regional collectives who have been pushed to the out-lands can grow in what seems a blur and wind up creating  some remarkable sounds and genre bending without the need to seek a more global acceptance.  These tight collectives can also be incestuous and regrettably, (or thankfully depending on how macabre your persuasions are) produce the musical equivalent of the Blue Fugates.  

A well known Alternative/ Punk pioneer often stated that he professionally looked forward to Republican administrations as it stirred up the emotions of the bands and fans (who would often go on to form their own bands).  The message?  Constrictions, or the appearance of, can generate incredible bursts of creativity.  It also generates an exponential explosion of distinct sub-genres.  This would seem counter-intuitive at first unless you have an appreciation for Chris Anderson’s book The Long Tail and the theory of "a thousand true fans." 

The Long Tail upturns a few of the ‘standard models’ of business by showing that a good deal of money can be made in producing not just a few select items, but an entire swath of niche market items, each with their own community of dedicated clientele.

The theory of a thousand true fans postulates - Just how many fans paying (x) amount to you per year would you need to survive and produce your art.  Many independent artists are experimenting with some form of this Kevin Kelly-promoted idea, from Radiohead to Thomas Dolby (have you see his new performances, wow, just wow) to the newUnderground Rap movement.  Think about this for a moment: if you were able to garner a thousand fans who paid you $75 dollars a year, or $75,000, would this be enough?  $75 sound like too much? How about $40 a year, plus concerts/appearance fees. Would this be enough to give you the freedom to create content and access and live comfortably?

While the old school business models may be struggling with a smaller real estate footprint, some are finding opportunity.  Just look at what Louis CK did by providing  a $5 DRM-free product and wound up earning $200k in less than seven days.


My sweater may be undone, but  I still have a stitch in time to create.  Knit one, Purl Two.