[What] I find jarring about this formulation is the same thing that bothers me about the alarming trend of weddings in which the photographers and videographers have free reign, even during the ceremony, in order to get the best, most cinematic record of the event, at the expense of the event itself and everyone participating. It’s a conflation of the record of the event with the event itself, or even a privileging of the record over what gives the record its meaning and power.
Baym’s comment on an article about Spotify’s recent change in policy requiring all new users of the service to create a Facebook account.
This quote from, Ethan Kaplan, a former of SVP of Emerging Technology at Warner Music Group is pretty spot on as well:
“I don’t think its hyperbole to say I was reminded of this (video of Steve Jobs in 1984) when I was watching f8. It seems simple: verbs.But it’s also a statement: Identity is now externalized, completely and holistically.And it will reside on Facebook. And you are either a part of this, or you are not.We’ve now reached our red pill/blue pill moment on the Internet and this will not be as easy of a decision as Mac or PC.”
I recommend Baym’s article, Embracing the Flow for a nice introduction to the impact of emerging technologies on music distribution and the industry at large.
One of these variables is the use of social media to organize flash-mobs in order to build field-awareness in urban uprising settings. We aim to demonstrate that the more we repress and censor social media in a situation of civil unrest, the worse the situation gets for everybody in a given society.
