Music Recording 2.0, The New Revolution

For those of you not familiar with the term web 2.0 (if you're not look it up in wikipedia because it's the "hot craze" right now), its basically this current trend of user generated content. Users upload their videos to youtube, photos on to flikr, links to news stories and other items of interest via digg and del.icio.us, etc.

It has really changed the way people are using the internet- not only the users uploading the content, but industry professionals looking for a creative spur. Gino Bona, while not via the web, won a contest in which an agency heard Super Bowl ad pitches from a plethora of fans, and will have his Super Bowl spot featured this coming Sunday. Some prolific posters on youtube have found themselves invited to work in the mainstream industry. Collegehumor.com's bread and butter is user generated content.

This got me to thinking about music. There has been a steady trend over the past 100 years of music production and process going through more and more hands. Initially, someone wrote a song, and performed that song for others. Next people started performing pieces written by others. Throw in a conductor (mind you this is all before recorded music) and there's another cook in the kitchen. With technology comes producers, masterers, collaborators, and so on and so forth.

This concept of music being individual and one person having ownership or control of a song has been convincingly eroded, yet some still linger on the romantic idea that THIS song is THEIR song. Why not get past this archaic individualistic division from community? It's quite cliche, but nonetheless: music is supposed to bring us together, not tear us apart.

Not only do I hope for, but I predict a web/music mash up where a user could upload a beat, guitar riff, vocal line - even an abstract sonic soundscape - and other users can download, manipulate, then reupload a new version of that track. It will even get to the extent where you won't need to download and upload. There will be a web-based application that will be able to handle all of the editing and recording functions necessary.

Remember that game in elementary school where all the students from a class sit in a circle and each person writes one sentence to the story and passes it on? That's is exactly what this is. Imagine the possibilities and endless variations other users could (and would) produce from the one soundclip you uploaded! Truly exciting stuff.

Advertising...You Are Such A Jerk!

Why is advertising's only friend advertisers and the companies getting their product out? "Big Brother" already keeps tabs on our buying behavior, so it makes logical sense that they would be able to target ads narrowly tailored to our interests.

Pandora (www.pandora.com) has broken through this wall a bit with their streaming online radio. Basically you set up radio stations that populate themselves based on the song or artist (you can use either) that you select to characterize that station. For instance, I have a Gorillaz station on my profile that plays music ranging from Mark Farina to the Firebird Band to Fischerspooner.

While there are some banner advertisements on the page that hosts the player itself, the advertising I think is much more inventive, is the advertising for the artists. I like Gorillaz, so Pandora recommends Mark Farina to me- if I don't like that song I simply click the thumbs-down icon and it updates my preferences. Here's the breakdown: Pandora plays a song for me, an advertisement for that album essentially, based on my listening habits.

Essentially narrowly tailored, specifically targeted ads don't turn people off like mass market ads. More on this later...

My First Post

Why the hell am I succumbing to the forces that be (said forces=peer pressure to blog, and by peers I mean professionals who are semi-peers, while I belong to the Toys 'r' Us camp living by the MO "I don't wanna grow up", formerly the Peter Pan camp of eternal youth, but I digress...) and publishing my thoughts, perceptions, and, as you have already witnessed, digressions for you- the ghost user.

Its simple, I do so because I'm scatterbrained, and I do believe there happens to be an army of scatterbrained, neo-renaissance persons (unisex terminology) in the neterworld of WWW who can band together and take over the world alongside Pinky and the Brain.

Now for the meat and potatoes...I'm going to covering topics including, but not limited to, advertising, marketing, mobile content, music, and things I find hilarious. Think of me as your one-stop shop for intelligence...no really, try it and interesting things will happen. Join me on this wild ride and you'll never be the same. In the word's of George Zimmer (founder of Men's Wearhouse and featured in most of their commercials), I guarantee it.