state of music, video and the internet
tripp
::20 jul 2007 :: 12:32pm
i don't read pitchfork, but this article, and more importantly to me, this quote says a lot about another perspective. of course, this isn't new, but the ideas bubbling up — taping, recording, bite-sized media and the mindset of 'the single' (vs 'the album') get summed up quite nicely:
So I'm sitting there– now they're really interested in this one song– and they still won't make eye contact, looking through their little lenses, taping this one song for their blogs or for their fucking YouTube [accounts] or whatever, and it was just so annoying. It's like, this show is already going south, and these people that seem disinterested are only here to further their YouTube accounts or their blogs or whatever, and it just pissed me off.
It was really annoying. It was just scratching at the surface of what's happening to shows lately. Everybody's got a camera in their pocket, and they turn it on to just, I don't know, exploit us in some way or further their own projects or whatever the fuck they're doing with their websites and shit. It's become a little bit ridiculous, and it was just a bit unnerving, and [with] the situation with the show and everything, all the stars lined up and I got pissed off.
Being that I go to a lot of shows, I've noticed this trend for a while, and as an audience member who honestly goes to shows to connect with the artists playing the music, it annoys the piss out of me whenever someone puts their cell phone in the air to record/send a fuzzed out crappy version of the song to their friends. Or when the digital cameras come out for that "one song."
Last night I was at a great little show at the Bottom of the Hill, and for the first time in a long time, there really weren't any cameras/phones. It was a nice surprise to see so many people there just for the music. If only that were normal.