The Power of Web Popularity
The Effects of Social Networking on Music and Pop Culture Trends
Thanks to the speed of Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and social networking in general, trends are moving along faster and faster. Being a music writer used to mean that you would have access to new music before everyone else, but albums are leaking so early and spreading across the internet so fast that the public is often hearing the records before the media has a chance to filter through their pile of watermarked cds. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is transitioning the power structure.
I've just read about 50 tweets about the new Vampire Weekend album. This immediately stirs some interest. People are talking about it. Most of these people are just acquaintances who I barely speak to in the outside world, but they've managed to do the work of a full scale advertising campaign. Twitter and social networking have assumed the role of media in offering publicity. In the realm of advertising, it is branding and name recognition that rule everything. While none of these tweets offer any real insight into the album—140 characters isn't made for insight—they do offer up the element of repetition of the words Vampire Weekend.
Now, if I desire to keep up with the online discussion, I must listen to the Vampire Weekend record or speak about it, otherwise I'll fall behind. And since Twitter and Facebook never rest, the discussion keeps moving.
Being popular in the real universe no longer is as important in trendsetting as being popular in the internet world. A 15 year old boy who has managed to generate a massive amount of followers can now be the one setting the trends, because people are listening to him. 15 years ago that could never have been possible, because only the media had the ability to reach large masses of people. And while the media also now utilizes these new ways of spreading news and ideas, the playing field has leveled out.
During the time distinguished writer has spent time researching and giving something a fair amount of time before voicing their opinion on a new release, millions of kids everywhere have already proclaimed "meh," and have moved on. Because of this, that which is not immediate will be looked over far more than 10 years ago. There is no time for repeat listens that reveal depth. We're in a time where attention spans are so short than musicians are lucky if listeners don't skip to the next song after 30 seconds.
Ironically, though it seems that if you don't keep up with trends every second, you'll be lost in the dust, it's not really the case. Things are so quickly processed and forgotten that it's incredibly easy to jump in the herd at any time, because that which happened yesterday probably won't be relevant today anyway.
Remember The Arcade Fire, Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls. They're old news. No one talks about them anymore. In fact, the best way to stay fresh as a musician seems to be to keep starting new bands that sound exactly the same. It gives the public the novelty of new. It's all a mirage though.
If you're starting a band tomorrow, musicianship is hardly the best asset to have. I suggest having a lot of ironic band names that kids will enjoy tweeting.
While taking power away from the corrupted mainstream media has plenty of advantages, the problem lies with the direction that power has fallen. Those people with the most productive internet lives are the ones to which the power is falling.
Who has the most productive internet lives? That answer is complex but in its simplest form its people with the least amount of time devoted to the real world. There are writers and media sources full tapped into the internet, but with the economic feasibility of the web still in question, attention is still divided to other outlets. The generation of youth that grew up immediately tapped into the internet has a different capacity for internet life than their older counterparts. It's as though they can breath underwater. Whereas older generations always have to come up for air, kids have evolved with the internet and technology as their natural environment. They also know how to best utilize the expansive network. Because of this, they rule the internet.
Kids have less-developed tastes and writing skills, so simpler things will prosper, and the quality of journalism plummets.
...And this is why the next big thing was big 2 weeks ago.
[and I apologize for all typos and the lack of flow, but any editing would have taking even longer, and this would have been even more obsolete]
