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Re: [microsound] iConsume
'any sound you can imagine' is a good book. but it's not really the
marxist rant kim makes it out to be. it's far more objective and
rational. i'd recommend it, even though it is pretty dated and never
really addresses electronic music, microsound, techno, house,
whatever. it's mostly concerned with pop and rock.
as far as the rest of kim's post: you are criticizing people for over
simplifying 'larger and more complex' issues and yet this kind of
unilateral marxist thinking is just as much an oversimplification as
anything here. in fact it strikes me as incredibly romantic. like
when first year university students read 'das kapital' for the first
time and run out and join some juvenile club that can't wait for the
next TA strike so they can compare their protest pickets, still
glistening wet with magic marker.
i just can't believe anyone of intelligence can't see marketing as an
art form unto itself. it's not evil. it's only bad when it's done
poorly. i love good advertising. apple computers has good
advertising. they understand aesthetics. fonts. graphic design.
there is certainly not enough of it. i say more. not less.
music is not just music. it's the entire sphere of 'larger and more
complex' social relations that encompass it. that's what draws me
toward ethnomusicology. it looks at the whole 'synergistic network'
and calls that 'music.' it goes beyond the musician and sees the
entire collaborative nexus of all the artists and different kinds of
art forms that go into amking 'music.' i mean, how is me company any
less significant than say björk in the way her music is articulated
or perceived?
to think that an ad or a video or an album cover has nothing to do
with music is a major oversight and pretty damn square, if you ask
me. and not in the waveform way.
being hyper-aware of this so-called 'manipulation' only makes the
experience more pleasurable when it is done well. media literacy is
essential, no doubt, but to assume that every corporation is made up
of the Evil Minions Of Commodity Fetishism is pretty naive unto
itself. besides, what's so wrong with commodity fetishism? i think
it's one of the defining attributes of humanity; this fact that we
can ascribe some kind of psychic energy to our own creations, whether
it is a rolex, a steak dinner, or a favourite CD. i don't see
dolphins doing this.
i for one, would like to retain this childlike propensity to be
mystified by the world around us.
that's where good art comes from.
now go out a read ayn rand like good little children:)
g.
On 21-Jan-07, at 2:29 PM, Kim Cascone wrote:
- the thread on the iPhone touches on a larger and more complex
issue of 'marketing' and how people are trained (via the media) to
respond psychologically to the money lubricated mechanisms of
manipulation that corporations use to fleece the public
- corporations prey on our naiveté and childlike propensity to
mystify and be mystified by new complex accumulations of symbols
(mobile phone + touch-screen = must-have gadget)
when I hear the term 'marketing' I take it to mean the ability to
manipulate the media in order to project an 'aura' which arouses a
state of desire and fetishism in the consumer
- 'marketing' is much more complex than simply issuing an announcement
while its quaint to quote the dictionary, real-world/working
definitions are much too complex to encapsulate in a single sound-
bite from the dictionary
real-world marketing is a carefully constructed admixture of
multiple nodes (a network) that creates the 'presence' or 'aura' of
an object
in the essay: "Grain, Sequence, System: three levels of reception
in the performance of laptop music"
(it's on the microsound Wiki if people want to read it)
I point out that it is the _combination_ of TV advertising, music
videos, web presence, press releases, CD displays at big-box
stores, etc that creates a 'network of aura' for a pop-star such as
Madonna
in which the individual nodes exchange energy - i.e., a synergistic
network which creates desire is formed by its combined power
the iPhone is no different
as Apple has placed the fetish of the iPhone appropriately in all
the Internet locations where it would solicit the correct market
response of desire
there is an interesting book on the marketing of music tech titled:
'Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming Technology' by
Paul Theberge
http://tinyurl.com/2rtk9p
which analyzes how musicians consume technology
the point is to think critically about consumption
and not fall prey to the the fetishism created by corporate
marketing dept's
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