Blogger Book Club: Dust In the Wind

When anyone can have pretty much anything, getting people's attention will be the challenge.

Which is why it's so upsetting to me that Lessig seems, in principle, to root for the underdog while holding up monolithic content providers like Amazon and Netflix as examples of "democratizing" the internet.

Very well coordinated discussion here Molly.

Corey, I think "Same sh#t, different day..." might sum up what this brave new world holds for independent artists.

"As the celestial jukebox of digital content moves from concept to reality, the tastemakers will be key, and who will those powerbrokers be? I doubt it will be the usual guest list."

Molly, who are you referring to? Who are the "tastemakers" and "powerbrokers"?

And they get to wear a crown? You mean a prize?

I am not trying to be sarcastic - I am honestly not clear as to what your point is with this last paragraph.

I liked where you were going in the previous paragraph. There's a long history of artists creating community centric festivals and outreach in order to perpetuate their work outside the reach of corporate America. I'm thinking of New York City's VisionFest or even the earlier days of New Orlean's Jazz and Heritage Fest. But you sort of shift gears and express your own excitement about (if I'm following you...) the second (or third or fourth) coming of the next Pharoh in charge of all us slaves creating "content" (forget calling it art...).

I'd say the new "powerbrokers" are advertising agencies looking to license out "content" for their clients. Am I way off here? I have a feeling I'm just not following your train of thought :) so forgive me. But please expound if you have time.

P.S. My captcha was "grabs bank."

Molly responds: I'm thinking about anyone who introduces/promotes work successfully to "the audience"--the matchmaker, so to say. For instance, at one time if you were the head of a television studio, you got to say what shows made it into the public eye and what shows did not. Now, if they don't want your show, you can put it on the internet. If it finds its way to the right (but different!) people, you can end up with a huge audience, even without the TV honcho. In my scenario (which I just made up on the fly to illustrate what I was getting at, so forgive the holes), you still generally can't do it alone or as well as TV, but you can do it different and do it big. I think we'll see that transition in the performing arts as well. Excited? Well, it should be interesting and (hopefully) more diverse. Unless we get so overwhelmed by all the content out there (think of all the bands on myspace) that we shut down and only listen to mainstream radio because the alternative is impossibly exhausting. This is why the matchmakers will be key (and why I gave them imaginary crowns).