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Scott Timberg on Creative Destruction

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“Sleeping Through a Revolution”: Technology and Culture

April 22, 2015 by Scott Timberg

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="ywu4fbbeaZ4xnIPum8dfcpIbDyG5zWSP"] ONE of the clearest and most powerful descriptions I've seen about the place where technology, culture and economic forces meet is in a lecture USC's Jonathan Taplin gave not long ago. He's transposed the speech into a piece for Medium called "Sleeping Through a Revolution." Taplin is especially good on the big picture, and on … [Read more...]

Rock Bands and the Road

November 26, 2014 by Scott Timberg

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="UGGL08WFaVocMMEMVIGcVFFUfCALT1t1"] IF you've followed the debate about the post-label, post-album music world, you've heard the cries of the optimists: Just get in the tourbus! Even digital utopians will concede that revenues from recordings are way down, but they assure us that bands can make up the different by playing shows. It is part of a larger neoliberal … [Read more...]

The Downside of Freelance Nation

August 4, 2014 by Scott Timberg

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Xdew9ZyDPnPc00sNxT9gh2myS9uRknrk"] WITH all the hype around the go-it-alone/ "free-agent" lifestyle and the new economy, it's refreshing to see a sober, well-balance piece about making a living as a freelancer. Though it's not specifically about the creative class, Tiffany Hsu's story on freelancers and the "gray economy" in California is crucial to understanding … [Read more...]

Working for Free, Pro and Con

June 25, 2014 by Scott Timberg

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="3yEpOmVWqQdiM8tHRZQ892WnlfCfPiSE"] AMAZINGLY, there are still gurus urging creatives that working for free -- for for-profit companies -- is a good "branding" move. An article in the Financial Times describes some who believe in the great opportunities of the digital age, and says that asking for -- and receiving -- free labor has continues to increase. But as … [Read more...]

“The Disruption Machine” and the Arts

June 24, 2014 by Scott Timberg

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="R3zLDzzRclVKKTROWNxF41CXdu70ZMpQ"] Jill Lepore's New Yorker article, "The Disruption Machine," which looks at one of the key fallacies of the digital crowd, has become much discussed. Her challenge to a theory that describes how newer, smaller companies destroy old ones may not seem to relate to the world of arts and culture. But these things are intimately … [Read more...]

Will Kickstarter Save Culture? And, Curvy Divas

May 22, 2014 by Scott Timberg

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="OipGQdl5st5HpgJ16uvOZV10yHar99su"] WE'RE now five years past the launch of Kickstarter, and some culture hounds, a new Telegraph article says, refer to the eras "BK" and "AK" -- Before and After Kickstarter. What has it done for arts and culture projects? The story takes stock of the good and bad, and comes down mostly on the good the crowdfunding has done. It's been … [Read more...]

Can the Internet Destroy the Blockbuster Era? And, Digital Humanities

May 15, 2014 by Scott Timberg

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="HnOcX1gioiqpT82lL4d0savWjVspAEhp"] IT'S been pretty well documented now that by "connecting" us all, the web has reinforced the growth of a corporate blockbuster culture. Despite the talk about "the long tail," and the web's ability to sustain fringe culture, the most heavily promoted movies, pop stars and so on are increasingly trouncing their less-funded rivals. … [Read more...]

Announcing Culture Crash the Book; and Kylie the Appalling

April 28, 2014 by Scott Timberg

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="ftixoeOJRzszHlmMuaxS6xpP6qUMIuEH"] EAGER for more of the uplifting optimism of the CultureCrash blog? Then you'll love my upcoming book, Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class, which Yale University Press has just formally announced. Here is the press's page. The book is about a crisis in the arts and culture, one provoked by digital technology, changing … [Read more...]

How Important is a Writer’s Routine? Plus, McMansions

April 17, 2014 by Scott Timberg

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="VwvlTpDOy3SsWouxN3cvJka5SISHA7pJ"] ONE of the many ironies of our age is that as creative folk find it harder and harder to keep afloat, a whole world of books, workshops, and other sorts of guides to creativity continue to spring up. A sub-genre is the book which tells you about an artist's or writer's daily routine: How eccentric waking hours or diets or various … [Read more...]

What’s the Matter With San Diego, and a Deadly Impostor

March 27, 2014 by Scott Timberg

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="uXOtZCit5zazXO6t0Ht1wwihD894I3a9"] EVEN in an arts world familiar with groups going belly-up, this one surprised people: The San Diego Opera's board voted last week to call it a day, effective at the end of the current season. No pleading with donors or subscribers to pitch in, no Chapter 11 filing, just an abrupt, "Closed For Business" sign. Now the group's … [Read more...]

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Scott Timberg

I'm a longtime culture writer and editor based in Los Angeles; my book "CULTURE CRASH: The Killing of the Creative Class" came out in 2015. My stories have appeared in The New York Times, Salon and Los Angeles magazine, and I was an LA Times staff writer for six years. I'm also an enthusiastic if middling jazz and indie-rock guitarist. (Photo by Sara Scribner) Read More…

Culture Crash, the Book

My book came out in 2015, and won the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award. The New Yorker called it "a quietly radical rethinking of the very nature of art in modern life"

I urge you to buy it at your favorite independent bookstore or order it from Portland's Powell's.

Culture Crash

Here is some information on my book, which Yale University Press published in 2015. (Buy it from Powell's, here.) Some advance praise: With coolness and equanimity, Scott Timberg tells what in less-skilled hands could have been an overwrought horror story: the end of culture as we have known … [Read More...]

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