Sunday, April 27, 2008

it's a Mad World.

As I write this blog, the ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ finale is on. Stay with me, I do have a point. A singer, made popular by another reality ‘talent-search’ television show is on, singing a song that somehow has made its way into contemporary culture. The singer is Damien Leith, the television show that made him popular is Australian Idol and the song is Mad World (the Gary Jules version – as seen on Donnie Darko). The song is brilliant. Definitely one of my favourites, but the question I ask is how did it somehow make its way into commercial television? Possibly generating success for not only the song, but the artist, Donnie Darko film and even the original band, Tears for Fears. All of these things may have been previously overlooked, had this song not been introduced in this way.

The deviation by society away from mainstream culture is known as the Long Tail effect. The Long Tail effect refers to the idea that mainstream culture is diminishing, while niche culture is booming with the help of a medium that makes suggestions based on topic, not popularity. Chris Anderson’s article ‘Wired 12.0 – The Long Tail effect’ gives a very long and detailed explanation of this topic. However I think my fellow blogger Brendan explains this concept with great clarity in his blog. He suggests that the Long tail is centred around the ‘misses’ in society, rather than the ‘hits’. Our hit-driven culture has existed basically forever, but the popularity rising for the misses, is what is motivating this long-tail effect. Niche markets are welcoming the ‘misses’ with open arms, based on taste and quality.

The Internet holds a world of content that is waiting to be discovered with the click of a button! Nicole Safker mentions in her article on Grooveshark.com that the Internet has made it possible for consumers to discover music outside of the mainstream. Prior to the shift in consumer patterns, most of this content would have been considered obscure and wouldn’t have been deemed acceptable into mainstream culture, however this is all changing with the rise in internet capabilities. MP3 technology has made online music distribution simple, easy and most of all popular. Music distribution occurs usually over a forum where users swap and download music files, whilst also recommending different or upcoming artists that other users may enjoy (Hartley 2005, 168). This participatory culture allows the sharing and finding of music to be easier than in the physical realm.

The Internet’s role in niche culture and the long tail effect is vital. Chris Anderson (2004) also goes on to mention that in the physical world, intangible goods still take up space, and space costs money. On the Internet, these intangible goods (music and movies, for example) can float around, not taking up any physical space, and not costing any money. These can be easily accessed, and consumers can also access information about similar topics they may be interested in but may not have found before. People are creating and finding their own niche cultures.


This is particularly prominent within the music community. Coming back to my original example with the idea that popular television is introducing niche music into contemporary culture, we can clearly see this pattern in many shows. Australian Idol has been mixing the mainstream hits with the niche classics with the use of Death Cab for Cutie, Damien Rice and Imogen Heap songs. Shows like the O.C have also brought bands like Spoon, The Dandy Warhols and The Postal Service into the limelight by playing tracks on high rotation. PopMatters introduced this concept in their article ‘The O.C effect’ commenting that these shows are winning by boosting their credibility as being elitist and hip, and the bands are winning by widening exposure. One episode of the O.C featured LA rockers Rooney, which incurred a tripling of their album sales after it aired.

The main idea behind my argument is that this Long Tail effect, combined with the mixing of medias is creating a new appreciation of once thought of ‘niche’ music. Great bands are now being recognised for their talent, but only through traditionally popular vessels. Is this still a genuine recognition for talent? Are these bands ‘selling out’, or is it society just responding what they think they ‘should’ like? When is a niche culture, no longer a niche culture?


References
Hartley, John. 2005. Communication, Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts, Third Edition. New York: Routledge


5 comments:

Cool James said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cool James said...

Hi Samara,
Nice use of examples to explain how the long tail is impacting on the music industry. Your examples of Donnie Darko, Idol and The OC picking up on 'alternate' music and thrusting it into the 'mainstream' are indicative of a broad change occurring in not just the music industry, but in all online media formats.

But as you said, these 'niche' artists are still finding success through traditionally popular vessels. I expect that the next progression in this cultural technology evolution will see this occurrence more and more common. The soundtrack to James Bond will be just as subject to product placement as the vehicles he drives.

As Barry Saunders pointed out, the barriers to entry in the music industry are getting lower and lower, and the availability of quality, free music is increasing.
How then, will artists differentiate themselves? How will they get their music to new audiences when each artist has the same exposure to online marketing tools and has the same susceptibility to having their content illegally downloaded?

I hope that rather than relying on tying up song-placement deals with movie and TV producers to have their music played - bands will come full circle - and their support bases once again be determined first and foremost by their live concerts.

jade said...

You raise some interesting points; I too agree that popular television is introducing mass audiences to niche music. Sometime I wonder if people suddenly like alternate music just to be “individual” or on the other hand, once an alternate group or artist receives mass exposure some like the music to be “just like everybody else”. This article http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2006/08/the_long_tail_contains_neither.html provides an interesting counter-argument against Chris Anderson’s long tail theory, in that “hit driven” culture is not greatly threatened by the availability of obscure content or niche culture. In regards to your question as to whether society is embracing alternate music that has filtered through traditionally popular vessels, only because they think they “should” like it, I think the answers is yes in a way. In the article I mentioned, one of the arguments I found quite thought provoking was that deep down, people want to feel like they belong and desire to be part of the greater community, even if it means listening to what everyone else is listening to. If an alternate group gains exposure to the masses and airtime on commercial stations, do people have to buy the CD or download the album? I don’t think so, but if it seems like the “done thing” many people will want to listen to the music. Who determines the popularity of music? And why do people continue to listen to “hits” when there is such a variety of music online? How likely or soon will niche music force mainstream music into the shadows? Just some food for thought. This article was a good read, in regards to the criteria perhaps using a few more references and links will help you to validate your points and display more “background research”

Trina said...

The Long Tail theory is quite interesting and I constantly find myself thinking about web 1.0 and how that would relate back to the theory. The problem is, ten years ago the amount of content available on the web was only a tiny portion compared to the current environment. So the Long Tail would probably not apply as much. Yet forums still existed as well as online games. And because they were not as popular, I guess they were niche groups. In fact, when the internet was just beginning to take off the whole internet environment could have been described as its own niche.

The difference between the way most people use social networks and musicians is that most musicians on the web these days have some opportunity to make an income, whereas most other users of MySpace and Facebook are there for socializing with friends. When musicians started to realize the advertising potential online, it would have been a new web experience. Although now it is a common part of music distribution. So in turn, the process is less of a niche, yet there are more niche audiences as a result of more content being created daily, as the online knowledge of music creation grows.

emma marie said...

See my response to Sammi's post at http://emmysteph.blogspot.com/ I can't add links when commenting on anothers blog which funnily enough is part of our assessment criterion...reeeeally smart!