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Week 6 reading summaries.
Making Friends with Jarvis Cocker: Music Culture in the Context of Web 2.0
The emergence and popularity of Web 2.0 has brought music practices into a new era with
virtual musical artefacts ubiquitous. This can be seen from recent changes in chart regulations
where songs no longer need to be charted in a physical version. However, this significant change
in music industry does not mean the democratization of music or that music industry is losing
power to mass consumers. Using a case study of Jarvis Cocker, the study illustrates how
performers in the age of Web 2.0 facilitate connections among music fans. In the face of
digitalization, the study employs a descriptive sociology approach which emphasizes a
description of objects and facts. This approach is seemed appropriate in the digital age since data
sets are largely and extensively stored and analyzed, but objects are overlooked. An approach of
descriptive sociology focuses on specific objects’ life trajectories through which a larger cultural
environment is understood. What is unique about the practice of a descriptive sociology in the
era of Web 2.0 is that one does not need to conduct longitudinal research in order to trace an
object’s life, instead, the information needed is stored and can be traced back on the Internet in a
digital form.
As is clarified in the article, the so called Web 2.0 put its focus on a “collective
intelligence” (O’Reilly, 2005) where open participation and collaboration are stressed. As the
age goes further, these practices are increasingly practiced by a variety of people in their daily
routines. Accompanying with it is the time that people are able to access information from
anywhere any time, and they are provided with personalized and customized content. Based on
this, this study has analyzed traces of Jarvis through Wikipedia (a wikis application) and
Youtube (a folksonomies application) and put forward the standpoint that how easily one can
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research large quantities of information on these platforms. Furthermore, on his MySpace Jarvis
posted many of his singles created and designed by himself. What is happening in his Jarvspace
critical to be considered is that fans of him often times communicate with each other without his
presence. It has been a common space for different people from around the world to be
connected. Although it is highly likely that performers like Jarvis are not managing their profiles
by their own but by their managing companies, what is important is that their running of the
space gives people a sense of proximity in the age of Web 2.0 when everyone is participating.
However, it is certainly not wise to conclude that the Web 2.0 era gives rise to a free-floating
music industry as all the applications are restricted, ruled and governed by the superior powers.
Q: One question I have about the author’s claim that “getting hold of data about musical
movements has become easier with the emergence of open and accessible archives of
information about them” is to what extent this is true. As I go to Jarvspace, the number of views
of his songs is no longer as the author claimed to be. Would these numbers of views be cleared
away after a period of time, perhaps 5 years or more? If this is the case, it is hardly to say that the
Web 2.0 has provided easy access or provide obstacles for researchers to collect archives that
they need.
Cybersounds
The popularity of p2p or computer-mediated communication (CMC) provides music fans and
music subcultural groups with new forms of interacting. Inhabiting in the online community and
communicating with others require both “cool” characteristics and the technical competency.
P2p form also brings about a new form of music production where amateur musicians find their
way to produce and promote their own creations. Musicians often times promote their creations
in chatrooms. However, if one really wants others to download and listen to his songs, he/she
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needs to spend time in the chatroom and participant in the conversations. Otherwise, it is
unlikely that others would pay any attention. Besides ordinary conversations, online source
sharing has become increasingly pervasive. People often times ask for samples in the online
chatrooms, thus facilitating their composition of new songs. The exchange of samples tends to be
genre specific since one can find in one chatroom a specific genre is dominating while in another
chatroom the dominating genre changes.
Mapping commercial intertextuality: HBO’s True Blood
This study focuses on exploring transmedia storytelling and the associated political economy
contexts. Mapping out the textual space or clarifying the orderings is a challenging task. From a
commercial intertextuality analysis perspective transmedia storytelling products could be
categorized as corporate and non-corporate production. Charlaine Harris’ bestselling novel The
Southern Vampire Mysteries provides a good opportunity to create intertextual texts. Besides
traditional corporate intertextual promotions such as promos in the form of audio and video on
television, HBO’s True Blood adapted from The Southern Vampire Mysteries successfully
utilizes social networking sites such as Facebook to practice transmedia promotion. Marketing
strategies were used extensively and with more innovative elements. New websites were created
to further employ the idea of intertextuality and numerous firms were joined in the promotion.
Speaking about the ordering of the transmedia promotion, the boundaries between corporate and
autonomous promotions are becoming increasingly blurred as the audiences are demanding more
complex narratives.
Plugging Back into The Matrix: The Intertextual Flow of Corporate Media Commodities
The unexpected blockbuster of The Matrix gave rise to a series of marketing campaigns that
followed which brought audiences a glorious transmedia experience. As a result, these
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campaigns have opened multiple revenue streams for the film. Corporate-controlled media in the
late 20th-century had moved to an integrated media system, thus had brought with it a pattern of
multiple revenue streams, and had given rise to a global Hollywood phenomenon where revenue
streams had expanded from domestic markets to a global market. As a result of this and the
development of new technologies, intertextuality has become ubiquitous. Whenever a cultural
product was produced, film, music, videogame, print and toy outlets began to expand, together
constituting a conglomerate. The intertextuality of cultural products not only helps to sustain the
already captured audiences by the original text, but also contributes to expand the target
audiences. The expansion is more about narratives as well as outlets.
The first transmedia and intertextual attempt that Wachowski brothers made for The
Matrix might be their development of the movie’s Web site where narratives that supplemented
the main movie plot were provided. Furthermore, The Matrix had also fully employed the
versatility of DVD format and the capabilities of DVD-ROM, thus further expanded the target
audiences and narratives of the movie. The DVD format not only provided audiences with
something to watch, but something to interact with where they could ask questions to
Wachowski brothers via a live chat box. However, the mass production of different formats of
films, including DVDs, video games and music, is primarily a strategy for the film industry to
gain large amounts of revenues. In order to insure this, these additional revenue sources were
claimed to be must-haves in order to fully understand the story of Matrix. The Matrix, and its
later sequels and various versions, have their corporate tie-ins. Corporations such as Samsung,
Coca-Cola’s Powerade, Heineken, and Cadillac are all strong partners for The Matrix. These
promotional partners, however, both get benefits from and make contributions to the overall
intertextuality of The Matrix.