essay

Technology is something which will consistently advance, regardless of the state of humanity. Capabilities of today’s technology, computers especially, would astonish the societies of as recent as 5 to 10 years ago. Naturally as humans interact with technology to benefit themselves, extended interaction has resulted in increased benefits. The music industry in particular is based on the foundation of technology, and its very existence and operations are affected by it. This has resulted in a blurring of the lines between professional, amateur, underground, mainstream and so forth, which provides the basis for a debatable scenario.

Every day devices are becoming increasingly convergent, and in turn, powerful. They allow for amateurs to produce digital content at a standard which was previously exclusive to professionals, especially within the music industry . Laptop computers, mp3 players, camera phones, handy cams and what not are readily available to anyone with a job more or less, and are all capable of recording or playing digital music. With the general public now empowered by technology, revolutionary and highly controversial situations have begun to unfold; first and most locally, the surfacing of Australian pop groups Short Stack and Operator Please.

From a culturally bland environment like Central Coast NSW, the formation and success of an indie rock band would have seemed unlikely. Technology however has resulted in the emergence of bands from all corners of the nation, and world. Short Stack are a prime example of the combined benefits of SMS, MySpace and YouTube, breaking the Australian music scene in 2008 and winning prestigious awards . The simplicity and form of the music is almost cheeky, as their success has left professionals baffled. Professional studio musicians and experienced band members scratch their heads and curse names like Short Stack and Operator Please, as they have dedicated years of their lives to breaking a seemingly unbreakable scene, whilst younger, lesser talented amateurs play to enormous crowds. Overnight success of bands through internet exposure will earn fans, but also plenty of enemies. This is an obstacle these bands will have to overcome, as their fan base will consist mainly of youth, who are temperamental and likely to change taste in music frequently. Musical skill and technical prowess were values held paramount by the music community of decades past, but now perhaps not so much.

A band would need a blazing lead guitarist or soaring lead vocals to attract the attention of a 1970s record producer or venue manager. A level of professionalism was required to even cast a shadow on the music scene, and to gain access to recording equipment. This equipment was the only adequate equipment for producing music, and thus only those who were deemed professionally worthy would become famous . This equation would result in many bands of similar appearance and ability for decades, and the stereotypical “rock star” became a household dream. Simplification of musical technique and songwriting slowly broke music scenes as garage musicians became more and more capable of recording their music at an adequate level through technology. Some could argue that this movement cheapens the prestigious industry, however without musical simplification, some of the most successful bands and genres of all time would never have seen the light of day; Nirvana, Arctic Monkeys etc. Garage bands can be an untapped resource of rock and roll gold, as they will play and record whatever and however they choose, free of influence from record companies and mainstream conformity.

What is broadcasted in excess by the mainstream outlets (Channel V, MTV, Music Max, B105 etc) is heavily based on what major record companies and labels release. Now these companies will only hire and produce what they deem to be fit, and their influence is never far from the bands they do. As most music fans will have access to televisions and radios, this ultimately gives companies the power to suggest what we should and should not listen to . Now this could seem harmless, but one must remember that a record company/label is purely a business, and when the almighty dollar is the driving motive behind anything, eventually integrity is lost. Through the revolutionary MySpace, computer users world wide have access to songs recorded by any band of any quality, from the many house hold devices which can now record audio. This approach is favoured mainly by the indie community, however it gives a general alternative option for music fans to consider. Straying from mainstream, radio spammed power pop acts like Greenday encourages the development of these independent and underrated groups. Mainstream radio can sound attractive on first listen, but easily becomes repetitive and in some cases, irritating. Alternative and independent bands which have made themselves known via self recording on accessible devices have gone on to inspire (embarrassingly enough, politicians ) and prosper, and this is an attribute which must be valued.

Practitioners of supposed high skill these days are perhaps only so because of the obvious advantages they are provided with, due to their elite status. The best guitars, amplifiers, drums, microphones, recording equipment, producers, and such are at their fingertips. There is little inspiring about U2 releasing an over-produced rehash of the last three albums with their millions of dollars; however there is plenty to admire when you witness kids receiving praise and breaking the industry through MySpace, flaunting their second hand gear which they had worked so hard at Hungry Jacks to buy. Arctic Monkey’s Alex Turner went from caressing a Christmas present Stratocaster in his garage to belting a vintage Fender Bronco in front of capacity crowds in less than a decade. This truly foregrounds the value of digital production and the ability of any computer using musician to broadcast their product. Grand success and the ability to inspire are alive and kicking with the self production of amateurs and the possibilities unlocked.




Bibliography

Scholarly articles

http://fr.creativecommons.org/articles/finland.htm - From Switzerland

http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zgEOAAAAQAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=1970s+Rock&ots=soqFB1m2GR&sig=3nmI_HQgzGBVvi4bigLw_UZ5UTA#v=onepage&q=1970s%20Rock&f=false – Google Books

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=933548 – Google Scholar

http://www.socresonline.org.uk/cgi-bin/perlfect/search/search.pl?q=organisational&showurl=%2F11%2F3%2Fbeer.html – Google Scholar

http://www.springerlink.com/content/m7q1725217443802/ - Google Scholar


Internet sites

http://www.shortstack.com.au/biography/ - Google search

http://www.arctic-monkeys.com/ - Google search

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2009/10/08/Pearl-Jam-U2-And-Pink-Sell-Out-To-High-Paying-Brands.aspx# - Google Search

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g4DfieP0sX0IfcY5shP2aHtntwzw - Google Search

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5380808.stm - Google Search

Second post for week 9.

Hope you enjoyed my beautiful work of art. Tony and the Ace Kickers got me through some rough times :)

Anyway, I'm going to dedicate this post to telling you about my 2010 Big Day Out ticket.

So I stayed up wednesday night until 12 am (which became officially thursday) in hope of buying a ticket for me and two friends during the first wave of online sales released at midnight.

I clicked the link, it took about 10 minutes to load (due to mass lag of people trying to do the same thing) and eventually the page where you put in your credit card details came up. So I entered the details, how many tickets, my name/email etc, which took all of about 5 minutes. So when I'm finished I click "purchase".

By this point, 15 minutes since 12 am had elapsed, and I was greeted with a page saying "Sorry, sold out!"

I was left with two options, wake up at 3 am (which was in about 3 hours) and go line up at Sunflower CDs at Pacific Fair, or wait till 9 am that morning and try for the second wave of tickets on ticketek.

No way was I going to miss out on a ticket on account of the discepencies of technology! So I got my ass out of bed, went with some friends and waited in line from 6 am till 9:30 am, got a ticket, and $50 from a man who paid me to cut in line behind me. And that's why it was the best day ever. (not really, it left me exhausted/pissed off lol)

Week 9: A work of art.

My cyberspace friends, I am about to introduce you to the greatest boy band parody group of all time. After this, you won't see things the same way. Their last piece of work recorded from early 2008, please make them welcome, Tony and the Ace Kickers..



Now at prima face (that's legal jumbo for 'first glance'), it would seem like this isn't actually a piece of art made by me, Jackson Haswell.

However, I wrote all of the lyrics to this parody, am recorded singing in it, directed all the recordings of the other singers (my friends), founded the group/band known as Tony and the Ace Kickers, thought of the name, assisted in directing the film clip, and even starred in the film clip (might look a little different because I had a black-dyed crew cut and it was the start of last year).

A true work of art.

Week 6 fictitional news story.

Not quite in order, but I wasn't happy with my previous attempt, so I deleted it, and procrastinated the follow-up. Also, that evil "iReport" deleted my story from their site! So I guess having it in the blog will have to suffice.


LOCAL acoustic act Local Hero performed a tribute to Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix in a private bedroom gig. Rhythm guitarist/vocalist Zak Barker spoke of his idolisation of Dylan as a song writer.
"He was the original and the best, and is still alive and kicking today."
"Good on you, Bob!"
Lead guitarist Jackson Haswell and younger brother/drummer Jordan Haswell hosted the gig, at a venue best known as The Filth.
"Never seen the place so packed!" said a bewildered and overwhelmed Jordan.
"Hey Jordan, do you remember that time when you WEREN'T high?" retorted Jackson.
"Umm, what?" stuttered Jordan.
"Exactly" spat Jackson triumphantly.

So the real moral of this story is, Jackson is trumphant. An all round good bloke. LOL.

Week 8 "Censorship" discussion

Let me start off by saying, I don't care for politics, politicians or their excessive salaries. I don't buy the courier mail anymore because the first 20 pages are absolutely ridden with politics. Makes trash like The Bulletin seem interesting.

More to the point, I am strongly disappointed by the Government's 'cleen-feed'. Pornography and R-Rated video games are what keep the nerd community alive. Suicide rates will increase rapidly once these nerd-addictions are vanquished.

Seriously though, self righteous people and their little shanty towns, comprised of over protective mothers and church groups, can jump. Like actually jump, I'm serious. Splat, please, do it.

We already pay a fortune for broadband in Australia, and this add in will only add to it. Plus, the censor will be a mandatory, and if you wish to opt-out, you will be asked why, and possibly secretly monitored by the government.

This is Australia, the beautiful land down under, and if I want to watch X Rated porn, play online casino-style poker, saw off heads in R-Rated video games, then by God, I will. We don't need an excuse for our participation in these things! Up yours, Labour party.

What place does cencorship have in democracy?

NONE! Democracy was founded on freedom of choice/speech/will, God made us with the gift of free will (if you're an athiest, shut your hell-bound mouth), and the concept of a bigger, supposedly more important figure telling another figure what they can and can't watch is a contradiction.

I'm ashamed that we've joined the likes of China.
Blog over.

Week 8 Task

Let's get political!

1. Sign an E-Petition


Check it out at this link, it was for the children's hospital.
http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/EPetitions_QLD/CurrentEPetition.aspx?PetNum=1319&lIndex=-1


2. Respond to a professional blogger:

An NME.com blog by Luke Lewis discussed buying shares in a band, or contributing towards their album production. So I replied
"Marillion have been doing this for years and regardless of what you might think of their artistic credibility, it's kept their career going strong and they still sell tens of thousands of albums."

You can look at my reply on this page, user name Spunky:
http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&blog=10&title=buy_shares_in_a_band_think_of_the_possib&page=1&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1&disp=single

3. What's Barack Obama up to today?
Well I would suggest something to do with the 30,000 pound bomb, which is supposedly the pride and joy of the pentagon!

At least that's what this blog had to say: http://ochairball.blogspot.com/

4. Who are my local federal/state representatives?
I don't care, however, I will find out:
Michael John Crandon, Senator the Hon Joe Ludwig, Anna Bligh.

5. When did they last speak in parliament?

As for Joe Ludwig - 17/9/09.

6. I had this to say to Mr Ludwig:



The lecture discussed democracy, cyber democracy, online democracy or something like that, point is, it covered a large amount of material working off a few different tangents.

It's hard to 'pursue a couple of topics that you found most interesting' when you honestly found none of them even remotely interesting. Last time I checked, this subject was New Communication Technology, not the dreaded News and Politics which I sit through for 3 hours a week. Politics is like religion - everyone argues about it, everyone talks about how important it is, everyone thinks if we don't pay attention to it, we will suffer in the end, but like religion, YOUNG PEOPLE DON'T CARE ABOUT IT!

Thankyou :)

Week 7 lecture thoughts..

Jason is quite entertaining and engaging; a fresh change from the boredom of "news and politics" lectures.
As I've mentioned, he discussed in detail freeware, including issues such as viruses... and how they're made out to be worse than what they are.
There's not a whole lot I have to say in this post, because I pretty much said it in the previous, so as some form of consolation, please look at the muscular man.