Bands Embrace Social Networking

Something that I have been involved in for a while now (more than likely because I spend a vast amount of time wading though the internets) is online communities – mainly social networking sites. Social networking sites are popping up all over the place these days, but some of the ‘older/more well known’ ones have made the press of late due to their ability to advertise for nothing. This article focuses primarily on MySpace as a tool for bands to promote their music and build a strong fan base even before they have released their first album!

The article describes the exciting and positive aspects of the social networking website MySpace for new and established musical groups. Gone are the days when traditionally bands had to tour to gain popularity, by touring they were able to advertise that they had a new cd coming out or that they had just released a new cd. Today it is all about MySpace – “According to MySpace, more than 240,000 artists of every kind — from unsigned amateurs to international rock stars — are using MySpace as a way to market themselves and build a fan base.” It goes further to state that “startup bands like My Chemical Romance have launched careers exclusively through MySpace, collecting more than 100,000 fans through the service.”

But what is MySpace? As the byline says – It’s a place for friends. Once you log in to the service you are able to add friends / bands to your buddy list. And this is in essence how bands are able to gain popularity. Friends of friends see the band, they are able to goto the band MySpace, hear the music and if they like it tell their friends.

I think the biggest thing the article mentions is that MySpace has the ability to create something out of nothing. With a fanbase of “15 million” (or so MySpace boasts..), the fans have the ability to create the buzz in a matter days as opposed to touring for weeks / months.

This isn’t only beneficial to bands either, fans also are able to enjoy the perks of MySpace. Now they don’t have to wait until their fav band releases a new cd, they just wait until it comes to MySpace in an effort to gauge responses. This also allows fans to expand their listening likes – many people don’t have limitless amounts of dollars and therefore can’t afford to purchase every cd that they ‘think’ they may like (no one pirates music… sure buddy). MySpace is a win win situation for both bands and fans.

The article also raises the point that by being buddies with a band(s) fans are able to keep up-to-date. “For fans, MySpace allows them to keep up-to-date on bands in an intimate way. Fans that have declared an allegiance, who are known as “buddies,” can leave comments on a band’s site, letting them know what they think of their music or how they performed at their last show.”

Something that the article talks about without explictly describing is that online communities like MySpace are an extremely low cost option to creating attention and hype for a band. This works for both new and established bands alike. Usually you would need to sign up to an agency and get them to advertise for you (at a fee of cause) or post flyers / spread the word yourself – but now, with the right fan base, these online communites are able to take out the middle man, effectivly cutting out your advertising costs totally, or even significantly decreasing them.

Is this the way of the future? Will we see an increase in band popularity based soley on online communites? I believe so, I believe that the prospect of advertising for free, and building a fanbase for free are things that bands just will not be able to pass up. It also gives fans an inside look into the music that is being created, and with music priacy being what it is today – fans will be able to taste the latest music as soon as it comes out. That should keep them happy……… for now.

Available from Bands Embrace Social Networking, written by David Cohn on the 18th of May, 2005.

The Filth and the Fury

The Filth and the Fury is a documentary by Julien Temple that describes the life and times of the Sex Pistols. This is the second ‘rockumentary’ that Julien has released about the Pistols – the first one (also mentioned in another weblog post) was “The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle” which has been said (and I concur) to be basied towards the Sex Pistols’ managers (Malcom McLaren) point of view. This post dives super deep into detail about this ‘rockumentary’ – be afraid.

This doco, unlike Julian’s first attempt to document the life of the Pistols, actually tells the story from the surviving members of the group. I feel that this film did a great job in portraying the Pistols in a way that they would want to be remembered. This was created with interviews encompassing the entire (surviving) members of the band, through live footage shot whilst playing, archival footage from the day and segments that just never made it into “The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle”.

The story within the film is very anti-McLaren and very much a history of the Pistols told (predominantly) from the view point of Johnny Rotten (John Lydon). I feel this was done in an effort to tell the story from the band that played the gigs and lived the life, which consciously or sub-consciously (on behave of the director, Julian Temple) personalises the lives led. And by protraying the film in such light it effectivly reminds us of the pleasures that were associated with the Pistols at the time.

One thing that has been totally dismissed from the film altogether is McLaren’s involvement. Obviously the idea was to down play his role, but to say that he had no part in the Pistols means you’re only telling half a story. I mean he also ignores Vivienne Westwood and Jamie Reid’s involvement – and it was Reids artwork on the Pistols album that helped make it so attractive. I believe that these two characters have been excluded from the film because the come from the McLaren side of the fence.

“Ever get the feeling that you’ve been cheated?”

The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle

This is the second ‘rockumentrary’ I am writing about, this just happens to be the first one Julien Temple made about the Sex Pistols…

The film is shot with director Julian Temple at the helm and shows live concert footage and interviews of the Pistols from the rise to the fall. The film was made post Sex Pistols and told from the view point of the Pistols manager ‘Malcom McLaren’ whos position thoughout the film seems to be that the Pistols, and punk rock (as a genre of music) in particular was some form of concoction of his own in order to make “a million pounds”, and this in itself is the ’swindle’.

After watching the film I feel that the doco was overly twisted towards the perspective of McLaren, this is due to several reasons. First and foremost is the fact that he (McLaren) describes himself as the creator of the Pistols though crafty bookings, and describing the Pistols as ‘poor musicians’. I mean Sid wasn’t the greatest gutairist but he had the image and that got him 9/10th’s of the way. And secondly McLaren thought he had this ‘great’ idea to turn a horrible rock band into something super – and in the process scam all the fans and the label executives hoping to make “a million pounds”.

Also what I found a little weird was that Johnny Rotten didn’t appear in interviews etc (obivously appeared in concert footage…) and I later found out that he didn’t want a part of the film because he believed that the film was a personal attack of him by McLauren. I don’t believe that he could be too far wrong there with McLaren saying that he started all this shit and that ‘that’ was the greatest swindle…

I have read mixed reviews of this film on the internets, some say that it’s unentertaining – but for the Pistols fan it’s just one of those movies that you have to see. Even if you don’t like the content (or Malcom………) you can just watch it for the Pistols concert footage and Sid’s rendition of Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way”. Also there are some funny animations in there.

Compare & Contrast Part 2

Our initial idea

The initial idea of our project was to give the viewer a clear understanding of the current water situation in South-East Queensland. The idea was to display the three major dams (that provide water to South-East Queensland) current water levels and to also allow the viewer to interact with the water levels by forecasting population and amount of rain – this interaction would occur though a series of sliders. The team name became; D.A.M.S. (Drought Awareness Management System).

Existing works chosen for Compare and Contrast

There are several works that have been chosen for comparison within this weblog entry. The main project that I will be focusing on is called The Water Games and it was “especially thought for the Universal Forum of Cultures Barcelona 2004″. Other projects that I will make mention of during the entry will include The Data Fountain, The Water Wall and The Fountaineers.

How our project is different from existing work?

In relation to The Water Games there are significant differences between the works. The first difference is most obviously is the physical size of the project, The Water Games covers an area of 1200 meters squared where there are 9 smaller fountains and 1 large fountain (10 in total). Secondly, the difference is the amount of people that are able to view the exhibit at one time, The Water Games states that it “provides a proven flux of 2000 users per hour, making it an attraction with a massive flux of visitors”. A feat that we can’t possibly duplicate because of the size of the museum and our type of interaction. And thirdly is the type of interaction. The aim of the The Water Games is for four (minimum) people to hold hands and rotate around the fountain thereby activating it, sending water upto 2.5 meters into the air.

Here are a couple of images (taken for the website) that show the user interaction with the installation.

I feel it necessary to also add into this section The Data Fountain, which the use of water fountains to display information was adapted for our work. Although The Data Fountain’s use of water fountains was a clear source of inspiration there are several significant differences between the works that make our work original and unique. the key differences include; the information being displayed and the intended audience, the audiences interaction with the work.

How our project relates to existing work?

Our project relates to all of the above mentioned works in various ways, therefore each of the projects will be related to our own in this section.

Conceptual Focus

The concept behind the The Water Games installation is primarily for the community to “collaborate in favor of peace and agreement”. It does this by making the viewers join hands in a circle around one of the fountains and rotate around it thus promoting a “symbol of work for peace” which activates the fountain.

This concept of interaction and reward I believe is very similar to our own concept. Although not obvious on the surface our project teaches its viewers to watch water wisely or else it will be all gone. The current water levels are shown for the viewer to see, but if they are to interact with the sliders and ‘predict’ a future where there is no rain and everyone keeps using the same water amount they are now the dam levels (the fountains) change height to reflect the ‘prediction’. As you can see through a users interaction with our project they are learning to become more water wise and that itself is the reward.

Audience Experience

Our work relates extremely well to the The Water Games in the category of Audience Experience – because both projects aim to bring awareness and education to the community. The Water Games aim is to develop more of an understand and respect towards diversity in the community and abroad.

The visitors must form a ring around a fountain as a symbol of understanding among people and respect towards diversity, they must collaborate in turning around the fountain as a symbol of work for peace, and they will share in the experience of activating the fountain.

Whereas our work aims to develop a sense of current water levels and water usage in our immediate community, South-East Queensland. And our work aims to educate the viewers visually by showing how much longer the water will last (interacting with the sliders).

Our work also closely relates to The Data Fountain in terms of audience experience in that it aims to show information that is ordinarily boring in a visually appealing manor. The Data Fountain shows the current dollar (“connected to money currency rates on the internet”) value in the Yen, the Euro, and the United States Dollar via three water fountains on a 5 x 4 x 3 meter stage. It was their use of water fountains that has inspired us to diverge from their idea of currency and use the fountains to display dam water levels.

Underlying Technology

Unfortunately most of the existing works do not have detailed instructions on how they went about creating their exhibits – I suppose that that is stop people recreating their work exactly and flogging it off as their own. Although The Data Fountain have provided blueprints of how the fountains know when to turn on. The images are blueprints and there is not much information that can be gained from it but I feel it is necessary to show.

From what I understand of fountains (and this diagram), the team that designed this exhibit would have had to implement pumps to control the water flow to the fountains and pressure switches to figure out when enough weight was on a fountain to turn on. Apart from that, not much more information is available.

More information is available on the design process for The Data Fountain but still not much information on the technologies used. Here is a series of pictures (taken from their website where there are more available) that show some of the technologies used during the design process (and I can only assume for the final installation). Images from right to left: “The embedded hardware and frequency modulators”, “Looking inside the Data Fountain” and “UV Filter”.

The use of pumps and controlling them though a computer interface is going to be a technological aspect that we will have to deal with at one stage. We have the option of somehow wiring up a frequency modulator similar to that of The Data Fountain’s or controlling via a live computer. Also something none of the existing teams explained is how the water flows from point A to point B, we hope to use a series of pumps and a reservoir to store the water not currently in use.

Did the existing work inspire our own work?

As has been previously mentioned all of the existing works that have been mentioned in the entry have, I believe, inspired our own work. The inspiration has come in many different forms, firstly the idea of displaying information using water fountains first used by The Data Fountain, secondly the group interactiveness of The Water Games, both works have paved the way and given our project a stable base to work with, also the ideas generated from this two works alone has given us great knowledge into audience experience and team work.

There were two other works mentioned in the second paragraph, The Water Wall and The Fountaineers that have not had a mention during the report. Both of these projects are currently in development so it was not appropriate to use either of them as the main focus, but I do feel that they have a place here in the inspiration section because it is the lighting in The Water Wall project that has inspired our project to somehow work lighting in. And The Fountaineers project relates visually to what we are doing and it just looks cool, it had to have a mention.

Summary

In summary I feel that our work fits in well with the work that currently exists. It builds on work done with The Data Fountain and parallels the audience experience levels The Water Games has. Conceptually it relates to both of the mentioned projects in that it is relaying information (The Data Fountain) to a community (The Water Games). And our project also draws inspiration from existing works both conceptually and technically, which has lead to where it currently is today.

Compare & Contrast Part 1

Main work for comparison: Water Games.

The Water Games installment was devised as a way to promote understanding amoung people and a respect amoung diversity. It achieves this goal by getting the ‘users’ to collaborate in turning around the fountain as a sign of ‘working for peace’ and by doing so will turn the fountain on.

There are 9 fountains in total, that are spead around an area of 1200 meters squared. Each fountain has the ability to shoot water upto 2.5 meters into the air when activated.

I have chosen to focus primarily on the ‘Water Games’ installation because I feel that it has a lot of aspects similar to ours but also there are enough differences (both physically and the way that it was implemented) that will make comparing and contrasting a real learning experience.

Other work for comparison: Data Fountain.

The work that I have selected to compare our project against is the project that originated our idea – it is called the ‘Data Fountain’ and it can be found online via this link.

The Data Fountain team describes its project as,

This fountain is connected to money currency rates on the internet. It is realtime! Refreshed every five seconds. This mobile fountain measures 5×4x3 meters. The relation between money and water is evident. On our datafountain we display the Yen, Euro and Dollar (¥€$). Currency rates are closely interconnected; their interdependence is visible in water. The design of the casing was kept as minimal as possible. The water is the thing to look at and listen to.

I selected this particular piece of work because it realates directly to what we (as a group) are working on. Our work was directly inspired by this piece of work so it makes a great piece of work to do a comparison on. I think much can be gained by talking to the designers of this project and colaborating with them to produce a better project.

Other work for comparison: Water Wall.

The Water Wall is part of a larger project called ‘The Digital Mile’. The designing team describes the Water Wall as:

an interactive fountain where people can digitally control the streams of water. With a command – by jumping into the water or sending a message through an electronic device – the water can start and stop or change in pressure.

This work would be a great piece for comparison against / with our assignment because it so closely relates to what we’re trying to accomplish. Unfortunately the work is still very much in its conceptual stages so it doesn’t make good for a physical exhibit – but the ideas are there to be compared against.

More information can be found via these links – MIT School of Architecture + Planning, The Digital Mile and Interactive Architecture dot Org.

Other work for comparison: Fountaineers.

Again Fountaineers is interactive work being done with water fountains.

Fountaineers is engaging pupils and staff in a primary school as co-designers of an interactive and programmable water fountain. As people pass by, the intelligent fountain will respond to their behaviour in different ways using programs created by children. The fountain might respond to people’s speed and movement, be part of school performances or represent the opinions of pupils. In both its design and use, the fountain will enable children and adults to engage with, and learn from their environment; learn between lessons and across spaces; and take part in a range of collaborative learning experiences.

Again, unfortuantly the work is still ‘in progress’ and wont be ready any time soon. But none the less, it is there and the ideas are there to be compared with and against. Click this link to goto the project page.

BS Apology.

Apparently I am meant to write an apology about something I didn’t goto because I didn’t say I was going to.

Some people in the class said that they would attend the art gallery presentation and they didn’t show up… Not my fault. I didn’t say that I would attend because I knew that I didn’t have the time.

Week 5

Today we had our presentation – it went as good as it could.

We went though all our points and people seemed that they liked the ideas.

We received some very interesting feedback from the lecturers and students – namely for our senerio interations. It was proposed that we use horizontal sliders for ‘users’ to interact with our installment. This would make the installation more ubiquitous – more what the assignment is about.

Week 4

Today was my first day back at university, the doc gave me the all clear (still not allowed to drive because it voids my insurance….) to start moving again so I’m back school.

I’ve been put in the Environmental group (currently contains; Ben Bradford, Dean Dredge and David Whipps) who have decided to base their idea around the current water situation in South East Queensland.

Today we got together to brainstorm and discuss ideas for the report assignment due next week. The topics that we have to cover are; background, target audience / experience, contraints and plan / individual contributions. We divided the work between the four of us (one topic each) and we each are to write about it – I am to write about the target audience / experience.

On Friday we plan to have another group meeting where everyone will bring in their work and will combine them to create the report.

Weeks 1-3

I have been unable to come to classes for the last 2 weeks because of medical reasons. If you would like to see what caused the ‘medical reason’ – click this link (might need to right click, save target as). Make sure you turn the volume right up, you can hear my blood curdling scream and the thud when I hit the ground.

Some may say I screamed ‘like a girl’ (thanks Ed – hehehe), but needless to say I really messed that booter up…

So anyway, I take 5 days off skiing because I was feeling a little sore – had a bit of trouble breathing, sleeping, walking – I think you get the idea. But I was there to ski and had about 4 weeks to go, I wasn’t going to let a little fall get in my way – by the way the doctors now tell me that that’s the most stupid thing I could have done – hehehe.

4 weeks go by and I’m headed back to Oz, 1 week goes by in Oz and I haven’t really gotten much better – mum sees I can’t breathe properly so she send me to the doc. The doc gets me to have some x-rays. So I do that and take them back to them and he kind of laughs at me and tells me that I’m walking around with compression fractures to my T9, T10 and T11 vertebra. Great…

Anyways I goto my personal doctor the next day for a second opinion (the other guy was pretty useless – only told me to take pain killers – panadeine fort hells yeah!!) and she sends me to get a bone scan and a couple of CT scans. At this stage she’s quite afraid that I could be susceptible to becoming a paraplegic depending if my fractures are stable or not…

During the Bone Scan I get informed that I have also fractured my right wrist, a fracture in my left knee somewhere and a stress fracture in my left tibia. That was a bit of a shock – my wrist hurt a bit but I just thought it was sprained during the crash… And these fractures have just about healed themselves so apparently there isn’t any need to put me in plaster .

So long story short-er – I fractured 6 bones and have been in and out of hospital for the last week and a bit and the rest of the time dossed up on heavy pain killers. I’m not currently allowed to drive because apparently I void my insurance (due to the injuries I have sustained), I also can’t get public transport and sit down for extended periods of time… But I am back at uni (just) and it’s good to be out of the house!

Next post will actually be on some work – promise .