Quote from: Zeno Marx on June 22, 2015, 11:20:27 PM
The way FreakAnimalFinland describes this, it sounds as if things might be cycling back to the mail art movement of the 1970s and 1980s, but that was also birthed out of manipulating that period's technology in ways it hadn't necessarily intended. The format was a means to an end, not so much a centerpiece, though it could be integrated into the centerpiece. I would have to think that mindset applied today would find its way to dropbox and cloud exchange. It's interesting how almost all underground/DIY movements, from krautrock to minimalist synth to punk and noise, were excited to get their hands on the newest technologies and find ways to twist it into a tool. It was almost all built on anti-nostalgia. Very forward looking. It did, admittedly, involve stuff. Humans like to amass stuff. To consume things. I wonder if those same mail art participants of decades past would have embraced file sharing or would they have still needed the physical object? I know a lot of the tape trading culture (live recordings) couldn't wait to shed the physical object. They couldn't wait to pounce on and devour the next technology. What I'm saying here is that it is interesting how the previous generation, which was inhibited by the physical object, seemed to deeply desire breaking away from it, while this generation, which has the technology to be free from it, deeply desires to be imprisoned by it.
When we are talking about use of technology, I think there should be a distinction between the process of putting the sound materials together and the release format. With the former, I'd say that most of those involved are using tech galore. The release format, however... is what it is. The comparison to art proper is valid here since art... is what it is. How it interacts with technology may be a point of interest, and, there again, may not. Trends are not always the easiest thing to gauge, especially when the numbers we're talking about are so non-significant. Loud Louder Loudest features Facialmess Soundcloud offerings alongside proper "releases" and in the netcast format the distinction is lost. Works for me. The only thing stopping much more of that tech-savvy stuff from happening is... well, nothing, actually. I don't see any trend, I see limited numbers of people consistently involved.
The above could be taken as an indirect endorsement of the no audience argument and I'd have no probs with that. Most of the "deeper" observations offered thus far are partially contingent on the essential point that size (or lack thereof) matters.
Still when it comes to music, there might be a little more going on. Consider for the moment three cherished commodities: sex, drugs, rock'n'roll. Of the three, the latter is probably the only one whose marketability may be linked most readily to a sense of community. Or put another way, outside of what some might call "worthless cocksuck of capitalism" - that is to say, the marketability and comorbid suspicion that one is participating in a massive conjob - it's hard to see the point. Let me rephrase: it's hard to see the fucking point. Sex, easy. Drugs, easier still. Music? Really hard to see the motherfucking point. There's a thread here on how the sound somehow makes you want to move. Um, yeah right. I mean, as one of those people who seems incapable of sitting still at events I'm hardly one to talk, but quite often the only coherent thing going through my mind is "this is fucking retarded". Under these circumstances- eg this is pointless and possibly fucking retarded- a safe fall-back would probably be the community, or Brotherhood if you will. A Brotherhood of those who can be confidently relied upon to identify with certain strains of (pointless) indulgence, and moreover, just to give this a little rhetorical spin, where every extreme- in relation to, for instance, technology or society- is to be applauded, even encouraged, as this may assist in preserving the hallowed circles of Brotherdom. Let it be said, when it comes to making a point of being pointless, the Brotherhood doesn't fuck around.
