shrink to fit : the matrix of 1000 true fanatics

Digital commerce and the selling of art and cultural products via the web, is a final stage in a long process of transition to code creating from image creating. The idea of creativity as code, art based on code instead of images. Here, the concept becomes the central creative act, and the reason for the image’s existence is to make the invisible code visible. Clearly, a realization in the personal computer era, the pixel and the accompanying matrix of sensations. The conventional and indeed industrial age  assumption that each appearance is rooted in objective reality,a kind of guarantee or insurance of its own objectivity, is transgressed in the information age  through the discovery and evolution of the the matrix of sensations. The power of the pixel has undermined assumed objectivity through  digital articulation.

This matrix of sensations, is not irrational or random; one can perceive a  realization that there exists a digital rationality,a digital consistency and digital precision to them- As artists like Jeremy Blake were quick to realize- there is a consciousness that does “play tricks” with everyday perception, a passing of boundaries without permission so to speak, that does create an   epistemological crisis. Normally, the creative process, or even the process of creating a new business model, is generally thought to be  emotional, and subjective with logic and intellect providing the accompanying form. Creative processes and self-expression are taken as a given to be inseparable, one necessarily needing the other, but in a digital age, a theory of creativity can be plausibly built around the idea, that the creative process is equally intellectual, social, or cooperative, interactive, participatory, as per Henry Jenkins -and as we will see in the case of Amanda Palmer— as much as the traditional optic of emotional and individual which drove the modernism of say Mahler, Picasso, Dali etc.

Georges Seurat. Read More:http://www.encore-editions.com/georges-seurat-french-master-painting-island-of-la-grande-jatte-1884-86

Today, the business model through digital interface is allowing the artist to invent  new configurations bubbling with unusually exciting sensations. Now, digital art can  affect a profound alteration of consciousness, and even permit those sensations to be interactive and shared in innumerable permutations. It has to be realized that the  microprocessor, the chip, is not just a new toy for building an old architecture, it is offering the opportunities for new types of configurations, living arrangements so to speak. Digital architecture,music,  painting and even sculpture; premised on algorithms  of the computer are providing  new modes of art, – essentially a sharing of knowledge, storytelling, and not information exchange- with a chest full of the still unexpected, unexplored creative and esthetic potential. We are just beginning, almost haphazardly to stumble upon these realization on a trial and error basis:

---The separation of the matrix of sensations from the representation of objects became complete with the development of non-objective art and the concept of non-objective sensation. The work of Kandinsky and Malevich announced the autonomy of the matrix of sensations, its existence as a realm unto itself, apart from any object representation. Did the pioneering non-objectivists reify the matrix of sensations, idolizing it into an absolute? Perhaps, but their points were clear: The matrix of sensations was more fundamental than any object. The object was dispensed with.--- Read More:http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/kuspit/kuspit8-5-05.asp

…Some musicians are seeing impressive results from Bandcamp: Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls self-released an album of Radiohead covers on the ukulele and brought in $15,000 in minutes. Sales via Bandcamp alone were enough to propel Sufjan Stevens to the Billboard 200. Diamond says artists have sold $7.3 million of product on the site in the last 12 months. That’s a tiny sliver of annual digital music sales, which the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimates at $4.6 billion globally. Two-thirds of digital sales in the U.S. went to Apple last year, according to market researcher NPD Group….


Kevin Godley:New tech… Many devices and techniques like CGI, Q Base style music technology, non-linear video editing, digital filmmaking tools, ipods, blah blah. G + C’s old maxim: ‘If you can think of it, it can be done’ is now easier to achieve than ever. Meanwhile the internet, undoubtedly, has had the biggest effect on the cultural landscape. Now anyone can do anything and be seen and heard by a vast global community. I sometimes wonder how the quality of work will change if the line between artist and audience blurs any further. Right now everything’s cool and new but there’s a danger that the vocabulary of creativity may shrink to fit. I tend to function in a ‘less is more’ world so I’m a bit skeptical about where it’s headed. ‘More is less’ could get messy…Discuss. Read More:http://www.muzikreviews.com/kevingodley.phpa

---Apple's iPod turns 10 years old on Nov. 10. The device helped blow up the recording industry's business model. Meet the entrepreneurs picking up the pieces. --- Read More:http://topics.bloomberg.com/selling-music-in-the-digital-age/

…Consultant Sinnreich expects Bandcamp to have to find new ways of making money as listeners shift from buying downloads to subscribing to such streaming services as Spotify. “I don’t think anyone’s investing in Bandcamp based on 10 percent of indie music sales,” he says. The fate of Myspace offers an exemplary reminder of how fast shifting tastes can undermine a business. Sinnreich, who plays bass in a soul band called Brave New Girl, says he used to get leads for new gigs every week through the band’s Myspace page. That hasn’t happened in years. Now, he says, the group is thinking of putting its next album on Bandcamp. Read More:http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-01/bandcamp-powers-online-sales-aims-to-fill-myspace-vacuum-.html

ADDENDUM:

Other companies catering to independent musicians, including TuneCore, ReverbNation, and CD Baby, distribute songs to online stores such as iTunes (AAPL) and Amazon MP3 (AMZN) for a fee. Bandcamp doesn’t distribute to digital retailers and many artists on Bandcamp also sell on those sites. The difference: Bandcamp lets musicians set their own prices. Plenty of bands seeking exposure use it to give songs away. They can offer


loads in exchange for joining a mailing list or they can use a Radiohead-style “pay what you want” model. The site also handles orders (though not shipments) for CDs and merchandise. The 12-employee company takes 10 percent to 15 percent of any sales made through the site. (Bands pay PayPal (EBAY) separately for processing transactions.) …

Michael Ferguson:To this end, Technium discussed the idea of 1,000 True Fans. It suggests that the future may be characterized by countless creators who have found 1,000 enthusiasts who will provide them with $100 per year each in revenue. As its author, Kevin Kelly, argues, $100 X 1,000 = $100,000 less some expenses is a living for most people. It certainly is far more attractive that attempting to live on a blogger's income. While true and on the surface 1,000 doesn't sound that difficult, in practice, it is proving just short of impossible. There are exceptions, of course, and Technium discusses Amanda Hocking, a dramatic example....John Scalzi wrote a wonderful article entitled, "The Problem with 1,000 True Fans" that goes a long way in explaining why we have so few success stories. Key among these is a consideration of price elasticity. In other words, if my goal is to obtain $100,000 per year, I can, as Technium suggests, find 1,000 True Fans who support me with $100 per year. Or I could find 10,000 at $10. Or, on the other hand, 100 at $1,000. The Creative is faced with a dilemma. The market research required to determine where on the elasticity curve the optimum profit may be found is too expensive. Consequently, the Creative must guess and they usually guess wrong. Furthermore, for most Creatives, even if they guess correctly, it still won't be easy. Read More:http://thefuture101abstracts.blogspot.com/2011/11/1000-true-fans-and-enterprise-network.html?spref=fb image:http://www.campaignbrief.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=BBDO+sale&submit.x=46&submit.y=11

…Artists can plug Bandcamp’s player and storefront into their own websites to stream entire albums for free and sell or give away downloads. Today, hundreds of thousands of artists use Bandcamp, and Diamond says about 25,000 join every month. That makes the company a fast-growing contender to succeed Myspace as the go-to online tool for musicians to get music directly to fans. As Myspace users decamped for Facebook, “there was basically a huge vacuum left,” says Aram Sinnreich, founder of media consultant Radar Research. “There were more than 10 million bands on Myspace. All those bands needed someplace to go.” Read More:http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-01/bandcamp-powers-online-sales-aims-to-fill-myspace-vacuum-.html

…Kevin Godley: It’s so clean and direct, particularly for artists with less obvious commercial appeal. If you’re interested in G+G we have a little shop selling G+G things. Come in, browse around. If we’re talking Art versus Commerce, record labels are 100% about COMMERCE. Godley / Gouldman / GG/06 doesn’t scream COMMERCE. Whether it screams ART is not for us to say. I like to think we’re, at least, whispering it in your ear….

Read More:http://www.mxdwn.com/2011/11/15/news/amanda-palmer-releases-ukulele-anthem-single-artwork-by-shepard-fairy/#more-20888 ---The track got its start last spring, when Palmer contacted fans via Twitter for lyrics regarding an “empowering three-syllable object that you weren’t allowed to take to work,” according to a recent press release. From there, Palmer compiled and tweaked the suggestions she received from fans to produce “Ukulele Anthem,” a DIY-inspired track that the Dresden Dolls frontwoman began playing at her trademark surprise “ninja shows.” Artist Shepard Fairy became involved with the track after hearing Palmer perform at a recent Santa Fe, CA-area party. It was at his behest—along with encouragement from others at the party—that Palmer recorded the track. “It actually speaks to the here and now. I think it’s a good time to put it out. The ukulele is a perfect symbol for hope and empowerment. It’s cheap, it’s easy to play, it’s punk rock, and as I think George Formby said, you can’t be unhappy holding a Ukulele,” said Palmer of her newest single.

MuzikMan: Do you think the major labels have a fighting chance now with the way indie music has torn down the traditional distribution model and rebuilt it?

Kevin Godley: Maybe. If the big boys learn to listen and take chances again. If they ditch the purely corporate mentality and get rebooted by people with vision. A few more Chris Blackwell’s, circa 2007, wouldn’t go amiss. Read More:http://www.muzikreviews.com/kevingodley.php
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Read More: http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/kuspit/kuspit8-5-05.asp--- It was as though he was responding in kind to the violence Manet had done to things. The 19th century viewer was outraged because he experienced as destructive precisely what the 20th century viewer intellectualizes as ingeniously ambiguous -- the way that Music seems to deconstruct the scene it represents in the act of constructing it, leaving the viewer in a perceptual lurch and, more traumatically, bringing representation itself into question. It was destructive not only of the scene but of the sublimity of art itself: representation became a problematic patchwork, de-idealizing the human figures in the process. Many of these figures were Manet’s friends; they certainly got a raw deal being treated as patches. Is Music in the Tulieries a satire, however unwittingly? There does seem to be something spiteful and malevolent about it. In the coldness of Manet’s work, art seems to have lost its humanizing purpose -- idealization is an effort to show the best in human beings -- suggesting that it is the beginning of what Ortega y Gasset called its modern "dehumanization." The 19th century viewer was right, but he didn’t understand why: the matrix of sensations has erupted into visibility in Music in the Tuileries Gardens, subtly undermining the scene.---

Michael Ferguson:Suppose a Creative has a business model that requires finding 10,000@$10. Again, assume that the market is English speakers on the Internet, which is about 600 million people. That means that if the Creative searches randomly, one would find a True Fan in every 60,000 people contacted. If you need to talk to 60,000 people to get $10, there just is no way to do it cost effectively. You are doomed before you start….

…In an Enterprise network, let’s assume in this case, for Internet magazines/blogs, the trick will be to aggregate several sites with very similar demographic appeal and then attack that niche aggressively. If you approach 100 potential readers, you may get one True Fan. If we approach 100 potential readers, we may get five True Fans between us. The process is five times more efficient….

Read More: http://ology.com/music/download-ukulele-anthem-amanda-palmer ---Amanda blogged recently, 'Some of you may remember a night last March/April, when I twittered from Amsterdam looking for lyrics. I asked about an empowering three-syllable object that you weren't allowed to take to work. Things got OUT OF HAND, and as you can see... I ended up incorporating way too many of the suggestions into the song. I'd originally just wanted to have the lyric "flask of jack"/"etch-a-sketch"/and... .a third thing. But the suggestions were so good, I was like, why not just f--king end the song with a long-ass list? It's the first time Twitter has actually gravely altered the direction of a song I was writing, and given the nature of the song... let's just say, it was a proud moment. I am happy to finally share it with y'all."---

…However, few people are just blog readers. They often have many similar consumption patterns. Perhaps they have a high density of interest in custom designed and hand made jewelry. Maybe they enjoy educational vacations. So, we can also aggregate with a number of such products and services and because each brings people into the Enterprise Network we are again increasing our personal exposure while doing the same for others. Read More:http://thefuture101abstracts.blogspot.com/2011/11/1000-true-fans-and-enterprise-network.html?spref=fb

Read More: http://awaitingtheflood.com/amanda-palmer-cabaret/ ---“This production has been ten years in the making – an ongoing fantasy I’ve had in the back of my mind”, says Palmer. “I’ve wanted to collaborate on ‘Cabaret’ with Bogart ever since I helped him with make-up & dialogue during his 2001 production of the show at Lexington High School. I was so inspired by his version of the show that I yearned for it to reach a wider audience – Bogart is truly a hidden gem of a director. Having worked with lots of directors now, I’ve come to realize how special and brazen he is in terms of the artistic risks he’ll take.” “Cabaret”, a musical based on Christopher Isherwood’s “Berlin Stories”, is set in the seedy Kit Kat Klub nightclub in Berlin in 1931, and follows the Nazi rise to power against the backdrop of Weimar decadence. Palmer will be playing the role of the Emcee/Master of Ceremonies. “People often don’t have the slightest clue what ‘Cabaret’ is actually about – they know the Liza Minnelli tune and don’t realize that the actual song ‘Cabaret’ is about as dark as it gets – that it’s being sung by a strung-out coke addict about to get an abortion that she pays for by hocking her clothes. It’s an incredibly dark show with an incendiary message that’s still very relevant today.”---

Read More:http://thefuture101abstracts.blogspot.com/p/future-101.html

Read More:http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php

 

Read More:http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/8745/how-to-build-a-fan-base/ 
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Godley describes himself as an “advanced dabbler”, and he’s currently dabbling in a project that he hopes will revolutionise the way we interact with our musical heroes. Wholeworldband allows people from around the globe to join in with their favourite band as they perform one of their hit tunes. You log on to the website and select a video of your favourite band playing. You can then replace individual members with your own performance, or simply play along. So you get to boot, say, Mick Jagger out of the band and take over as lead singer, and Keith Richards won’t bat an eyelid. Think of it as a global jam session – with you deciding who gets to play.

A number of bands are interested in getting involved, says Godley, and the site is currently at beta testing stage at wholeworldband.com. It sounds like a perfect tool for the X Factor generation, and what better way for artists to connect directly with their fans than by letting them join the band? “I think there’s a new kind of user, a new kind of consumer. These are people who log on and do stuff. They don’t want to be passive.” Read More:http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/magazine/2011/1119/1224307613066.html

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