The Erosion of the Rock Star

Last Friday, in one of Toronto’s beloved live music shrines, a true rock spectacle was witnessed. Hard rock riffs shot out of large, black speakers like cannon fire and shook the bodies of the few hundred devotees in attendance. A charismatic, absurdly dressed frontman with lightning fast fingers stalked the stage like a caged jungle cat. Engaging the crowd as he skillfully jumped and posed while strumming and picking. A usual scene at Lee’s Palace, a stage that has hosted the likes of Oasis, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers. However, this night it would also host some of the least talented musicians around.

Air Guitar competitors.

More from my air guitar set here.

Not that Air Guitar doesn’t take talent, it most certainly does. Though it has more to do with Baryshnikov than Bob Dylan. Thematic costumes, painstakingly rehearsed choreography and carefully chosen music all contribute to the success of an Air Guitar champion. Music carefully chosen, but the music of someone else.

A Rock Star.

This phenomenon is nothing new. People with little musical talent have long been getting famous co-opting the work of others. No, i’m not talking about every nu metal band of the early 2000’s that broke into the mainstream with ironic 80s cover songs (Limp Bizkit, Orgy) nor every bubblegum pop star with a team of writers (Britney, Jessica, Christina, etc.) I’m talking about tribute bands.

In his 2003 collection of short stories called Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, Spin and Esquire contributor Chuck Klosterman called tribute bands“the most universally maligned segment of rock n’ roll” after he went on the road with Paradise City, a band that exclusively covers the music of Guns ‘n Roses. Klosterman examined the art of tribute bands as much as his subjects themselves. He states,

These are bands mired in obscurity and engaged in a bizarrely postmodern zero-sum game: If a tribute band were to completely succeed, its members would no longer have personalities. They would have no character whatsoever, beyond the qualities of whomever they tried to emulate. The goal is not to be somebody; the goal is to be somebody else.

Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto (Pg. 58)

A Rock Star.

In the Eye Weekly end of year critic’s poll music writers from across Canada were asked what trends to look out for in 2008. I wrote “Video Game Rock Bands as Real Bands are destined for greatness… Once someone devises a program that lets you compose original music for Rock Band or Guitar Hero we might see touring bands who have never touched a real instrument.” This comment didn’t make the issue, but my prognosis looks to be coming true.

This fall the fourth installment in the wildly popular Guitar Hero franchise, entitled Guitar Hero: World Tour will be released, and according to Cnet, it has a very sophisticated song creation mode.

With the guitar, you can choose from several different scales and arpeggiate away with single notes, or you can set your guitar to play either power chords or full chords. If you really want to get tricky, Neversoft has teamed up with Line 6 to reproduce the guitar and amp effects used in its popular guitar pods. The drums are a bit easier because it just maps what you’re playing, though you can still choose from different kit sounds. The note highway is then automatically mapped based on what you’ve played through the instrument.

C/Net

This ability to make your own customized content is the only thing that has been lacking from the games, and might be the reason why music retailers have seen an influx of kids picking up real instruments to make their own Rock Bands.

With this new feature Guitar Hero fans can make their own songs with guitar parts and drum loops in any number of key signatures, thusly removing the need to learn an actual instrument if you wanted to make your own music.

I found this extremely troubling until I spoke to my friend Melissa about it. She asked me if I thought people who made music with laptops, drum machines and midi controllers were less relevant than someone who made similar music through traditional means. I said they were as relevant, and in some cases (Kraftwerk, Daft Punk, DJ Danger Mouse) were more relevant. She said it was part of the democratization of music, and there’s no way it could be bad.

In essence, Guitar Hero is giving gamers a home studio in a format they are already comfortable with at a fraction of the price of a real studio.

Is it possible that the next great song will be written on an X-box? Time will tell.

Don’t Get Engulfed By The Fail Whale: The Turbulent Seas Of Social Media

Diving headfirst into Social Media and blogging can be difficult. Thankfully, I’ve had some exposure to this kind of thing for a while. I still have my original 1996 Geocities homepage online, but I will take it’s URL with me to my grave. And no, it’s not searchable on Google.

Since i’m such a nice guy i’ll provide you a few best practices to keep in mind when blogging or using social media applications…

1. Keeping up with the Joneses. – The social media landscape is ever changing and it can be extremely difficult for someone to keep up. The best way to keep abreast of the newest trends, sites and online attitudes is to be involved. If I wasn’t using Twitter, I might not have found out about Seesmic or Friendfeed, but when people I followed and respected referenced those sites, I decided to take a look and am now using them myself.

It’s still debatable whether or not this was a good choice, but there is no turning back now.

2. The urge for overkill. – When targeting media outlets with our communication messages, we’re always told to focus on a specific audience, publication, writer or editor. This strategy should not change now that we’re using social media to disseminate messages. Not every social media website or tactic is best for every client, so you shouldn’t try and utilize them all just because you can. Choose specific sites that fit with your client, message and demographics. If you’re working for the Mormon Church, you probably don’t need to use Social Media at all.

3a. Bring something to the table. – The only thing worse than a company failing to utilize social media is a company that uses it poorly or incorrectly. If your company is entering into the blogosphere or other sites such as Getsatisfaction.com make sure they know what to blog, how to blog and to make sure they contribute useful content. If a company is spending the time and money to enter the web 2.0 realm, they should make sure they’re not wasting money at the same time as damaging their reputation.

3b. Micro-Blogging, Macro Impact. – Twitter, Seesmic and other micro-blog sites are excellent for busy executives on the go. Updating from any computer or even from your blackberry makes it much easier to keep current. High-profile people like Hillary Clinton, Steve Jobs and the CEO of Zappos tweet regularly and reach new people everyday. It also makes them seem accessible to regular people who might not have relationships with them in real life. Just make sure the content is relevant to your followers and wouldn’t alienate them. For example, don’t tweet about going to the Bentley dealership.

4. The internet is a series of tubes. – Think of it like “the tube” in the British sense of the word. Don’t do anything on the internet you wouldn’t want people on the Subway to see you doing. Now, I’ve seen some things on the Subway here in Toronto that I’d rather forget. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen them on the internet, though I stay away from the edgier German websites for that specific reason. This is important for everyone within a company, not just the executives. Your personal online identity should be your own, but when you discuss work, or conduct yourself poorly on a work related social media site like Linkedin you’re setting yourself up for issues down the road. You wouldn’t tell a room full of journalists that your boss is an idiot, why would you think its fair game online?

5. Common comments. - Comments are as important as content when it comes to social media. There is such emphasis put on what content you produce on a blog, but often, very little thought goes into commenting on other blogs. If you make confusing or annoying comments, then why would people check out your blog?

6. Survival of the fittest. – If it wasn’t for evolution i’d have a lot more body hair. This would not be a good thing. Not evolving or adapting your social media philosophy is just as bad. Trends in technology move so fast that some businesses are just starting to use a service as their client base is migrating to a different one. If your business is using Friendster or ICQ to communicate you’re in a lot of trouble. This is my last best practice and it relates back to my first one about keeping up with the competition, I thought that would be a good way to wrap things up. I’m too lazy to write a conclusion.

Here are a couple of links too…

Statement on House Rules and Social Media Use – Technosailor

Social Media for Social Change – Third Tuesday Vancouver Blog

HMV Canada unveils “Store of the Future” as a last grasp at relevance.

Growing up a music geek in the Suburbs it was difficult to get my hands on new music, but my local HMV with its innovative listening posts and astonishingly lenient return policy gave me access to countless genres, formats and artists. Thanks to HMV I have a music collection that would rival the Library of Congress, but no equity or even a savings account. Yes, HMV has always held a special place in my heart, and wallet.

It has been painful for me to watch HMV struggle with the evolving music business. In their 20 years in business the only notable changes made have been to the detriment of the consumer. The removal of vinyl from all stores and then eventually their website too (strangely enough, HMV UK still sells plenty of new vinyl) , the scaling back of stock to make room for DVD’s and clothing, the relative stasis of the retail price of a CD, their removal of artists who don’t play by their rules, the dissolution of their buy nine get one free value cards, of which I had dozens and finally their amendment to their return policy. All shrewd business decisions that have probably kept them from the fate of Music World.

When I heard about the unveiling of the “Store of the Future” my interest was piqued. When I heard that Billy Bragg was performing, I knew I had to be there.

The flagship 50 Bloor St. W store occupies some pretty expensive Yorkville real estate and is the first of 20 stores across Canada to be opened or renovated with the new design concept.

This revamped HMV will will see us offering a broader range of entertainment products, including: video games, DVD’s, iPod’s, books, entertainment focused mobile phones and of course music! The new Bloor street store will provide our loyal customers with everything they have come to expect from HMV, all in a state of the art, contemporary store.

- Humphrey Kadaner, President of HMV Canada.

Along with the expanded merchandise, a bay of iMac computers will be available for customers to browse pre-approved websites like hmv.ca, the barometer of indie cool that is Pitchfork Media and social networking sites like Facebook.

HMV hopes that this “hub” which visually looks like a scene from 2001, will help bring them into 2008. Though the idea of shopping on HMV’s website from an actual HMV retail store confuses and angers me.

I was also confused that Billy Bragg, hero of the working class would be shilling for a huge corporation, but it became evident that Billy was eulogizing the UK based record chain more than championing it.

“This is where the music industry will make it’s last stand in Canada…the last few CD’s you ever see will be sold in this shop.” he proclaimed before launching into M for Me from his new album, Mr. Love and Justice.

I’ve always been the kind of person that sees tremendous value in music, which is why I immerse myself in it. I still find value in paying $16 for a CD, or $20 for a concert ticket. Sadly, not too many people share my passion, and I can’t blame them in the least. If I were a casual listener, I wouldn’t pay that kind of money for a Coldplay record either. I think trying to persuade teenagers to turn off their computers and go buy a physical CD is useless, because the first thing they’d do is take it home and rip it onto their iPod. Even dumb kids know they can cut out a few steps by going on iTunes or Bit Torrent. HMV should instead lower it’s prices and try and court the casual music listener away from their radio and into a record store.

Yes HMV, those people are out there. You just can’t see them because you’ve been ignoring them for 20 years.