The following article is part of an eight part series exploring my thoughts on the state of electronic music in the current decade compared to the 1990's and 1980's.
--------------------------------------------------------------One of the other largest contributors to the problem of stale music is the internet. The internet has afforded artists with one of the most crucial distribution and networking tools ever to be seen in the world. It was the hope of many (not just musicians) that information will disseminate freely, folding in upon itself to create more ideas and information, and while on many levels that has occurred, there are plenty of examples of information converging under what I like to call the "Lemming Effect". In the Lemming Effect uninformed persons make decisions based on the most popular information present. From this they simply add to the majority opinion and perpetuate a false sense of superiority, squeezing out minority points of information and strengthening the majority's point. Going back to my previous example with the music .:message boards:. and the software recommendations we can plainly see this occurring. For example's sake lets look at one of the most common questions I see on messageboards online: What synth should I use? A user will log into a board asking what synth plugin they can use to create a trance lead. They get bombarded with recommendations for Z3ta, or Pro53, or Vaz. They download the plug in and use it haphazardly joining the majority opinion often times without exploring other options of synths they could use and they then become ingrained in the cycle of the "Lemming Effect" hence forth haphazardly then recommending that synth to every other user who asks for insight. What is important I think in this point of view is not the fact that they chose Z3ta, often times there are good reasons why certain pieces of software are highly regarded, but that they chose Z3ta without trying alternatives. Surprisingly one will find while on music discussion boards online that users will not only advocate the decision they dove into, but even criticize the options they did not even bother trying when they find themselves on the advice giving end of the equation. One such instance occurred several months ago on a discussion board that I participated in regarding Apple's Garageband. Someone posted a question asking how good Garageband was for music creation (software only). Several users immediately posted replies stating how it was a terrible program based around loops and that it did not amount much more to eJay software that has no music creation or editing capabilities. Being an active member of this board I knew many of the members who posted and nearly all of them were Windows only users. Their experience with Garageband was non-existent, yet based on their software decisions (in this case it was Fruityloops which held approximately a 90% share on this board), they blindly ridiculed the software based on their perception of it. After being confronted in the post by me they admitted that they had in fact never used Garageband before and were basing their recommendation on their own personal perspective of the software. While specific motives for this reaction to the software are unknown to me, I believe their reaction was a prime example of the "Lemming Effect".
Other Chapters in this writing:
.:Part I:The Decade That Should Have Been:.
.:Part II:Where Electronic Music Was:.
.:Part III:Who is to Blame?:.
.:Part IV: The Sound:.
.:Part V: The Tools:.
.:Part VI: Internet:.
.:Part VII: The Artists:.
.:Part VIII: The Birth of the Renaissance:.Stay Tuned for Part VII: The Artists
Tags: The Electronic Renaissance Part V: The Internet Article
--------------------------------------------------------------One of the other largest contributors to the problem of stale music is the internet. The internet has afforded artists with one of the most crucial distribution and networking tools ever to be seen in the world. It was the hope of many (not just musicians) that information will disseminate freely, folding in upon itself to create more ideas and information, and while on many levels that has occurred, there are plenty of examples of information converging under what I like to call the "Lemming Effect". In the Lemming Effect uninformed persons make decisions based on the most popular information present. From this they simply add to the majority opinion and perpetuate a false sense of superiority, squeezing out minority points of information and strengthening the majority's point. Going back to my previous example with the music .:message boards:. and the software recommendations we can plainly see this occurring. For example's sake lets look at one of the most common questions I see on messageboards online: What synth should I use? A user will log into a board asking what synth plugin they can use to create a trance lead. They get bombarded with recommendations for Z3ta, or Pro53, or Vaz. They download the plug in and use it haphazardly joining the majority opinion often times without exploring other options of synths they could use and they then become ingrained in the cycle of the "Lemming Effect" hence forth haphazardly then recommending that synth to every other user who asks for insight. What is important I think in this point of view is not the fact that they chose Z3ta, often times there are good reasons why certain pieces of software are highly regarded, but that they chose Z3ta without trying alternatives. Surprisingly one will find while on music discussion boards online that users will not only advocate the decision they dove into, but even criticize the options they did not even bother trying when they find themselves on the advice giving end of the equation. One such instance occurred several months ago on a discussion board that I participated in regarding Apple's Garageband. Someone posted a question asking how good Garageband was for music creation (software only). Several users immediately posted replies stating how it was a terrible program based around loops and that it did not amount much more to eJay software that has no music creation or editing capabilities. Being an active member of this board I knew many of the members who posted and nearly all of them were Windows only users. Their experience with Garageband was non-existent, yet based on their software decisions (in this case it was Fruityloops which held approximately a 90% share on this board), they blindly ridiculed the software based on their perception of it. After being confronted in the post by me they admitted that they had in fact never used Garageband before and were basing their recommendation on their own personal perspective of the software. While specific motives for this reaction to the software are unknown to me, I believe their reaction was a prime example of the "Lemming Effect".
Other Chapters in this writing:
.:Part I:The Decade That Should Have Been:.
.:Part II:Where Electronic Music Was:.
.:Part III:Who is to Blame?:.
.:Part IV: The Sound:.
.:Part V: The Tools:.
.:Part VI: Internet:.
.:Part VII: The Artists:.
.:Part VIII: The Birth of the Renaissance:.Stay Tuned for Part VII: The Artists
Tags: The Electronic Renaissance Part V: The Internet Article