Now Is The Time Of The Content Creator
In a previous post, I had commented on a phenomenon I observed involving people with poor performance skill sets, the metacognition required to acknowledge those deficiencies, and an unrealistic self-assessment of those skill sets resulting in a perfect storm of denial (i.e. the profoundly awkward moments on American Idol where contestants perform poorly and then are incredulous that anyone could find fault with their performance).
It turns out, Justin Kruger and David Dunning published a paper on the topic that was regarded widely enough that the Dunning Kruger Effect has been in use since the early 2000’s to describe the scenario. (This is what I get for not reading the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.)
All of this did however lead into a very grey performance area, with a few observations on the ever eroding delineation between creating and editing.
Give The DJ Some
Perhaps in music, this phenomenon first moved to the forefront with the advent of rap. (I could cite Reich’s, Come out and other manipulated tape works as earlier sources, but will use rap as a benchmark for popular awareness.) As the Disc Jockey took over the role traditionally held by musicians, the need for a band became less and less relevant. The DJ was the band and his or (unfortunately less often) her role was to become a real time editor: To take records and be able to isolate and loop breaks, hits and other elements of other artists’ performances and re-contextualize them. In the worst instances, it was simply stealing, but in the best instances it became a form of sonic collage, where something so new was created that it transcended the sum of its parts. In particular, I’m thinking of Hank Shockley’s brilliant and revolutionary production on Public Enemy’s, It takes a nation of millions… (A record so sonically dense with samples, that the licensing fees alone would make it impossible to be a commercially released recording now).
From this spirit came the Turntablism movement, where the turntablist actually transcends the limitations of the medium and creates something completely new. Of the many examples I could cite here, I’ll stick with one of my favorites, Kid Koala. I remember seeing somewhere that he talked about how he was doing this 8-10 hours a day, and when I watch the skill level involved in something like this Live Video or this rendition of Drunk Trumpet – I have no doubts about that claim. Kid Koala, to me is a musician, who happens to play the turntable versus a number of people who call themselves djs who just spin discs. (No, I’m not being anti-DJ. There are plenty of talented DJs out there doing innovative mixes, but there also a lot of people referring to themselves as djs who clearly suffer from the Dunning Kruger Effect – proving again to me that music is about the artist and not the medium).
Oh you play the guitar?
Briefly in the early 2000’s I played in a live hip hop band called Visible Inc. (you can hear mp3s here - just scroll all the way down) and in booking shows, I started to notice some very strange things. When we played rock clubs, the audiences seemed really perceptive. They got the skill set required in trying to pull off this type of music with a live band, but when we played hip hop clubs the results were always lukewarm. What I realized really quickly was that hip hop audiences didn’t give a damn how the sounds were generated; they just cared about the rap. If anything, there was a bias towards going old school, and were probably even a little anti-band (and pro-dj). This brought up a whole series of performance questions for me that increasingly came up as I got into electronic music.
Are you just googling yourself?
There’s a strange performance aesthetic at work in a typical laptop artist show in that there’s often a complete disconnect between the visualization of how sounds are being generated and the sounds themselves. There are sounds coming from a PA, but you really don’t know if they’re coming from the laptop or an mp3 player. They guy on stage might be making music or might be on an online chat (increasingly, chances are that both of these statements are simultaneously true).
It’s different when you see a clarinet player take a solo in a live show, because there’s an immediate association with what is happening – that musician on stage is making these sounds with that instrument. It makes the access point that much easier, and allows for an audience connection. I’m reminded of an anecdote from an acquaintance of mine, who went to go see a show in LA, and was weirded out by the fact that seemingly everyone there to see the band spend the whole set with their heads down texting. There is something tangible from seeing people perform in making that connection.
Interestingly enough, I don’t remember the last hip hop act I saw on SNL that didn’t have a band. Part of that is The Roots (THANK YOU!) and part of that is just recognizing that good musicians and performers amp up tunes. It’s also interesting to me when I see a certain subtle physicality of an electronic artist like JUANJOSÉ RIVAS that draws me into what he’s doing, I don’t feel like I’m missing the excitement that comes from seeing a band. Again, it’s not about the medium, in this case it’s about the fact he’s more of a musician that many traditional instrumentalists I know.
A sampler can only play back a sample, but a musician can alter a phrase in real time. It’s recitation versus adaptation. Guess which one makes a connection.
Garbage-band
And here, it comes full circle. While I love the idea of Garageband, the reality of the uninformed aesthetic throwing a bunch of loops together and calling it their track is somewhat dubious to me. I can’t tell you then number of people I’ve interacted with who slap together different mp3 edits and think they’ve re-invented music. “Oh man this track is awesome! Check out this thing I’m doing here!” And I think, ” Which thing? The drum and percussion loop you took from the loop library, the bass line you flew in from another track, or the Prince vocal sample? Because I don’t really hear anything you did”.
I have no problem with Hallucinations of Garagebandure if people realize that their performances, their vocal lines, their percussion parts, guitar parts what have you – those are the things that make it music and that allow you to call it yours.
“Oh a College boy huh?”
There are many things to be said for and against attending a university, but the strongest pro reason that I can think of (from an artistic standpoint) is to expand and define your aesthetic. Everyone in the world swipes a copy of Photoshop and then calls themselves a Graphic Designer, but it’s only when placed in context of understanding both the tools and the aesthetic, that something useful can come from it. This awareness is not the exclusive domain of the hallowed halls of academia, but being surrounded by other practitioners and learning about those practices can help deepen one’s understanding. (Having said this, plenty of people have put themselves in similar situations and come to great conclusions outside of a traditional education.)
Now is the time of the content creator
There are a number of articles floating around about the death of the music industry, and in regards to the old record label model, that’s 100% true – but this is the best time ever to be a musician. In addition to the fact that we have access to more music than ever before, and more communication about how that music is made (and by who); this is the era of the content creator. We live in a time where everyone is becoming an editor/creator – and in order to edit or modify something you need raw material. And no matter how much music is out there, there will always be people looking for more content to manipulate.
For the creative artists willing to get their hands dirty, this is your time.
Thanks for reading!
-SC
