IR 11.3

Keynote
Nancy Baym, “This Song’s for You”

– changes in music/entertainment industries being produced by internet visible in story of Nancy on her back porch on a Sunday morning requesting a song from an obscure Swedish musician busking in the streets of Malmo
– epicenter of Swedish music in Urbana, Illinois website; also west coast US site; tons of Swedish bands with international reputation
– decentralization of music 2.0; Spotify & other such services
– ways internet has freed music fans: we can get anything, we can discover new stuff, etc.
– affordances that empower fans: distance/reach not an issue; new forms of sharing and engagement; enables direct relationships between artists and fans
– major music labels trying to shut all this down; but small new labels and companies beginning to recognize that attention is the ultimate goal
– on the other hand, bands are facing the problem of trying to be everywhere online at once
– The Swedish Model sampler: theswedishmodel.org/music.zip
– labrador.se — download all singles as one zip file
– complicating notion of “gift economy” — not just about the gift; also producing revenue for bands
– also complicating sense of fan exploitation in web 2.0
– must rethink terms “fan” and “audience” — what does it mean if some artists aren’t comfortable with those terms?
– what constitutes “fairness” in these new modes of distribution? is “fair” the same thing as it was in 1999?
– high potential for burnout among fans producing content
– entrenched interests still really, really powerful; see three-strikes laws popping up in numerous countries
– “I do believe that we’ll ultimately win, because technology is always smarter than the law, but there are still some dark moments ahead.”