For a while now I have been aware that the people around me seem to be aware of music acts and albums that I have never heard of. They talk excitedly about these bands and it seems like everyone but me can relate. When did this happen? It used to be that we all listened to the radio and if you knew the bands on the radio, then you knew popular music. This is certainly no longer the case and I’ve wondered where everyone gets their information from. The Pitchfork article shed some light on it for me. I find it fascinating that a small, single website can generate so much interest and success for a band. I like music, but I’m not a fanatic. I’m too lazy to download music onto an iPod when I can just turn on a radio without any effort (I know… that’s blasphemous to any real music fan). Obviously then, I can’t really imagine seeking out independent music reviewers online, which then explains why I’m way out of the cool-new-music-loop! I thought it was interesting that the article refers to the website as taste-makers. When we discussed taste in class, I picked up on the idea that taste is a differentiating mechanism, separating those who have and those who don’t, like a sort of cultural capital. You have to have been raised and trained in a certain taste to appreciate it. Websites such as this, and the internet in general, seem to be taking this power back. A new class of people are defining good taste. As the article states, you no longer have to have a degree to have credibility when reviewing music. You don’t have to have the high class connections and the high class education to get the high class magazine or radio job. Instead, you can start up your own small website and prove your taste through your work alone. Despite this power shift, I think there is still a unique group with a unique monopoly on the definition of good taste. I have a hard time relating to websites such as the one in the article because I have not been exposed to that type of culture. Although the power has shifted, it seems to me that there is still a small group with the power, knowledge and experience to define good taste, leaving the rest of us outside the bubble.
Just another comment on the article, I’m wondering what Noam Chomsky would say about this movement online. The video we watched was too old to really talk about the internet, but this idea that the public is taking control of defining taste would have interesting implications for his theory. If big corporations and government are not in control of websites such as this, are they still able to manufacture consent on-line? Is there more questioning and critical thinking with the opportunity to freely discuses on-line? Are corporations and government increasingly moving into the online domain to take back their power? I’d love to see an updated version of the video with his thoughts on the internet.
