7 - CONCLUSION
This essay set out to examine the question what position music-based Weblogs hold in terms of the traditional mediascape. Through interviews with three bloggers who maintain music Weblogs, it explored some key features of the format and examined the similarities and differences between the Weblog and the zine. The Weblog is an exciting subject because it does feel new and fresh, but there is so much to say about it that it would be impossible to cover everything in one essay.
I hypothesised that these bloggers would have begun to blog because they felt that their creativity was being stifled by their employers. This turned out to be predominantly true – it seems that bloggers begin to blog because they feel that their point of view is not represented elsewhere. This is clearly the case with Peter Robinson and Everett True, both of whom cater to niche audiences – the one for commercial pop music and the other for resolutely non-commercial pop music. No Rock and Roll Fun, however, since it is in effect a news digest does not fit this category. Although Budgen’s dry sense of humour adds a more personal tone to the otherwise somewhat dry filter-style Weblog.
In terms of tone, all three Weblogs are informal. They do not tend to tailor their writing for an audience – or even in the cases of Everett True and Peter Robinson – for the Web. This allows the reader to feel more confident commenting, as a friendly tone makes the reader feel as though communicating with a friend rather than to a distanced commentator, as might be found in the print media. The immediacy of the commenting also allows readers to respond instantly rather than taking the time to write a letter, or even an email!
If the Weblogs are producing criticism, it is not merely criticism of music, but a criticism of the music press, since if they felt their interests were covered by the music press, there would be no need to keep a Weblog! As Peter Robinson puts it, “6000 people are looking at the site a day, so people obviously like the idea of it.”[78]. He is currently looking into producing a regular paper version of Popjustice, which he feels will fill an important gap in the market.
Similarly, Careless Talk Costs Lives, Everett True’s precursor to Plan B began at 12 and counted down, the idea being that it was counting down to the end of the music press. It was wrong, but the idea was the same: Careless Talk and its ilk are the new music press. It’s hardly surprising that when True was looking for writers it was the Weblogs he turned to.
This subversion of the music press is even present in No Rock and Roll Fun, who draws attention to readers’ perception of the music press by reviewing the reviews in the NME every week!
This, then, is the role of the Weblog in contemporary media – to draw readers’ attention to the structures and roles within the press and to gently subvert them. The Weblog, like the fanzine, is not necessarily the ‘Revolution’, but it seems that it ought to inspire one!
This dissertation suffered from time constraints. Having longer would have meant being able to interview more bloggers and to therefore make broader conclusions. Nonetheless, I feel that it can make a valuable addition to the current discourse on blogging, if only because it highlights the idea that the seemingly unimportant can play a vital role in the development of an ecosystem.
Weblogs make a fascinating subject, and this project suffered from its author wanting to write about everything. There was,
however, definitely room for a study of non-news Weblogs, and Weblogs based in the UK. To go from here, it would be interesting to examine in further depth how blogging by journalists could potentially affect the media economy: if bloggers are giving news and opinion away for free, should we all follow Everett True’s example and choose the new online media over the traditional print press? It seems unlikely, but with The Sun cutting back on their online presence in an attempt to boost falling sales, could the bloggers have a similar effect?
I skimmed over ideas such as the question of community and linkocracy within the Blogosphere: a statistical analysis of hyperlinking (not to mention TrackBack and commenting) in the blogging community would quantitatively characterise the nature of Weblog society. This would be useful for major print news sources looking to ‘win back’ the bloggers from online media by entering it themselves.
This essay has somewhat answered the question of why bloggers choose to put ideas up online – self-promotion, promotion of a passion, a feeling of frustration within their current employment parameters – but a student with the right resources could conduct a survey of bloggers. This could be interesting in terms of journalism because it could explain why readers are looking to interact with their journalism, rather than passively letting it wash over them, as most did before.
As more and more journalists (and MPs, comedians, high class escorts…) begin to blog, the implications for privacy become an issue. While it is generally considered outré to remove a Weblog post at a later date, there may well be topics that ought not be in the public eye that are. Journalism may find Weblogs helpful, by providing easy quotes or even ideas for stories (as with Peter Robinson’s Popjustice). There will have to come a time, however, when a Creative Commons Licence isn’t enough and a blogger’s rights to intellectual copyright are seriously compromised. A legal mind might find it useful to make suggestions on how bloggers can avoid this.
Finally, to continue this project, it would certainly be profitable to interview not just music journalists but also musicians, such as Dickon Edwards[79] of (among other bands) Fosca who has been keeping an online diary since before the term Weblog was coined, and others working in the music industry. Is it useful for executives from BMG to read Popjustice – (how) does it affect attitudes to their groups. Following the marketing fiasco of Raging Cow, viral marketers have generally steered clear of Weblogs, but using a Weblog to promote a pop band would be an excellent idea. What of the person who would write it, though – would they be performing journalism or marketing, or just blogging?
[78] Peter Robinson, author interview
[79] http://www.livejournal.com/users/dickon_edwards/
I hypothesised that these bloggers would have begun to blog because they felt that their creativity was being stifled by their employers. This turned out to be predominantly true – it seems that bloggers begin to blog because they feel that their point of view is not represented elsewhere. This is clearly the case with Peter Robinson and Everett True, both of whom cater to niche audiences – the one for commercial pop music and the other for resolutely non-commercial pop music. No Rock and Roll Fun, however, since it is in effect a news digest does not fit this category. Although Budgen’s dry sense of humour adds a more personal tone to the otherwise somewhat dry filter-style Weblog.
In terms of tone, all three Weblogs are informal. They do not tend to tailor their writing for an audience – or even in the cases of Everett True and Peter Robinson – for the Web. This allows the reader to feel more confident commenting, as a friendly tone makes the reader feel as though communicating with a friend rather than to a distanced commentator, as might be found in the print media. The immediacy of the commenting also allows readers to respond instantly rather than taking the time to write a letter, or even an email!
If the Weblogs are producing criticism, it is not merely criticism of music, but a criticism of the music press, since if they felt their interests were covered by the music press, there would be no need to keep a Weblog! As Peter Robinson puts it, “6000 people are looking at the site a day, so people obviously like the idea of it.”[78]. He is currently looking into producing a regular paper version of Popjustice, which he feels will fill an important gap in the market.
Similarly, Careless Talk Costs Lives, Everett True’s precursor to Plan B began at 12 and counted down, the idea being that it was counting down to the end of the music press. It was wrong, but the idea was the same: Careless Talk and its ilk are the new music press. It’s hardly surprising that when True was looking for writers it was the Weblogs he turned to.
This subversion of the music press is even present in No Rock and Roll Fun, who draws attention to readers’ perception of the music press by reviewing the reviews in the NME every week!
This, then, is the role of the Weblog in contemporary media – to draw readers’ attention to the structures and roles within the press and to gently subvert them. The Weblog, like the fanzine, is not necessarily the ‘Revolution’, but it seems that it ought to inspire one!
Discussion
This dissertation suffered from time constraints. Having longer would have meant being able to interview more bloggers and to therefore make broader conclusions. Nonetheless, I feel that it can make a valuable addition to the current discourse on blogging, if only because it highlights the idea that the seemingly unimportant can play a vital role in the development of an ecosystem.
Suggestions for further study
Weblogs make a fascinating subject, and this project suffered from its author wanting to write about everything. There was,
however, definitely room for a study of non-news Weblogs, and Weblogs based in the UK. To go from here, it would be interesting to examine in further depth how blogging by journalists could potentially affect the media economy: if bloggers are giving news and opinion away for free, should we all follow Everett True’s example and choose the new online media over the traditional print press? It seems unlikely, but with The Sun cutting back on their online presence in an attempt to boost falling sales, could the bloggers have a similar effect?
I skimmed over ideas such as the question of community and linkocracy within the Blogosphere: a statistical analysis of hyperlinking (not to mention TrackBack and commenting) in the blogging community would quantitatively characterise the nature of Weblog society. This would be useful for major print news sources looking to ‘win back’ the bloggers from online media by entering it themselves.
This essay has somewhat answered the question of why bloggers choose to put ideas up online – self-promotion, promotion of a passion, a feeling of frustration within their current employment parameters – but a student with the right resources could conduct a survey of bloggers. This could be interesting in terms of journalism because it could explain why readers are looking to interact with their journalism, rather than passively letting it wash over them, as most did before.
As more and more journalists (and MPs, comedians, high class escorts…) begin to blog, the implications for privacy become an issue. While it is generally considered outré to remove a Weblog post at a later date, there may well be topics that ought not be in the public eye that are. Journalism may find Weblogs helpful, by providing easy quotes or even ideas for stories (as with Peter Robinson’s Popjustice). There will have to come a time, however, when a Creative Commons Licence isn’t enough and a blogger’s rights to intellectual copyright are seriously compromised. A legal mind might find it useful to make suggestions on how bloggers can avoid this.
Finally, to continue this project, it would certainly be profitable to interview not just music journalists but also musicians, such as Dickon Edwards[79] of (among other bands) Fosca who has been keeping an online diary since before the term Weblog was coined, and others working in the music industry. Is it useful for executives from BMG to read Popjustice – (how) does it affect attitudes to their groups. Following the marketing fiasco of Raging Cow, viral marketers have generally steered clear of Weblogs, but using a Weblog to promote a pop band would be an excellent idea. What of the person who would write it, though – would they be performing journalism or marketing, or just blogging?
[78] Peter Robinson, author interview
[79] http://www.livejournal.com/users/dickon_edwards/
posted by Tara @ 2:53 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home