(no subject)
See Renaissance. It's the shit.
After that, play with the Music Genome Project. Its business function is to do market research for Time Warner, but it also helps you find new music you like. The researchers have come up with certain attributes to describe music. You pick an artist or a song you like and Pandora finds others that have similar attributes. You give a binary yay or nay to the site's choice and, over time, the program narrows its choices to music that you (statistically) like.
So on one hand it's a cool idea and I'm using the service right now, while on the other, it scares me because it is free for all so Time Warner can decide what art it should invest in and what it shouldn't. What people have liked has always been what is popular, but before entertainment was a business, and in some places where it is now (like in France, like in independent media circles), art that is not expected to sell big time was/is supported because some rich guy decides he wants someone to make a black and white animated movie about corporate corruption and the value of death (yes, death, not life). I'm talking about that movie Renaissance.
My fear here is that while digital technolgy makes all color of media increasingly convenient for all of us on the front end, it's also making market research increasingly convenient and I wonder if this will pressure anyone who makes art to view only good business choices as good artistic choices.
After that, play with the Music Genome Project. Its business function is to do market research for Time Warner, but it also helps you find new music you like. The researchers have come up with certain attributes to describe music. You pick an artist or a song you like and Pandora finds others that have similar attributes. You give a binary yay or nay to the site's choice and, over time, the program narrows its choices to music that you (statistically) like.
So on one hand it's a cool idea and I'm using the service right now, while on the other, it scares me because it is free for all so Time Warner can decide what art it should invest in and what it shouldn't. What people have liked has always been what is popular, but before entertainment was a business, and in some places where it is now (like in France, like in independent media circles), art that is not expected to sell big time was/is supported because some rich guy decides he wants someone to make a black and white animated movie about corporate corruption and the value of death (yes, death, not life). I'm talking about that movie Renaissance.
My fear here is that while digital technolgy makes all color of media increasingly convenient for all of us on the front end, it's also making market research increasingly convenient and I wonder if this will pressure anyone who makes art to view only good business choices as good artistic choices.