When I met writers/journos Alex Tanner and Mike Butcher for a cup of tea in London on Wednesday this week, I sat there with a little wonder. These guys were talking to me (I think) as some sort of peer. They were talking to Piers the publisher. These guys with writing skills, training, experience and a great understanding of how to put a story together were chatting to me about the state of publishing and the fact that the traditional publishing houses in the UK and the US have failed to really capitalize on the trend for blog and all things Web 2.0.
I mean, I’m just a punk who manages this purple website. But as I talked to the writers, we compared what’s going on with the music industry in the seventies. In 1976 punk broke onto the music scene and changed the rules of music. Music was democratized - you didn’t even need to be able to sing or know how to play music:
You just needed a guitar!
Now blogging is having the same impact on publishing. Anyone can pick up a blog and play it. Of course, a lot of rubbish gets produced but some great gems get created too that wouldn’t have normally been produced under the old system. This is the era of punk publishing! Look around the blogosphere - can you spot the Sex Pistols? Or the Clash? There are definitely a few Malcolm McLaren wannabees - but can you see a great entrepreneur like the one we got from that era: Richard Branson?
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I guess that makes Jason Calacanis the new David Byrne, then.
November 3rd, 2005 at 4:55 pm
Yes, i have to agree with that.
-But I think this trend spreads much wider than only in the weblogs. weblogs are nice and neat publishing features and they surely are about to revolutionize the way people perceive and produce information and content.
There is a really nice article about that
http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2003/09/weblogs_and_the_mass_amateurisation_of_nearly_everything.shtml
from the book Exposure
http://www.aula.cc/exposure/book/part2/
November 8th, 2005 at 9:01 am
This area sounds similar to a book I just started called Ambient Findability (from O’Reilly). It’s about how people find information and also trust the source (so far).
more reading… http://www.alistapart.com/articles/ambientfindability
November 11th, 2005 at 12:09 am
>>I guess that makes Jason Calacanis the new David Byrne, then.< <
More like the Malcolm McLaren. I think Byrne actually has talent. Calacanis, like McLaren, is a hustler and a self-aggrandizing con artist.
December 1st, 2005 at 2:24 pm
Hi, was just listening to a video I put on the net and thought others should see it 2. Some words from the song:
As far as I’m concerned we kill dead 4 we keep the machines that kill fed
please view here: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=671738892&n=2
Jeff
May 16th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
that’ll be th erichard branson that launched virgin records in 1972ish with tubular bells then.
bad example guys.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Punk - ‘didn’t have to sing or play anything’? Ever picked up an instrument and tried to play ‘Anarchy in the UK’ or ‘Watching the Detectives’ just like that? Even Sid V must have learnt something. It may not have been intricate or complicated but there is a tune, chords, strum pattern, notes…punk was attitude and style, but musically no more less complex that a 12 bar blues. And Byrne is genius…Tubular Bells was outstanding for its time too.
Maybe the spellcheck feature is as overused as autotune nowadays but punk did not have that - would not have used it if they could. Just as poorly written blogs won’t be rated or read by many, but quality blogs with interesting content, punk on, my friends and give the finger to Penguin!
November 7th, 2007 at 12:14 pm