November 3, 2005

Punk Publishing

by Piers Fawkes in Web & Technology, Media & Publishing

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?

8 Responses to “Punk Publishing”

David Burn
Posted from: 65.208.100.243
November 3rd, 2005 at 4:55 pm

I guess that makes Jason Calacanis the new David Byrne, then.
matthias weber
Posted from: 62.8.196.210
November 8th, 2005 at 9:01 am

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/
Matt Griffin
Posted from: 66.141.178.20
November 11th, 2005 at 12:09 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
matthew
Posted from: 64.95.24.238
December 1st, 2005 at 2:24 pm

>>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.
Jeff
Posted from: 172.213.19.37
May 16th, 2006 at 3:39 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
matt biglin
Posted from: 194.62.232.103
March 7th, 2007 at 12:04 pm

that’ll be th erichard branson that launched virgin records in 1972ish with tubular bells then.
bad example guys.
MTR Design Team Blog » Blog Archive » Latest work
Posted from: 216.35.196.71
September 24th, 2007 at 7:52 pm

[…] Тези от вас, които се интересуват от маркетинг и следят блоговете на подобна тематика, вероятно са попадали на някои от неговите статии и ревюта. Него го четат Seth, Ben and Jackie, Steve, Doc, Todd и Tom. И много други, знайни и незнайни. Предполагам че и Guy го чете, въпреки че не си е признавал. Yes, that Guy:). Сега, по теорията на вероятностите, се предполага, че и някои от тези добри хора ще забележи нашата работа. Уау! На това аз му викам Punk Marketing (thank you Piers). […]
Penny Griffiths
Posted from: 193.61.107.151
November 7th, 2007 at 12:14 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!