No More Second Chances

No More Second Chances

The Internet has had a drastic impact on the lives of millions of Americans. No one, I would argue, has been more affected by the Internet than those with a criminal record. Before the Internet it was conceivable that someone who was convicted of crime could avoid the ridicule of others after being released from prison by packing up his things, moving thousands of miles away, and starting fresh. Today, no physical distance travelled can escape the global reach of the Internet.

Image via Wikipedia

Within the last couple years sites have sprung up which have made all criminal records easily accessible to the public. On sites like familywatchdog and mapofsex offenders simply knowing ones name and zip code will give you a complete list of all the crimes one has committed. Though there are enormous benefits of the new accessibility of criminal records to the public, one can argue that the patriotic and comforting message of "second chances" no longer seems applicable. A young man who has lived a reckless life, for example, may choose to abandon this harsh lifestyle in favor of becoming a respectable member of society. However, one can never find peace knowing that a full list of ones destructive past is just a few clicks away. Also, this same young man will have enormous difficulty finding a job, an employer, who in the past would often not go through the time consuming process of a thorough background check on a potential employee, now can achieve this within a matter of minutes. What disturbs me the most however is the story of a man who was convicted of a crime but later proven innocent, yet, because numerous sites have yet to remove his criminal offense, no employer will hire him.
I don't doubt that the pros of making criminal records accessible to the public far outweigh the cons. Still, it scares me knowing that no matter how minor the crime, anyone with Internet access can see this.

A New Way to hit the bigtime!

Image by six steps  via Flickr

For most of the twentieth century, the only way an artist could expect to be successful was to go on tour and hope to gain a massive following. Today, the smartest labels have found that often the best way to break an artist is through media whether it be placing a song in the trailer of a movie or placing a song in a commercial. Less than a year ago Old Navy aired a commercial of a girl dancing to a catchy tune about a sweater. Immediately people searched online for this “Sweater song” they had heard in their new favorite commercial. Needless to say, Ingrid Michaelson, the relatively unknown singer who wrote this song , was suddenly catapulted to stardom. Her “Sweater song” was among the most popular songs downloaded from I tunes that month, exceeding over 500,000 downloads!
Just a few months ago, my brother and I went to Charlottesville to write with a dear friend and talented musician Chris Keup. It just so happened that the singer, of the band Parachute, was using Chris’ studio that very day, to lay down an acoustic love song he had been working on. Several months later I heard the song again, except this time it was playing in a Nivea commercial. Their daily hits on myspace immediately shot from one hundred to a staggering 15,000 plays.
Just as big businesses are forced to reevaluate their policies in order to prosper in an age where media convergence plays a huge role in success, so are record industries forced to discover alternate paths of reaching an entirely new audience whom prefers to discover music in the comfort of their homes more than say going to a concert, or rummaging through a record store. This has led to a dramatic shift in the top employees of record labels, many of the older, technologically impaired “top dogs” swiftly replaced by bright, creative individuals aware of unique and imaginative ways of reaching the new demographic of people whose eyes stay glued to the t.v or computer screen.

Times are changing in the music industry

In class, though I was partly able to convey my knowledge on new media and its effects on the music industry, I would like to dive deeper into this subject, being that it has had a direct impact on my life. In order to fully comprehend the drastic changes that have resulted in the music industry as a result of new media, I will focus on its effects on the artistic side of being an artist, supporting this with my personal experiences in the music industry.
For about fifteen years my brother and I have been writing songs. Though we began taking piano lessons at the age of four, we had not considered creating music until the age of six when my mom suggested that we write a song for Santa Clause. When “Santa” (Our next door neighbor Steve) belted a jolly “ho ho ho” after hearing our first masterpiece, “Santa’s Speeding Slay,” we were hooked, and haven’t stopped writing since.

Hundreds of songs later, we have recently signed a publishing deal with CherryLane, a company renowned for its abilities to place songs in various media fields. In exchange for 25% of each song we have written, they gave us the money to convert our basement into a studio, thus allowing us to record high quality songs, which they would pitch to TV. programs, movies, commercials, etc. After sending them dozens of song ideas, we discovered a trend in the songs they selected to pitch for film and TV. They seemed to be only interested in the most upbeat, catchy songs in the bunch. When we asked what we should do to increase their odds of placing our songs, their response caught me be surprise. Apparently our songs needed to have an
even more poppy, upbeat feel. On top of this, they suggested that our lyrics should in most cases contain a message of “change for the better,” and “being able to accomplish anything if you put your mind to it.” As a result we began only writing songs that fit these guidelines, and within days landed our first big placement with the song we entitled “Brighter days await you.” We also placed a song called "Hello Kitty" in the new Hello Kitty album (I know you're jelous...haha) As an artist, it became more and more difficult to find the time to write songs about things I cared about that weren't necessarily mainstream, knowing that these songs would almost certainly put no money in my pocket. Many artist, also seeing the benefits of writing songs for various forms of entertainment have decided to write more upbeat, generic pop songs hoping to land a publishing deal as well.

I hope this has given you some insight as to how new media has altered the artistic side of creating music. Stay tuned, for I will be posting another blog explaining how new media has forced artists and labels to reassess the most effective ways to promote ones music to potential fans.

Mom got a facebook???

I've always been skeptical when it comes to social networking sites. When I heard about the creeps on myspace stalking teenage girls and boys, I figured I could live without an online profile. For this reason, when friends bugged me to sign up for facebook, I replied, "I'll think about it," and quickly changed the subject. In no time, however, facebook had become the dominant topic of every conversation. There was simply no way of getting around it. Frankly, the isolation I felt not having a facebook was beginning to bother me. I knew what I had to do. I swallowed my pride and created a profile.
In no time, like millions of others across the country, I was addicted. After receiving a friend request from someone I knew in first grade, I would spend hours reading his info, scrolling through his pictures, always checking for the comments his friends posted. I soon discovered there was a name for what I had become. A facebook stalker. Fortunately, after months of wasting hours at a time on facebook, I realized 99.9% of that which I discovered online was trivial and rarely had any effect on me. My point is, just because someone posts something personal about themselves on facebook doesn't make this interesting or worth reading. I know this seems harsh but it's the truth.

Image by Laughing Squid via Flickr

I would finally like to stress the fact that one should not obsess over the number of friends one has online, for this does not indicate the number of TRUE friends one has in the real world. Recently, my mom, a new member of facebook (apparently parents are beginning to sign up for facebook as well), called me up in a panic, practically begging for a plausible explanation why two of her "friends" online had defriended her. The fact that losing two friends on facebook was causing my mom distress is humorous of course, but also rather troubling, for it demonstrates just how serious some people take their online profiles.