Ethnography Research Project: First Fieldnotes

I'm starting off my research by examining the availability of Orson's music for purchase on sites such as Amazon.com and iTunes. My thoughts and comments on the information I gathered are typed beneath the information in green.

Basic Orson Information:

Band consists of: Jason Pebworth (vocals), George Astasio (guitar), Kevin Roentgen (guitar and vocals), Johnny Lonely (bass), Chris Cano (drums)

Formed: 1999 in Hollywood, CA

Albums:

• Bright Idea (released May 29, 2006, went platinum, #1 on UK Albums Chart, June 4-10, 2006);
  
• Culture Vultures (released October 22, 2007; peaked on UK Albums Chart at #25 debut week) [both albums released in UK]

Singles:

• No Tomorrow (released February 27, 2006, #1 on UK Singles Chart, Mar 19-26, 2006, #1 on UK Download Chart; previously released as free download on UK iTunes and eventually became the most downloaded single of the week);
  
• Bright Idea (released May 15, 2006);
  
• Happiness (released August 7, 2006);
  
• Already Over (released November 13, 2006);
  
• Ain’t No Party (released October 15, 2007)

[Most of Orson's singles have placed on the UK charts, but No Tomorrow has been the most successful single to date.]

Week of February 9th:

• Orson official blog.blogspot.com is empty

• bebo profile not updated ("LA rockers" but London UK listed as hometown, profile created Aug 2006, prof. views 424669 times, 65508 fans, last blog post 440 days ago, last comment 61 weeks ago)

• Orson official forum very up-to-date (multiple categories, but all having to deal with computer questions, not band questions)
  

• Unofficial website updated Dec. 2007

• MySpace up-to-date, but I can't message them for some reason

[The band's official website is gone! I tried going on orsonband.com multiple times. At first, I was met with a page that said something like, "This page no longer exists." Now, a page pops up that says that the site address, orsonband.com, expired on February 6, 2009, and "is pending renewal or deletion." Even though the band currently does not have an official website, they seem to be working off of their MySpace page instead. In regards to MySpace, I kept trying to message the people in charge of the band's page, but I am still as of now unsuccessful.]

Week of February 23rd:

(Reviews from 2006-2008) Amazon.com – Bright Idea (Red version) reviews (4), average rating: 4/5

The Netherlands: energetic, cites Beatles and XTC as possible influences

Toronto, Ontario, Canada: compares Orson to Hard-Fi, The Go-Betweens, The Beautiful South, recent Red Hot Chili Peppers

Winnipeg, MB: very 90s, for people who like Snow Patrol and Bloc Party

UK reviewer: bad review, thinks it’s overplayed on the radio

[I thought it was interesting that a UK reviewer would write a blurb about Orson on the American Amazon.com page and not necessarily on the Amazon.co.uk page. I'm thinking that it's possible that Orson's appeal to people in the Americas or other countries besides the UK is due to the fact that the band is obscure. As of now, Orson has not been overplayed on radio stations. Is this why there is an Orson following in the U.S. and Canada? Maybe it seems "cooler" to like Orson when not everyone else knows about the band.]

Bright Idea (Blue version) reviews (5), average rating: 4.5/5

Johannesburg, South Africa: bad review, only liked hit single, but was influenced by the “hot girl” in the video

New York, NY: saw them on Diana tribute concert airing and ordered the CD, loves it, considers himself an older listener

Atlanta, GA: saw them perform in L.A. before their move or possibly at the beginning of their move to London; feels the band is more “musically evolved” than Green Day and Foo Fighters

NJ: happy music

Snellville, GA: predicts the band will be huge in America

[I remember when the Diana tribute concert aired on t.v., I was excited to see British artists unknown in America perform because at that point, I had been mainly listening to a London radio station streaming online and knew of the bands/singers performing. Unfortunately on NBC, the concert was cut so that American viewers only saw artists that Americans would know (Elton John, etc.). I'm guessing that on cable networks, the concert in its entirety was shown, allowing American audiences to listen in on what has been popular across the Atlantic.]

Culture Vultures (2008); 1 review, 5 stars

LA: “LA to Orson, phone home”

11 albums sold on Amazon.com

Price range: $2.99 (for two songs), $9.49 (for three songs) to $30.99 (thirteen songs including one bonus track)

All imports, which means the CD cost is already higher than non-import CDs

[Universal UK was the one who manufactured the import albums available on Amazon.com. With people these days already finding it hard to pay at all for music, the appeal of buying a full album at around $30 is low. Luckily, online sites such as youtube.com and music streaming websites help fans listen for free.]

Amazon.co.uk reviews: much more than on US site, still mostly positive reviews as well

Price of full albums (current and past) is equivalent to $7.24 (much cheaper in UK!)

iTunes: Bright Idea available (43 reviews!)

Average review: 4.5/5 (extremely impressive)

Most Recent Review: Feb. 20, 2009!!!!!

tried to sort reviews by most recent to see when the latest review was posted, but can’t get exact date (looks to be extremely recent though, 2008 and possibly 2009)

gist: really great reviews, many asking for iTunes to offer latest album, Culture Vultures; want Orson to come back to America to “show us what we’ve been missing;” mostly 5-star reviews, some say they got hooked to Orson while going to one of their concerts while abroad (Ireland) or listening to them on Virgin Radio

[This information surprised me the most. I couldn't believe over 40 people reviewed Bright Idea. Not only that, but most of the reviews (except for about 3 of them) were 4-starred or above. Equally surprising was the date of the most recent review post (just a few days ago). So many of the reviewers expressed their wish to have Orson come back to the United States and be promoted here, but would it work? Would it make it in a currently hip-hop/R&B-pop dominated market here?

I was happy to see at least Bright Idea offered on the U.S. version of iTunes, although many reviewers wanted to see Culture Vultures available for download, too. I remember when No Tomorrow first hit the British radio airwaves in 2006, I tried to see if Bright Idea was available for download and it wasn't. The only song available for download from Orson at that time was the single, No Tomorrow, and nothing else. I can't recall if I tried to request Orson to be on iTunes (you can send a message to the iTunes store to request music you can't currently find available), but it's possible that enough people requested it. Now that I think about it, I think I requested The Hoosiers instead...]

iTunes Orson Biography:

genre label as “Rock, Pop/Rock, Adult Alternative”

named after Orson Welles, the director (although Wikipedia says the band was named after the sandwich which was named after the director)

perform in vintage suits and fedoras

Bright Idea got some notice in fall 2005 (in America)

British music press liked them when Orson toured in UK, opening for Duran Duran

Got relatively bigger fan base in Europe

2006, relocated to London after signing to Mercury and reissuing first album

iTunes labels Orson’s contemporaries as The Kooks, The Strokes, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys

Ethnography Research Project Topic: Orson Across the Ocean

Orson, a pop-rock band originally from Hollywood, California, is fairly unknown in their home country of America, but over in the United Kingdom, they have chart-topping hits as well as records that go by unheard in the States. What is it about Orson's sound that makes it attractive to British but not American ears? Because of their successes in England, the band relocated to London and rarely, if ever, play at American venues anymore.

For my research project, I wish to examine Orson's American following and the ways in which the band still has fans on this side of the Atlantic. Through online sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and last.fm, I am hoping to see how Americans who listen to Orson were first introduced to the band's music and how they are able to remain active fans since the Orson material available in the United States (other than via Internet) is rare.

Other questions to be answered:
*What other artists - British or American - do Orson fans listen to? Do these fans consider Orson an American or British band?
*Where are these Orson fans mostly located? What is their age range?
*Do these fans want Orson to become more popular in America? Or is their fondness of Orson music due to the fact that it is relatively unknown here?
*Do American listeners of Orson try to connect with each other?

Hodkinson, 2004

Followers of the goth scene seem connected to each other, no matter in what region of the world they live. The goth community establishes and maintains these connections by use of traveling (to celebrations such as the Whitby Gothic Weekend), commerce, and media (especially with the Internet). According to Hodkinson, people in the goth scene are able to tell who else is like them, even without judging solely on appearances, causing us to infer that there is a sense of shared attitude and outlook on life or something beyond having similar fashion and music tastes.

Discussion Question: What other subcultures experience a similar connection followers of the goth scene have?

Cohen, 1993

In "Ethnography and popular music studies," Cohen stresses the importance for people to study music using a holistic approach, examining music and how it plays a part in people's lives, cultures, and societies. Ethnographic study goes beyond textbook learning and studying theory and requires fieldwork: coming into direct contact with the people being studied, their interactions with each other, their attitudes and perspectives. Cohen cites Ruth Finnegan's use of the word "pathways" as a better term to describe the overlapping, fuzzy boundaries of music worlds, stressing more the flow of musical processes rather than different types of music being unrelated to each other.

Discussion Question: What are ways to ensure that an ethnographer holistically examines a music culture? How should setbacks be handled?