Marshall 2006-07 Reggaeton Blog Posts

Wayne gives a really in-depth musical analysis of reggaeton, a genre that recognizes itself as extremely culturally scattered. Even though the origins are disputed (Puerto Rico? Panama?), it is clear that reggaeton was quickly becoming very popular in America, which probably has something to do with the genre being classified as "Internet music" (a characteristic also recognized by the author); because this genre developed during a time when the Internet was also gaining influence over more and more individuals, musically inclined people found it much easier to send, receive, and share music with each other by emailing and downloading. This phenomenon allowed for many people to "keep in touch" with home cultures and combine it with new cultures.

Discussion Question: One probable reason why reggaeton is successful is its ability to adapt to a region wherever it is received; when reggaeton arrives in a certain area, that area is able to add (to the already mixed genre) its own attributes. Have we seen this type of transformation of a genre in order to suit listeners' tastes to/and eventually become successful?

Duany 1984

In this reading, Duany discusses the definition of salsa, its roots and formation, as well as its overall characteristics. Duany explains to us that salsa is a mixture of Caribbean folktales, music, and rhythm that is characterized as an extremely multicultural entity in its use of instruments and dance steps. It also represents a new phase in Afro-Hispanic culture, that of the urban-industrial working class. In Puerto Rico, races mixed due to their similar socioeconomic background, resulting in a blended ethnicity and culture. Duany also analyzes songs and points out that these songs express the cultural characteristics of oral tradition, indifference, and collectivity.

Discussion question: Salsa has its roots in African American music and in our other readings so far, we have seen that many music subcultures have been influenced or have roots in previous or other genres (ex. metal and classical music). Through this apparent interconnectivity between multiple genres, it seems that all music subcultures are somewhat similar. What, then, truly differentiates subcultures from each other? Could it be fusions between multiple cultures to create something new? Is it something beyond "the music itself"?

Second Fieldnotes

Article on How Pandora Works: Levine, Mike Music Business Insider: Q&A: Tim Westergren - hitPandora Maps the Musical Genome
Electronic Musician p. 76, 78
Mike Levine is an EM senior editor.
(Copyright 2007 by Penton Media, INC. All rights reserved.)
Key Points in Article:
This website is an opportunity for obscure bands to be played alongside already known bands. An automatic promotional tool.
"Seventy percent of our artists are not affiliated with a major record label."
Personal Experience:
Plug in Orson and a result comes out; even though Pandora is an American site, it does feature artists that are not necessarily well known in America or are signed to major record labels; have the option of submitting your own music
Came across The Feeling on the Orson station -- British trend?
Other bands that popped up: Cartel, Finn's Motel, Pete Yorn
You have the option to click on other users who also like Orson ("Find other Fans of this Artist")
"Why Was This Song Selected?" (on Orson): Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features electric rock instrumentation, a subtle use of vocal harmony, major key tonality, a vocal-centric esthetic, and electric rhythm guitars.
Option to buy music you're listening to: links to iTunes and Amazon CD (iTunes only has Orson's first album)
Songs that follow on the station have slightly different qualities (usually from the list of qualities featured for the main artist, variation of 1 or 2 characteristics)
Is this a tool that serves to open up music tastes, too?

*Orson opened for Duran Duran -- launch of European success

Web 2.0 Article
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/9747/1/9747.pdf

"support for niche markets and interests which aggregate globally" (one of the concepts of Web 2.0)
"New large-scale web services have emerged which link music producers to consumers via artist similarity, taste profiling and recommendation data as well as linking listeners with shared tastes and interests. These include Last.fm, MySpace, Pandora.com, and a range of other social media and networking sites."
Also, influence of blogs: people will post music they like, review it, recommend it, attract a readership and spread the word
"Due to the low cost of distribution, and the absence of physical overhead costs, online services can now carry an 'infinitely large' catalogue and increasingly, the business models of online distribution are predicated on such a principle. As a result, a massive array of niche genres and out-of-print catalogue is available via online services and file sharing networks."
Many bands seem satisfied with Internet success
Less expenses - advertise online, people who want to listen will, spend only what you have to, no wasting of resources on advertisements
MySpace is a major force for bands; music, blog entries, videos, fan interaction
Pandora features Orson and shows the band's rhizomatic relationship to other bands that American listeners may have heard of before
In a video, they say, "We are famous for our fish and chips." --> they see themselves as British

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hefdniJdp6I&feature=PlayList&p=E60D1CB4C7A7592F&index=6: Interview with the band
THEY ARE SO SERIOUS! Kind of boring when they talk?
They're very simple and straight-forward
Prepared album in Hollywood, ready to go to Arizona to promote the music, but got a call to go to the UK to perform
If the UK wanted them, that's where they were going to be
British humor? American accents
Japan: Queen, Cheap Trick, KISS ... Japanese audience reception
Performed at Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, 2006; International music festival

http://www.last.fm/music/Orson?autostart
Orson labels
Similar artists mostly British
Fan interaction here
Rhizome relationships
lots of information on main page; fans, groups, discussions, tour dates, videos, music, etc.

My progress so far: I've been able to talk to a couple of Orson fans as well as see their interaction on sites such as Facebook where they can join an Orson fan group and write on the group profile's wall. The fans tend to be in their upper 20s to lower 30s, although there are plenty of college-aged fans as well. I'm starting to notice that Orson's success is not due to mass media publicity.

Back 1996, Part 1

The first half of this article was meant to expand our view on black music and in order to aid us towards this mindset, Back used many new terms, such as rhizome and outernational, and established that we need to examine more than just "the music itself" when it comes to black music. Due to their social situation, blacks were forced to seek other avenues for leisure and began to own their own clubs, which became microcosms of their society where they were able to control and create music that expressed themselves and make their views and opinions on local events known by using music. In the "Technology and sound system performance" section of the article, Back goes on to talk about the machinery used and the people involved with the equipment and music. The relationship between the MC and the crowd as he chooses which music gets played by determining the mood of the people present is comparable to the relationship between the DJ and the b-boy/b-girl in the Schloss article.

Discussion Question: How much of a role did England play in the development of the black music and dance discussed in the article? Would this development have been able to occur in other countries during the same time? Why or why not?

Walser 1993

The introduction breaks down what will be discussed in the book and the general themes coincide with those that were featured in Sam Dunn's film, "A Headbanger's Journey"; stereotypes regarding dress and style, race and socioeconomic background, links to classical and American blues music, as well as the reasoning behind band names and the use of the power chord are topics mentioned straight from the beginning. Although metal music has unifying features, such as sound distortion, many metal fans love one band yet may hate another band, even though it is within the same genre. Because of this characteristic of metal fans, the Monster of Rock concert of 1988 was a unsuccessful because the organizers failed to recognize this quality. Walser also goes on to discuss the wide variety of metal bands and how some of these bands infused aspects of other genres which allowed them to have appeal to a greater audience.

Discussion question: Which of the bands or songs mentioned in Walser's text did you not expect to see considered as metal music and why?