[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> Adam Curry: Formats - We need them like we need a hole in the head

[josh zeidner <jjzeidner@yahoo.com>]

 I think Adam Curry is missing something here.  I
think the reason that Napster/Winamp( and all of its
ancillary systems like Freenet, etc ) became popular
because: music is free, and you can get exactly what
you want without any commercials.  What Curry is
implying here is to apply Napster to the same model as
radio( with all the payola and what not ).  Sure, some
people will not notice the difference straight off,
but eventually, people will regard it as the same
thing as radio.  Ultimately, the great thing about
napster was that it levelled the playing field, and
people could easily and immediately download the music
from thier favorite artists, rather than subscribing
to particular 'genres' and allowing others to make
these decisions for them( namely, the music companies
).  I dont think that I have to explain to the people
here is that the greatest artists are the ones that
ulitmately defy the genre definitions as made by the
music companies.

 -josh z


> [hey mr dj. napster is going down, you might have
> expected it,
> but now what to do with the terabytes of mp3
> collections out
> there? maybe its not just about the data but your
> playlists...? /p]
> 
> 
> Formats - What Napster Really Needs
> 
> Posted by Adam Curry, 9/5/00 at 8:52:25 AM.
> 
> source:
>
http://adamcurry.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$161
> 
> 
> This article has taken me a combined 20 years of 
> broadcast and computer experience to compile and I
> couldn't be 
> more excited about the possibilities the Internet
> can bring now 
> that we have witnessed the cultural change from the
> traditional 
> broadcast models to the Peer to Peer networking
> model 
> technologies such as Napster and Gnutella have shown
> us.
> 
> Ever since I was fifteen years old, I have found
> myself tinkering 
> with communications technology and subsequently
> using it to 
> communicate. Mostly in the form of Broadcasting.
> 
> Although many know me from my seven and a half years
> on air at 
> MTV, I have always been and always will be a radio
> guy. The fun 
> of radio is that you (usually) are in total control
> of your 
> creative process. 
> 
> As a disk jockey you are constantly working the
> technology; 
> cueing records, jingles, commercials etc, which can
> be put under 
> the header "Content Management".
> 
> Part of this process is also determining what I
> would say 
> (station id's, promotions, song/artist info as well
> as 
> maintaining the interactive feedback loop; live
> phone calls with 
> listeners.
> 
> On top of all this the diskjockey is expected to
> create smooth 
> transitions between all elements by controlling the
> mixing board, 
> firing the right elements at the right time and
> logging each 
> event in the station log, to ensure sales has a
> record of the 
> spots played and ASCAP/BMI type organizations know
> who's song was 
> played in order to transfer appropriate funds (but
> that's for 
> another article!)
> 
> When I first started working at pirate radio
> stations in 
> Amsterdam in the late 70's - early 80's, this
> process was pretty 
> much manual; we played vinyl records, that needed
> cueing up on 
> quickstart record players, jingles were stored on
> "endless loop" 
> 8-track cartridges (known as "Carts"). Logs were
> paper based and 
> patching a phonecall through often consisted of
> contortionist 
> tricks even Nixon's secretary couldn't perform.
> 
> Over the years radio has become significantly more
> sophisticated, 
> with CD players that allow instant cue and "chained"
> cart 
> machines that automatically fire the next "element"
> in the spot 
> list to complete digital disk based systems such as
> Dalet that 
> enable you to "script" a playlist of elements
> including songs, 
> commercials, jingles/station ID's and in some cases
> of very lazy 
> jocks I know, even the disk-jockey banter
> in-between.
> 
> The value of the diskjockey mostly appeals to users
> in a local 
> community setting, since local time/weather/traffic
> are the most 
> important known elements for all radio stations as
> well as news 
> and events.
> 
> The mp3 compression scheme enabled easy transfer of
> formerly 
> large data files across even the narrowband
> Internet. Napster 
> gave us a platform for propagating the music in such
> a manner 
> that I am completely convinced literally every song
> know to 
> modern man is available in mp3 form somewhere out
> there on a hard 
> drive in the "MP3-Space". Peer to Peer technologies
> like Napster, 
> Gnutella, Freenet, Kazaa, Konspire etc etc. have
> forever ensured 
> that the music is findable and retrievable. All you
> really need 
> to do is perform one search query across all P2P
> file storage 
> systems and you are presented with multiple options
> for 
> downloading the desired song.
> 
> Ever since CD-ROM drives could play audio CD's,
> players have 
> included "Playlists". Basic single-tree outlines
> that played 
> music in sequence as defined by the user, or if
> desired, at 
> random with features such as repeat (once).
> 
> Unfortunately even the hottest P2P file (mp3)
> sharing 
> technologies haven't brought us much further than
> the personal 
> playlist functionality for our modern "Play Out
> Systems" like 
> WinAmp and other media players.
> 
> Unbeknownst to most listeners, radio DJ's almost
> NEVER compile 
> their own playlists. Logistically this is important,
> because one 
> DJ could choose to end his set or show with
> Madonna's "Holiday" 
> while the next DJ had scheduled that as the first
> song in his 
> playlist. Separation is an issue at the playout
> system level. 
> 
> 
> There is however another layer in the (broadcasting)
> chain: 
> 
> Formats . 
> 
> Formats are the magical element in virtually every 
> product or service, it is what mankind uses to
> differentiate them 
> selves. McDonalds has a great fast food format,
> closely 
> replicated by Burger King, but never quite the same,
> and judging 
> from their burgers, they both provide similar
> content, but 
> perhaps from different suppliers and in turn their
> burgers 
> contain scriptable formats, differing in order,
> elements and 
> texture.
> 
> Back to our radio station example; The highest paid
> executives at 
> radio stations (after some notorious airtalent) are
> the program 
> director and music director. These two functions
> work closely 
> together to determine the exact format of the
> station and what 
> content they will fill the format with.
> 
> Some example formats are Contemporary Hit Radio
> (CHR) which many 
> equate to "Top 40" Album Oriented Rock (AOR) is
> another popular 
> format as is the now increasingly popular MIX format
> (60's 70's 
> and 80'). These are just a few and new formats such
> as 
> Alternative Rock and EDGE are appearing all the
> time. 
> 
> In essence all radio formats are based over time,
> typically in 60 
> minute increments in turn subdivided into quarter
> hours.
> 
=== message truncated ===


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/


_______________________________________________
Nettime-bold mailing list
Nettime-bold@nettime.org
http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold