NIN Remix – UGC Strain Mutates Towards Music
We all know what video UGC has done to change the face of modern media. Video is beginning to show signs of a strong bottom-up structure forming. In turn, mainstream media has had to adapt by both slowly integrating UGC into their model and putting their content onto UGC networks. While video UGC has taken off, music has not followed suit due, almost assuredly, to the music industry’s absolute resistance to evolve. Until now, the stonewalling of progress by the RIAA and other music industry leaders has been relatively successful in terms of the big picture. There are no YouTube scale sites offering independent, community created music. In my opinion, there is plenty of talent out there, but these sorts of movements usually need a jumpstart in order to pull in the combination of a large community and ample traffic to become self-sustaining. For YouTube, the early inclusion of unwarranted copyrighted video (whether intentional or unintentional) was that jumpstart – now TV content is a much smaller piece of the puzzle as a large content creating community has been fostered. The recent launch of NIN Remix may just be the jumpstart for UGC music. UGC music will become mainstream. The only question is if NIN Remix will be what gets the snowball rolling.
The NIN Remix site is still new and has some rough edges, but the important features are there and the intention seems about as genuine as it gets. The multi-tracks of NIN songs are offered up for free, anyone can upload a remix and the final MP3 is downloadable. The whole site experience is one “page” – which works surprisingly well. Each sort (newest songs, highest rated songs, etc.) are treated as playlists, so upon the completion of one song, you naturally move on to the next. It is a much more seamless experience than the page-view model and acts like an iTunes-in-your-browser design. Like all community-based UGC models, you can rate, comment, see user profiles, etc. This kind of site works very well for the remixability of NIN work but it is definitely not for all bands. Still, the door has been opened and the public is no doubt going to expect ideas along these lines from more and more artists.
It is simply over for the RIAA and the contemporary music industry. They had the chance to adapt like other forms of media did, but chose not to. Now it is frankly too late and the public/artists are beginning to pull the rug from under them. NIN Remix symbolizes a large step in that direction – it may not be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but it is still a significant symbol.
The Discussion
5 Comments
“It is simply over for the RIAA and the contemporary music industry.”
i like and agree with this statement. the RIAA and music industry have done a good job of digging the hole they will fill, but i think it’s too early to fully believe they will not try to adopt practices that will allow them to survive their mistakes in the past. there are a lot of people that don’t have a clue about how technology has changed the music game and still buy cd’s in wal-mart and target. (my mom, dad, sisters and brothers. my aunts, uncles, cousins. to name a few.)
Yeah, my statement may perhaps be a little premature, but I think there are a lot of things happening on the fringes that point towards some artists and many consumers working together to create an independent platform for music distribution. If that model even partially succeeds, it will not be too long until droves of musicians join in to get away from the sinking ship named the RIAA.
Music is moving in the DRM-free digital direction and the RIAA is bankrupting itself trying to fight it. Mainstream digital music may have more to do with the fact that the big music companies just flat out run out of money trying to keep the status-quo – leaving digital as all that remains standing.
if i could buy digital formats in my bitrate of choice, if i want lossless or lossy, if i could listen for a week before i buy it, if i could do that, sans drm, it would be really convenient. i really like to listen before i buy. saves me money. but, i would never want to wake up knowing i could not go to a b&m music store and enjoy the ritual of listening to albums, looking at album art, reading credits, where it was recorded, who the engineers were, talking to people about music…that is an important part of the experience for me. downloading all kinds of music is great. but holding an album or cd in my hands is something that cannot be substituted by just being able to buy music in my ideal way. which will probably never come to pass. if i could have oink and pay for it, that would be a great start. i won’t hold my breath.
Yeah, I dig what you are saying. I definitely have jumped to the conclusion that people want virtual music as opposed to the tangible product such as a CD. It definitely will be interesting to see how this progresses and how younger generations tend to feel about this subject. I’m really interested to see what people our age and younger think of the importance of a tangible product. Is it losing value?
My generation (mid to late 20′s) lived in the weird period where they grew up without the internet, but it still came along at an early enough age to where we could adapt our lives to it. Because of this, we are in this state of limbo with both the virtual and the tangible holding important parts of our life. I think that’s becoming less and less of an issue for for today’s teens as the internet is the medium for communication, entertainment and distribution.
It could be that we’re going to be obsolete in around a decade. ;)
“I’m really interested to see what people our age and younger think of the importance of a tangible product. Is it losing value?”
some don’t mind not holding it in their hands. but, what happens in the event of a hdd crash, or, say, a virus that targets all your .mp3, .aac, .flac, .shn, .ogg files. then i bet the tangible is going to be really valuable to them.
i guess, in the end, the user picks what makes them happy. personally, because of easy access to anything, i have grown in a different direction as an appreciator of what i have. especially where music is concerned. i don’t memorize lyrics to entire albums like i used to because as soon as i get it, i pretty much have so much in que that i don’t devote the time to study it like i once did. memorize it. learn it. every nuance. really getting into it, you dig?
yes, the medium is the internet. fastest way to spread it. drm free. fidelity of my choosing. buying albums in store or online and shipped. that’s what i am pretty much happy with nowadays. the absolute best, imho, buying from the artist at a show. that’s a great feeling. no middle man. you, band, album, exchange of currency, done. i like that the best.