I am working on a longer, perhaps a bit more ambitious piece; in the meantime here is something rather off-the-cuff that I feel is worthwhile posting. Prove me wrong.
Without a doubt you have all witnessed the ongoing brouhaha about the release of U2’s new album and its admittedly very clever tie-in with Apple’s new product releases. Even in being a venerable stadium act and a renowned musical force it is becoming harder and harder for new music actually to become heard. Music, as a product, is still collected and acquired (whether legally or not is not the issue for now) but it is increasingly morphing into a by-product, a marketing supplement or even plain old background nuisance that competes with the sensory onslaught that we are exposed to on an uninterrupted basis. Making music to be heard is the main objective for any musician, even of U2’s grand stature. However, that’s for a later rant.
Undoubtedly you have also witnessed the uproar of Apple / iTunes users who disapprove of having shoved a product by a band that they obviously don’t like onto their systems. Apparently a simple deletion was not possible or, at least, an awkward undertaking due to technical issues (I am unaffected by this and, thus, can’t really tell) which have now been resolved. At least that is what today’s online Guardian is reporting here.
If I had to deal with this I would also be annoyed but it is not due to my quite intense dislike of all things U2 (alright, I’ll be fair – good band, ditch the singer. Please. Ta.) which, I suspect, is preliminarily the case with most users – but the problem is a much larger one and it is of a nature that media vendors such as Apple … yes, Amazon, I am looking at you, too … need to observe and attend to very quickly indeed. That problem is the blatant disregard of people’s choices and tastes.
Is anyone else increasingly miffed at the automated purchase suggestions at online vendor sites? Has anyone bought a book or an album and then shaken one’s head in disbelief at “you may also like” and “due to your last purchase we suggest” type sections which make one feel as if anyone must be seriously taking the mickey? Have you and your habits already refused to be reduced down to a set of keywords and tags?
While this is nothing more than a surefire methodology to generate sales – and, let’s face it, less discerning consumers may be happy about the extra guidance – we have now reached a situation that is bordering on the obnoxious. That is the case with the current U2 campaign which is nothing more or nothing less than a huge publicity stunt at the expense of stepping into people’s backyard by way of blatant disregard of what they may or may not like. Little wonder then that people react as heated as they do in a “what do you know about what I endorse or not” way and gradually start revolting against this commodification-by-numbers agenda which has been with us for way too long.
It may have been an unwise move to tie in what has become a bloated, unwieldy and overtly-pretentious stadium act whose best days are undoubtedly in the past now into a media universe of users that profess to know better than that (which is, arguably, a now obsolete point of no validity). If they had shoved a Caspian Indie post-Folk album onto the playlist of self-proclaimed Apple-wielding hipster types they would hear exactly the same shitstorming commentary. As always, the truth may be somewhere in the golden mean of things … perhaps Tim Cook and cohorts should have offered this album as an optional download as opposed to shoving it slap-bang onto people’s driveway. Is there a bottom line? Perhaps there is. Hard sell at your heart’s desire but stop acting as if people don’t know what they like in their wardrobe (which, incidentally, is none of your business anyway).
Discuss.
man versus media 