User:Andre Castro/research/1.2/Canopy-draf01

Thinking Through Images

1. Please summarize your project and describe how it fits into the project area you’ve designated (300 words max):

Mp3s Are My Salesman

3rd Draft - 09/02/2012

What

Mp3s Are My Salesman consists of an investigation on music blogs, written by individuals who make available to online users tracks from long out-of-print vinyls and cassettes, ranging from 1970s Thai and African pop, to obscure new age soundscapes *. The investigation will be centered on the motivations that drive these blogs' authors to spend large amounts of time digitizing their analog music archives and making them publicly available.

How

Mp3s Are My Salesman will depart from the questionable premiss that these blogs attempt to creates the conditions for the "original" records and cassettes to become collectors' items. Under such hypothesis these records and cassettes' digital incarnations, circulating freely online, become promoters, strategically aimed at increasing "originals" value. Worthless mp3s (accompanied by descriptive texts and cover images) become the salesmen of the "original" obsolete media of music distribution. Through attentive observation of this online phenomena, interviews with blog owners and users, and by drawing parallels to online institutional archives Mp3s Are My Salesman will attempt to access the validity of such statement and shade light on other motivations behind these online activities.

Why

I believe such research to be relevant and worth undertaking since such online activity is not solely relevant to the music field, but to contemporary culture at large. Topics such as the notion of original, the creation and access to audiovisual digital archives, and appropriation as a creative practice inevitably come into questioning when we begin to make close and attentive readings to this phenomena.

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• 2nd Draft - 05/02/2012
• Introduction:

In the last months I have grown a fascination for various music blogs that make available tracks from long out-of-print vinyls and cassettes ranging from Greek Punk, to African productions on cassettes, to obscure new age soundscapes. (Some examples cabe be found at: http://www.awesometapes.com/ http://crystalvibrations.blogspot.com/ http://costakisp-taperecorder.blogspot.com/ http://toysandtechniques.blogspot.com/ )

What has struck was not only the wealth of music made available, but also the fact that behind the blogs seem to be individuals who simply like to share their treasures with others and care to offer not only the sound files contextual information.

Given this scenario I cannot but ask what takes these individuals to spend large amounts of time digitazing vinyls and cassettes, finding information about the featured artist, writing about it and uploading the files. What are the expectations behind this contribution to the online archive?

• Thesis:

My supposition is that such activity, besides being a genuine act of love for music, attempts to creates the conditions for the original object to become a collectors' item, a valuable object that can only be afforded by a few. Curiously such object which circulates freely online in its digital incarnation, seems to act as a promoter, as a strategy for making the music known and consequently increase its value. The worthless mp3s and jpgs become the salesmen of the physical object.

Despite possible commercial interest behind these blogs evidences might leads to say that these personal archives respect more the nature of their digital contents than many institutional online archives (such as the BBC Archive or the British Library Digital Collection). While the former are happy to leave their files freely available online, the latter often restrict users from downloading their audiovisual contents. Such a measure seems as conflicting with the very nature of the digital object which lives from copying and distribution. If such is proven true, I will argue that in order for archives to be alive and unique entities they must allow for copying and distribution. Only through appropriation, recombination and exploration of their digital contents can digital archives claim an alive and creative status, otherwise they are simply replicating physical archive formula, with contents still locked inside and made difficult users to access and explore.

• How it fits within the category

Although having its focus on online aural objects I believe this research to be able to shade some light to the processes (already in place and with potential for action) of distribution and appropriation of digital music. The culture relevance of these cultural processes which involve large numbers of user and practices which are still unclear to us, therefore making their close readings important.

2. Explain how you wish to develop your project with Triple Canopy editorial, artistic, and technical staff. How do you imagine the collaboration benefiting the project and making it possible to realize the project in that form? (500 words max):

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OLD

1st Draft - still to organize, think through, rewrite - 02/02/2012

In this investigation I will like to take as a starting point blogs that offer their readers digitized music from long out-of-print vinyls and cassettes ranging from western XX century avant garde, to African productions on cassettes, to obscure new age soundscapes. Some examples at: http://www.avantgardeproject.org http://www.awesometapes.com/ http://crystalvibrations.blogspot.com/

These records, in their original formats, have gained an aura, an authority due to its rarity, which has turned them into collectors items, whose value has raised to similar quantities as original works of art, due to its statues of rarity. However when such an object is digitized it totally looses its economic value, to the point that often the owners of these rarities are happy to share them through their sites blogs.

It is curious to note that those who decide to share that musical rarities online do not resume themselves to this action. Besides making it available to anyone they include extensive contextual information on the music, edition and conditions under it was found. It is as if to acquire the "original" statues, the context for it to happen has to be created.

Sharing the digitized songs and information on these records works in two direction: on the one hand it extends the collective archive and on the other hand it creates the conditions for the value of their item to reach that of a original work of art.

As stated by Jaques Atalli music is prophetic, it senses what is still to happen. Perhaps this mode of exchange where digital sharing opens way for the physical object to gain the value of unique art piece will be a more widely spread practice in the future.