PRO-AMS, HOBBYISTS AND GIFT-ECONOMY
Yesterday’s discussions at the KKB focussed on the similarities and differences between ‘enterprise’ and ‘hobby’ in music making. There were two talks, the first focussing on economic/sociological theories relating to the ‘creative class’ and the idea of Pro-Ams as defined by Charles Leadbeater:
“Pro-Ams are not professionals. They do not see themselves that way.They do not earn more than 50 percent of their income from their Pro-Am activities. … Yet to call Pro-Ams amateurs is also misleading. … Many of the defining features of professionalism also apply to Pro-Ams: they have a strong sense of vocation; they use recognised public standards to assess performance and formally validate skills; they form self-regulating communities, which provide people with a sense of community and belonging; they produce non-commodity products and services; they are well versed in a body of knowledge and skill, which carries with it a sense of tradition and identity.” Charlie Leadbeater and Paul Miller, The Pro-Am Revolution.
RICHARD BARBROOK, author of The Hi-Tech Gift Economy, Cyber-communism, The Regulation of Liberty and The Class of the New, spoke in detail on the topic HOW ENTHUSIASTS, AMATEURS AND HOBBYISTS SHAPE THE (MUSIC) WORLD making reference to political theory and historical (non)precedent.
RICHARD BARBROOK speaking at CTM.09 Structures
In the second talk, LABELS ON THE NET: BETWEEN GIFT-ECONOMY AND ENTERPRISE, Thaddeus Herrmann of De:Bug magazine moderated a discussion between four people who run net-labels. Stewart Walker, whose PERSONA RECORDS began as a physical enterprise but recently went all digital, took the stage with three other labels that started out as net-labels including the German net-label, Jahtari, which has started adding vinyl to it’s catalogue in the last year or so.
From left to right: Moderator THADDEUS HERRMANN [De:Bug, City Centre Offices]; STEWART WALKER [Persona]; ANDI STUDER [Netaudio, After-Dinner]; JAN GLEICHMAR [Jahtari]; MARTIN HIRSCH [Neo Ouija Records, STFU]
After an intro about music consumption, Walker spoke about the beurocratic/legal/other problems facing labels that are run as a going concern. The panel went on to discuss legal issues with offering digital music, the pros and cons of offering music gratis, issues with Beatport and how to overcome these problems.
Memorable Comment: “Damn the long-tail! It shouldn’t be about more release, there should be less with higher quality.” (I think Andi or Jan said it… or at least something along those lines. can’t be sure… anyone else remember?
Tags: Gift Economy, Pro-Ams
January 29th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Yes, I remember saying something along those lines – I hope I did not really use strong language:) I meant to say that the economic model of the Long Tail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Tail) does not really make sense with music as it is all about few great songs rather than many average ones. Hence music is struggling in the age of Internet marketplaces. D*** it….