Making Friends with Jarvis Cocker: Music Culture in the Context of Web 2.0

David Beer
York St John University, d.beer@yorksj.ac.uk

The movement toward what has been described as Web 2.0 has brought with it some significant transformations in the practices, organization and relations of music culture. The user-generated and web-top applications of Web 2.0 are already popular and widely used, the social networking site MySpace already having more than 130 million members worldwide. By focusing specifically upon the presence of the popular music performer Jarvis Cocker across various Web 2.0 applications, this article seeks to open up a series of questions and create opportunities for research into what is happening in contemporary music culture. This exploratory article lays out an agenda for research into music culture and Web 2.0 that is not only concerned with the implications of Web 2.0 for music, but which also attempts to understand the part played by music in making the connections that form the collaborative and participatory cultures of Web 2.0 and the flickering friendships of social networking sites.


Key Words: friendship • music • music culture • MySpace • social networking sites • Web 2.0 • Wikipedia • Youtube

Finalmente as majors começam a diversificar a sério os seus canais de distribuíção

EMI FIRST MAJOR TO SELL MP3S VIA INDIVIDUAL SITES

Artists signed to EMI Music can now sell their
music to fans directly from their individual Web
sites or MySpace profile thanks to a deal with
SnoCap. Central to the deal is SnoCap's MyStores
service, a Web-based digital storefront that
allows artists to sell individual tracks from virtually
any Web page. To-date, MyStores have
been limited to the MySpace social networking
site, but can be added to other Web sites as well.
As is the norm nowadays with EMI deals, the
music purchased from the MyStores application
will be DRM free, higher-quality files for
$1.30 each. SnoCap plans to support full album
purchased later this year.
EMI is the second major label to adopt the
MyStores model, but the first to do so free of
DRM. Warner Music Group in April struck a
deal with SnoCap to let its artists sell PlaysFor-
Sure-capable file from their MySpace pages via
the MyStores service.
EMI artist adding MyStore to their MySpace
profiles and Web sites this week include 30 Seconds
to Mars, Korn, MIMS and Yellowcard,
among many others.
—Antony Bruno, Denver

http://www.billboard.biz/billboardbiz/photos/pdf/monday.pdf