ABOUT
The World
...
Par
Claude Chastagner, professeur d'anglais à l'Université Paul
Valéry à Montpellier.
Fan Power Battling for power on the Internet

Site
Philagora, tous
droits réservés ©
_________________________________
.
Many professionals of the
culture industry have openly defended these
sites, calling them "very effective
obsession incubators"2, contending that
they give programs and artists, particularly the
more obscure ones, greater exposure. A few
artists have even occasionaly worked with them.
Musicians like the Beastie Boys, Offspring, or
Chuck B., film makers like New Line Cinema, the
company behind Lord of the Ring, have expressed
the conviction that files-sharing sites expand
bands' fan bases, a belief facts seem to confirm
since in music, for instance, last year's sales
rose from $13.7 to 14.6 billion3. The issue is
often couched in terms of obsolete and
hypocritical corporate control against street
wisdom, while the founders of the sites are
portrayed as paradigms of intelligence,
independence, and modernity opposed to
middle-aged, stilted, ossified corporate
executives.

Thus,
for Tony Dimitriades, Tom Petty's manager,
"Artists ... want to have a direct
relationship with their fans. And the record
companies, because they're trying to control
something that's going out of their control, are
getting in the way."4 Courtney Love has
been particularly aggressive in challenging the
majors, arguing that they are the real thieves,
depriving artists of the money they should be
making5. Her attack shifted the debate from the
copyright issue to the role actually played by
the majors, who, from righteous plaintiffs, were
turned into villains, which ultimately ridiculed
the moral justifications of their attacks.
Yet, the most striking phenomenon is
not the artists' reaction but the way fans are
starting to unite and are fostering what some
describe as a consumer rebellion, "a
consumer-led revolution"6. Though most of
these sites were started just for fun, by
youngsters merely eager to share their favourite
sounds or images, they now symbolize a righteous
cause, "a moral battle" (Nazar).
Teenage fans have started a form of resistance
and have in the process raised again the issue
of free-speech which had lain dormant for the
last decade, with sites like Webmaster War III
leading the crusade against what they consider
as "a corporate slap in the face" (NYT
20 Sept).

The
forum pages of the sites are overwhelmed by
thousands of messages from users voicing their
anger, offering legal tips against
cease-and-desist letters, coordinating lobbying
or boycotting campaigns but also warning their
champions against the risk of "selling
out". Indeed, Napster's founder,
19-year-old Shawn Fanning, or 16-year-old Eric
Greene, of Comic Relief, a Simpsons site, have
now become heroes and are refered to as Davids
fighting the Goliaths of the entertainment
industry, the new Robin Hoodesque heroes of
popular mythology, the formidable and likeable
villains who challenge the establishment and the
powers that be, the worthy offsprings of Elvis
Presley, Fritz the Cat, Eminem and Bart Simpson.
But are they?
Though it was not their original
intention, they certainly have articulated the
cause of a major concern: the monopolistic
organisation and omnipotence of the
entertainment industry. Indeed, most of the
sounds and images available in the Western world
are now controled by a handful of companies, and
globalisation has reached new heights with the
recently approved AOL-Time Warner merger.
Concentration is taking place at two levels:
first, between a purveyor of content, Time
Warner, and an Internet access provider, AOL,
and second, between three purveyors of content,
since Time Warner may in the future acquire EMI
and AOL has shares in BMG. AOL-Time Warner is
now the largest media company in the world and
has unparalleled bargaining power with both
producers and consumers.
Furthermore,
others mergers soon should take place, with
Vivendi about to acquire Seagram, the
entertainment and liquor conglomerate, to create
the world's second-largest media company8. The
dangers of the consolidations currently taking
place in the industry are real enough to justify
the demand by the European and American Trade
Commissions of strong guarantees before
approving the deals.
The interests at stake may
explain the virulence of the industry's response
to files-sharing sites, which are after all but
a minor threat to their hegemony. At the heart
of the issue is the all-pervading force of the
nInternet. The Internet will soon be the hub
around which our daily lives revolve, as it
becomes connected to everything, from TV sets,
stereos, cars, and telephones, to banks, shops,
or restaurants. In the realm of culture and
entertainment, the Internet will be the ultimate
medium through which all the others are
processed. In a matter of months now, movie
theaters will no longer be sent film reels but
digital data through the Internet; books,
newspapers, radios, and TV programs will be
broadcast or published via the Internet. People
will have access to whatever they want, whenever
they want it, wherever they are; as a result,
the very notions of regular programming hours or
official dates of release will become obsolete.

TV
and radios channels, publishing houses and
record companies will just make their products
available on line, which will entail the demise
of the transient but tangible community of
viewers, listeners or readers consuming a given
product at the same moment. As time and space
factors lose their importance, the control of
distribution, i.e., of Internet providers,
becomes crucial, which raises the issue of
content control, censorship, and freedom of
access. The new media juggernauts would have the
power to crush many of their competitors.
Who
will eventually rule the market? In the case of
the AOL-Time Warner merger for instance, Time
Warner's control of the cable systems could give
it the power to shut out all Internet rivals in
favor of America Online. Time Warner's contents
could become accessible to AOL subscribers only,
whose vision of the world could in turn be
controlled exclusively by Time Warner.
|
|
- Pages
- 1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
° Rubrique
About
The World
|