“Lots of people say that the Internet has devalued music. I disagree. I think it has devalued the traditional music product: packaged recorded music (CDs, mp3s). But the Internet opens up so many ways for artists to build a narrative around their creative output, communicate it to their fans and prospective fans, and then create contexts where that music can be enjoyed and where it actually gains value. The challenge is to find ways to earn a living from creating those “contexts.”"
Category Archives: Interviews with Smart People
Interviews with Smart People: Frank Speiser, Co-Founder of Social Flow
“Technological evolution will make it easier to listen and harder to hide, and will make it possible to isolate people based on what they believe. If we allow ourselves to be broken down into factions and played off one another, then that’s what we’ll get.
On the flip side, technology makes it easier to distribute your thoughts and ideas. It’s a lot harder to stop you from reaching 1,000 people now than it was just 15 years ago. The cost of acquiring an audience of hundreds of thousands of people is pretty much the opportunity cost of your time. We can find ways to co-operate now that have not been possible in the course of human history until now. Hopefully the more capable of us choose to go that route.
I predict that eventually we’ll have a P2P barter system, a competing set of social currencies, and new derivatives based on social receptivity. It might take a while, but that’s coming. We’ll probably also pick up a whole new set of jerks that attempt to abuse all of the above. That’s just life.”
Interviews with Smart People: Mozilla’s Brian Crowder
Developers are the unsung heroes of any Web project, but they’re really the heart and soul of Mozilla, the ambitious open source software project behind the ever-extensible Firefox browser. The Mozilla goal is both lofty and entirely sincere: to bring together thousands of dedicated volunteers … Read More →
Interviews with Smart People: Carla Thompson of Sharp Skirts
We’re kicking off a new feature here on the blog: Interviews with Smart People. We think it’s important to hear from all sorts of digital builders, thinkers, and dreamers – not just the same thought leaders who get asked to comment on everything. Interviews with Smart … Read More →
Interviews with Smart People: Paul Fugelsang, Psychotherapist
“You’re communicating with one another through a glowing screen and practicing the craft in ways that were unthinkable a short time ago. Every client I’ve seen online seems to agree, however, that the initial awkwardness fades away quickly as the therapeutic relationship takes center stage. I practice a mindfulness-based type of therapy so throughout a session I ask my clients to be curious about their experience in the moment and share that curiosity with me. Working together through our computers provides a different element of phenomena to explore, which in turn provides its own richness.”