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Crowd Theories
By Music Ally, Published in Sandbox
Fan remix contests have been popular for a while now, but some artists are going a step further, inviting fans into the creative process itself for their songs and videos. Is crowdsourcing more about gaining headlines, though, or will it have a real impact on the way artists engage with their fans? There is certainly no shortage of initiatives to pick over in an effort to find out.
Wikipedia supplies a decent definition of crowdsourcing, describing it as “the act of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, to an undefined, large group of people or community (a “crowd”), through an open call.” Much like Wikipedia itself, in fact. However, it’s not always the best term to use when talking about artists getting fans involved in their work. See, crowdsourcing is about getting a big mass of people to do something for you – a term that can be applied to Sony Music’s just-launched campaign to create a Michael Jackson video, or the company behind it’s previous work on a Johnny Cash promo. When you talk about what artists like Imogen Heap, Maroon 5 and deadmau5 are up to, though, a better term is perhaps ‘co-creation’, since these artists are looking for more of a collaborative process – even if the mechanics of collaborating with hundreds or thousands of fans are still fluid, to say the least.
The Michael Jackson and Johnny Cash projects are interesting, though. From this week, Jacko fans are being invited to upload video clips of their dance moves, or choose from content supplied by Radical Media, the company behind both projects. Director Dennis Liu will then compile the best submissions together for the final video, to be released in April.
The fact that there is an agency steering the project and a director with the ultimate curation responsibility is important: this isn’t creation by (giant) committee. The video for Johnny Cash shows that the results can be startling and moving.
Maroon 5’s new project will have more involvement from the band – who are, after all, still alive to take part. Coca-Cola is on board as a partner, organising a ’24hr Session’ in a London recording studio on 22 March, when fans will be able to watch the writing and recording process live, and contribute their feedback.
The technology is impressive – fans’ comments will be projected onto the walls of the studio for the band to see – although there will presumably be some moderation to avoid any cheeky Web 2.0 hijacking of the process by people less fond of Maroon 5’s oeuvre. At least, you’d hope so. Even so, it’s clear the band are still firmly in charge of the creative process – fans will suggest, but the artist will make the decisions.
The involvement of a big brand may raise questions about whether this particular cocreation project is more of a publicity stunt. The accusation is unlikely to be levelled at Imogen Heap or deadmau5, who both have a reputation for engaging directly with fans and making innovative use of new technologies.
Dance artist deadmau5 got in early in March last year, working with The Public Record to get fans to record vocals, bass, guitars and sound efects at 128bpm in the key of C, with the aim of patching the most suitable contributions into a new song. And in case you think this sort of thing was restricted to hip social media mavens, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee launched his own crowdsourced project back in September 2009. In both cases, again, the artists were in ultimate creative control.
Then there’s Imogen Heap, whose crowdsourcing project may be the most organic of all. She’s writing a song online with the help of fans, over the course of a week. Audio, lyrics and video will all be submitted, while Heap will use livestreaming service Vokle to show fans what she’s doing with them, and get their feedback in real-time.
All of these projects are interesting and technologically innovative. They make fans feel involved with an artist, and they’re pretty good for PR purposes too. The elephant in the room (or rather, studio) is whether the results are any good? Does this kind of process produce a video or song that stands alongside the artist’s other work, or is the process itself the main thing here?
The jury is out on that question, and this is one reason why many artists will shy away from the idea of crowdsourcing or cocreation. As they can do – there is no obvious pressure on artists to do this sort of thing. However, those who are doing it tend to stress the sheer fun of the process, hinting that its biggest benefit may be refreshing their creative juices ready for their next non-crowdsourced bout of music-making.
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