Get Off Your Ass and Market the Revolution

When I was first alerted to this book, I was reminded of the marketing firm Visual Intelligence Agency (VIA, http://www.viaworldwide.com), which I first sumbled across when Dan sent me this: http://wilsoncleveland.newsvine.com/_news/2006/08/15/325900-the-punk-roc...

On the VIA website, awsome little bios for each of the participants are included, so you can gauge your interest in working with them based on whether or not you have similar musical tastes. Which, probably, is a fairly decent way of selecting a marketing agency.

Here's founder Darryl's bio and playlist:

"Basically, he sold out. Back in 86, he used to say "punk rocker for life". Yeah, right. Family, house in the suburbs. I heard he even listens to dance music, now. You could blame it on a lot of things - but I'm pretty sure it comes down to his hair. Once the Mohawk went, the punk rocker left him, too. I'll bet he's even a republican, now. What a wanker. If I ever see him again, I'm gonna kick his ass.”
- Dave "Voodoo" Sosbe, drummer of Darryl's old punk band

On his ipod:
Black Flag - Rise Above
Gang of 4 - To Hell w/Poverty 2005
The Killers - Brightside (Jacques Lu Cont's mix)
Q-Unit - This is How we Bite the Dust
DJ BC/Beastles - Tripper Trouble

I think Anthrax did a good job in addressing a little bit of this in the song "packaged rebellion." The unfortuanate part of today's information culture is that though it gives DIY creators and collaberators incredible access to each other, it gives the same amount of access to anyone who's interested in co-opting the culture. How much of "punk" culture is really "punk?" Where can\should people draw the line, and do we even have the right to?

A few years ago, I spent some time interning at a marketing company around these parts, doing "street team" promotion for various movies and hip hop acts. I stood in the cold handing out slick promotions for people who had immense corporate backing. The act in itself wasn't much different than all the years I spent handing out flyers for local punk shows, but the end result was different. If you asked the guy who ran the company though, he'd tell you that it was all the same thing. He was just trying to eek out a living doing what he loved on a "grass roots" level.

Perhaps it's a matter of perspective.

This might be generational, and it's very hard to tell exactly how our generation's subcultures have been influenced by co-option and mass marketing. When you're cranking out zines and playing shows at 16 is very different than when you're doing it at 27. It takes alot more chutzpah to buck your bills later in life, and I think that's part of why books of this nature get written. That, and the traditional sense of capitalist marketing is failing with flying colors.

Either way, at the end of the day, most people slinging zines, records, crafts, and other items toil away at day jobs just so they can go home and do what they're really into. In the capitalist system which we're born into, we've all got to eat and pay rent, but plenty of us would rather do that on our own terms. Punk\DIY culture has been making the best efforts it can at making its own economy, but we're a long way off from it being sustainable - providing us with health insurance and so on.

I think books like this are a reflection of the mainstream culture slowly realizing that the empty consumerist environment which we live isn't sustainable, and it's a feeble attempt at trying to hold on. Mainstream culture has always been built upon the backs of people outside of it, but each time Harpercollins or Clear Channel rips something from us they're reminded of how they can't do it themselves.

The reality (as I see it, anyway) is that technology caught up with the overlords...Technology, and the people's will to be real participants in their culture. Now they're scrambling to keep their power. We're creating our own culture outside of the realms of profit. Efforts like Clamor proved that it's possible and more than necessary. The next level is taking what we've learned and using it to our advantage, instead of selling it off to the highest bidder.

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education."

First: apologies for my scattered thoughts on this.

Aaron, you commented: "Punk\DIY culture has been making the best efforts it can at making its own economy, but we're a long way off from it being sustainable—providing us with health insurance and so on." I personally think we've gotten the chance to make this stuff sustainable, and the bottom line is that the "passion over profits" model this community generally works from isn't, umm, profitable enough that participants can afford health care. At least that's been my experience—and I'm actually doing OK financially.

And as someone who looks at this culture pretty closely, I'm not sure I'm convinced that HarperCollins and Clear Channel have ever realized "how they can't do it themselves." Obviously, they're doing it just fine themselves. In fact, financially speaking, they're doing it better than we are.

My ultimate fear here is not exclusively one of economics, however. If the punk/DIY marketing drive is allowed to continue unfettered under use by HarperCollins and Clear Channel—and, of course, Toyota and Tylenol—we're not just eyeballing a future where all the punk-designated dollars may go toward a Rupert Murdoch project, we're eyeballing a future where the notion of doing it yourself is "owned" by Rupert Murdoch—first perhaps in the branded way Nike "owns" athleticism, but soon, probably, in the legal way that Nike "owns" the copyrighted swoosh.

So this being said, I'm curious about your plan for "taking what we've learned and using it to our advantage, instead of selling it off to the highest bidder." What exactly do you propose?

No need to apologize. I'm pretty scatterbrained myself. Funny I should be reading this right now, since I just saw some cell phone commercial that was themed around Rock The Casbah. I'm sure Strummer is turning a little more quickly these days.

I recognize that economics aren't the be all end all of this particular business (pun possibly intended) but I think they're the beginning. I do recognize that we're seeing into a possible future that includes someone owning the copyright to the phrase DIY.

Yes, Clear Channel and the like are doing just fine but look at all the advances people have made in acquiring what they want without paying for it. Downloading music is more rampant than ever, and not only because people like to get stuff for free, but also because people are starting to realize that what they're selling isn't worth what they're charging.

I think we are making this sustainable for people on some level, and we've definitely got that chance before. The "passion over profits" model isn't what's keeping us down, it's the willingness to sign that trademark over to Mr. Murdoch. Not because we're looking for healthcare, but because no matter how hard we try it becomes increasingly difficult to resist the lures of awesome cars and cool haircuts. Part of what happens to "punk" when it goes mainstream is in addition to being watered down, it because much more expensive for some reason. After all, for the music video we gotta have a professional put up your hawk - no woodglue for you.

The more we make things ourselves, the more we try to help our friends and compatriots out, the more we accept trades for zines, buy merch straight from the bands, and support truly independent record labels, the less chance we give for the mainstream to trademark our culture. It's definitely understandable that a band might want to sign with the major or make the video because they want to expose more people to their music, but by doing so nowadays we give away our ownership rights. When we're making our own podcasts, building our own websites, trading our own videos with each other on youtube, we're bucking the system and building our own economy.

That's just for starters. When I iron out a plan for how to change the world I'll post it up here first. :) Either way, we've got alot of work to do and less money to do it with. Someday though, we'll have our Aston Martins. :)

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education."