Net Neutrality: Vital to this viral world

Net Neutrality:

Vital to this viral world

Michael Clark

American History and society through music

AHI3115

Professor Koeppel

In today’s viral world net neutrality is essential for many bands to get their music heard. The Internet has become the marketplace for music consumers to not only purchase music, but to explore and research their next favorite band. Working in the music business I have experienced first hand how the Internet can take your band to greater heights. Where we used to use practices such as sniping (putting posters of your gig on any surface in town that will hold tape or a staple) or street teamers passing out stickers and fliers to promote your gig that night. Now we have social networking sites and video streaming sites like myspace and youtube that can do all these grassroots promotions from the comfort of your couch, van, or tour bus. At the present time there are not many obstacles that stand between you and your rock and roll dream. An unheard of singer songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska can build an indie rock empire using these viral tactics. Distribution is no longer a problem of the indie rocker. There is no need to sell out to the major labels just to get their hype machine behind your record. In fact it is usually the practice of the major labels to keep an ear to the ground, and try to catch up with the indies and their cutting edge promotional tactics.

In 2005 the indie rock band OK Go decided to go against the grain and record a choreographed dance routine to their new single “a million ways”. The art of the choreographed dance routine was nothing new to the band. They were known for closing their rock shows along the 2002 tour in support of their first major label release “OK GO” with a tongue in cheek dance routine to their infamous B-side “CCC-Cinnamon lips”. This practice became synonymous with the power pop quartets rock show experience. Meant to be a shot at the boy band pop music that dominated the late 90’s many rock critics were confused as to weather the band was serious about this dancing, and if they were serious about the dancing how were you supposed to take their music seriously? The band loved the ambiguity of this situation and played the card with their best poker face. True fans knew that the band should be taken seriously. The beautifully crafted power pop rock laden with intriguing metaphors was legitimate and hip enough for the Chicago indie rock scene, and the satire was enjoyable for those in the know. So the band decided to shoot a video of themselves rehearsing their new routine. This grainy one camera, one take video was originally meant for analysis and critique from within the band. This video was “accidentally” leaked to the Internet. The band posted the video under a phantom youtube account claiming that the video had been stolen and posted without their consent. The master plan of the bands lead singer Damian Kulash was coming to fruition. The video was viewed one million times with in a week of the posting. This was in a time where youtube was a new median, not the sensation that it is today. This video quickly became the most viewed video in the short history of youtube.

This brings us to the Capitol Records building, where the major label execs had no clue what they were dealing with. These dinosaurs had no clue that this video streaming website would eventually become the multi million dollar company that it is today. The label was afraid that this exposure would somehow hurt the bands image. And quite frankly had no clue what to make of it whatsoever. The label chose to ignore the situation claiming that it was just a flash in the pan, and that the hype would subside. So they continued to put forth their efforts and hype machine jargon towards their breadwinners Coldplay and Radiohead.

The label would wind up with egg on their face when the band decided to go one step further and record another one shot one take video of them performing a choreographed dance routine on 8 opposite facing treadmills. OK Go, still touring in their little van, the one that I drove over 100.000 miles in that year, were still being ignored by their label. The lack of radio promotion and tour support was keeping the band just below the radar. Preventing them from really breaking through. In august 2006 “OK Go dancing on treadmills” hit the Internet. This visually stunning piece was an even greater success than its preceding video. Setting new records as the most downloaded video ever, on youtube and the entire Internet! 2 million downloads in the first 2 days and 31 million downloads to date. (Taken from the transcript of Kulash on Capitol Hill p13) The band would finally get their proper respect that they had deserved the whole while. MTV came calling and wanted the band to perform their routine on their flagship awards show “The MTV Video Music Awards”. Over 30 million viewers in 6 continents watched this show. OK Go preformed this routine flawlessly. This would be the one and only time the band would perform this routine live. This is where the egg on the face of the label became apparent. The media was all over this trend setting video, and OK Go were now the poster boys of the youtube movement and generation. When asked about the video phenomenon Capitol records president Andy Slater began to make it as if this was a well-formulated plan carried out by the label. When in reality they had little interest in the bands actions.

Record execs at Capitol began to take credit for the new ground breaking viral approach to new media, a plan that was conceived and carried out by the band and their management team, myself included. It was our idea to take the Internet by storm and disseminate these videos. It was our idea to start a video dance contest hosted by the youtube website with over 700 entries worldwide featuring fans of the band performing their own renditions of the dance routine. Capitol Records took the credit for this idea as well. Even though my team and I did all the leg work setting this contest up, as well as having to watch and judge over 700 entries. We had no choice at the time but to keep our mouth shut and let the label take the credit. Now the label would start treating the band with the respect they deserved. The kind of respect that international fame and a Grammy award will bring you.

With that said it is obvious that OK Go understand the importance of a free and open Internet. So much in fact that when congress decided to hold a hearing on net neutrality and free speech on the Internet, they called in Damian Kulash, OK Go’s lead singer, as a key speaker and witness for a testimonial. Kulash states that when his band was formed 10 years ago the traditional business model for the music industry was still in tact. The job of major labels was to connect the dots. To find out what people wanted to hear and make it possible for them to hear it. (Kulash, 10) OK Go were stuck in the “middle of the pack” in this traditional format. Selling about 250,000 records of their debut album, reaching the top 100 in the billboard charts, and the top 20 in the modern rock chart (kulash 10). The band was struggling to reach every fan they could find, as well as struggling to pay their bills. So when the second record was being released they decided to do things a little differently. The traditional format was not going to propel them to the heights that they had imagined as indie rockers in late 90’s Chicago. So they took things into their own hands, and started their viral attack as stated above. The fact that they were able to go from relatively obscure to being able to play to audiences of 50,000 fans in South Africa, where the album is not even commercially released, and 60,000 fans in Japan is owed manly to the use of a free and open Internet. Kulash states, “if people are wondering if the music industry will benefit from net neutrality, I don’t think they need to look further than us” (kulash, 14). The net allows innovations and creativity to be realized today that just wasn’t possible 5 or 10 years ago. Kulash goes on saying, “we are all businessmen, we all want to get paid. We all want to see our hard work be recognized. And what we really need is a legitimate digital marketplace for music. The only way that is going to happen is if we build a level playing field”(kulash, 14).

Another key aspect to this situation is the issue of censorship. Should we be worried that AT&T can choose to censor anti Bush remarks made by Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder during a live webcast of their concert? (Timothy Kerr, OK Go: the heat is on an open Internet, the Huffington Post April 5, 2008) Yes, but what is more frightening is that they plan on developing a system to filter and inspect ALL web traffic for perceived copyright infringement (Kerr, 1). Kerr states that if nothing is done to prevent it, the communication companies will be the gatekeepers of the Internet and all its content. Americans have no idea that communications policies are being made in their name, but without their consent. “ The telephone company does not get to decide what we discuss over our phone lines. It would be absurd to let a handful of companies determine what we can do on line. Congress needs to establish basic rules for an open Internet, just as common carriage laws did for the phone system” (Damian Kulash, Beware of the new new thing, The New York Times April 5 2008). Usually companies are met with outrage when pulling such stunts as the Pearl Jam censoring. But then they “dangle the keys” and offer us newer faster technology that we all love. This diverts the attention from the fact that they are building filtering devices into these newer faster technologies. As Kulash states, “they won’t be blocking anything per se, we just wont know what we’re not getting”(Kulash, 2). The problem with the system, according to corporate America, is that currently a $20 video shot in a rock singer’s back yard can gain more attention than a multimillion-dollar production. And that “good ideas will always win out over deep pockets. If net providers are able to build the next generation of the net as a pay to play system, we will all pay the price” (Kulash, 2).

Kulash could not have articulated this point more eloquently, if we stand pat and let the corporations do what they want we will have no choice but to “buy in”. We are so dependant on getting our information now, that we will gladly enter our debit card numbers for the access. Slowly watching our bank statements diminish while surfing for information that was previously approved for us by some censoring body. This is not the world I want to live in. A world where the little guy, the underdog, can not rise above the hype machines of big business. If that were how it was today I might not have the job I love so much, and the band that made against all adversity would still be stuck in Chicago, probably disbanded and working for the same companies that tried to keep them from cashing in on the American Dream.

Bibliography

1) The Official transcript of the hearing on net neutrality, The Committee on the Judiciary, The House of Representatives. March 21, 2008

2) The New York Times Op-Ed article, Damian Kulash April 5, 2008 Beware the New New Thing.

3) The Huffington Post, Timothy Karr, April 5, 2008 OK Go: The Heat is On an Open Internet

Alert: Kyle Busch is acting like Kyle Busch again!

On Saturday night in Richmond Va. a Kyle Busch Spotting has been reported. I repeat Kyle Busch has been spotted lapping the entire field, well almost. By the time the first caution flag waived Busch had lapped all but 8 cars. Luckily for the field the caution came when it did or else we really would have nothing to talk about, besides Kyle Busch.

Busch led 226 of the 400 laps run during the Saturday night shootout. What does this mean? Trouble for the pack. We have seen this type of dominance from Busch in the past, weekend sweeps, annihilation of any contenders, and trophies hoisted. For a brief while the sentiment around the garage was "where did Kyle go?". Well not to worry, old shrub is back. Let's rephrase that, time to worry old shrub is back!

All we are looking for is someone to stick it to JJ and the 48, and every week I prognosticate about how this weeks winner will get hot and make a championship run. I guess I am saying it again here. If Busch can revisit the form he had in '08 it will only spell trouble for the rest of the pack, most of which are used to watching in awe as the 18 zooms by them.

Meanwhile Kevin Harvick has slowly planted his flag atop the standings. This marks the first time Harvick has been atop the leader board since he won the Daytona 500 two years ago. Take that Shell/Pennzoil! Shell/Pennzoil, Harvick and the 29 teams primary sponsor, announced last week that they will no longer fund the 29 car. Next year they will back the other Busch, Kurt, when he moves to the Penske racing #22 car. This move will free up the legendary Blue Deuce for none other than Brad Kaslowski. Not exactly sure why Roger Penske is shaking things up, but for all intents and purposes this move makes BK his franchise driver. Not bad for a spoiled private school kid from the affluent suburbs of Detroit, Michigan.

Jeff Gordon looked sharp as well last weekend and almost made me look real good with my prediction that he would end his win less streak with a win at Richmond. Gordon finished 2nd, and as for all that acrimony between the 24 and 48, yeah they did what champions do, they got over it. I am sure that Gordon still wants nothing more than to see the 48 fail, however he is a good employee, and continues to tow the company line.

Next week its "The old Lady in Black" that's right Darlington! Get your spray guns out cause there's going to be a lot of touch ups come Monday morning. Darlington is famous for the Darlington stripe, a phenomenon that occurs when the track that is too tough to tame causes tires to ware out so bald that the cars begin to drift towards the wall, eventually the wall "grabs" you as you proceed, and leaves the right side of your car with a lot less paint on it. Now a days its more like a Darlington Grind, but the smaller retaining rails used in the past would leave a perfect stripe down the side of your ride. Darlington is like the ocean you better respect her or you could find yourself lost at sea.

Michael Clark (emsea)

4 time takes on 4 peat; wild weekend @Talladega

The racing was tight, and the track was dry, at least on Sunday it was. Another rain soaked, stormy weekend for NASCAR to navigate only this time we went green on Sunday, like it was meant to be. This weekend at Talladega will be remembered more for the turbulent winds coming from two of the sports top drivers, not the legendary draft created by the thunderous machines displacing air.

For the second straight week the 24 and 48 are at each others throats. Jeff Gordon has simply had enough of the 48 and his act, and he believes it's about time he does something about it. Flashback to last week at Texas and the 24 trying to go all beastie boys on the 48 and sabotage his afternoon and the integrity of his tires. Radio monitoring the 24 revealed the malice behind Gordon's actions, he was heard saying "looks like ol 4 time didn't like that too much". 4 time referring to Jimmie Johnson, who in 4 short years has matched the amount of cup championships that took Gordon over 15 seasons to amass. So in essence we have 4 time picking on 4 peat.

Chatting to an associate of mine revealed the marginal hatred that comes along with massive success. He exclaimed to me that for no warranted reason he simply does not like the 48, in fact he actively roots for someone to dethrone ol "4 peat". It's kind of like the Yankees or the Lakers, fans love to hate, heavy is the head that wears the crown. If you are on top we want to see you fall, if you are on top for as long as the 48 has, it's a long reach to knock you off the pinnacle. Can Gordon reach that high? Can he be the one to ruffle the untouchable feathers of the 48? Only time will tell. In the mean time we are in for a real treat as this story continues to unfurl.

Jimmie Johnson has tried to extend an olive branch in the direction of the 24, but it seams that the only thing that will satisfy Gordon is a pound of flesh. He was the golden boy, he was the one that the ladies loved and the dudes hated, he was the one that had his number plastered along every novelty tee shirt stand along the boardwalks of the Jersey shore. Gordon wants his title back, and it just may take a steel cage match to settle this, and crown an undisputed heavyweight champ.

On the track we saw Kevin Harvick end his win less streak with a last lap pass for all the marbles.
Because of the unique configuration of Talladega, with it's start/finish line at the end of the front stretch, this pass was possible. It amazes me how someone 50 years ago thought to mix it up a bit, and go against conventions by giving the finish line its placement. How could they have had the foresight for so many exciting finishes. Genius or accident? We will go with a little bit of both, for every idiot there is also an idiot savant. Genius is just not a term I like to use lightly (thanks Margo Tenenbaum).

Next week we roll into Richmond VA. The biggest little short track out there. Look for another win less streak to end next week in the form of Dale Jr. or perhaps the very hungry Jeff Gordon. Look out for VA. native and one of the hottest drivers on the circuit right now, Denny Hamlin to contend as well. He loves to ham it up for the home crowd.

Michael Clark (emsea)

A Texas two-step

After a rain soaked weekend in northern Texas, there were 800 miles of racing that took place on Monday afternoon. Both the Sprint Cup, and the Nationwide races were canceled leaving us with yet again a Monday morning race, only this time I was lucky enough to avoid finding out the results yielding an enjoyable Monday night race viewing for me (conveniently the Yanks were off).

The race was dominated by Hendrick Motor Sports, with the 24, 48 and 88 combining to lead 209 out of the 334 laps run. Unfortunately for HMS none of these drivers lead the money lap. However the domination by the 24 of Jeff Gordon was an eye opening experience for the entire field of drivers. With flashes of the Gordon of the '90's, the 24 set the pace and demanded the lead all afternoon. If Gordon can rekindle his old ways we just might have a driver and a team good enough and with enough experience to dethrone team 48 (remember Gordon has 4 cups on his mantle as well). When challenged for the lead it was as if Gordon were a lion protecting its cubs, Jimmy Johnson found this out the hard way. Johnson tried to pass his fellow team mate and was ungraciously and acrimoniously slammed on the driver side door panel causing a plume of smoke to rise like a genie from a bottle from the 48's wheel well. This is the kind of rubbing that gets the good ol boys out of their seats, it also caused the 48 to fall a lap down. But this is the 48, they are not going to let a little thing like being a lap down hinder their performance now are they? Of course not.

As luck would have it the 48 came to pit road, took 4 fresh goodyears and returned to the track. Moments later the caution would wave and the leaders would hit pit road. Chad Knaus made the decision to stay on the track being that their tires were merely 5 laps old, so once again, just like Henry Higgins, a little bit of luck and the 48 just might win! They were back on the lead lap and poised to deal with the 24. Like a fortune cookie once told me "the best revenge is massive success", the 48 would have their revenge by simply avoiding a late race wreck that hoovered up about 15 cars including the dominant 24. Gordon would finish 32 after leading 124 laps, the 48 finished 2nd. 1 more lap and they would have been driving to victory lane yet again.

Meanwhile we had another cherry picking victory for Denny Hamlin. The 11 car led a whole 12 laps in his winning effort. Bad but not that bad, last week Ryan Newman won on the dog-leg of Phoenix notching an entire 4 laps out front. This is the paradigm in NASCAR now a days, dominant performances by dominant drivers and their teams, a late caution flag waives, and a less deserving driver steals the trophy, and drives off in to the sunset with the big purse. Parody, yes, fair, of course not. Dale Jr. spoke about this in a post race interview, stating that "we go out there and run a clean 450 miles just to have the whole thing jumbled around at the end there".

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely applaud the gritty performance by Hamlin, who won just weeks after having his knee scoped. This amazes me, recently a good friend of mine had ACL surgery and was laid up for weeks, withering in pain. It is not just the win by Hamlin that has me so impressed, his 30th place effort last week in Phoenix has to be the greatest 30th place finish in NASCAR history. Why you ask? Because at three different times during the race in the desert Hamlin was offered relief from his wheel-man duties by stand by driver Casey Mears, each time he refused to get out of the cockpit. Hamlin's reasoning for not exiting stage left, "The only thing I was going to gain was maybe some respect of the team guys just because I knew our day was shot," He went on, "I wasn't going to give up on them. I wasn't going to lay down on them." Hamlin also mentioned that he would have been embarrassed to hand off such an ill fated car to Mears. "To be honest with you, I would have been too embarrassed to give Casey (Mears) the car I had today, It's not what we're accustomed to."

The spoiler was given rave reviews by the drivers after its first true test at a super-speedway. The consistency of the spoiler in the corners was a welcome difference from the wayward performance of the wing in turbulent wind. We will see how this new set up will effect the cars when restrictor plate racing commences next week In Talladega.

Note: Kyle Busch raced 800 miles on Monday finishing 3rd in the cup event and then winning the Nationwide series event that started about an hour after the completion of the cup race. This capped off the "weekend" sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing. Of the 15 drivers to pull double duties on Monday, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle were the only ones to complete all 534 laps.

Michael Clark (emsea)

Granderson fitting in nicely

After 3 games in historic Fenway Park, Curtis Granderson has already submerged himself right smack in the middle of the storied rivalry between the Yanks and BoSox. Granderson went over the wall in his first at-bat as a Yankee, and it doesn't stop there. Although Granderson homered in his first at-bat he was scrutinized by the NY media for striking out to end the first game of the season. Welcome to New York.

CG continued his hot hitting with some late inning heroics last night, taking Red Sox closer Spencer Pratt, I mean Jonathan Papelbon (ever notice how those two douches look eerily similar?) deep into the right field bleachers. No pie in the face yet for Curtis, but indeed a game winning longball none the less.

I have been a fan of Granderson since first I first saw him play at Comerica Park in beautiful downtown Detroit in 2005. Needless to say I was delighted by the trade, funny how having a slight connection to a player makes him become "your" player. My wife grew up in Detroit so I frequent the city regularly, and being a former speedy centerfielder myself, I was naturally drawn to Curtis. It goes to show that people do actually listen to you when you talk, after Grando's first homer in pinstripes my text inbox became flooded with phrases like "there's your boy!" or "you are gonna love having this guy". I hope the same can be said about Johny Damon in D-town but time will tell, I reassured my Detroit contingent that they were going to love having the Sheff wearing the old english D, but that did not go quite as swimmingly as I had prognosticated.

As anticipated John Sterling of WCBS has come up with another zinger of a homer call for the new Yankee, waxing off his golden vocal chords, Sterling coined the phrase "The Grandy man can!". As usual Sterling reached deep into his bag of puns for this one.
Check out this article debating what Sterling's "Grand" call will be.


The Yanks Are off and running, and now head back to Tampa to take on the Rays at the Trop. Javier Vazquez vs David Price should make for a great Friday night match up.


Michael Clark (emsea)

Madness at Martinsville

What a finish to a great race! Even though I knew that Denny Hamlin was going to end up in victory lane the finish still had me on the edge of my seat. Hamlin and the Fed Ex 11 team were having a rough go at it until just about the halfway point of the race, then they got their ducks in a row and "pulled a 48". They were able to fine tune the car enough to make a charge for the lead, and dominated the entire second half at Martinsville.

The drama began as I sat there watching the 11 lead the race with 10 to go and thought to myself, "well its over", I know he wins (thanks Ben!) so he is just going to hold off the field for the victory right? Wrong.

Suddenly the caution flag waived and the Joe Gibbs cars (at this point Kyle Busch and Hamlin were running 1-2) threw caution to the wind and hit pit road for four freshies and a splash of fuel. DW and the Fox sports crew were baffled by this, stating that they just threw the race away, Why would you pit now? Are you crazy? ect. ect... But I knew the outcome, I knew Hamlin had won the race, however, even I wasn't sure how he was going to pull this one off.

The restart with about 7 to go and Hamlin is somewhere back in the 10th position. This is Martinsville, not exactly the best place to try and pass 9 cars in 7 laps. The paper clip shaped track gets congested and will give you the squeeze. So I sat there just waiting to see how this would play out. 4 laps later Kyle Busch is dumped into the corner in turn 4 and the caution waves yet again. This is a common trend in present day NASCAR, you can expect 3-4 cautions in the last 25 laps, reminiscent of the last few minutes of an NBA game where one team fouls constantly thinking they still have a shot to win.

Now the restart with 2 to go. The good ol' green white checkered we all have become accustomed to. Hamlin now is restarting 6th, but remember he is on fresh tires and needs to save his crew chief's you know what with a win that they all but handed away.

Hamlin dives to the middle bullying his way 3 wide into turn 1 like a bat out of hell. Gordon and Kenseth, both former champions and Martinsville monsters are all that stands in his way. The 17 of Kenseth was bumped hard by Gordon and losses all his momentum. As this rubbing is playing out between the two champs, the 11 sneaks by on the inside followed by youngster and fellow teammate Joey Logano in the Home Depot 20. The two Joe Gibbs car finish 1-2, a feat accomplished for the first time in a long time for the organization.

Even though I knew the outcome, I could not have been more pleased with the quality racing that took place at Martinsville.

Jeff Burton had a great race and looked strong all day, but his good run was ended when he was sideswiped into the wall with about 50 to go. The 31 team is a sleeper for any NASCAR fantasy league. These guys are as consistent as Hideki Matsui, who's middle name translates loosely to consistency. They always run up front and are usually good for a top 5 on any weekend.

The proud owner of many a grandfather clocks (the race winner at Martinsville gets a grandfather clock in lieu of a trophy), Mr Jeff Gordon, had a dominant car all afternoon as well but just could not close the deal.

A bad day for our points leader (going into the race), Kevin Harvick. The 29 battled a balky car all afternoon and eventually ended up behind the wall to repair an blown engine. He finished 35th, leaving him looking up at our new points leader, you guessed it, Jimmy Johnson.

The spoiler made its return to the cup series this weekend and fans could not be more pleased with the cosmetic appearance of the cars. The aesthetically pleasing cars actually look like stock cars again! We will see how the drivers handle the new package at Texas next weekend. The high banked 1.5 mile speedway is known for its high top speeds. The spoiler effects the aerodynamics and down force of the cars much differently than the wing, last week on the short track it was more about the integrity of your bumper than your aero package. We may see some drivers doing their best impression of the Tokyo Drift next week, we are talking "slideways" all day folks!

Michael Clark (emsea)

Gosh darnit! Hamlin wins at Martinsvile.

I made many attempts to avoid all media today with the hopes of watching the race on my dvr with an element of surprise.

I lowered ESPN radio during all updates, I avoided Yahoo's homepage, and of course definitely did not log into NASCAR.com.

Come 5:00 I am still making it happen, keeping the dream alive. I begin to pack my stuff to go home and watch the race when an unnamed coworker (Ben Sandler) hipped me to the winner.

Denny Hamlin wins at Martinsville.

More to come after my viewing session is completed.

Michael Clark (emsea)