In from the cold
by Charlie Tims
Well,
1. It�s their first proper release and they�re teenagers
2. They�ve received very little marketing or promotion; most interest having emerging from myspace in the last few months.
3. They�re signed to the independent record label Domino.
4. They generated most interest by staying in Sheffield, (rather than coming to the capital to �make it�).
James Purnell, The Minister for the Creative Industries (or the �Music Minister� as he now seems to be called), announced some interest in this kind of caper a couple of weeks ago when he commissioned an investigation into support for independent SME�s in the music business (in addition to the long-standing study looking at the remit of a future Music Council).
But the fact that The Arctic Monkey�s are signed to an independent record label is half the story. Of greater interest seems to be the way that that myspace and digital technology, have pushed the barrier one step further back for the democratisation of the creation of culture. Broadbrush, with every year that passes the control of music in the UK is held less by an elite hand-full of major labels and less in the capital city, but nobody knows quite when it will stop. We recently charted some of these trends towards, city-based music making cultures structured around tech-savy young people in the recent Demos publication In Concert.
Either way, it feels as if the meeting of digital technology and the internet, are finally having a mainstream impact on how we make, consumer and experience culture. For more exciting digital culture related developments check out the digital screen network (make your own film - watch it in a cinema) and Bluevend (like a constantly updating jukebox vending all manor creative content that can fit on your mobile phone).