What is the history of folk music? At it's most basic, it was music by and for the common person. As the product of authentic culture, it was written locally and shared locally to the extent that it eventually became part of, and even helped define, that culture. Folk music was only performed live because it existed long before recording technology. So the only way for it to be passed on was from person to person, community to community, from generation to generation. Only that which was good enough, and meaningful enough, survived. It typically wasn't published or copyrighted. Popular songs were performed by anyone who felt inspired to do so.
The ability to record music is what killed what we now call "traditional" folk music. In more advanced societies, these songs became artifacts. Once they were recorded a few times, there was a sense that they were preserved...and the shared, communal responsibility to remember and pass along the songs was removed. Music had changed. What was once local and alive was replaced by that which was national and recorded. By the time Rock & Roll came along in the '60's, the music industry had completely shifted the way we conceive of music. That which was big was what mattered. The authentic, local community was eventually replaced by celebrity and the global community. And while folk-like styles of music persisted through the "folk-revival" music of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Woodie Guthrie, and Leonard Cohen, "folk music" in the truer sense of the word was dead.
Then the Internet came along to change music yet again. Napster and other file-sharing networks were the first clues. While the industry fought it, music fans sensed at some basic human level that music was meant to be shared freely. Despite what we are told by the forces of global capitalism, we are humans first and consumers second. Our human impulse was to let the music play. So the music of the mega-stars and the 2nd-tier, "minor stars" of the indie world was traded freely and spread virally (though impersonally).
I say "impersonally" because the P2P networks aren't really social. We don't really interact when using Bearshare or Limewire. So the next step was for communities like MySpace, iLike, and Last.fm to reintroduced the social relationship back into music. These Internet communities put the music fan at the center and encourage fans to interact with each other...with musical taste at the center of those interactions and relationships.
So what am I going on about? What does any of this have to do with folk music? Before I explain, let me more accurately define some of the characteristics of folk music:
- It is evolving, living, breathing
- It is rooted in authentic culture (ceremonies, events, traditions, interwoven with other art-forms)
- It is created by ordinary people with instruments available to them
- It is shared with ordinary people without any institutional intermediaries
- It is communal / shared freely
- It is not owned by anybody
Considering these characteristics, I believe that Creative Commons will enable the new folk movement. The Creative Commons copy-left model provides various options for artists to set their music free. It is a logical extension of the idea that no new music is truly new or truly original. Every new song is a mutated version of what the artist has heard before. But never mind that; every artist wants his or her music to be heard and experienced. To me it is simply inconceivable to allow the music industry to say who can and can't play a song...to stand in the way of an artist and potential fans.
So the licensing chosen for the Abscondo and Sungod Abscondo debut albums allows anybody to do anything they want to with the music -- share it, perform it, alter it, sell it, use it in films, podcasts, etc. -- as long as proper credit is given.
At this point it should be clear how Creative Commons, brought to life with social sites like Jamendo (my favorite), iLike, Last.fm, and many others, make it possible for a new "Internet Folk Movement" to emerge. We think of folk music as a style that usually involves acoustic instruments, but that's only because these were the only instruments available to folk musicians historically. "Internet Folk", as I'm defining it, isn't limited by genre. Ordinary people have computers and can afford the basic equipment to produce any sound at all. When that music is shared directly with music fans, without an institutional intermediary, and when that music has been set free to evolve, it is living-and-breathing folk music! It is a modern strain of something that has been dead for so many years!
While the first wave of this modern folk music movement will remain primarily centered around the Internet, I believe it will eventually become more local. People will become exhausted by trying to keep up with thousands of talented musicians around the world, and will begin to care more about those who are in their own communities. There will be small but very loyal followings of musicians who perform in small, local venues. The music will get better because artists will respond to perceptive fans who actually care. When this finally happens, the new folk music will be alive and well.
So the time has come for more and more artists and music fans to finally look beyond that which is big, expensive, and marketed. It will take some time for both fans and artists to change their basic assumptions like, 1) music is expensive to make, 2) musicians are celebrities and aren't like us, 3) talented musicians ought to get rich, 4) being a musician should be a full-time job, and 5) all the good music makes it to the radio anyway. None of that is true anymore, and in time these beliefs will fade.
This new, Internet Folk Music movement will eventually overtake the music industry as we know it today. Music will, once again, be claimed as something authentic and part of the local culture and community. While music was once purchased to be listened to for a while and then remain forever stored away on some dusty record, cassette, or CD...Creative Commons music will live and breath.
I'm proud to be part of this new movement. Who wouldn't want to take part in such a beautiful thing?
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