How much can change in a day?
How about a week or a month?
How much can a simple change in perspective change one's entire reality?
And how much can a tiny, seemingly insignificant event or two change an entire perspective?
I feel as if the last 24 hours is a completely different reality from the previous 24 hours, and that was already a complete shift from the prior day. Ironically so little has changed on the surface.
It's almost as if watching ice melt. Certain things which felt so far off suddenly feel so much closer.
I am constantly reminded that technology's impact on our culture is cumulative and exponential at once. As AI begins to root itself in our collective consciousness as a reality rather than a concept, there are still new effects of having such a large portion of the world connected through social media.
Imagine if technology slowed down to a snails pace. You might think nothing would change from 2010 to 2020, but think about it a little harder. 10 years of access to endless information, 20 years, 30 years.....10 years of algorithms, 20 years, 30 years....
Heavy Metal and Rap didn't come about because of any new technology, at least not in their most primitive forms. They came about because people sought new sounds. The same thing continues in music and film and fashion, and now in social media trends, in influencers. There are also a slight evolution in how people interact that has little to do with technology, or at least you could say, the way people interact would evolve even without technology.
People focus so much on the more obvious changes, they forget that subtle things change in the background.
One of those phenomena that I've noticed, which has little to do with blockchain or AI or any of the new trends of the 2020's but will certainly ride the wave of those new technologies, is the decentralization of attention.
I've talked about this before, but last night was another example.
1 million views on a youtube video...
In 2000 or 2010, this was a big deal. To you it may still feel like a big deal. If you were to imagine how many people might show up to an event held by someone with 1 million views on a video, how many do you imagine would show up? Imagine a comedian or a singer or a speaker. Imagine it was in the most populated city in the country.
1000？ 10,000?
I believe in 2000 or 2010, it would be somewhere in between.
But last night I saw one of these artists who has 1 million views on a single video and about 100k views on multiple other videos, 25k monthly streamers on Spotify and probably just as many on other services.
10 people showed up.
If you take things at face value you may think that those followers or views are due to advertising or bots, but I know for sure that they aren't.
This is what decentralization of attention looks like.
It's not that no one cares about your articles or your book or your song or your painting or your company. It's that no one has time or energy to care about anything anymore. 98% tend to leave it up to the algorithm and the algorithm doesn't care that you had a hit, if the first few viewers aren't into it, no one else will see it.
Add that to the fact that more and more people are making art and content, which means even more is going on than before, more screenings, more concerts, more meetups, more everything.
That means fewer and fewer things reach critical mass to go viral, and it also means more and more niches pop up where things work on a smaller sustainable scale. It could work it your favor or it might not. And for anyone to whom fame is the goal, it's going to take alot more work to maintain the same amount of eyeballs, but more and more people will realize fame is not necessary or even beneficial at times.
There are a few reasons this show only had 10 people, unrelated to the decentralization of attention.
First is that it was not the exact band that is that well known, it was a session with one of the two members and a different musician, so they didn't use the name that is as well known.
They also didn't advertise the show all that much, it was only shared as a single post on social media about 2 weeks ago, and not shared again after that, no reminder, nothing.
The third is that this band's audience is spread around the world. They don't have a particularly huge following in any particular place, rather, they have a meaningful but small following throughout Europe and Asia.
The fourth is that it was a Thursday, and I've noticed a huge different in turnout between weekend and weekday shows, especially when there is a dedicated fanbase.
None of these reasons discount the decentralization of attention though. When social media was less competitive, people tended to keep tabs on their favorite artists. Now, especially in major cities, they have too many favorites to keep tabs on everyone constantly. The artists didn't have to advertise as hard to bring out he hardcore fans.
The fifth reason ties right into the idea of decentralization. This is Tokyo: even on a Thursday, even at a single station there are multiple other noteworthy events going on. Eventually this may be true everywhere!
I find this phenomena fascinating because not only does it mean that it's harder to become a household name, but it also means that people can turn down the dial on their fame if it becomes too much for them. If they don't want paparazzi following them around and if they want to be able to go out and live like a normal person, they can just stop using social media for a while, especially if they are an independent artist. If they want to take a break from the spotlight, they can do that too.
I don't get the sense that this bothered the artist though, because he could have easily advertised more, and he does many other things to take himself off of a pedestal, treating the show very casually and hanging out with fans after the show most of the time.
I'm glad to have people with more experience who have a similar attitude to myself so I have someone to learn from. And now we are acquanted again.
None of this was new information to me but the degree was VERY surprising, because as I've written before, I've seen a other well-known acts attract 40-100 people when I imagined them attracting 1000-5000, but it's rare to see someone with such an audience attract only 10.
This is continuing to recontextualize my own art and it's place in the world. I mean, I managed to bring out 14 people on a Thursday night.... so I guess...I win? Not competing here, but it's interesting to think about!
And as if to reinforce such a curious phenomenon, a funny side note.
The well known artist didn't remember talking to me 8 years ago when we met in Xiamen on his international tour. We talked for an hour so I imagined he might (I was the only person there who spoke Japanese too), but I didn't take it personally cause 8 years is a long time and he plays lots of shows and meets lots of people.
Then when I got home I realized I had already followed the drummer who was just there for the single session and he followed me too. I checked his videos and realized I had seen him play before too, and at the same venue, but he was playing synthesizer and making ambient sounds so I didn't connect him with the drums....and that was only 2 years ago.
So even less reason to take it personally that the first artist forgot me, I had forgotten the second artist and I had liked his music!
That is how decentralized my attention is!