Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age

Clive Thompson, writing in The New York Times over the weekend, had a great article entitled “Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog.” The article talked about a new breed of music performers who have built huge fan bases (as well as modestly successful careers) by releasing their work on the Internet, in addition to keeping up with fans through blogs and encouraging them to become part of the experience by interacting with the music this new breed of musician creates. Thompson labels this new kind of entertainer “Artist 2.0.” Gone is the recluse, the moody dilettante who has no interaction with his or her fans; in a digital world musicians, and to a lesser degree filmmakers and writers, rely on their fans to not only buy their work, but also to offer advice, cover their songs, make their videos, and help them even book their tours and be a part of their live shows.

“In the past — way back in the mid-’90s, say — artists had only occasional contact with their fans,” writes Thompson. “If a musician was feeling friendly, he might greet a few audience members at the bar after a show. Then the Internet swept in. Now fans think nothing of sending an e-mail message to their favorite singer — and they actually expect a personal reply.”

In the seventies, as a young kid living in the California suburbs, I was a huge fan of the rock band Kiss. Kiss was one of the first bands to actively cultivate a rabid following of fans who flocked to their shows and bought their records. Labeled the “Kiss Army,” these legions of fans would apply make-up to their face before the shows, and knew all the words to Kiss songs by heart. And every Kiss record came with an insert which sold paraphernalia to the Kiss Army acolytes: t-shirts, headbands, patches, buttons, jackets, etc. The army had a uniform, but that was about it. The Kiss Army was all about consumerism and buying products; being, well, a member in an army and just another soldier blending into the crowd. (I myself was a proud member of Kiss Army, and despite this I never got closer to Kiss than an album cover.) Whereas today, the Internet is actually allowing interaction with musicians; fans aren’t just part of the act, they’re crucial to the act being there in the first place.

“This is not merely an illusion of intimacy,” writes Thompson. “Performing artists these days, particularly new or struggling musicians, are increasingly eager, even desperate, to master the new social rules of Internet fame. They know many young fans aren’t hearing about bands from MTV or magazines anymore; fame can come instead through viral word-of-mouth, when a friend forwards a Web-site address, swaps an MP3, e-mails a link to a fan blog or posts a cellphone concert video on YouTube.”

All of this goes a long way toward answering the recent question that has come up increasingly in the debate over the loss of book reviews: where will readers hear about new books if they can’t read a review? Well, they’ll hear about them the way a whole new generation is hearing about music: online. And not only that, but this new era will allow for more interaction between readers and authors. Because of this, the Internet will foster more literacy, not less. And while print may indeed be dead — with laptops and a wireless connection, who needs books? — writers and readers will be very much alive.

The New York Times: Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog