Monday 12 April 2010

TWO INTERESTING PITCHFORK ARTICLES

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One by Marc Hogan on government funding for music outside the US, underlining that it pays to be subtle when talking about this issue in international terms. Hogan is canny not to fall into a "grass is always greener" trap - he's right to point to a decline in state support for music in the UK over the past two decades. It was also interesting (not to mention encouraging) to hear from Chemikal Underground's Stewart Henderson about the more positive climate in Scotland. Having said that, the "leisure and tourism" frame for the Scottish story is depressing, and more to the point, doesn't seem to have actually led to any particularly interesting leftfield bands emerging north of the border in recent memory. The View, anyone?

Tom Ewing's Poptimist post on "nudging" was crazy-baffling. A "gameification" of everyday life? "If it gets more people listening to music, then what's the harm"?!  I just cannot see any point in more of these realpolitik, Capitalist Realist, let's work with a system we don't have any hope of changing-style arguments.

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