Infoworld Magazine sponsors an international forum on multimedia and electronic publishing annually. In July 1995, Spotlight '95 was held at the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel, California.
I was asked to speak on a panel with songwriter Allee Willis, Utne Reader editor in chief Eric Utne, and Knight-Ridder's Bob Ingle. Martin Nissneholtz of the New York Times laid down the challenge:
WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT INTERACTIVE?
I'm not sure it's a fair question. It's rather like, What's so great about books, or film, radio, TV, or recorded music?
A long time ago, people sat around a fire and the older or wiser members of the tribe told stories. Some of the more talented told stories in a rhyming chant, which became song. As this art form developed, more people would gather to hear these stories in song, and eventually the best of these storytellers and musicians began to travel, began damaging hotel rooms and corrupting your children - here's where Aerosmith comes in.
But somewhere in between Adam and Eve, and Aerosmith we got cave drawings, and bit later, books. "What's so great about books?" was the cry from critics. And maybe they were right. These early works of literature were nothing more than a written account of the stories that had been going around for years. And, what's more - there was none of the camaraderie of a crowd when reading a book, no social experience, no tone or emotion from the storyteller. But, over the years, as more and more storytellers grew up with the idea of "books" as a medium - different from storytelling - some of these books became quite good!
What's so great about motion picture film? At first, with no sound and no color, and not even a pan, tilt, or cut, film seemed as if it had little to offer in the hands of the first film makers. But, as a documentary medium it offered something that had never before existed the ability to preserve a visual record of events - no longer was recorded history left to memory and description. Eventually, as those who grew up with the medium came of age, it offered the ability to create a vision; to illustrate what could before only be imagined or described.
What's so great about radio and TV? Early TV did little more than bring the already common variety shows of vaudeville to our living rooms. Stage plays were adapted first to radio, and then to the small screen. Old films were brought into every household - nothing but a re-purposing of Hollywood's assets. Concerts and dances were piped over the airwaves - nothing more than a poor excuse for actually being there, at first. No, radio didn't start out in stereo and high fidelity. The pioneers did the best with what they could. Ah, but live television, live radio - the ability to penetrate more deeply, widely, and immediately than any book or newspaper: radio brought us the Hindenberg disaster, the War of The Worlds, Bob Gibson beating Jim Lonborg and the Red Sox. In the last 30 years of television we've seen John Kennedy assassinated, men walk on the moon, a space shuttle explode, an earthquake in the middle of the world series, a beaten motorist, Los Angeles on fire, and OJ on the freeway Again, it's not a question of the validity of the medium itself, it's how we've come to understand it, and choose to use it.
Well - now we're up to music - a live and in person experience if there ever were one. Early recordings were nothing more than scratchy analog reproductions of concerts better heard in person. But, over time, as people who grew up with the medium came of age and started making recordings, the recordings grew better. Les Paul developed the ability to multi-track record in 1953, and suddenly, there were possibilities in recorded music that simply did not exist in the live medium. The arts of making live music and recorded music diverged.
Skipping dozens of styles and dozens of years - lets talk about the music and concert touring business, and interactive media as we approach the millennium. Briefly, the music business:
In the 1960's bands made singles, which were played on AM radio. The record companies and the bands made money if the records were hits. Bands toured to get more airplay and sell more records. In the late 1970's and 1980's things changed a bit. Bands made singles which were played on AM radio, and albums which were played on the newer FM radio. Record companies made money if the singles and albums were hits, but bands made their money by playing concert tours. A hit record - at one time the cash payoff - was now simply a device that drove concert ticket sales.
In 1982, MTV signed on the air. The first song they played: The Buggles sang "Video Killed the Radio Star." And they were so right. In the 1970's, for rock video, we had Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, and The Midnight Special. Primarily, these programs featured the hit bands of the day, recorded live in concert. No one made videos.
By 1985 - almost all rock bands were making videos. There was no alternative. Just as you toured to sell records in the 60's and 70's, and sold records so you could tour in the 70's and 80's, in the 1990's you make videos so you can sell records, so you can tour.
Well now, in 1982, what was so great about MTV? Not much. Not only was there next to no variety, these early videos were often poorly lip synched versions of concert performances. Early results in a new medium are often laughable when viewed years later, but the attempt should be respected for the effort and risk that it was at the time. Innovators like Fleetwood Mac, Duran Duran, and then David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, and Tom Petty (along with the directors and writers that they assembled) showed that these little 5 minute clips could stand on their own as an art form, sometimes surpassing the music that they were created to accompany. And, as MTV entered its second decade, something else happened. Musicians who grew up exposed to MTV came of age, and the videos began to radically change in terms of style and originality. Young bands don't just write songs anymore- they think in terms of video as they write.
And now, we have multimedia, enhanced CD, CD-ROM gaming, on-line activity - a whole variety of high tech media that are available to entertain and educate the consumer.
We also have a generation of consumers - our children - who are growing up with computers in their classrooms - their kindergarten classrooms. Oftentimes, when writers and reviewers come to my office to see a demo, they bring their kids. (That's For a couple of reasons - 1. They have fun - Kids find multimedia to be fun, and 2. They understand it better than their parents and can help explain it to them.)
The intuitive grasp that 5 year olds have on concepts like using a pointing device, hierarchical menus and filing structures amazes me. They grab that mouse and start playing a game before you can even tell them how. I have spent hours - billable hours - trying to teach adults the difference between a "click" and a "drag" on a Macintosh. This is one discussion that we do not need to have with our kids - unless we want them to show us something.
As these kids get older they're going to be demanding more of what they're accustomed to. They're going to outgrow "Reader Rabbit" and "Just Grandma and Me." They're not going to be satisfied with a book. They won't sit passively and watch TV. When, by the age of two and a half years, my daughter has run through and nearly memorized every Disney animated feature to have been released since Steamboat Willie, what are we going to do to entertain her by the time she's 5?
And that's the issue here: Entertainment. Musician is a misnomer for the rock band of 2,000. Making music will be only one aspect of what's expected by the consumer. Multimedia offers us the best media available today for the delivery of entertainment. Just as no rock band or record company in its right mind would ever think of releasing an album in 1995 without an accompanying video, no one in 2005 will try to release home entertainment of any kind without some form of interactive or multimedia activity. Those members of the old guard who do not "go digital" will simply find themselves with an ever shrinking market. Whether you think multimedia is happening or not is irrelevant - your kids want it and there is no stopping them.
If Martin is really convinced that nothing we've done yet is original, I think he need only wait a few years. I am confident that by the time today's children are old enough to actually sign a multimedia entertainment production deal, they'll be producing CD-ROM's that none of us even have the tools to dream of.
From the rock musician's perspective, there are a number of elements that go into a multimedia or interactive product. There is the sensory experience of a live rock concert. Sound and Light. There is the interpretation of the lyrics. And there's the history, the myth, mystique, magic and image of a band. If a kid is into rock and roll, a kid wants to play in a band. She wants to meet the band. He wants to hang with other kids who share his interests. She wants to go to concerts, he wants to hear the songs.
When Aerosmith did its CyberTour in December 1994, the reasons were four. To go boldly where no band had gone - that is, on different on-line services in four consecutive nights, to raise money and awareness of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and what they stand for, to raise awareness of on-line communication and how easy it is, and to connect with Aerosmith's wired fans. We set an attendance record and maxed out capacity in each of our 4 nights. Over 300 on CompuServe, over 950 on Prodigy, over 1800 on America On-line, and over 2,000 on the Internet - where we were more popular than "sex chat." Since that event, each of the commercial services has done extensive work on expanding conferencing capabilities. We all saw what fun it can be.
Some people have asked "why on-line?" Isn't it just like doing a radio call-in show, except that you could reach more people on radio?
Well, yes, you can reach more people on radio, but you can't reach them the same way. On radio, typically you have individual listeners. On the on-line services you have something akin to many small auditoriums or party lines, all hooked together. The kids can talk to each other, throughout the event! We have transcripts of our on-line events that are very amusing - kids arguing over which band member is best looking - arguing over whether another person's question is stupid, taking votes for the groups best song. A lot more fun than sitting alone in your room, listening to the radio, sitting on hold - and probably not being able to ask your question anyhow.
Another Aerosmith first was the release of "Head First" over CompuServe in June 1994.
Aerosmith was the first major recording artist to make a previously unreleased song, "Head First" available on-line. It was digitized in high fidelity stereo and uploaded to CompuServe in late June 1994. Although it would take a person with decent computer skills and a 14.4 baud modem almost an hour to download the song, over 10,000 people did it in the two week period when it was available for free on CompuServe. Over a year later, I've seen the song files on at least 4 different ftp and web sites, where it remains a popular file for downloading. While it was nothing more than fun, and was done merely for the sake of doing it, this time, this kind of electronic delivery of music heralds dramatic changes in the next decade for the distribution of all digitizable entertainment product.
Before I leave the area of on-line activity, I'd like to mention one other area, and that is the Usenet portion of the Internet and the analogous bulletin boards on CompuServe, AOL, and Prodigy. They are a wonderful place where rock and roll fans congregate. If you haven't tried it, it is a bit difficult to explain - go home and watch your kids do it. And if your kids don't have a computer, a modem, and on-line access - they are deprived, and I'm not kidding.
Think of it as the local malt shop - where kids go to hang out and talk about what's on their minds - in the Aerosmith fan's area it's how beautiful Steven Tyler's lips are, Joe Perry's awesome body, Where you think Alicia Silverstone goes to college, and whether she'd date you - you know, important stuff like that. They also talk about concerts they've seen, recommend other albums to each other, arrange to trade tapes and videos. But - in cyberspace, "here," and "where," and "when" don't matter. Kids don't have to go out to do this, they don't have to stay up late, they don't have to be anywhere at any specific time. And, you can be any color, creed, age, or ability - all you have to do is type. No one judges you by anything other than the content of your thought. Really not a bad place for a kid to be.
Members of Aerosmith pop into these places from time to time to see what's going on, and to chat with their fans. Unlike walking into a real malt shop, they don't get mobbed, and they can reach more kids - and something else happens - on-line they get the truth. Face to face, all we usually hear is "Boy- you're great" and "I love you." On-line we find that people are willing to be a bit more honest "Hey, I like the old songs better," or "How come you keep putting that girl in your videos?"
As managers and promoters, we know that we can only bring the excitement of an Aerosmith concert to your village only once or twice every couple of years. But on-line - in that global village - the concert is every night, with kids reporting in from all over the planet as the tour rolls along. Nothing else has the reach of the Internet - and it's growing.
Finally, I'd like to talk about the product that you'll be able to see in the exhibition hall this afternoon. Aerosmith was the first band to participate in a technology called Virtual Music, in a graphic adventure game called Quest For Fame. When the inventors of the technology came to us, Aerosmith immediately recognized the beauty of this interactive CD-ROM game. By artfully mixing original composite video of the band members, master recordings, and animation, and using an input device that looked and felt like a real guitar, a game player got the very real feeling that he or she was playing in a rock and roll band. The computer program is capable of interpreting, in real time, the player's moves on the guitar, and to throw up appropriate video clips - approval and encouragement if your doing well, and scorn or ridicule if you you're not. This, combined with a game script that is humorously but accurately filled with the pitfalls, traps and rewards of a real career in rock and roll, makes for an experience that is close to immersive. More than any other interactive product that I have ever seen, Quest For Fame offers an experience that could not be found, let alone done better, in any media other than the one in which it is presented.
In conclusion, my point is that what's so great about multimedia for the music business is not to be determined by what's been done. Some great things have been done - especially On-line and with Quest For Fame - But, it's really about what can be done, and how we can realize and maximize the unique strengths of this medium. Just like print media, film, and broadcast media, multimedia and interactive media can not be judged by early attempts of expression. Remember that those of us working in it right now have not grown up with it, and that as pioneers we will find the going slow and difficult. Often it's exciting, but just as often the result will not justify the energy and resources expended in its creation. And so we all learn. By incorporating the best aspects of literature, film, recorded music, live interaction and broadcasting, Interactive & Multimedia offer a greater variety of tools with which to create a vision than any of its predecessors. Be patient while the first generation is getting its chops down. It's the same old story: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" Practice!
© 1995 Robert A. Falk All Rights Reserved