Tony Thomas

Yesterday I was listening to the Sound Opinions podcast with Peter Blackstock as a guest to talk about the last print issue of No Depression magazine. (I’m reluctant to link to ND, since I’m pretty sure Peter will find this within hours.) But something caught my attention even though I was very busy at work. Peter made a comment about the “devaluation of the written word” as a contributing factor in ND’s change of medium.

Devaluation is a word that is bandied about a lot these days. There is a lot of discussion about the devaluation of music as well. It’s a bit like a recent discussion I had on Twitter about the old “vinyl vs. CD” argument. When someone says music or writing is being devalued, everyone just nods there heads in agreement. Remember when music and writing had value? Kids today.

I don’t mean to single Peter out (because, again, I’m pretty certain he’ll read this), but it’s an interesting issue to explore in greater depth.

I think the argument is better framed as a democratization of media rather than a devaluation. The stakeholders in traditional media are accustomed to a one-way model. At the top is the advertiser, the medium (newspaper, magazine, radio station, etc.) delivers the audience to the advertiser. Editorial considerations aside, that’s the basic paradigm.

What’s happening now is that a whole lot of folks are delivering content to audiences for free. Such a democratization inevitably results in an overall lowering of quality. This same thing occurred with the advent of desktop publishing in the mid-nineties.

But this scenario also allows for exciting possibilities inherent in the word democracy. A lot of content will be bland, narcissistic, and even bad but it can also be exciting and important. Citizen journalism is the most intriguing new concept to arise from the blogging revolution. Engaged citizens can make their own choices about what they feel should be highlighted and new communities arise around those who are good stewards of their content.

Let’s look at those last few words again: stewards of their content. That’s where the onus lies for independent media producers. The world is filled with blogs about personal exploits and nights on the town, but being a good producer means developing good editorial skills and considering your audience. Those of us who are good stewards to our audience will build successful communities around our respective media.

Music, writing, video, audio production might hold more potential value for those of us in the lower parts of the long tail than ever before. And we’re more accessible than traditional media.

As long as we’re redefining paradigms, let’s go back to No Depression. My initial reaction to the final print version of No Depression was sadness. I’ve got back issues in my basement going back almost to issue #1. (I think the oldest one I have may be #3. Whichever one has Whiskeytown on the cover.) No Depression has benefited from media democratization since it’s inception. It started up as an AOL discussion group, then went to print (remember the desktop publishing revolution?), and now is headed into a new medium again that just happens to be web-based. So it’s really not an end. It may be starting over, but I give them credit for embracing changes in the industry and moving accordingly. They’ve built a devoted audience over the years. They are no less valuable for existing (mostly) on the web.