The Thing About All This Technology
Image by Georgios Garganopoulos from Pixabay
I’ve talked before about how technology has democratized access to the tools that help us create. This is as true in fields traditionally considered to be creative as it is in those that are more commercial. We have options in terms of how we do our work, how sophisticated we want its production to be, and where and when we distribute it.
In many respects, this has been a force for good. By making the tools of production accessible and easy to deploy, we’ve given voice to a wider populace and allowed more ideas to be heard. There is no expensive intermediary to go through to get your idea out. It’s just up to you, if you’re willing to take the time.
That said, this trend has also resulted in materially more ‘noise’, a sense that just because I can, I should. Not “I need to, therefore I should”, rather just the ability to do so coupled with a desperate desire for attention. But then when we don’t get traction, our response isn’t to think harder about the message, it is to assume that we actually need to produce more, to shout louder, to make more noise.
And then if that doesn’t work, we either keep doubling down and produce more or, we give up, blaming other factors (luck, timing, opportunity).
Maybe it’s better to step back and take a breath. To think first. Do I have something to say? Not, how do I sell more, but what is my message? What am I trying to get across? What issue do I want to talk about? What problem am I trying to solve?
It’s critical to have a compelling reason to speak, a message that resonates, that moves something in someone to do something - to feel, to experience, to think. If we haven’t framed the message in terms of this end goal, then there’s no point.
Of course, in some fields, this isn’t an overt decision, but it always comes from a place of honesty. Not some contrived performance, but one of genuine intent. This means this to me, and perhaps it might mean the same to you.
When we know what we want to say, then we need to still do the hard work to innovate, to create something that is unique and conveys the message in a way that resonates. How is this genuine expression conveyed? How can it be done in a manner that stands out, that is compelling?
In this way, our modern technology is both a gift and a curse.
A gift in that we can now produce without concern for cost or resource availability. Nowhere is this as true as in the music business. I mean, if you use a Mac, you have access to better production tools than The Beatles did when they created any of their albums in their heyday. That’s just a fact. You can create a piece of music, and augment it, and correct it, and treat it in thousands of different ways and make it whatever you want it to be. From the comfort of your own home. The same is true in other disciplines.
But it’s also a curse in that it can make us lazy, it can lessen our need to think harder, strive for quality, to innovate. Here’s what Jimmy Page recently said about recording the early led Zeppelin albums, which were released back in the early 70’s, and technology limitations back then:
“It’s all about honest performance. It’s not all...pieced together with a computer. It wasn’t how things were done, thank goodness. You had to make really firm decisions, you didn't have multiple options...you had to be really definitive about what you were doing...in capturing the essence of what the song was all about.”
That isn’t just a statement about a song. It’s a statement about the creation of any art, commercial or otherwise.
Technology has done a lot for us but it still hasn’t taken away the need to be real and honest, to be genuine. It hasn’t taken away the emphasis on quality. And it certainly hasn’t taken away the need to stand out and be who you want to be.
All this machinery
Making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question
Of your honesty, yeah, your honestyOne likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity…
