Hail to the Thief: Popular Music in the 2008 Presidential Election

Earlier this week I was scanning the blogosphere in search of my next topic concerning the contemporary music festival scene, and I began to notice a general trend throughout the various posts that I was reading. Actually, as the United States moves closer and closer towards the month of November, one could say that the nation as a whole has adopted a propensity toward the subject that I saw mentioned repeatedly during my search. I am talking, of course, about politics. With such a historical election drawing near, there is no denying that the country is absolutely captivated by what has been happening with the Obama-McCain presidential race, and cultural events such as music festivals are certainly not exempt from these societal proceedings. Several of the blogs that I read through mentioned, to some degree, how many of the recent concerts being put on by various musicians have been extremely political in nature, with the acts publicly endorsing one candidate or another during the show. This recent development got me thinking about the history between politics and popular music. From Woodstock, to Bob Dylan, to Bruce Springstein, to Rage Against the Machine, it has truly had a strong impact on the democratic process within the United States for several decades now, and 2008 is no different. Keeping this in mind, I decided to explore the ways in which popular music has been used in this particular election, and how it may ultimately affect its outcome.

The largest issue concerning popular music and the current campaigns of both political candidates is the accusation that McCain (and the Republican Party) has been using songs against the wishes of the artists whom created them. As reported in the article "John McCain and Sarah Palin: Music Thieves" on the Evolving Music Blog, McCain's camp has now used, "without permission and frequently with strenuous objections by the performers, songs by Heart, Foo Fighters, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp, [etc.]. What's worse is that they aren't limiting this illegal use to just playing the songs on campaign stops... they've gone so far as to include a few in television ads." The most famous of these incidents occurred in August when Browne not only demanded that his 1977 hit song "Running on Empty" be removed from a pro-McCain advertisement, but even went so far as to sue McCain for copyright infringement. As the Senator from Arizona struggles against the disapproval of these artists, however, Obama not only seems to have many of their support, but several songs have even been created by popular artists to promote him as a candidate. In his article, "Trying to Make a 'Change' Through Music," Michael Ventre, (a frequent contributor to msnbc.com) quotes Steve Appleford, a music critic who has written for publications such as Rolling Stone and the Los Angeles Times, speculating that this could have "something to do with Obama being a fairly young candidate who speaks the language of some of these young artists."

The question is, does the political stance of such popular musicians affect the campaigns of these presidential hopefuls by influencing public opinions? One could argue that the way in which public figures, especially those that are revered as many of these artists are, interact with the candidates in question could have a very important impact indeed. The public perception of the McCain campaign may become somewhat tarnished, for example. Not only because people like the musicians that disapprove of his usage of their songs, but also due to the aesthetical incongruity felt by voters that the principles which McCain's campaign are based on are undermined by his careless thefts. As the Evolving Music Blog puts it, "They've run their campaign on the idea of honesty, transparency, and a return to basics... then why are they blatantly, without permission and regardless of the wishes of the musicians, using songs they have no right to use throughout their campaign?" Also, during a recent speech given by McCain in Woodbridge, VA, he made yet another musical blunder. Before taking the stage, the Republican candidate played the song "Only in America" by Brooks and Dunn in order to "charge up" the crowd. As Bob Greene reports for CNNPolitics.com (in his article, "McCain's Mystifying Music List"), however, this is "The song Sen. Barack Obama has been using at his rallies all year. [And] It has become inextricably identified with his campaign." So, as McCain takes the stage, many of those in attendance at his rally are either blatantly or subconsciously reminded of his opponent. As for Obama, his good name within popular music should help him to solidify America's voting youth. Presumably less concerned with dry, political issues, the younger age bracket may find themselves inspired by the message within a song that encourages them to go out and vote. As Appleford puts it, "It might reach a few people that would not otherwise be engaged in politics... But the main purpose is to give a rallying point for people. A song, whether it's about politics or something else, emotionally connects with people. A song comes out and people feel that it reflects how they really feel."

Vibrations Through the Web: Sites to Help You Feel the Music

About two weeks ago I spent quite a bit of time searching the Internet for good blog postings on the topic of Internet service providers and the future of online music. While attempting to heighten my knowledge and understanding on this particular subject, I found myself immersed in a sea of excellent sources for all things music. In particular, there were twenty websites that I found to be especially insightful, (now included in the linkroll to the right), allowing for a deeper, rounder understanding of music festivals, the music industry, and the things which are discussed in this blog. In order to ensure that the websites my blog link to are of the highest quality I attempted to judge them based on the criteria put forward by the Webby Awards, as well as the IMSA. In doing so I assessed the content, structure and navigation, visual design, functionality, interactivity, and overall experience provided by each site. I have also taken the time to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each source on an individual basis and will discuss them below.

The websites that I have listed in the linkroll could very easily be split into two groups of ten. One of these collections, which I will analyze first, only contains websites that pertain to one particular music festival, and mainly discuss issues concerning that specific event. That being said, these festivals were not chosen at random, but are rather an assembly of many larger, more well-known occasions that are strewn across the United States. Unfortunately for the purpose of this posting, "festival season" is just coming to an end. Summer is classically the time when people attend them given the weather, and the freedom to do so for many young people. It is very unlikely, however, that any of these event's websites will change between now and next summer. In fact, it is very possible that the links to them will remain useful for many years to come. The first of such websites I will discuss is Coachella. Offering all sorts of interactive options such as a virtual tour through the gigantic venue, an extensive photo gallery of the performers and fans alike, live webcasts, and pretty much any other feature you could want out of a music festival's website, it is little surprise that Coachella's site won the title of "Best Festival Website" on MelodyTrip's first ever Festies, "the first annual US music festival awards." Indeed, it was difficult to find anything wrong with the site belonging to the annual extravaganza that takes place in the tiny town of Indio, California. The same could not be said for another festival's website, however, Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Summerfest. While the 11-day event's website is not particularly bad, I found the layout of its homepage to be extremely awkward with a gigantic picture taking up most of the space. All of the necessary applications were there, one just has to look past the clumsy and unattractive setup. Another example of a website that, once again, contained all of the proper services but suffered due to a poor homepage was that of the Virgin Mobile Festival, which looked as though the event's lineup had literally been smeared across the screen. Another site that I found to be rather dull was the Vans Warped Tour page. Although boring, it was very easy to use and offered some exceptional features such as the video blog and a "pit reporter." Quite possibly the most visually outstanding website I looked at was Lollapalooza's. With a multitude of fun effects and graphics, it was truly a pleasure just to search around. Unfortunately all those add-ons seemed to slow the page's loading speed which caused some frustration. Another site that I found aesthetically pleasing and also very easy to operate was the one belonging to Bonnaroo. This event not only has musical acts, but also celebrates comedy, cinema, and art, which the website shows very clearly. When one surveys the Bonnaroo site, they may be drawn in by the warm colors, silly cartoons, and light feel that its page exudes. In stark contrast to this is the Ozzfest website. Ozzfest is meant to appeal to fans of hard rock and metal music and, considering the general feel that the digital bones and chains have given to their page, I'd say that they are doing just that. Definitely one of the most amazing things that I witnessed on any of these web pages was the "ultra-zoomable festival crowd shots" that you can check out on the Austin City Limits Music Festival site. Basically, it allows one to zoom in on someone in a photo from a distance and still be able to see them clearly. The last two festivals whose sites I analyzed take place in Seattle, Washington. First I looked at Bumbershoot's page which I will use as an example for how all of the websites I mention above are very similar in nature. The reason I chose all of these sites for my linkroll is because they all present the necessary information one needs for a good music festival web page in creative and interesting ways, it's just that some do it better than others which is why I mainly focused on their layouts and how simple they are to use. The one exception to this is the website for The Capital Hill Block Party (also in Seattle), which is basically just a MySpace page with some bare-bones information and some really good videos, but I think that it serves as a good example of what a credible website can look like for a smaller festival.

This other set of ten websites do not focus simply on one particular music event each, but deal with broader aspects of the music industry. Pitchfork, for example, is a great source for news occurring in all musical genres, and it would be very useful for obtaining a general overview of the major events going on. If one wanted to continue searching for more information concerning festivals in particular, however, other sites like Rolling Stone: Festivals and Indie Rock Cafe both contain news pertaining to all major music festival events. Also, both have a very easy-to-use archive feature to look up old stories. As far as the business side of the music industry goes, the site Music Industry Today allows you to search for the most up-to-date news by topic, or even by country. Also, as I wrote about in one of my previous blogs, everything in the world of contemporary music is changing due to the fact that we can now download songs digitally, and websites such as Online Music News can help us to keep up with what that means in an ever-evolving industry, (despite the fact that it has far too many advertisements cluttering it up). While some websites like Online Music News are reporting on these subjects, however, others are actively trying to shape and mold what the music industry is becoming. The Future of Music Coalition, for example, has a mission statement claiming that they are "a national non-profit education, research and advocacy organization that identifies, examines, interprets and translates the challenging issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy," and offer a number of ways in which one can get involved with their cause. Of course, another great way to get your voice heard is through blogging, and there are some great professional blogs dealing with issues in the music industry that can be commented on such as the Virgin Music Blog and the Jaded Insider. Also, if one wanted to write to a very well-constructed blog with a better chance of actually receiving an answer from the author, I would suggest the Sentric Music Blog, which exists in order to "tell unsigned bands the vital facts they need to know about the music industry." Then, there is always the peer-to-peer blogs in which everyone is equal, like the Archive for the 'Music' Category on p2pnet. This website has a very sloppy setup, but at least everyone can get their voice heard. I know that my understanding of music festivals and the music industry has been greatly broadened by these 20 sites, and I hope that others who visit my blog will learn from them too.