Community of Fans
I thought of another example concerning an open source type approach to delegating work and creating a product. I was at a concert recently and I was watching someone taking pictures of the concert when I realized that at a lot of venues, there is a paid photographer. This is not always the case because there can be a friend taking pictures or one provided by the venue. However this is what I would equate to the propriety type way of acquiring a portfolio of pictures of that evening’s concert. This is because the documenting of the concert is done “in house” or by someone connected to the band. On the other hand some bands “open” the work of taking pictures to the fans. They do this by allowing cameras and encouraging the fans to upload the pictures to their website. This means that there can be many people taking pictures of the concert and there is much more comprehensive coverage of the event. This method does however have risks, those being that the quality can not be guaranteed and the use and distribution of the photos may be hard to monitor. To this concern I would say why not involve the fans some more! Let them vote on the best pictures and have them ranked on the site so the best pictures are available to everyone. The vote would encourage people to put forth more effort and upload creative and increasingly higher quality photos. This could also draw the fans into a community because of the collaboration and further aid in maintaining quality artwork. Not only would this include the fans more with the band, but all of the work of shooting, developing or transferring, and editing would be done by the people who care the most about the band, THE FANS!!
Everything from the community created through the process to the availability of all the pictures on the site for rankings, echoes of the open source philosophy. I guess it all comes down to the bands preferences, but I think that the positives of the open approach far outweigh the negatives.
Comments
Posted by: Nicole Sharp
Posted on: March 27, 2006 08:58 AM
It seems to me that the practice of taping might lend itself even better to your opensource analogy. Some bands will openly allow fans to record their shows, which are then traded online (legally!) through sites like DIME and Etree. It's a great way to let fans of a band connect, and it's also good for the band because it can expose their music to new people, who will be more likely to come to a concert or pick up an album later.