„Yo dawg, let’s turn the music back on“

Quality of life. This is what it means to be able to live in Austria. Freshly grown produce, the latest electronics, the newest movies, the cleanest streets and a subway that comes on time. Locally receive International quality with zero delay. These things are provided, they are available ready for the taking. The same applies to music, you can have the latest and greatest from the international scene. Songs you have heard a million times duly supplied if you wish to hear them another million times. What people tend to forget is that there is a plethora of home grown, fresh local music talent available. There is bubbly Pop, tasty House, shredded Metal, pumping Punk, flowing Hip Hop and eclectic Techno to name but a few, all made, produced and rendered right here in Austria. Ripe and ready for the picking, and it doesn’t require you to look to your radio stations and TV to get it.

Thankfully, for the first time in forever we got blessed with virality that exposed something that is close to the heart of many, the state of Austrian music scene. Lo and Behold, it is not sick, it is not dying, it is in fact, alive and well and finally seems to have found its voice, by proxy. During the aftermath of the Lichtenegger video leak someone quite apparently got a little tardy with their homework and consequently initialized a phenomenon known as the „Streisand Effect“ that allowed the topic to unfold to fuller effect. Oh boy time to quote Wikipedia!

„The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.“

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

Overall I’d say that wasn’t the wisest of moves. Try to hide it from me and as result I will almost definitely want to see it. Congrats, you have just sparked my interest paired with an inherently interesting subject matter and you’ve got yourself a poopstorm.

First World Problems they call it. A unique luxury to have. It might seem silly at times but it does signify a few important things. Firstly, if you have the time to deal with this kind of shit then you are probably quite well off in the grander scheme of things and, more importantly, will have the time and resources available to you to not just know about it in the first place but be in the position to actively do something about it.

Initial reactions to a controversial online statement usually consist of spite and ridicule. Alas, as far as the internet goes Facebook and Comment functions on online newspapers are very tame places. In those terms Madame Lichtenegger can count herself lucky to not have stumbled over a topic that people on 4chan or Reddit care about, for the Trolls there are much, much hungrier. Of course the ensuing discussion, analysis and overanalysis of the situation often appears childish and careless. Feelings get hurt, reputations squashed and hearts broken, just another day on the Internet. Some might call it a necessary sacrifice that finally shed a big light on a problem that has been festering inside the soul of the Austrian music scene for a long time. Gaining exposure or even virality on musically or culturally relevant topics in an ecosystem that is populated by cute cat videos, Game of Thrones spoilers and Angelina Jolie’s latest adoption is an uphill battle at best, yet this time we got lucky, more importantly, we got talking. Talking about Music.

Many of you will have undoubtedly seen Walter Gröbchen’s recent contribution to the Presse entitled „Keine gute Musik aus Österreich für Ö3? Unerhört!“. One might argue that it was simply an exercise in name dropping, a clever move in terms of SEO. However, it is a compelling list, that not only showcases a wide range of local names and talent but serves as trail of breadcrumbs for the crafty digital native that will be swift in entering these keywords into a search engine or client service of choice and get rewarded with any number of music, videos and media instantly be it from Spotify, Youtube, Reverbnation and so forth.

Traditional media will and should always have a place in this world as a source of both information and entertainment. Yet it is certain that the importance and reach of TV, Radio and Print Media has scaled back immensely in recent times and in the dying embers of this age old flame alternative means of distribution have swiftly risen into more than veritable platforms that are filled to the brim with an unfathomable amount of amazing content that is available at any time, anywhere and often times free of charge. You all have smartphones and computers, start using them.

True rebellion against all authorities does not equate to complaining about the status quo. Action is required. If you are not interested in what the big dogs are playing or saying then noone is forcing you to participate. Nowadays you should be aware that your information has long gone public, is known to others and that they will use it. Equally and in turn all the information is available to you as well. You get what you give. Big Data. Your unique taste and opinions no longer need be dictated by mainstream media but rather by your personal whims. The true power of a seemingly minute action like an upvote or a like is underestimated at best, it may just be the best form of democracy that we have come up with yet and unintentionally at that. So, go on and support your favorite bands, be they local or international. Sometimes it’s by going to a live gig, other times it’s by purchasing a cd and sometimes it’s as simple as a click of a button. Truly great content will eventually win out.

So, to give you a straight answer: How do you convince someone to do something?

Ask them what they would like to do.

– written by Nikki

Check out more Artists we have worked with:

*Commentary* – Vienna GAME CITY Preview Maschaschreibt *Photo Review* – Popfest 2014 *Review* – Propella, Gin Ga & Francis International Airport @ DKT *Review* – Teenage Riot Festival @ Arena *Review* – I-Wolf and the Chainreactions & She and the Junkies @ Donaukanaltreiben *Band Feature* – Virginia Ernst *Photo Review* – Overdrive Encore Festival 2014 Nat Osborn Band, live @ Albertina Passage *Link Up* – Scenesters‘ Austrian Music Blog Wallis Bird & Chris Shermer – live @ Arena Truckfighters, White Miles and Valley of the Sun – live @ Chelsea „Salomon’s Wrong Choice“ Kung Fu Kitty – live @ U4 *Music Video* – – Daya Rouge – Succeed Rockvideos.at FM Clara Blume’s Singer Songwriter Circus @ Porgy & Bess *Photo Review* Gnackwatschn, Freytag & Anplagt @ Local