paulbailey.us

RIP NetNewMusic 2008-2010

it started off with such promise, a real online ‘clubhouse’ for an fiercely independent, eccentric, and highly opinionated art music community on the interwebs. throughout it’s short existence it’s become a cautionary tale for how new music social networks might be organized with some sense of shared vision.

as a founding member (and a very short-lived site admin) it became clear that the “my way or the high way” management style didn’t really mix well with the many unique and idiosyncratic personalities that an art music site attracts. over time NetNewMusic became a ghost town as less people were willing to be a party to the backstage drama and personal attacks by it’s founder jeff harrington.

the bottom line here is that we are all dealing with the limitations of one person running a social network based on their personal eccentricities and narcissistic traits.

these might be useful traits in an artist, but they don’t lend themselves to running a social network.

i think we all owe jeff a lot for the hard work he has put in promoting the new music community online, but his day to day management of NNM has made it impossible for many of us to participate. right now i’m not sure what a post-NNM new music community will look like, but i’m pretty sure it will be based on a shared vision and hope many of those who were chased away will participate in wherever we choose to reorganize.

picture courtesy of jeff harrington

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Related posts:

1. Soundcloud.com
2. social networking in music
3. zeitgeist (nov 2008)
4. Minimalist Music Theatre: WNYC New Sounds Podcast (2008)
5. RealNewMusic 2008

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 8:51 am. It is filed under blog and tagged with jeff harrington, NetNewMusic, social networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.