Mashing the materials of digital culture: |
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From the Marshall High School talent performance in 2006. |
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One might imagine that Call On Me has inspired thousands of talent-performance acts in high schools and colleges around the Western world. Nothing strange about that; such acts have always been the staple of general student performances. The difference is that today, many of those acts are recorded and end up on video sites within hours of their performance. In the old days I would never have seen Chad Kalkowski and Ralph Ramon jamming at Marshall High. This may seem insignificant, but it does in fact tell us something important about penetration and swarming phenomena in the world of new media. An example that comes to mind is the worldwide breakthrough of artists such as Lily Allen following publication of home-made music at MySpace. |
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