Does Fan Labour Exploit or Empower Internet Users?

Nancy Baym, author of Online Fandom and Communications Professor at the University of Kansas has published a new paper, entitled Fan Labor: Exploitation or Empowerment?, researching whether Web 2.0 exploits or empower fans.

The paper uses the Swedish independent music scene as a case study. I was priviliged, as one half of Tack!Tack!Tack!, to be one of those interviewed.

The paper can be read here

The article was picked up by Techdirt here last week, and by Nic Brisbourne's The Equity Kicker, amongst other online news sources.

A big week for music based internet startups

This week both Spotify and Soundcloud come out of beta mode, and open up to the the public at large.

Spotify announced their launch last night with the following video.


Spotify – the story from Spotify on Vimeo.



SoundCloud is due to launch on friday. I may as well chuck in their video for good measure too


SoundCloud: The Tour from SoundCloud on Vimeo.


Without beating around the bush, both of these are killer applications (both serving very different needs) and point to the future of music websites acting as utilities, with a plethora of content stored centrally as opposed to being on a user's computer.