Introductions.

Well hello, and welcome to my blog for MSTU2000 - Music subcultures and the Media. I've chosen the name 'indie nation superfly-way' for this blog, and the word 'hipsternet' for the address. I hope that these are sufficiently clever little cues for the fact that I plan to talk about indie and the internet!

While we could look at practically any modern music subculture within the context of the world wide web, I find indie to be a particularly interesting case. On the one hand the internet has the potential to be an absolute boon to the serious indie fan. The ability to find out about artists, shows, venues online, to collect records or show posters, and to download music - and to do all of this sooner or better than other hipsters - makes the internet a veritable treasure trove for subcultural capital (to borrow Sarah Thornton's term). On the other hand, the indie fan's activities are unlikely to be restricted to solo internet browsing. The acquisition of this subcultural capital only forms one side of the equation - the other being the act of displaying or passing on this superior knowledge.

This brings me to my particular area of research interest. I plan to use this blog to look at ways in which:

1. The internet is used to mediate or facilitate real-life activities relevant to the indie subculture.

2. The ways that online resources popular with this subculture have been set up to facilitate 'indie discourse'. That is, how websites and other tools allow fans not only to find music, but to regulate the boundaries of their subculture - engage in discussions of 'who found it first' or 'what is good taste'.

I'm also particularly interested in comparing what I find with articles from the not-so-distant past. Essays that I have read so far for this course - such as Sean Ebare in 2004 and Ryan Hibbett in 2005 - have much to say about how the internet has played a role in subculture, or may do in the future. What is astonishing (and a little scary) about reading these articles is how in half a decade, the online examples they refer to are dated or completely obsolete. However, I'm mindful of the fact that the concepts they discuss may still be absolutely relevant - or even that predictions academics make about the online landscape may come to pass. The beauty of a project such as this blog and the resultant essay, compiled over a short period of time by a rank amateur undergrad, is that I can draw upon peer reviewed scholarship to comment on online developments almost as they are happening.

That is to say, I'm looking forward to this blog project and to writing my essay!