by Robert van Alstyne
I recently attended the CMJ Music Marathon, a showcase for hundreds of on-the-rise independent music acts that essentially takes over the Lower East Side of Manhattan for a five-day stretch. In addition to the expected sight of lots of fashionistos in exceptionally tight pants, the festival stood out for what I wasn’t seeing.
I’d grown accustomed, over about the past five years, to seeing a significant chunk of concert attendees digitally capturing the experience. What began in the early 2000s as a few plucky digital-camera-toting superfans had gradually become a full-blown amateur paparazzi fest at many gigs. At particularly trendy shows here in the Twin Cities in recent years, it wasn’t uncommon to catch dozens of crowd members snapping pics on their smartphones or tweeting the band’s latest song choice. But more lately crowds seem to have fallen out of love with documentation.
The nearly picture-taking-free crowds I encountered at every CMJ gig I attended confirmed my suspicions. Consumers (particularly the Millennials who made up the majority of the goers) are getting over the urge to digitally chronicle every experience they have. They’re realizing that shoddy user-generated content isn’t worth anyone’s time, including their own.
Delivering effective in-the-moment mobile media means giving consumers content that deepens their experience (location-aware apps that unlock bonus content on mobile devices, high-quality multimedia mementos of the experience) rather than distancing them further. Now if only we could do something about those pants.
