An associate professor of informatics at Indiana University named John C. Paolillo authored a study called Linguistic Diversity in the Digital World. He says Internet linguistic diversity is far less than actual global linguistic diversity, and even less than that experienced in many countries in the world. "The results are significant because they contradict the popular notion that linguistics diversity on the net is on the rise," said Paolillo. If this is a pattern with language diversity on the Web, how might this affect music diversity on the Web?
For one, we are already seeing many musicians from around the world weaving more English into their lyrics. Certain major broadcast media outlets will only consider interviewing a musician if they speak clear and fluent English. This leads to record labels and managers to seek artists with English language skills. And certainly many a music industry professional has pondered "What if we put one song in English on the album?"
Some ask whether the cross-cultural connections that are made thanks to new technology outweigh the same technology's impact on increased cultural homogenization. Maybe there is a third path where bridges are built while simultaneously keeping ties to linguistic and cultural roots. Not for the sake of preserving rigid traditions, but for the sake of having a broader palette of sounds and values to draw upon in the future. If bridges are not built across cultures, providing music listeners with context, musical diversity will likely be overshadowed by forces of economic and political dominance of some cultural groups over others. And then there are the cultural hybrids that no fast food chain or media conglomerate could ever stop.
Can emerging technologies for filtering and discovering music help energize and revitalize traditional music forms? There have been many historic instances where interest in a traditional music form or instrument came from "the outside" spurring musicians or instrument-builders to blow on the embers of a dying tradition, beginning a come back. It's possible that, with the right tools, the new possiblities of pan-global discovery could do the same with greater frequency. DubMC wants to hear about those emerging tools...
DubMC.com is the brainchild of Dmitri Vietze and is sponsored by rock paper scissors, inc., world music publicity firm.
