on being the bestest little media consumer ever

[jlh]

or, a bit of a rant in list form. Let's review with new-new information, shall we?

• books:
  
  • Purchase books in hardcover and only at independent bookstores--not in chains, not online unless it is an online retailer who supports independent bookstores
    
  • If your local independent bookstore doesn't sell books in the genre you read (frequently true of romance, YA, really any genre but mystery) then you have a special dispensation to use one of the online retailers that supports independent bookstores
    
  • Know the precise copyright status of all works you may want to read, however obscure, to avoid downloading misrepresented works from Project Gutenberg
  
  
• music:
  
  • Purchase within first week of release.
    
  • Know the details of the artist's deal with the label to know whether buying downloads or physical CDs gives them more royalties, and which download retailers are appropriate
    
  • If purchasing physical CDs, buy from independent record stores--not in chains (oops, there aren't any anymore), not online. If possible purchase directly from the artist.
    
  • Go to as many shows as possible. Purchase merchandise at said shows but only after doublechecking on artist website (artist's own website, not the site set up by the label--know the difference!) which vendors are okay to purchase from
  
  
• movies:
  
  • See film in theater during first weekend of release
    
  • Purchase DVD within first week of release, as seeing film in the theater is not adequate for appropriate support of film
    
  • As few independent movie retailers exist, special dispensation for buying DVDs at chain stores or online
  
  
• television:
  
  • Watch the show live; try to bribe your way into being a permanent Nielsen family. Do not watch on Hulu, or the network website unless you have been asked to do so by the show's creator.
    
  • Do not watch on your DVR
    
  • Purchase full season DVD within first week of release, as watching program on your television is not adequate for appropriate support of program
    
  • As few independent movie retailers exist, special dispensation for buying DVDs at chain stores or online
  
  
• comics and manga:
  
  • Purchase single issues of comics
    
  • Purchase only at independent comic stores--not in bookstore chains, not online unless it is an online retailer who supports independent bookstores

When did media consumption go from seeking out and enjoying things to becoming a personal responsibility to supporting entire industries by purchasing things that I might not want in a specific manner that varies from week to week, item to item. When it went from reading books I enjoy and perhaps talking about them with friends, or watching a TV show or going to see a movie or a band or listening to some music, and this constant haranguing about how if I'm not buying, buying, buying then I'm not doing my part. I have to say, it's very difficult to keep up with which of the many entirely legal methods I have at my disposal to consume culture are the bestest best ones that the creators of that culture want me to employ.

Back in the early 90s I lived in West Philadelphia, which was a fairly rough neighborhood--bulletproof glass at the KFC, that sort of thing. The grocery store had a glass booth above the front door from which the manager watched the goings-on; it was like shopping in a panopticon. I always felt like they were just waiting for me to steal something, which of course made me want to do so, even though I've actually never shoplifted. It's unsettling to be treated like a criminal before one has done anything!

But I have to say, that's the way that creator statements have been making me feel for a few years now--like I'm already a thief. I totally understand the crisis that the media industry as a whole is in. And I go to movies, I watch TV shows, I actually buy CDs (and am made fun of for it); I try not to steal stuff. But that isn't enough. I have to buy, buy, buy. I'm urged to buy manga that I don't want to read to make up for the scanslations that I'm also not reading, and when I don't I'm scolded and made to feel guilty that contracts weren't renewed. I'm urged to buy all seasons of all TV shows that I enjoy, all movies I've seen in the theaters. (The funny thing is how often this message comes from folks who have vaguely leftist, skeptical-of-capitalism politics.)

I don't know, man. I would just like to not feel like a bad consumer for buying CDs on sale at Target several months after their release, or borrowing books from friends, or enjoying shows on TV or movies in the theater (or on TV) that I'm not going to buy on DVD. It's ... exhausting.

Comments

[dana_kujan]

Who are these rich assholes that you know? Where do these hipsters hang out so that I may avoid them?

Honestly, this attitude is so divorced from the economic realities of the majority of Americans right now, I can't even process it. A lot of folks I know, in real life and on-line, just don't have the luxury of worrying about billion dollar industries or the millionaires that entertain us.

My household is a family of three supported by one income. We clip coupons. We use the library reserve queue. We go to the movies about once every 24 months. Pardon me if I don't have the time, energy, or finances to worry about Elton John's next $100,000 shopping spree.

I don't think anyone should have to apologize for putting her own economic welfare first.

[jlh]

It's mostly creators, but then it's also that I know a lot of writers who are freaking out all the time. So it's less about peer pressure and more about direct pressure from the creators to the consumers.

And definitely not about millionaire superstars, but about like, a random novelist who still has a day job, or musicians that are barely eking out tour money. So it's not about the famous people; it's about the lower tiers of that.

But no, I think the economic argument is important here, but yeah, definitely not talking about Elton John.

[dana_kujan]

So, basically, they try to pressure friends and acquaintances into supplementing their income. Who does that? They're still assholes, if hipster doofus assholes. Your household budget shouldn't be put in jeopardy because they want to feel more successful. They want to feel more successful? Tell them to work harder at promoting their art. Everywhere. All the time.

[jlh]

Well, that's sort of what they're doing.

I think one of the problems I keep running into is that someone who I know has an LJ, whatever. Then they start working on a project. Then the project gets picked up. And then suddenly when the project is ready, their LJ transforms from just, you know, an LJ to part of their promotional machine, and becomes about their book tour and how people should stop stealing (even though I know for a fact that some of these people are downloading TV shows, because they're watching shows not available in their countries yet) and all this other stuff, and suddenly you're not following the personal blog of someone you know written for an audience of friends, but the marketing tool of a professional writer written for an audience of fans, and it happens fairly gradually and then what? Do you defriend?

My friend Julie is a romance novelist and she has two Facebook pages, one for her pen name and one under her real name that she doesn't let fans be friends of (she just steers them to the other FB page). Under her real name is just a FB page, you know, where she talks about work as much as other people do but just as the job she has. And she might say "hey my book came out today!" or "hey I'm on tour!" but just as a thing she's doing.

So I wouldn't say that they are trying to pressure people into supplementing their income so much as a community grows up around creative people and they all try to support each other; that's a lot of what I saw when I was hanging out with a lot of indie bands in the 90s. Everyone went to each other's shows and stuff like that. But it was very casual and informal, just part of being in the scene. I feel like indie comics are sort of the same? But this whole YA book scene, man, it's just sort of never ending and I need to figure out where the lines are because it's unsettling.

[ivyblossom]

Interesting. Who signed the deal in the first place? Writers and artists opt into this system. If they don't like the big machine, they can go independent. ani difranco did it. Atom Agoyan does it. These are people who used to (or would) own copyright of something but sold it for money. Then they want you to behave in certain ways to conform to perfect (for their distribution companies) media consumption?

I'm sympathetic, but it's their economic model that's broken, not your consumption habits.

[jlh]

Yeah, I guess they want you to consume in the specific ways that the corporations are using to measure success. And the problem is really in that the corporations aren't using all purchases/all legal viewing methods to measure success, even when people's viewing habits have changed so much, and part of that is that the measurements that are used can't keep up with how people actually live their lives. So the creators want the opportunity to create again, or to keep creating what they're creating. I think the case of the comic I was reading is the most egregious; Val lent me the two volumes of Phonogram which I really loved and I happened to mention to a friend who works in comics that I'd read them and he said "Yeah, it didn't do that well in single-issue sales, so there won't be any more." And until he said that I was all set to go buy the comic myself, but I haven't because big deal, three years later the creators get like a buck to split between them when I spend $20 or so on the two volumes, and if they got an advance then they won't get anything at all. That is some kind of disincentive to purchase.

I dunno, I read someone's blog post about how they're not going to make their advance back, but lots of people have torrented the book, and I feel so guilty, like I must BUY ALL THE BOOKS because other people torrent them.

[ivyblossom]

And this is what is awesome about you. Your great big heart to match your great big brain!

<3 <3

Broken economic model, though. Those industries need to change or die.

[havocthecat]

It's ... exhausting.

I was about to comment with "that sounds very tiring," but you've summed it up pretty well. IDK, I don't know of anyone who has the time or energy (or money) to be a "proper" consumer of media.

I mostly ignore posts where people tell me not to do something except for in a certain, specific, approved-by-them way. Not because I don't care, because I do, but because I just can't keep up.

ETA: In case I wasn't clear, I don't think you're trying to tell me a specific way to consume my media.

[jlh]

Oh, I know. It was really more of a round-up of all the stuff people say, and yeah, it's really exhausting. And then last night I heard about something even more hard core than anything above, and it was like, you know, it's no wonder why certain industries are dying!

[kitty_wake]

What harm am I doing to the publishing industry by only buying second-hand books? Pretty much all the books I want or need, I can find second-hand! (I suppose I'm helping out either a charity or a small business, though, given the places I get my books...)

It's never really occurred to me to buy my media products based on any criteria other than what's best for me - what I want, and where I can get it cheapest. (Or, in some cases, where I can get it at all.) Maybe I should put a little more thought into it, but nothing's going to make me go and see every movie I think looks vaguely half-decent on its opening weekend, and it took me, like, a year to buy a DVD of Inglourious Basterds after I saw it in the cinema. Nothing's going to make me buy any more Glee DVDs (even though I am enjoying S2 more than I thought I would). Nothing's going to make me revise for a trip to HMV - not that I doubt the musicians on most of my CDs really care, being dead. And now I have a full set of Die Rosen von Versailles from Carlsen comics, I'm not that fussed about getting a legal, and probably horrendously pricey, Rose of Versailles. (Can't I just get a scanlation if I don't want to read German?)

I think I'm having a hard time making myself care because I don't always want what everyone else does.

[jlh]

yeah. I know what you mean, clearly! I guess the disincentive is, when you buy things later then it's just part of the ongoing studio/label/publishing house revenue stream, and isn't like, a vote that you want more things like THAT. That's really the difference. It's like, "yay, you didn't steal." Which doesn't feel like its own reward anymore.

[elements]

Agreed with everyone that it's their economic model that's broken.

Like, why is the Modern Family guy worried that his show isn't getting "credit" for its online views? It's because the industry isn't doing enough to take its Hulu etc viewers seriously, and that online viewing is still being monetized as a loss leader with the intent of driving people to watch live TV, in spite of the fact that clearly the direction of consumers is the exact opposite. Like, if Modern Family goes off Hulu, then I don't watch it at all - and I only ever did because I saw a Hulu ad for it and it seemed cool. So, grr, dude, get a grip and think about how your studio could be better serving your show by working *with* the audiences online.

In terms of what I buy I try to just balance it between my personal budget limits and where I know the dollars matter most. It's hard with music cos either it's super indie and I get it with cash from the band at their gig, and they made it on their own without a label, and it's all good, or it's someone like Adam Lambert and then my feelings get all complicated in terms of wanting to support an artist I have warm fuzzies toward, but knowing it's mainly going to the 19E machine. For mainstream stuff like that I figure well at least I can try to buy it right away if I think it might matter to the artist's future sales potential in the studio's eyes or whatever.

With books, I figure I can buy back catalogs dirt cheap and focus my limited spending on when it counts. So I shelled out top prices for the hardcover of Naomi Novik's book when she did a signing at our local genre independent, but when I suddenly went nuts for Lois McMaster Bujold I bought all used, at the indie when they had them but online if not, and then got her very latest on preorder and in hardcover. I figure it's all a question of my honest assessment of who's in most need of my hardcover dollars, and whether I even want to own the book or in hardcover anyway. So I've lent the latest Bujold to several people already, diluting its impact, but those people weren't going to buy it new anyway. And when Sarah Rees Brennan's newest book comes out of course I'll get it right away. But if I don't *know* the person, they don't demand friend-level loyalty from me. They demand warm-fuzzy-level loyalty, and that needs to balance with my own life needs. And it's not my job to help prop up dying industries just because some good people are going down with the ship.

[jlh]

The Modern Family guy is an idiot for so many reasons. I mean, at least the people watching on Hulu and abc.com are being counted. If I'm watching my tv and I'm not a Nielsen family, I'm not counted at all.

And it's not my job to help prop up dying industries just because some good people are going down with the ship.

That's a really good way of thinking about it. I need to remember that. I do tend to feel very guilty and responsible for things!