A capable, convincing polemic against user-generated culture

Andrew Keen begins his polemic, in which he argues that (as the title rather flatly explains) the increasing popularity of user-generated content on websites and the media at large is destroying our economy, culture, and values, by explaining that he is no luddite--in fact, he is an ex-Silicon Valley guru who has "awoken" to a terrible future.

This future, he explains, became clear to him while "Web 2.0" was still in the making. On an elite camping expedition with colleagues several years ago, the buzzword was "democratization." His peers were infatuated with the idea that anybody on the Internet could now have a voice--they could be commentators and journalists, filmmakers, musicians, creative writers. And the best part is, they could have no experience. Democratization to his peers meant the empowerment of the amateur. Thus begins a detailed and largely convincing argument that this is not, in fact, a healthy direction for our technology to take.

One consistent problem plagues the book from cover to cover--each industry that Keen claims is being destroyed by user-generated content has very unique nuances and reasons for its specific situation at our point in history, and Web 2.0, with its Myspace, YouTube, Wikipedia, Epinions, deviantART, and blogs have filled a hole that just so happens to have arisen in each of those industries at the same point in time, generally by changes in the Internet itself and each industry's failure to adapt in a timely manner. Nonetheless, Keen approaches each industry individually and it is easy to follow along with--agreeing and disagreeing as one will--with his claims. Often one will disagree. However, many of his points are valid and many of the concerns he raises indisputably must be addressed.

Following a painfully repetitive and largely factless quarter of the book, in which one might be strongly tempted to set it aside and never read it again--the book begins its industry-by-industry analysis, and this is where things get engrossing. I will not cover all the topics Keen covers, but I will discuss the highlights.

The Music and Film Industry: Discussed separately in the book, both are a perfect example of Keen's tone and selectiveness, balanced by thorough research and insight. His journalistic reporting on the effects of Myspace, PureVolume, iTunes, Amazon, and other websites and filesharing on the music industry is a strong centerpiece. On one hand, this involves beating a long-dead horse: the illegal trading of music (and now videos) has caused sales to plummet. This has caused many independent and corporate record stores to close shop and only further conglomerated media companies. The expertise of record shop employees has been replaced by unaccountable and possibly uninformed voices on websites such as Amazon. New bands have faced smaller budgets for recording albums, and are signed largely due to their ability to gather a large following on their own rather than being heavily promoted, often signed en mass and expected to continue their own promotions. Often, this popularity itself is questionable, with websites such as Myspace being prone to spambots--when there are even programs available to automatically add friends for you, does the number of Myspace friends you have or listens you have say anything about the quality of your music? And, if such changes do affect peoples tastes over time as a simulated culture forms, will it follow any natural pattern that speaks to the heart and soul of listeners, or will it just be the obvious popularity contest that it is, with whoever spams the loudest winning bigger budgets?

Keen shares insight from a conversation with Paul Simon, in which Simon is diametrically opposed to Web 2.0, but--with all vast due respond for Paul Simon--this is not his era. It would be more prudent to acquire information, at least additionally, from modern indie bands that have acquired some level of success and detail their struggles. Further, what do modern yet experienced bands such as Radiohead, who released In Rainbows first online and left the price up to the consumer, have to say about Web 2.0?

Keen envisions a future in which talentless hacks have the ability to clog us down with non-music, and talent goes unrecognized. And whereas he presents a strong case, our own experiences show that this is only half true. Any member of Myspace who has genuinely used the website to search for new music can testify that there are a virtually unlimited number of unserious and untalented band pages. At the same time, Keen's "cult of the amateur" provides a system for determining music that is of reasonable quality. If I like a certain band, I can search for bands that self-declare the same band as their influence or for having a similar sound. Further, the social networking aspect enables you to find bands your favorite bands are affiliated with. This might not be a perfect system, and it might not have the knowledgeable intelligence of a seasoned record store music aficionado, but it is not chaos.

Further, the lowering of major label budgets is simultaneously complimented by lower-cost, often freeware or shareware music software developed by an Internet culture of freely available technology. This is music software for musicians, developed by musicians, and at a cost substantially lower than that of the major companies which cater to professional studios. More and more bands have the capabilities of self-producing or, at minimum, acquiring quality levels and a diversity of sound previously only available on expensive studio time.

Nonetheless, the statistics and jobs lost are staggering, but one is left to wonder if this is a sign of a stark, banal future, or a still-blossoming change encompassing one end of the industry to the other which, necessarily, will result in wrinkles the size of mountains and valleys to be ironed out. The best point Keen makes--the biggest wrinkle, that is--is where will money come from? With people grabbing one or two iTune tracks for 99 cents at best rather than buying an $18 album, profits are plummeting faster and faster. Ideas thus far in the industry are unthinkable--releasing music completely for free, but with interrupting advertisements layered over the music for soft drinks and condoms. And, of course, "art gallery pricing" at big stadiums to support the career of a five-member band isn't exactly possible without years and years of momentum, luck, and big-budget PR.

The movie industry, similarly, is looking at a future where their gigantic budgets for special effects, or movies such as Pixar's, may be impossible. But does this mean we will be watching dogs chase their own tales or immature, sordid videos on YouTube? And if actors require millions of dollars, perhaps this to some degree will be the end of overpriced celebrity.

Politics and News: The Internet's democratizing effects have had mixed results on our news. Rumors have spread quicker than ever. What's on the Internet is often mistaken as absolute truth despite anonymity. Keen argues that blogs by highschoolers are being taken as seriously as news anchors with careers on the line and schooling in ethics, as well as corporations with a reputation to maintain. Further, despite the due bias against corporate media, they do in fact have the legal power to challenge government when need be. There are no bloggers who could have uncovered The Watergate Scandal.

Still, the ability for people to read a blog written from Israel or Palestine rather than listen to an anchor report from the region has its obvious benefits. And only time will tell if we will continue to easily succumb to being fooled by partisan propaganda disguised as amateur content.

Overall, Keen's polemic is full of facts and well-researched content, albeit often taken a step too far. His topics range from the discussed above, to the widespread viewing of pornography by minors and changing roles of sexuality, to search engine algorithms actually reflecting our previous searches rather than new or objective information--Google, for example, increases pagerank according to how many clicks it receives, something few are aware of. Keen argues that this is not wisdom, but inference.

While sometimes irritating in its lack of objectivity, this book raises many valid points that must be considered, and reminds us of some perils that have yet to be cured--credit card fraud, for example--that are only being exacberated by new Internet technologies.

This is an important read for particularly artists of all media, as well as those who have any significant time or monetary investment in the Internet.