I’ve seen a lot in my days as an mp3 blogger. I’ve seen the rise of buzz bands, the backlash against bands, mediocre bands become ‘great’, and even bands that are ‘good’ get close to no coverage. Sometimes I wonder ‘how does the modern music industry work?’
If you were starting a band today, what would you do to make sure that you ‘made it’? Do you feel like you have to ‘make the best music possible’ and expect a solid network of followers to automatically warm up to you? Or do you feel like there is a ‘game’ which must be played in order to ‘make it’?
In our modern world, 99% of ‘bands’ could be defined as groups of people who created a myspace page and uploaded 1.5 songs. These people have no vision of the modern landscape, and do not understand what it takes to grow into a ‘band worth following.’ While the ‘live performance’ is eventually a critical element in a band’s rise to prominence, there is a game which can be played on the internet to achieve success.
Your band must invade the Perception Economy. Your Band must no longer be a band. Your band must be a meme. A Meme Which Generates subMemes. These memes must be compelling, intriguing, and interesting enough for people to ‘follow’ or at least think that you are ‘worth following.’
Your band is a meme is based upon these principles:
- A meme is a unit of information.
- A meme is consumed piece of information.
- Memes are exchanged from human to human.
- There are ways to tap into a meme economy in order to make your memes seem ‘more important than they really are.’
- Your band can be ‘good’ or ‘bad in a good way’, but it must be a followable meme.
The modern band is not just about ‘music.’ The modern band must successfully win over fans by finding effective methods to generate themselves into a meme-source worth following. You are more than just your music. You are an aesthetic. You are the news that bros every where need to read about. You need to picture a world where you have at least 20K twitter followers who are eager to follow your lifestream on a meme-to-meme basis.
How do bands get successful? Are they ’smart’? Is it chance/luck? Is there a general template, or steps towards success for creating a highly ‘relevant’ band in the modern world?
There is an opportunity for your band to do this. You must take each step slowly, remember above all that your band is a meme. Some of these steps can be interchanged, and not every step is for every genre of music. However, this is generally how things work in the alt-indie genre.
Your band is a meme, which slowly injects the meme economy with new memes that make your band seem ‘more important.’ While your band will always be a group of friends/bros, the perception of your band will grow as the memes which you generate continue to seem ‘more important.’
UNDERSTANDING THE MUSIC MEME ECONOMY
While the music meme economy may seem like a daunting place to enter, if you have confidence in your band’s product, and one hit single that syncs up with the current popular & respected aesthetics, your band can invade the Music Memesphere.
You must understand every force that impacts the music memesphere, and how these economies interact with one another.
click to enlarge
These are the Elements of the MUSIC MEMESPHERE:
….continue reading….
- BAND GENERATED MEMES – These are units of information which are generated by the bands themselves. Bands with more creativity and personality tend to create the best memes. However, bands have been successful being ‘cryptic’ and ‘weird’ in recent years. The bigger your band is, the less you have to do to create a gimmicky meme that people want to follow. The MP3 is pretty important, but not always as important for certain bands.
- THE TASTEMAKING MEME AGGREGATING & CONTENT FILTERING SERVICE INDUSTRY – These have replaced magazines and the radio as the optimal sources for music. These services & openly-biased news/meme sources are meant to build trust with consumers. Whether it is an algorithm to filter new music, a team of bros who love music writing about new bands, or just some bitter ass hole who ‘couldn’t make it as a band’ and decided to ‘cultivate influence’ any way he can, these are all providing a service to consumers. They all work together. While it may seem that they are covering ‘different niches’, they all sort of balance eachother out.
- MUSIC MAGAZINES AND RADIO – These make modern people feel sad and constraint. These put a bottle neck on consumer individuality, feeling like they only see a ‘limited snapshot’ of what is available. Minimal ‘personal relationship building’ means less authenticity and less trust. When a band is viewed as ‘relevant’ from these sources, people who like them are either ’stupid’, ‘just want to fit in’, or ‘ironically like the band/artist.’
- REGULAR PEOPLE/CONSUMERS – These are consumers like you or me. We want to listen to music and populate our iPods for different reasons. Some people enjoy ‘hunting for music.’ Others just get it from friends. Humans are at the tail end of the meme trail, but they do create a demand for memes which can sometimes force a band to exhaust their presence.
This is how the modern music industry works. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee for monetization. All you can do is become ‘followable’ and possibly ‘respected’/'critically acclaimed’, but that does not mean you have earned the right to ‘deserve to get paid for it.’
Music Memes are simple. If you are big/relevant/followable enough, everything that your band does is a meme that is worth being ‘covered’ by an outlet from the Tastemaking + Content Filtering Economy. Your ultimate goal should be sustainability, and willingness to adapt to change and embrace new content filtering+aggregation services.
MUSIC MEMES IN ACTION
Every thing generated by a band is a meme. Whether it is deliberate or unintentional. Modern brand management means controlling the memes that your band/entity generates.
Ben Gibbard getting Stung by a Scorpion = a meme
Ben Gibbard getting Stung by a Scorpion = a HIGHLY BLGGBL MEME [via 'getting the opportunity to cover DCFC']
If your band is big enough, something as simple as ‘wearing plaid’ or ‘being kute’ can be a meme.
Photo by Gorilla Vs Bear
The name of the band NATALIE PORTMAN’S SHAVED HEAD, and this song that isn’t even good, and this music video that is ‘zany’ and seems ‘funnily bloggable.’
and convincing people that u r a ‘zany meme worth following’
Becoming a ‘Popular Song’/'popular blog’ on a ‘relevant’ mp3 aggregator that has more/less influence than people think
Posting pictures of the live performance of a relevant band in a relevant city
Having a baby/retiring/unretiring
Creating an experience on the internet that is more authentic than other experiences/memes that are generated+consumed on the internet
An album leaking + accidentally/intentionally injecting your band into the leak meme coverage
A new MP3 by a ‘kinda unknown’ band posted by an authentic music blog
Being in an advertisement for a product that is widely consumed by the global economy.
Remixing a band for the sake of piggybacking/exploiting the band that is bigger than your band/meme/entity
It does not matter how ‘important’ or ‘unimportant’ these events/memes, they are all consumed, and passed from bro-to-bro.
Your Band Must Keep These In Mind.
- Do not FORCE memes on consumers.
- Make sure your memes are either original, or do a good job of copying pre-existing memes.
- Know your band. Know your memes. Know your audience.
- Don’t feel entitled to anything. Your band’s existence is a journey.
- Do not rebel against the biggest news sources. You must embrace them/manipulate them. There is no other way. Become bros.
- Don’t waste your day friending tweens on myspace/random twitter followers. This is the illusion of progress. You are not entering into the heart of the Music Meme Economy by doing this.
- The tastemaking economy may or may not be more important/fun than bands themselves.
- Making+filtering memes = responsibility.
- Every one, every band, and every website is searching for authenticity on their own terms.
- Every one, every band, and every website is searching for a way to make money on any one’s terms.
- Memes can be simple or complex. Usually the more ‘organic’ a meme-birth is, the more likely the meme is to help your brand.
- There are downsides to creating a fan base with a high demand for your memes, including lack of personal privacy and album leaks.
If you fully understand the music meme economy, your band can become 300-500% more relevant than it is now. It does not matter which city you live in, how old you are, or your level of education. There is a high demand for music memes these days, and as more people become ‘more passionate’ about music, the demand for memes will increase. You must capitalize on this.
We Are All Part of The Music Memesphere.
This post was written by Carles–a modern music critic, respected meme analysis guru, and alternative business expert. For consulting services and speaking engagements, contact Carles at carleser [at] gmail.com. Visit his weblog at www.hipsterrunoff.com
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IAmCarles.com
52 Comments
First is a classic meme.
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//////////Reply by thATCHER
//////////Posted March 26th, 2009 at 4:24 am
@Herpesterrunnoff,
old meme bro, old meme.
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//////////Reply by Habernasty
//////////Posted March 26th, 2009 at 4:26 am
@thATCHER,
WTF IS A MEME??
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//////////Reply by Shiloh
//////////Posted October 27th, 2009 at 3:56 am
just thought i’d leave a lovely meme for you.
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second
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First is a meme, Second is Art
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//////////Reply by dvdi
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
@dronik, s0 tru bro
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Please go back to parody and satire. You bringing the full force of your intellect to bear on seriousness about this clusterfuck of an industry/culture we steep in is depressing.
-jp
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//////////Reply by ES
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
s0 didactic. Carles, did you just attend some Powerpoint lectures at a shitty conference or something?
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
@sneak, No, I happen to love it… makes me feel less insane. Just accept the shattering of your world view; truth as satire is the new irony.
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This is pretty incredible analysis. Though not brilliantly insightful Carles, you probably just pissed off a bunch of 60k/yr alt businessbros who make their living explaining this shit to bands/labels/conferences..all without powerpoint.
well done.
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//////////Reply by wes
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 5:19 pm
@yup yup yup yup yup,
amazing post, CRLES u r so smart sometimes
other times u make me sad
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//////////Reply by J. Anonymous
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
@wes,
Sometimes Carles makes me sad when he’s being smart, but not as sad as he made that bro Jay who posted further down.
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too long i’m so tired write in french please i’m going to sleep
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Yr best post since AC. Nice work, dude.
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//////////Reply by pooponyoursoul
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 12:13 am
@Dave Rawkblog, agreedd
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this redeems the trainwreck that was hacksterbro
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//////////Reply by anoneeeemuce
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 5:24 pm
@bbbbb,
agreed
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“Every one, every band, and every website is searching for a way to make money on any one’s terms.”
… is it really all about money?
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//////////Reply by yup yup yup yup yup
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
@yeyobama,
uh, yeah until you make it. then you can worry about “art”
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//////////Reply by yeyobama
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 7:41 pm
@yup yup yup yup yup,
a la U2
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
@yeyobama, It’s not about money… if it is then it’s a HORRIBLE way to make money….go buy lottery tickets; you have a better chance of getting rich. Money is just a side benefit…. if you think it’s about money then you don’t see enough shows. Have you seen a show where 15 people show up?… and they count most of the inanimate objects in the room as “people”?
If a band refuses to promote themselves then figure it takes AT LEAST 2-3 years for a blog mention…. 5-7 years for a “popular music blog” to pick up on them… etc. Here’s a tip; Don’t EVER say “go see my friends band…” because anyone who hears that your their friend won’t go. I don’t know why this is exactly but I don’t make the rules…. just trust me.
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This was actually a really good post. You should have have been on the “bloggers are in control” panel, discussing this, instead of just sitting in the audience asking about yourself.
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//////////Reply by d
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
@DragonForce, youtube link of this plz
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//////////Reply by anon
//////////Posted March 25th, 2009 at 6:07 am
@d, yeah
seriously
i wanna see that
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you forgot ‘appear on mainstream jason schwartz-created or abc primetime soapish show, acka o.c., gossip girlz, one tree mtn, greyz.’
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//////////Reply by colins
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 2:43 am
@kaylars, pretty sure that falls under the same section as Radio and Magazines. ain’t nuthin more mainstream than TV.
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Sometimes I feel I could ’start a band’, get popular based solely on a ‘catchy name’ and not actually have to make any music
“Sagittarius & Virgo” yall?
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//////////Reply by indie ana
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 5:46 pm
@XavierDeRosnay, i already created a Sag N’ Virg fan page. the default picture is a polaroid i took of your comment.
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//////////Reply by XavierDeRosnay
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 5:51 pm
@indie ana,
just got an email from pfork y’all… gonna be on ‘guest list’ tomorrow!
can’t believe too late for sxsw… prob. be on the radio by now
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//////////Reply by von colander
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 6:03 pm
@XavierDeRosnay, see u at bonnaroo. ur new ep is pretty authentic [via fluxblog]
//////////Reply by tripler
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
@indie ana, just blogged about ’sag n virg’. rly think ur the ‘next big thing/meme’.
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
@XavierDeRosnay, Where was I when polaroids became indie all the sudden? 35mm film is so 2k8 now? I know carles blogged about wavies already but I just saw some live video on pampelmoose and was seriously thinking what the fuck? THIS is what all the fuss is about? Am I missing something?
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(:
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yall, if we try 2 spread our memes hard enuf, we will fix this economie, 4 barry obama.
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haha your roadmap is so exact.
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carles ur turning into the richard dawkins of alt
miss u pre-mp3-blog-days
<3 u carles dawkins
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tl, dr
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1. Bands are not memes.
2. You are an asshole.
3. You argue like a 16 year-old girl.
4. You totally misinterpret the effect and nature of memes. There is absolutely nothing controllable about them, at least not by individuals.
5. I’m sure you’d like to pass this off as satire, this blog lacks a lot of merit otherwise. But, if that’s the case even the humor you have about memes is so banal I’d rather cut myself then try to figure out what your arguing.
6. Nothing about this is insightful, it’s a verbose pile of shit. I think if sheep bleat it to me in my sleep, then maybe I might understand what the fuck you’re trying to say.
7. Stop treating memes like jargon. It’s already vague enough without you spilling your bleach in the pool.
8. Know what the fuck you’re talking about before you start discussing shit you don’t understand.
Otherwise, thanks for spreading your mental disease on the internet, faggot.
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//////////Reply by von colander
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 7:04 pm
@Jay. I respect ur arguments, and ‘get’ them, but, aside from satire, i think there is meant to be a level of abstract thinking inherent in the joke. not just this one, but all of them. Nothing is meant to be defined by just one word, becuz it’s just a word or whatever. the language is just used to convey the idea in his head in a way that it might make sense to someone other than him.
But i get ur beef.
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//////////Reply by anoneeeemuce
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 7:04 pm
@Jay,
YOU ARE SO COOL
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//////////Reply by crotch mt.
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 7:04 pm
@Jay, thx 4 the meme, <3 u
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//////////Reply by bbbbb
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 7:27 pm
@Jay, u r dumb (and sexist and homophobic!)
kill urself?
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//////////Reply by ......
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 8:00 pm
@Jay, ur s0000 ghey
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//////////Reply by corydan
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 8:06 pm
@Jay,
trollerskates.
if u r srs, die in a fire.
ps yr tumblr sux.
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//////////Reply by son of steinem
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 8:08 pm
@Jay, totes understand your frustration at insensitivity to the current crisis in the music memesphere. you’re so right. “bands” aren’t memes, and confusing the two concepts is what’s contributing to a situation that’s already reached memeic proportions. just want to know how identify high quality memes. just want to know WTF is a MEME ? so glad that memes no longer have to invade poland to be worth blogging about.
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//////////Reply by tripler
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
@Jay, at 1st i ‘luved u’ cause u seemed like a ‘cool bro who has meaningful opinions’. then i started 2 ‘miss u’ cause u started to ’sound like a jackass’ and everything changed. (via evolution/darwin/internet) now i ‘h8 u’.
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//////////Reply by im just a yall
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 10:23 pm
@Jay, how srs do u think the crls takes a comment from the smartest kid on the short bus……
“But, if that’s the case even the humor you have about memes is so banal I’d rather cut myself THEN try to figure out what YOUR arguing.”
brilliant… go fail public school
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//////////Reply by mickey mouse
//////////Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 11:38 pm
@Jay,
he is obviously in a band stuck in formative, “1 good myspace song” phase, and obviously very bitter about the truth sandwich he just ate.
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//////////Reply by indie ana
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 12:06 am
@mickey mouse, lol why would you think this clown even has 1 good song
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//////////Reply by yeyobama
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 11:49 am
@mickey mouse,
obviously he’s trying to create a meme
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//////////Reply by Hanna
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 8:24 am
@Jay, you sound bitter. Did you not make it in the music industry like you’d planned? There there.
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//////////Reply by до свидания
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
@Jay, jay: another boring overweight moron who has a need 2 share his brilliant musings. GET A LYFE U LOSER + STOP FLAMING PPL WHO R BETTER THEN U LIKE CARLES JUST CAUSE OF UR PROBLEMS!!! DONT BE A CYBERBULLY!!! ugh their is somany idiots out there!!!
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
@Jay, Good point….but your also jealous that you didn’t think of it first so don’t be such a sore loser.
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//////////Reply by nerdbound
//////////Posted March 25th, 2009 at 12:26 am
@Jay,
“8. Know what the fuck you’re talking about before you start discussing shit you don’t understand.”
This bothers me. How can he discuss shit he doesn’t understand if he knows what the fuck he’s talking about first? At the point where he knows what the fuck he’s talking about, he is discussing shit he understands… I can’t quite explain it but I know this isn’t right somehow. I’m so confused.
But nevermind, you are cool because sheep bleat to you in your sleep. And sheep are a hott meme now, look on Youtube (sponsored by Samsung yay!)
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//////////Reply by anon
//////////Posted March 25th, 2009 at 6:13 am
@Jay, carles definition of meme is different from the 4chan definition that it seems like you are thinking of.
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“our meme could be yr life”-the minutememe
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carles, you be brillz.
fuck the haters.
love you!
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owAH … Soooo serious
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this is brilliant.
you could teach a music business class way better than half the ancient professors at berklee college of music
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
@T.J., Who knew that blogging about what everyone already knows could bring in so much ad revenue?
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//////////Reply by Switters
//////////Posted March 25th, 2009 at 9:17 am
@anony, heheh, s000 true
CARLES, U R SUCH A MEME
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Carles, this is actually your best post ever.
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this is an amazing post carles
<3 <3 <3 u
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I visualized Carles reading the meme rules over the song “Popular” by the Nada Surfs.
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//////////Reply by Switters
//////////Posted March 25th, 2009 at 9:19 am
@buttery teamster, heheh i loved the video (via HGHLY TUGGABLE malstream cheerleaders)
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Does this make me a memite?
“You either love memite or hate it”, says Billy Bovril
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worried about the subMeme mortgage crisis yall
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
@Eazy Love, now thats funny.
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classic post carles.
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diagrams make everything so eeeeazy/fun!!
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and here I was all excited about success being less than 500%
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//////////Reply by anony
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
@wheatus, Notice how in this version of the universe the band still ends up with less than $100,000 in combined net worth.
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too long and where are the mp3s?
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not enuf NATALIE PORTMAN’S SHAVED HEAD n00dz k thx bai
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//////////Reply by anon
//////////Posted March 25th, 2009 at 7:55 am
@Jesus, that band is doing a very good job of memeficating
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see name
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carles sure is proud of this particular blog post… ‘you’ can just tell
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R-U HUNGRY?
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that’s a pretty good analysis, but it sort’ve makes me sad because you sound too “aware” of the “meme economy” in a cynical way. kind’ve like how roeper ruins movie’s when he ‘explains’ it to us. ultimately i also think you’re missing the point, that the music itself is what makes/propels the meme. (gawd i hate that word).
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I always wondered what a MeMe was :)
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I WILL go check Crls weblog, thnx :)
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I <3 this post with all my <3. If someone hasn’t already started a bloghaus act named “The memes” or just “meme”, then someone should get on that. Carles could be your manager
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<3 memes
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Awesome. OK, guys, we know what to do now. Follow the CC paradigm!
(CC can be either Crystal Castles or Cut Copy.) (Crystal Copy?)
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//////////Reply by anonymous
//////////Posted March 24th, 2009 at 7:55 am
@Alf In Yo Mouf . com, or creative commons [via lawrence and the lessigs]
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//////////Reply by Habernasty
//////////Posted March 26th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
@Alf In Yo Mouf . com,
u should most probsly also follow the
black black, xiu xiu, shark shark, voices voices, yip yip, man man, ting tings, etc etc paradigm and just b copy copy
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words about FUCK
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I think it’s obvious that this blog isn’t about music, but about Denny’s, Kia and American Apparel ads.
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yeah, I pretty much agree with what carles is saying. check out my band: Bran 182.
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thankx 4 the re-blog.
no link, CRLS?
http://theartschool.blogspot.com/2009/02/rory-hijinx-boys-story-2009.html
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carles im gonna follow this to the letter when i have some music
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//////////Reply by tonytrov
//////////Posted May 20th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
@xra,
this should be taught in music school
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So does this mean I have to be more of a cyber poser than I already am and get my meme on more? Should I do a remix album of the top ten bands with the most meme capital? Dude, who do I send my 8×10 glossy photo to and who should I tell first if I get bit by a scorpion? Do I tell my band mates that instead of practice tonight we’re going to do a group meme? MEME!
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just noticed the indirect HRO love for my photos
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Прикольно пишете, жизненно. Все-таки, для того, чтобы делать по-настоящему интересный блог, нужно не только просто рассказывать о чем-то, но и делать это в интересной форме:)
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I was going to make fun of this whole weird little incestuous post-linguistic comment forum you all have going on and then I realized that I read lots of ‘em.
Feel like ‘typing like this.’ Like you’re the ‘Borg’ or something. h8 you guys.
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EVERYONE READING THE BLOG RIGHT NOW IS UNDER THE INFLUENCEcarles these fucking comments suck, that means you’re not doing enough even though its a good article.
My question to you is, what are the elements of making one’s mimi’s seem more important and what can we do when we see someone doing it? Interactivity will make these self promoters commenting on this page to rot 6 feet deep in a myspace superhero constume!!!!!
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my new band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGfVdhc-l7I&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efacebook%2Ecom%2Fhome%2Ephp%3Fref%3Dhome&feature=player_embedded
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