Since the beginning of man's time on Earth, boundaries of communication have been gradually dissolving. According to the RSA Animate, "The Empathic Civilisation", empathy has become more likely to occur within larger groups of people over time. This connection of empathy (which is how people can reflect emotions from others, ex. two people are in conversation and one is sad, then the other becomes sad due to the influence and spread of feeling unto the other) has expanded from starting in a bloodline of people (family) to religous groups (whom have similar views with their own members and are likely to bond easily) and finally to countries (people united in a large area of land) due to population growth and advances in technology. Now the issue today is this: The boundaries are gone. Most people in the world are connected through technology one way or the other, whether it be social networks, email, or text messaging. This creates a world empathic connection. Digital technology has made this possible.
"The Empathic Civilisation" uses the responce to the Haiti earthquake disaster as an example of this global empathy. Three steps were taken: first, the initial word of confirming the results of the disaster was spread through status updates on Twitter. Second, the television news picked up on the incoming information and reported it to those who prefer tv to using the internet social networks. And then finally, with the world out to all peoples of the world we see a global empathy emerge. The earthquakes in Haiti that resulted in the loss of many Haitian lives and destruction of homes spread of feeling of sadness across the globe. People were shocked and upset that such a disaster occured and many people and governments rushed to the aid of the Hiatian people. Without a doubt, recently technological advances have proven to be extremely helpful in a situation like this. The quicker the word gets out, the sooner a reaction will occur.
No longer do the oceans prolong communications between continents. No longer do miles prevent having a conversation with your friend. Everything is instant. The present is an of-the-moment time. We all live in the current second. There is no delay between distances. Everyone is connected here and now. Just check this out: Old Spice Ad Model Isaiah Mustafa was able to respond to almost 200 questions asked to him by fans on Youtube in separtate videos. Certainly the boundary of Isaiah Mustafa not knowing where the people who asked him question were from, yet alown, knew who they were, was dissolved.
This type of communication between performers and fans is also apparent in music. What's becoming popular now is how artists are allowing fans to determine their price for their music. For example Radiohead released their album "In Rainbows" on the internet to be downloaded from any price even including the price of zero. Also, artist Issa (Jane Siberry) allows her music to be determined in price by her fans. This in turn creates a "warm feeling between her and her fans" (NPR article: "Issa Reinvents More Than Music Sales).
I've even ran into this situation before, however without the aid of digital technology, that is. A group of hip hop artists on the Ocean City boardwalk were trying selling their new cd to my friends and I. They said I could pay them from 3 to 5 dollars for it. They said the album had the freshest jams that were coming out of Baltimore on it. These guys were obviously not having a good sale on the album judging on the looks on their faces and the obvious large quanties of cds they had in their hands. I really didn't want it although something overcame me and I said "Ya know what, I'll give ya 3 bucks for it". Silence. I got a stare from one of the hip hop artists. He looked unimpressed with me for taking the lowest price for it. As a musician I knew how hard it must be for these guys so I said "Look I'll give you 4 bucks for it". "Sure here you go, man. Thanks." After I got the cd my friends and I shot each other a humerous look since none of us are crazy about hip hop music and proceeded to listen to it in the car. It was actually an alright cd. Indeed, we spent the rest of the night listening to beats that used gunshots as the percussion instrument! Good times, good times.
It's doubtful that cds on shelves in stores would be able to have a ridiculous looking price tag on it that said "$5-20". This group of hip hop artists used the idea of having their costumers decide the cost from the lead of artists like Radiohead and Issa. And without the digital technology that makes downloads possible, it can be speculated that giving out more free or any price would not happen. So everything is connected. The creation of internet, to music uploaded on the internet, to music being downloaded off the internet, to the boundary of having a set price on music being dissolved.
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