The Birth and Growth of the User

The initial popularity of websites such as Yahoo and Google in the mid-1990s led to people using search engines to look for information related to personal interest. This was a major breakthrough in terms of accessibility of new technologies to the general public in the UK. As technology became cheaper and more compact, more and more families had a personal computer (PC) in their homes. However, it was not until people started learning basic technical skills, such as sending an email, building a website or writing a blog that the age of the user really came into play.

However, moving into the 21st _{century, as mass culture has become even more} adaptable to the use of new technologies so have the tools that they use have become more complex.

The gap between artist and audience has never really existed within the local music scenes as the music fans tend to be the artists as well. However, virtual DIY communities have been steadily building since the inception of the Internet. Therefore, with such accessibility people who would not normally engage with this type of activity have helped to bridge the divide between creative activities and the audience, such as posting up YouTube videos and writing blogs. Trier (2007, p.408) explains that, “the beginning of a very gradual transition to a new era, which might be called the age of personal or participatory media,” and so “the boundaries between audiences and creators become blurred and often invisible”.

2.5.2.1 Information Needs and User Information Behaviour

Wilson (1981) states that context, social life of the users, their work role, or their environment - whether it be socio-cultural or physical – will affect information seeking behaviour. For example, the DIY artist uses information systems for a number of reasons. One scenario could be that they want to find a venue in London to perform live, and so they use a search engine look for ‘venues in London’. This is too general, so they try to narrow the search down by adding more specific words like ‘local gig’, ‘punk band’ and so on.

Dervin and Nilan (1986) discuss the sense-making approach with an emphasis on information seekers, as the need for information arises when one’s internal sense has ‘run out’ new sense must be created. This type of creativity has always been present in the DIY artist and with so many free, easy-to-use online tools available they can use their bricolage style to be highly productive. Therefore, if ‘information systems’ as a concept is split in two and examined, it is clear that ‘information’ relates to the needs and wants of the information seekers, whereas ‘systems’ means the way in which people gather this information and so these aspects individually and collectively are constantly changing.

2.5.3 IS Tools

In today’s digital age, marketing and getting your music out there is not a problem. Many websites exist, such as user-generated-content sites (UGCs) including social networking sites, blogs and forums that are entirely dependent on the creativity of others. For the DIY artist with online tools, this helps to manage the creative activities in a more productive way.

However, with a generation of music-lovers being raised on social networking sites, the challenge for technologies innovators and the DIY artists is how to incorporate the valuable information into their creative projects (Webb, 2007). However, this does not simply apply to social networking but also to other methods of information sharing via the Internet. Therefore, in this research it is necessary to identify the different tools that are available for users to be creative as DIY artists - in terms of being able to effectively manage their creative activities - with an emphasis on

collaboration and visibility, which ultimately helps the DIY artist to be more self- sufficient.

Hence, based on the functionality of the social media, technology tools and the information needed by the DIY artist, the following tools have been identified as the top four toolkits not only for managing creative activities, but also for mastering the managerial skills as well (Coulson, 2008). These tools are highlighted as follows:

• Ego Searches - This is the process of finding out who is talking about you as

an artist online through the collective use of tools such as Google, Twitter and so on. It helps users to create a profile in the user-generated-content (UGC) sites, and build up loyalty with fans as well as make contact with other DIY artists, thus helping to share creative ideas and to collaborate for creative projects.

• Videos - People love to consume and watch videos online. Therefore, even if

it is rough footage of a band practice session or a short video of a live performance, it does not matter. It is useful for the DIY artist to find out how to get video footage up on the web and on multiple systems so people can find it and consume it. Google and YouTube are currently in discussions with the PRS to help members to access royalties through video performances (Andrews, 2009).

• Podcasting - In order for the DIY artist to get opportunities perform and / or

listen, it is necessary to become familiar with the music podcasting community. Building up networks with podcasters or collaborating with digital PR that specialises in music and works with them; thus, helping to get more opportunities to perform on variety shows or to engage with different collaborate creative projects.

• User-generated Content Sites (UGCs) - For the DIY artist, who also has a

managerial role, skills in planning, managing, and marketing creative activities are needed. Therefore, artists should use UGCs, such as MySpace and Facebook to develop an e-mail newsletter and encourage fans to sign up at gigs and events. They should also put their website URL on everything in preparation for the marketing, from posters to every e-mail that will be sent out. Also, the DIY artist should be willing to learn about new online services, if a new service is useful for managing the creative activities, trying to build up loyalty with fans. And so, since fans take an important role in the creative journey, artists must engage with them, by replying to e-mails, commenting on their walls and answering their questions. This will help to develop a deeper connection with fans through using the UGCs, thus developing loyalty.

For the DIY artist, development of information technology has been a major breakthrough as these tools, such as MySpace, have provided an easy-to-use platform to self-promote their creative work as well as to network with fans and

fellow artists. This means that people who may not have previously had an interest in how technology can help the creative process are now learning basic computing such as basic HTML, embedding images and videos and blogging. Specifically, within the local music scenes, this has caused quite a stir as an influx of people are being creative online by posting up home recordings, writing topical music blogs about local bands as well as promoting local gigs, to name a few. Information technology has had a huge impact on music culture and the creative industries having changed the way people create and interact with each other.

There has never been a better time for the DIY artist to be making music, for example, the following process is typical: make a musical recording on GarageBand, load it up onto MySpace, Bebo or Last FM, and build a fan community on these or any number of other social networks. That is a fundamental shift and a contrast to the old days where content was pushed to users by programmers and that is where the user-generated-content (UGC) fits in. This is the new place where artists can reach their fans (Martyn, 2007). Certainly, there is no shortage of options for the artists to start selling their wares.