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jrtom(Just to clarify: all I mean by "B-list" is how financially successful someone is, _not_ how talented they are.)
Some interesting reflections on what it's like to be a B-list musician, especially as it has been influenced by ubiquitous social software.
My personal guess, as with many of these artists, is that Jonathan Coulton is successful at least in part for an entrepreneurial-style reason: he was (AFAIK) among the first to adopt his somewhat unusual business model. It's hard to know just how many people it would work for. (By way of analogy, I suspect that the reason why daytime running lights reduce accidents is that, because they're unusual, they draw attention to the car--not because the light is especially helpful. If everyone had them, I'm not sure we'd see the effect anymore. Lights that (by default) were activated by reduced light levels would be another story...)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/magazine/13audience-t.html?ex=1336708800&en=1d5b4728dc04dc8d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
Some interesting reflections on what it's like to be a B-list musician, especially as it has been influenced by ubiquitous social software.
My personal guess, as with many of these artists, is that Jonathan Coulton is successful at least in part for an entrepreneurial-style reason: he was (AFAIK) among the first to adopt his somewhat unusual business model. It's hard to know just how many people it would work for. (By way of analogy, I suspect that the reason why daytime running lights reduce accidents is that, because they're unusual, they draw attention to the car--not because the light is especially helpful. If everyone had them, I'm not sure we'd see the effect anymore. Lights that (by default) were activated by reduced light levels would be another story...)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/magazine/13audience-t.html?ex=1336708800&en=1d5b4728dc04dc8d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss