How To Listen

Everyone is a Critic

Unsolicited tip for media company c-levels: if your reaction to this crate of magic is “Hm. I wonder how we’d go about suing someone who ‘did this’ with our IP?” instead of, “Holy crap, clearly, this is the freaking future of entertainment,” it’s probably time to put some ramen on your Visa and start making stuff up for your LinkedIn page. Because, this is what your new Elvis looks like, gang. And, eventually somebody will figure out (and publicly admit) that Kutiman, and any number of his peers on the “To-Sue” list, should be passed from Legal down to A&R.

• Merlin Mann on 43folders

Really?!?

Believe me, I am a huge fan of Merlin Mann, both his productivity blog, and his antics. But in this case I think he needs to leave the evaluation to the people who have a more trained ear.

Clearly Kutiman’s YouTube videos are creative, and entertaining, and to Merlin that’s all you need to become a successful musician, but he is wrong. There is more to it. A successful musical act (we’re talking Beatles kind of success, not Soulja Boy kind of success) is gimmick-free performances that not only entertain, but inspire. Kutiman’s videos are a gimmick that will wind up in the same place as so many others: forgotten.

Merlin touts Kutiman’s mixing of videos to create a new composition as the future of music, as if quotation and remixes were something brand new. Obviously, it is not new, and Kutiman’s treatment is unoriginal in its application. Bassist Victor Wooten can string together multiple quotations, even layering quotations on top of another without accompaniment or Garage Band. DJs the world around create amazing remixes of popular songs, sometimes the mix them live, flawlessly.

Kutiman’s video is a strong attempt at an internet-remix, but it is nothing but mediocre by purely musical standards. For certain, the future of music does not lie in YouTube.