Bedroom music and HSHTAG$

Subcultural identity is theatrical in its concern with display, show and faade (Evans)

"Bedroom music is like bedroom music, it's something you do personally in your room, by yourself. The album taking off online is one of the greatest things happened to me." (Red Bull Academy, 2013) LA and London are the main places where bedroom electronic music is really taking off right now and the internet generation / 90's kids are forcing it through the ground. The whole scene is new - the way artist interact with each other, the way they make the music, the way they perform and share. Subculture is shared understanding of the same values, norms, attitudes and style within a group of people. Genet (1967) suggested that style is the status and meaning of revold, the idea of style as a form of refuseal which can be applied to the emerging subculture clearly visible online where hashtags talk more with people than anything else. "Hashtags have become a new cultural shorthand." (NY Times, 2011) When the first record stores emerged, the most important part was to label the music, to create a clear distiction between different styles of music as well as to create a distinction through artwork so the consumers would know what they will hear by just looking at the cover. The labelling process was also used by radio stations, tv and other media channels in order to sell music products better to the target audiences. Nowadays, the new emerging genres will be hashtagged before the genre is created. Who will name the genre and how will fans find the music if it's not labelled? "Society connot share a common communication system so long as it is split into warring classes." (Clark H., Brody D., 2009, p.207)

The history of the 'hashtag' subculture is short and arguably it emerged in 2006 when first 'laptop musicians' put their songs up online and found similar people who made similar music. In 2006, Boiler room tv started off as a small garage project where underground producers played their music to maximum 100 people and them uploaded it to internet where it really took off. (Red Bull Academy, 2013) In 2013 they are the taste-makers of electronic music. The hashtag subculture has a lot of similarities to the club culture, ravers, especially the way people consume the music - underground parties, nightclubs etc. Can argue that this subculture is more present online than in the real world. "The first track we released was labelled 'garage' by fans, we didn't even know what that is." (Red Bull Academy, 2013) Arguably, the origins of this subculture go back to the 1950's where 'beat generation' first emerged. It was a cultural and literary movement which rejected mainstream, encouraged the use of experimental drugs. "Just as the postwar economic boom was taking hold, students in universities were beginning to question the rampant materialism of their society." (The Beat Generation, 2011) The dissatisfaction with consumer culture, the beats stood against bold beliefs and antiseptic formalism created by the modernist. Artists expressed frank sexuality in their works which is also commonly used by the hashtag culture as a part of online branding in order to get the attention.

Majestic Casual's youtube channel

This subculture is created by people who hashtag music as post-dubstep, alternative r'n'b, cloudrap, beats and tumblrwave, go underground club parties and use recreational drugs. Can argue that the people have taken the symbolic insight from the hipster culture according to the way the look and act. "What keeps it going is the fact that there's no label on what it's supposed to be." (Flying Lotus, 2013) It is a club based subculture because it has a lot of similarities with techno, house or ambient music production and performance electronically produced and involves samples. "People, in other words, express as part of their personality the particular values into which they have been sozialized." (Muggleton D., 2000, p.87) The rise of social media culture and sites as youtube and tumblr create a post-physical reality in which the subgenre continies to grow and engage with fans more than ever. It is about being 'hip' and not following the mainstream media and it's offerings. "Thus is born the short-term post-physical consciousness, where our realities and identities are determined by like buttons and self-curated blogs." (Electronic Beats, 2011) The real challange for these internet sensations is to make their way in the real world.

The whole hashtag culture started in twitter where people started using the symbol for creating buzz about something. The new subgenre of unlabelled bedroom music fights against labels. Red Bull Academy has given out 5 short documentaries on digital culture and internet sensations called "Don't call it #". Every documentary talks about slightly different artists, but can argue that the music these artists create are without a clear genre distinction or label, they are just tagged down all over the internet by hashtags so people who want to listen to them, can do that simply by knowing what they are looking for. Blogs and youtube channels act as taste-makers in this unlabeled world where music speaks

more than words. Majesticcasual is an internet brand created online to create a distinction in music, there's no label in what they put up in their youtube channel, but people know how the music will sound like. With over 100'000 likes in facebook, it is clear that the subculture consist of people who reject mainstream music and even kind of rebel against it, in order to hear something more valuable than just manufactured music for the masses.

The industry is behind what is going on in the internet. The masses are still where the industry wants them to be, following the industry gate-keepers and listening what they have been told to listen. Gate-keepers are people who will decide what will be played on the radio or which artists will be promoted on TV. "Just as the computer technology that has made it possible to record tracks in your bedroom has also made it easy to hook up with like-minded spirits across the world and instantly and cheaply distribute your new music online to potentially millions of listeners." (The Independant, 2011) Can argue that the internet gives the youth a chance to create their own taste world without being influenced by adult working-class cultures. (Hebdige D., 1979) However the adult workingclass still acts in some shape of form as a gatekeeper to the masses. Dubstep is starting to enter mainstream music now, because the labels push it through, but it really emerged long time ago in the youth culture but the sound and the culture of dubstep music has completely changed in mainstream music scene.

It's a theatrical world where tastemakers, symbols, visual displays have a lot to say. All artists who make the 'bedroom' music are aweare of their brands online and this is arguably their most valuable aspect of their being. As the music is widely instrumental, the visual representation is very colourful takes the listener to another world with colourful,

crazy, mirrored music videos which all look like they are made in the 90's. The whole hashtag culture is very influenced by 90's music, looks, style and behaviours as most of the subculture followers are people born in the 90's, but wish they would have been teenagers during the 90's. (Red Bull Academy, 2013) Can argue that this can not be called a subculture at all, rather a tribe. "Using Maffesoli's concept of tribus (tribes) and applying this to an empirical study of the contemporary dance music in Britain, I argue that the musical and stylistic sensibilities exhibited by the young people involved in the dance music scene are clear examples of a form of late modern `sociality' rather than a fixed subcultural group." (Andy Bennett, 2011)

The subculture is described by different hashtags, but the visual connotations play a huge role in communicating with the followers. The artwork, fonts, designs, colours, pictures represent the same kind of hipness which the followers recognize and therefor know they will like the music. The artwork containes geometrical objects and often is unpersonal.

Can argue that this new online subculture is submerged and taken a lot of things off new age culture which includes downtempo music, meditation, hippy'ness and nature loving. The new area of the hashtag subculture is the future of mainstream music and we are

heading there now, it has been going on for many years but will be seen in mainstream music in the future when labels start to push this kind of music to the masses.

Hashtags - a discussion, an internet music phenominal and digital culture. Internet as a main drive to drive the new music ahead. The internet has given those context for artists who relate to one another through platforms such as youtube, soundcloud, the same way myspace worked 10 years ago. This has created a whole new subculture within the larger society where music cultures work. Dave Hayes, inventor of Soundcloud, says that people are creating music along the common theme, where everyone are lined along the same philosphy though the genre does not have a label, yet. Mentality of a subculture holds it together and discribes it as long as people in it understand and agree with it. "But contemporary youth cultures are characterized by far more compelx stratification than that suggested by the simple dichotomy of 'monolithic mainstream' - 'resistant subcultures'." (Muggleton David, Weinzierl Rupert, 2003, p. 7) . The digital area has created boom in electronic bedroom music, but the artists will not label themselves, rather they are labelled by the community followers.

REFERENCE LIST

Red Bull Academy (2007) HSHTAG$ - Don't Call It #Beats - Episode 4 [online]. 27 February 2013. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gljwk7qfwlk [Accessed 1 March 2013].

Dick Hebdige (1979) Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London. Routledge.

NY Times (2011) Twitter's Secret Handshake [online]. 10 June 2011. Available from: http:// www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/fashion/hashtags-a-new-way-for-tweets-culturalstudies.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 [Accessed 1 March 2013].

Hazel Clark, David Brody (2009) Design Studies: A Reader. Oxford. Berg. p.207.

Red Bull Academy (2007) HSHTAG$ - Don't Call It #PostDubstep - Episode 2 [online]. 6 February 2013. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvyF6ZKbfek [Accessed 1 March 2013].

The Literature Network (2011) The Beat Generation [online]. Available from: http:// www.online-literature.com/periods/beat.php [Accessed 1 March 2013].

David Muggleton (2000) Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style. Oxford. Berg. p.7 - p.87.

Electronic Beats (2011) The Rise of Tumblr Culture & The Post-Physical Reality [online]. 3 August 2011. Available from: http://www.electronicbeats.net/2011/08/03/the-rise-of-tumblrculture-the-post-physical-reality/ [Accessed 3 March 2013].

The Independent (2012) Why the laptop has replaced the acoustic guitar as the entry-level instrument for pop hopefuls and songwriters [online]. 21 July 2012. Available from: http:// www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/why-the-laptop-has-replacedthe-acoustic-guitar-as-the-entrylevel-instrument-for-pop-hopefuls-andsongwriters-7961908.html [Accessed 3 March 2013].

Andy Bennett (2011) The post-subcultural turn: some reflections 10 years on. Griffith University.

BIBLIOGRAPHY LIST

Bennett, A. (2000) Popular Music and Youth Culture: Music, Identity and Place. Basingstoke, Macmillan. Dick Hebdige (1979) Subculture: The Meaning of Style. Routledge. Methuen & Co. Ltd.

David Muggleton (2000) Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style. Oxford. Berg.

Graham, G. (2005) Philosophy of the Arts: An Introduction (3rd ed)

Strinati, D. (2004) An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture (2nd ed), London, Routledge.

Criteria and Weighting

Excellent Very Good Unacceptable

Good

Acceptable Weak

(A) (E)

(B) (F)

(C)

(D)

Theoretical framework: A wide range of cultural theory references (from recommended reading or beyond) effectively applied to your chosen subculture or broader subject area (using the Harvard system.) 25 Marks Critical Thinking: The creation of a critical argument, discussion and opinion, articulated through cultural theory 25 marks Application of theory: The ability to identify and imaginatively reference (using the Harvard system) examples of of case areas or subcultural ephemera fashions, language, B use of space, music, music video, poster art, sleeves, lyrics, practical examples to support your argument. 25 Marks Structure: A well-defined and well-presented (using the submission requirements) essay structure with a clear introduction, main body B of discussion and concise conclusion. 10 Marks Use of language: Appropriate use of grammar, spelling and punctuation B throughout. 10 marks Reflection: Submission of a thorough and B considered self assessment form 5 marks

Weak use of theory and applying it to the real world. Good examples and interesting point of views, though no theoretical framework to back up the references. Opinionated and argumentive. Well presented essay. Clear introduction and conclusion.