SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/129112
SXSW Convergence Sessions Examine Our Interconnected World by Dan Solomon COURTESY OF THE SPEAKER 28 SXSWORLD / MARCH FILM-IA 2013 "Napster was a huge evolutionary step forward," Winter says. "Suddenly, we had this global Internet community that just appeared out of nowhere. It was very powerful. It had a lot of challenges, and there was a naiveté to its technology that did not fit with current business paradigms, to put it mildly." But for all the changes brought about in the music industry by file-sharing technology, Winter says that the biggest change offered by Napster was the way that it connected and empowered music fans, wherever they may be. "The ability to communicate freely to people all over the world—that may be the biggest cultural change," Winter says. "That's certainly a much bigger deal than me sending you a Madonna track." With the sort of accelerated and hyperconnected culture that we have found ourselves living in now, those challenges extend beyond just the music industry. Marie Claire editor-in-chief Anne Fulenwider, who will also be presenting as part of the "Style Goes Viral" panel, sees them in the fashion world, too. "Certainly the business of fashion has also been touched by so-called disruptive technologies," she says. "The fact that a Anne Fulenwider is part of Sunday's "Style Goes designer can send a Viral: The Future of Fashion" Session look down the runways of Paris one morning, and a knockoff is on shelves in Pittsburgh a week later is only possible because of these innovations." But like Winter, she recognizes that the benefits of this accelerated culture are worth considering alongside those challenges. "For many people, it's offered an opportunity to participate in fashion that was just not possible before." That sort of participation—whether in fashion, music, or another medium entirely—is only going to increase, according to Winter. "We live in a multi-platform world. That's the big change that's occurred," he says. "We now have a world in which people coming up don't even think twice about being multi-disciplinary and breaking barriers. That old world doesn't exist anymore. It's never going to exist again." ■ ISABEL ASHA PENZLIEN f there's a one-word answer to the question of how the Internet has changed disciplines and art forms ranging from fashion design to music and movies, it would be "access." Once far removed, fans and consumers now have an unprecedented level of access to the people who create the things that they love. In turn, those creators have a way to learn what people are interested in, in real time. In addition, it has become easy to go from "creator" to "fan" and back, as the tools required to do everything from selling handmade accessories to home-recording albums have become increasingly accessible. As a result, various media forms have begun to converge, and the lines between creators and fans have done more than just blur, as what was historically a slow, and largely one-sided, conduit from creator to fan has become a fast-paced two-way discourse. To help facilitate the conversation among people working in various pursuits about how our increasingly-connected times have changed so many disciplines, SXSW is hosting convergence panels at the Long Center, where people at the center of these changes are discussing exactly how the collapse of the wall between creator and fan has changed how we talk about fashion, music and more. According to Randi Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media and Editor-in-Chief of Dot Complicated, who will be presenting as part of the "Style Goes Viral: The Future of Fashion" panel, the democratizing forces of the Internet have even changed an industry as roped-off as high fashion. "Just a few years ago, [New York] Fashion Week was highly exclusive," Zuckerberg says. "Now, high fashion has become much more accessible to mainstream consumers. This new accessibility, coupled with the rise of fashion Shaquille O'Neal will be interviewed blogs, plays a big role in on Monday accelerating the fashion industry. Bloggers are curating their favorite trends. This pushes the fashion industry to become more accessible to consumers, and not just high-end designers and influencers." There has been a similar effect in music, of course, though that industry has faced a series of unprecedented challenges as a result of the accessibility and acceleration that Zuckerberg has observed in the fashion world. Filmmaker Alex Winter has been watching those changes since they first began and has documented them in his new movie, Downloaded, which world premieres at SXSW. He also will be appearing on the convergence panel "Downloaded: The Digital Revolution," where he will discuss with Napster founders Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker how the music industry changed as a result of the launch of the 1999 file sharing service. All convergent programming at the Long Center (701 W. Riverside Dr.) on Sunday, March 10 is open to SXSW Interactive, Film, Gold and Platinum badge holders. On Monday, March 11 and Tuesday, March 12, Long Center programming is open to all SXSW badge holders, including Music. For event listings and details, visit schedule.sxsw.com.