At age 12, Taylor Hanson co-wrote “MMMBop” with his two brothers. Two years later, the band Hanson dominated radio airwaves with the song and, like it or not, planted an impossibly catchy tune in our collective brains. It made the Tulsa, Oklahoma trio rich and famous — but given the shelf life of boy-band acts in the late 1990′s, it probably should have ended their career. And it did, to a degree … Hanson never sold 10 million albums again. But they survived, clinging just below the pop-culture radar and avoiding boy-band extinction because, well, they were never a manufactured boy band. They wrote their own songs. They sang. They played their instruments. Taylor may have been a teen heartthrob, but he wasn’t plucked from obscurity by a quick-money producer or manager.

       Hanson continued to write and perform since their days in the spotlight. Surprise! Hanson didn’t just get older; they got better. Along with the big steps that Hanson has taken in terms of their sound, the brothers are determined to use their talent as a tool for raising awareness about the disease and poverty that plague all of Africa, but South Africa and Mozambique in particular. After a group of Hanson’s friends from a Tulsa medical firm began donating technology to a hospital in South Africa to help fight HIV/AIDS, the brothers were inspired to take a trip to South Africa and Mozambique to leave their own mark. This was the trip that sparked Hanson’s desire to use music as an awareness tool. They stayed in an orphanage in Mozambique, and were actually in awe of the optimism of people surrounded by such disease and poverty.

       So, the band set up their laptops in the orphanage cafeteria, which is in and of itself an amazing thing that is the result of new media, and they recorded the children’s choir for “Great Divide” – a track off The Walk. The choir sings ‘ngi ne themba,’ which means ‘I have hope‘. After recording, Hanson decided to put the music to good use. They posted a blog entry on their website Hanson.net telling their fans that they could purchase “The Great Divide” for $0.99 on iTunes and all of the proceeds from the “Great Divide” downloads would go to the Perinatal HIV research Unit in South Africa. Hanson was beginning to use their website as this great tool to get their fans engaged and active in making a difference. This is something they couldn’t have done before the internet. It can be as simple as spending $0.99 on a song. It doesn’t mean we must all go to Africa. It means we all have a role to play. The funds raised through the Great Divide allowed HIVSA- the non profit that supports the hospital, to launch a program called Areiketsetse le bana ( let us do it for ourselves and our children ) in Soweto and also in a rural area called Mpumalanga. This is one of HIVSA’s most successful programs and the impact and the number of people they reach is amazing. This is all due to Hanson, the fans and the internet as a medium of doing so. To think something so small like a song gave so much hope, it just amazes me. 

       Hanson has taken their most recent album’s title rather literally in their effort to expose people to Africa’s poor conditions. The band kicked off their “The Walk Tour” with TOMS shoes- a business that donates a pair of their shoes every time a pair is bought. In each city they stopped on The Walk Tour, they did a one mile walk barefoot to promote awareness about AIDS/HIV. They wanted everyone to connect with the idea that we take something so simple for granted. Some Africans don’t even own a pair of shoes and have to do this everyday. After completing the walk, you got to be in front of the line to get into the show. TOMS shoes had a goal of selling 50,000 pairs of shoes. With Hanson’s support, TOMS shoes reached their goal. Then they went to Africa a few months later and dropped off the shoes in person, which is just taking what they’ve done a step further. Also while in Africa, they posted a blog entry online asking fans to donate money for the DD Dilawayo School in South Africa, which desperately needed it. In the matter of only a few days, they raised $15,000 from their fans to help the school. 

       The ability to do all of this was due to the Internet generation and their website Hanson.net. Hanson.net gave them the access and outreach that they needed in order to get their fans to help out. They first put the idea up on their blog, then they used their blog as a way to let people know three hours before the show in each city, where they would be beginning the walk and what time it would start. If they didn’t have the internet, they wouldn’t have been able to personally reach so many fans in so little time. Imagine just three hours before each show fans checking to see where it would begin so that they could be there. Some fans already waiting in line or driving to the venue had to check the site on their phone. Also, the fact that they sold so many more TOMS shoes because of these walks is incredible. Yes, you are consuming in order to be an active citizen. But honestly, in the end it made such a huge difference that it was worth it to me to be a consumer and a citizen at the same time. All of this is just another way new media has completely changed our lives. New media and the internet generation has allowed Hanson and their fans to be active citizens. Without this, it just wouldn’t work. 
      

       After The Walk Tour and their trip to Africa, Hanson has added a new section to their site, called “’Take The Walk’”. ““It is designed to keep you informed about everything we’re doing to take action on issues that are affecting the world, especially the AIDS/HIV epidemic and poverty is South Africa. We plan to provide you with simple tasks that will help make a difference in the world. Most importantly, we hope to inspire you to take action on your own”” (Hanson.net). Here you can read blog entries, look for ways to help out, and watch a video Hanson put together from their time in Africa. Another way new media is being proactive and creative. They are also heading out on tour to do it all again this year. Starting just this week, Hanson will be continuing their Walk tour, doing one mile walks in each city and once again teaming up with TOMS shoes in hopes of donating more shoes to Africa. They are stopping on the east coast where I will be doing the one mile walks again in MA, NH and NY. Hanson also just announced that they are launching their own custom TOMS “Great Divide” Shoe. Included with every pair of shoes sold is a download card for their song “Great Divide”, as well as a special acoustic recording. The proceeds from the downloads will go to help HIVSA, an HIV research hospital in Soweto, South Africa. By purchasing these special shoes, not only are you giving a free pair of shoes to a child in need, you are helping to prevent the mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS. The shoes are supposed to be released today on April 9^th, but they are not available yet. It is just another exciting way for their fans to get involved.

       Hanson also uses their website to get their fans more involved in their favorite band, which is key today in this media world we are living in. Hanson.net features a forum for fans to discuss whatever they want, and they also have a monthly newsletter. Most of the time fans know things before it’s even officially announced on the website. I don’t know how they do this, but they do! This just goes back to what Henry Jenkins was talking about with ‘fandom.’ These Hanson fans are one of the most passionate group of fans I’ve ever encountered and many famous people have said that as well. Hanson fans know everything about them, see every show in the area, and are usually very dedicated at trying to get new Hanson fans. They will do anything and everything to meet them and this is coming from a hardcore, passionate fan that has had the experience of doing anything and everything to meet them. Hanson.net definitely caters to their loyal fans, the group of fans that will go to this site daily for updates. You can tell that they cater to their loyals because a lot of the stuff on this site is for fans that already know what their about and want to further interact with Hanson and the cultural activism that they are involved in. If you are a new fan though, you can also surely learn a lot from the site about the band. 

       I love that my favorite band is also one that wants to change the world, even if it is only by doing small things. Those small things add up to wonderful, big things. They make a difference and change people’s lives. Hanson is a lot different from other band’s and other band’s websites in this way. A lot of bands don’t try to get their fans so involved in making a difference, and a lot of bands also don’t walk a mile with no shoes on with their fans in each city they tour in. They are just so inspiring. But they wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the internet. The internet was the medium that allowed them and still allows them to reach their goals. They have already done so much with new media, and it will be exciting to see how much more will be done in the future. The outreach the internet allows for is unbelievable and in twenty years I can’t even imagine how many more people can and will be reached by it. Nevertheless, the potentials are endless in this internet age. 

Final Essay

 April 22nd-Albany, NY

April 25th-Northampton, MA

April 26th-Hampton Beach, NH

YAY!! I really can’t wait.

p.s. i’m also going to see The Used next fri, Sat & Sun WHOoO!!

I first heard about this crazy concept from my friend Aimee, who is in the music industry and when she went to her record label in NYC, they gave her one of these and said ‘This is the new thing.” It was a Matchbox Twenty USB Drive bracelet with their new album, “Exile on Mainstream” with music videos, band interviews, and album art on it.

CRAZY!! I thought it was a really interesting idea..definitely creative. And I think the industry really needs to be super creative at a time where they’re losing so many consumers to mp3′s and free online downloading. Also in the works is not only just albums, but live concert recordings you can purchase at the show as well, which is definitely brilliant because I know that I would buy it. I love live concert recordings, especially if it’s from a show that you were at because it’s just really reminiscent for me.

Other bands such as The Mars Volta, Ringo Starr, and Jennifer Lopez have also hopped onto the bandwagon, with more expected in the near future. The Austin-based All-Access company has signed deals with Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and EMI to make these USB bracelets with other artists. They believe that fans will want to buy these bracelets more than just downloading the mp3′s because it’s actually solid merchandise that in order to get those extras such as band interviews and pictures, etc. that mp3′s or a CD doesn’t have, you have to buy one of these bracelets. It is also free promotion for the band when other’s look at the bracelet. They are hoping this merch will be consumed by the hard-core and loyal fans, because they know they are more likely to consume stuff because of their strong passion for the music. It’s interesting to see this is why, seeing as I just read a lot from Henry Jenkin’s about this idea of the loyal fans. It looks like the industry is now starting to catch on and realize that they can no longer gear things towards a general audience if they really want to make money.

The only downside for the record industry is that it does cost more to make these USB drive bracelets than it does to produce a CD. They normally range from $5 to $7, but there can be more expensive ones. The price will most likely become less to make and probably to buy as more and more bands turn to this instead of CD’s. The good news for smaller bands and independent ones is that it is cheaper to actually buy just 100 of these than it is to buy 100 CD’s. The price’s for us consumers to buy these range from $25-$50, which is definitely a bit pricey. Personally, I would probably not buy the USB-drive bracelet with just the new album, etc. that I could just buy as mp3′s of course unless it was from my favorite band Hanson. But I would as I previously said, definitely 100% buy the live recorded concert USB drive bracelet because of my live for live music. I think that idea will go far if bands start selling that with their merch at concerts. Other than that, props to the record indsutry for actually trying to be innovative in a time where they really needed to be. It could possibly be a good save, but we don’t know yet. At least we’ve reached a time where media convergence is constantly occuring, industries are merging with others to create new products, and producers are actually realizing how important loyal fans are as consumers, and giving them what they want. It is definitely refreshing to see that it is no longer the producers with all the power over us consumers. It is now becoming more of an equal relationship and I’m so interested in where this is going to take us in the future.

Unlike many other new media companies today, YouTube is beginning to change the way media companies interact with each other.  YouTube officially debut in 2005 by three guys, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who where previously employees of PayPal. Like many new companies, YouTube started from an office in a garage with the goal of allowing users to upload and share videos with others and from there quickly started getting companies to invest in them. Within only six months, YouTube was one of the fastest growing websites, even beating out MySpace. YouTube was literally everywhere you looked. Any trendy site or blog usually had a video embedded on their page from YouTube. Not even a year later and over a billion dollars later, YouTube was bought by Google, which was a beneficial decision for both parties. 

After an intense growth over a very short period of time, YouTube was receiving a lot of publicity. Obviously, one would figure that there could be some issues with posting certain music videos, television shows, or clips from movies. Companies may start getting upset that their material is up on some site, and this can bring problems. NBC was one of the first companies to start having issues with copyright infringement rules. NBC quickly asked for the removal of some of their material from the site, but instead of impulsively suing YouTube, NBC took a completely different path and started a new trend in the way media companies began to interact with each other. NBC deciding not to sue, instead decided to parter with YouTube in hopes of more exposure for them. They set up their own NBC Channel on YouTube, where viewers could go and watch clips for previews of upcoming shows, etc.  After NBC’s big partnership, other media companies quickly followed. CBS was next to partner with YouTube, and Warner Music Group quickly followed. Not only was YouTube going to have television shows, they would soon have almost every music video ever made. This was such a big step for these media companies because not only were they doing the opposite of suing, they took a chance and that chance eventually began to pay off, when YouTube announced that they would be paying it’s contributors/partners a portion of the website’s revenue. So not only were these media companies getting big time exposure, they also had begun to make some money from it. 

In the same way media companies got smart and partnered with YouTube, YouTube did things the right way when it came to their advertising. So in the same way that the exposure for these media companies was free, and then the second earned them money, YouTube first gave free access to users, then the popularity of the site being free gained them consumers who advertisers could potentially sell to more and more as the YouTube audience got bigger. Then YouTube would become a more attractive place for companies to want to advertise, and subsequently increase their advertisement rates and their profit. 

What is so inspiring about these stories is that media companies are now beginning to realize that if you stick to old ways in this industry, you’ll be left far behind. The only way to compete today is to be constantly moving along with the new trends and even making trends of your own in the process that will most likely be followed.  YouTube is one of the most inspiring examples of a media company that is setting new standards and new trends for others to follow. In only 3 years, they have become a phenomenom. This only means that we have no idea what really is going to happen to the media industry in years, or even months from now. All I do know is that it will be moving and moving quickly and in order to survive, you have to move along or you’ll be left far, far behind.

Question: D 

For the past ten years, there is one site that I have religiously gone to at least a couple of times a week. That site is Hanson.net. While it has changed and transformed over the years, it still serves the same purpose for me, to get a more in depth fan experience as a Hanson fan. When deciding on a website to analyze in New Media Culture, I decided to analyze Hanson.net, the band’s website, in which I frequently visit and adore.                                  

The first noteworthy aspect of Hanson’s website is the layout and design. The use of colors is definitely intentional. It uses a beige and red color scheme, just like their latest album cover, The Walk. The background of the website is actually similar to The Walk as well, with a photo of the three of them walking on a beach in Africa, where they recorded their album. Their logo is on the top left hand corner, which is a logo I just recently got tattooed on me by the way!

In the right hand corner, there’s a banner of three people walking, which stands for their latest album, and you can click that to launch their media player to preview all their songs. There is a video in the center of the site that always features the latest new songs or news, etc. It currently starts with the song “Traci Brown”, which they wrote for a fan that won a contest. Then it goes to a song of their latest album, while featuring an ad for TOM’s shoes, and The Walk Tour. They are very connected with TOM’s because on their last tour in each city they stopped, they did something called THE WALK. They would walk a mile with all of their fans with their shoes off, to promote awareness of what it would feel like if we didn’t have shoes, like many children in Africa don’t. After doing the walk, you got to cut the line as a fan and you had the option of buying a pair of TOM’s shoes, thus donating a pair to a child in Africa. Anyways, the video also shows footage of their latest trip to Africa, where they did the shoe drop and donated money to schools in need. Right below the video is where I usually look first, because it features headlines from the latest news, tour/events, and their blog. At the bottom of the headlines, you can then click to the individual pages with more detailed information for each topic. On the right hand side, there’s an ad to download the new song they wrote for their fan for free, and then there’s another ad to go to TOM’s shoes website. Under that, they do have an ad for their fan club, where you can click and get more information. Then under that, there is an option for you to enter your username and password if you are a fan club member, to get special features on the site. There are no ads other than TOM’s shoes, who they closely connected with so that’s a great thing!! There are many links on top of the page that link you to other pages of the site. These sub-sites are very visible as their headings are white font on a black background. Each sub-site has a very similar layout to the homepage. The sub-sites are; about, media, merchandise, our/events, news, blog, forum, and their newest section Take the Walk. Aesthetically, although a lot of information is presented, the layout actually doesn’t look like that much is going on. It is not too busy and definitely not overwhelming.  I think it is a very organized web site, and aesthetically nice to look at and easy to navigate through. There are no sponsored links on the site, except for their own record label, 3CG records.

One of my favorite sub-sites of Hanson.net is the News Section, where you can get all the up-to-date information on new appearances, new photos, new audio, and links to new articles written about them. Another awesome sub-site is the Hanson blog, which is fairly new and is where they write about the latest stuff going on with their music. The definitely are keeping up-to-date with new media by adding a blog and a monthly newsletter you can sign up for to their site. Another favorite of mine is the forums section, where all the fans chat and share the latest underground Hanson gossip, rumors, news, etc. Most of the time fans announce the rumor that one of the Hanson wives are pregnant before they officially do. I don’t know how they do this, but they do! This just goes back to what Henry Jenkin’s was talking about with ‘fandom.’ These Hanson fans are one of the most passionate group of fans I’ve ever encountered and many famous people have said that as well. Hanson fans know everything about them, see every show in the area, and are usually very dedicated at trying to get new Hanson fans. They will do anything and everything to meet them and this is coming from a hardcore, passionate fan that has had the experience of doing anything and everything to meet them. The newest and best culturally active part of their site is the Take the Walk section. It begins with this, “The “Take The Walk” section of Hanson.net is designed to keep you informed about everything we’re doing to take action on issues that are affecting the world, especially the AIDS/HIV epidemic and poverty is South Africa. We plan to provide you with simple tasks that will help make a difference in the world. Most importantly, we hope to inspire you to take action on your own” (hanson.net). Here you can read and watch a video of all the activism that Hanson has done in Africa. They have done everything from giving over 50,000 pairs of shoes to children in Africa, and over four days with the help of their fans, donate $15,000 to the DD Dilwayo School in South Africa. What sparked their activism in Africa was actually hearing that their hometown Tulsa was one of the top towns in the country with AIDS cases, and then being inspired to help out with the AIDS epidemic in Africa. They also got inspired to use young African children as their chorus for their new album, which came out amazing if I might add! 

Hanson.net definitely caters to their loyal fans, the group of fans that will go to this site daily for updates. You can tell that they cater to their loyals because a lot of the stuff on this site is for fans that already know what their about and want to further interact with Hanson and the cultural activism that they are involved in. If you are a new fan though, you can also surely learn a lot from the site about the band. The most exciting aspect of the site for me is the cultural activism part, because it’s just everywhere you look on the site. With TOM’s shoes ads, and blogs and videos about what they’ve done and how you can be involved, it caters to a crowd that really wants to make a difference. I love that my favorite band is also one that wants to change the world, even if it is only by doing small things. Those small things add up to wonderful, big things and change most importantly. It is a lot different from other band’s sites in this aspect. A lot of bands don’t try to get their fans so involved in making a difference, and a lot of bands also don’t walk a mile with no shoes on with their fans in each city they tour in. They are just so inspiring. The fact that Hanson has slowly started to get a lot of credit for the music they write and play and the activism they’re involved in makes me so happy. For the longest time they were only known for MMMBOP, and that is not the best ways to be remembered. They went through a lot of ups and downs within the ten years, one of the biggest being making their own record label to put their music out on the terms that they wanted. What I have always told people about them writing their own stuff and playing their own instruments is actually starting to earn them props in the underground, independent music world. And hopefully, more and more people will begin to realize how true, talented, and inspiring Hanson is. 

Here are some pictures of me Walking THE WALK….

Question: A 

Where have the good old mixed tape days gone? It appears those days may be gone like the wind.  The good old mixed tapes and mixed CDs are a thing of the past, and all because of one new technology-the iPod. I remember just 10 years ago making mixed tapes of my favorite Hanson and Spice Girls songs. Okay, I admit it…I was a Hanson fan. Did I say was? I mean I am a Hanson fan. Then a few years later, the mixed tape evolved and eventually became extinct, with the mixed CD taking its place. After the mixed CD came out, all I can remember doing is making mixes that I could listen to in my portable cd player while driving with my parents, and then when I could drive making mixes for my car rides and for my friends so I could share all ofmy favorite music with them. I recently found at least a hundred different mixed CDs that I had made. To think, only a few years later there would be a new device that replaced both of these. This device is the iPod. 

In 2001, the 1^st generation iPod was introduced to the masses. This iPod would soon be the most popular portable media player ever. The 1^st generation iPod was a 5 or 10 GB iPod, with a mechanical scroll wheel that only Mac users could use. With the fast popularity, nearly a year later Apple came out with the 2^nd generation iPod, which allowed both Mac and Windows users to operate. The first iPod I ever had was the 3^rd generation iPod that came out in 2003, with all-touch interface and the capability of connecting to iTunes. It would take way too long to go through all of the models and generations of the iPod. But not even 7 years later, the 1^st , 2^nd and 3^rd generation iPods are considered “classic” already! Yikes! The current iPod line is the 1GB iPod shuffle, the 4 and 8GB iPod nanos, the 80 and 160 GB iPod classics, and the highly advanced 8, 16, and 32 GB iPod touch. What this shows even at a glance is how fast new technology comes and goes. It really seems that in my almost twenty-three years of life, I have already seen so much technology come and go that I’m a little worried how we’re going to be listening to music when I’m fifty.

         The iPod that I currently have in my pocket is the 30GB 5^th generation iPod that came out in late 2005.  This is a sleek black device with a larger color screen to look at photos and video and a click wheel to navigate. I thought it was the coolest version of the iPod when I first got it! I don’t really use the photo option on it. I do find the option to upload videos on there very useful. If I ever am stuck in a boring moment, I can always watch music videos or television episodes! The pod cast option is awesome because about once a week, Hanson makes a new pod cast that gets automatically updated onto my iPod. Who wouldn’t love watching them all the time?! I actually don’t use my iPod for any of the extra features, such as games, contacts, a calendar, notes, etc. Basically my main use for it is, the music. Just like my mix tape days, I love to make play lists with my favorite artists and songs so I can always listen to my favorite stuff. I love the shuffle option that randomly selects what song it’s going to play next. Always something different! I only have 2,973 songs on my iPod. It has the potential to hold about 5,000. The bottom line is that my 5^th generation, 2-year-old iPod while out of date to some, is still very functionable to me. I don’t feel the need to buy a new one right now, because it’s just not worth it to me. I don’t need to spend three hundred dollars for something that can access the web and e-mail, that’s what I have my computer for. I don’t need to spend 300 dollars for a multi-touch screen. My non web, non e-mail, non touch screen iPod is still perfect for me even if that makes me one of the few that want their iPod for what it’s supposed to be-a portable music player!

Of course, new technology can be really overwhelming at times. It can also keep reinventing itself that it ends up exceeding the function of what it was originally supposed to do. There are a lot of benefits to the iPod. You no longer have to worry about taping over a song on your mixed tape, or scratching your CD and it not working anymore. Unless you drop your iPod in the toilet or do something else bizarre to it, you should be worry-free about it having many issues. But as I have previously said, if you don’t move along with new technology, you could get lost along the way. The record industry is to me, an industry that got lost along the way. With the advent of the iPod came iTunes, which sold songs for $.99 each that could automatically upload to your iPod. It became much easier to get the music that you wanted when you wanted and for the price you wanted. To go into the depths of iTunes would be too extensive, but basically by this new technology, and illegal downloading of music, people are not going to the record store and buying the number of CDs that they used to buy. The record industry is in a lot of trouble because of this. The hundreds of millions of records a top artist used to sell have now turned into hundreds of thousands, if that. To me, it’s exactly because they didn’t move along with new technologies. They should have been coming out with albums on USB drives that you could just plug into your computer or something else really innovative that could have saved them. Now in order to survive, they are forcing their recording artists to record 360 contracts, which means that they literally get a portion of everything the artist does or sells-the albums, the merchandise, the touring, etc. This is now forcing many artists to sign to independent record labels. See what a vicious cycle this is! All because one industry didn’t move along with new technology, they truly didget lost along the way. What I get from this is to basically just never close my eyes and I’ll never miss a beat in this technological world that we live in! Okay, that won’t happen…but I promise I’ll try!

Question: B 

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