The Cult Of The iPod

Much hoopla correctly has been made about how the iPod is transforming the way that people experience music and therefore the music industry itself.  An iPod on shuffle replaces the need for radio.  But how does an iPod user discover new music? In a download dominated world, it’s all about the single song instead of the "album".  But how can the industry make the 99 cents (or less) transaction model profitable and how do artists develop loyal fans when their connection with them is only 3 minutes long?

These are tough questions, but the answers must begin by fully understanding the cult of the iPod and a new Wired.com article is a great place to start:

"Markus Giesler, a 28-year-old assistant professor of marketing at York University in Toronto, is fast becoming a bright light in high-tech consumer research. "

"A former record producer and label owner, Giesler has researched and written extensively on technology, consumption and marketing. He has published papers on topics as varied as the gift economy of Napster; risk taking in online file sharing and "post-human consumer culture."

"Giesler is currently conducting a study of iPod users and their music-listening habits. He has set up the iPod Stories website to solicit tales of iPod consumption, which he will craft into an ethnographic study called "iPod Therefore iAm."

"…According to Giesler’s preliminary research, the iPod isn’t simply an updated Walkman. It’s an entirely new beast: a revolutionary device that transforms listeners into "cyborgs" through a process he calls "technotranscendence."

"Unlike the Walkman, the iPod taps into a "hybrid entertainment matrix," in which functions like random shuffle are a key construct, not just a cute marketing device."

"IPod and user form a cybernetic unit," said Giesler. "We’re always talking about cyborgs in the context of cultural theory and sci-fi literature, but this is an excellent example that they’re out there in the marketplace…. I have seen the future, and it is called the cyborg consumer."

The cyborg consumer, Giesler said, is one that uses several different technologies — from cell phones to Viagra — and is highly connected, technically and socially.

The iPod, for example, isn’t just an MP3 player. It’s an extension of the memory: storing the soundtrack of a lifetime, as well as names, addresses, calendars and notes.

Giesler notes that users give their iPods names, and carry them close to their bodies — the vibrations of the hard drive makes the device feel alive."

"Consumers often say the iPod has become part of themselves," Giesler said. "The iPod is no longer just an instrument or a tool, but a part of myself. It’s a body extension. It’s part of my memory, and if I lose this stuff, I lose part of my identity."

"Giesler argues that technological products like the iPod allow consumers to become "technotranscendent." Consumers transcend the here and now through the use of technology, like kids playing video games."

REMEMBER WHEN MUSIC USED TO BE THE TRANSCENDENT FORCE IN PEOPLE’S LIVES?

Read the entire article here.