It seemed like a great idea. A platform that would allow the little people to communicate with the world, the ultimate democracy of speech. A new feeling of discovery, the thrill of the hunt for stuff that others didn't know about. The liberation from people who always seem to tell us what to think, what to read, what to believe. The ultimate modern counter-culture tool.
For the arts too, and music in particular, it was exciting. The little bands, the boutique oddities, the untrendy, the not good-looking enough, the before-their-time, the too-extreme-to-release and the even-a-child-can-do-better, all could now make their work available to the world to see, love, hate, discuss, share and even sometimes buy. Cut the middle man! Exit the Majors! Up yours, fat cats! All very revolutionary indeed!
So what happened then?
For a while it was great, a giant brainstorming of ideas, new talents being discovered that might have been ignored otherwise, access to a mine of information about the history and the techniques of the arts. Then it grew but still it stayed mostly reliable, as is always to be expected when something isn't curated. There might have been a feeling of 'this is a bit shit but isn't it what democracy is all about?' but it somehow made the good stuff stand out more.
But then inevitably the social media barons decided they needed to have more control of what you should see on their increasingly monetized platforms. So slowly but steadily all those pages you used to follow started to fade away from your timeline, replaced with adverts and political propaganda. How could we be so naive to think that such a utopist concept would survive the tentacles of Money!
For a while we tried to resist, we genuinely thought we were fighting the beast ('I do not consent...etc..' , remember?) when in reality we were just feeding it by posting our opposition. After a while we got tired and became less active, more lurking in the background, mostly ranting at the lack of quality content and we stopped contributing. It must have had an impact because their next step was to create virtual creators, to feed the passive addicts. Those fake accounts fed the machine with posts designed to appeal to those still on the aging platform, usually people with a short attention span. Let's admit it, who still goes to Facebook for a good session of thinking' these days?
So as the creatives are leaving, the curious follow them elsewhere (Hello Bluesky) and the rest are fast getting bored with the bland A.I. offer, Facebook think they have found the solution: 'Eureka! We don't need any users!' They have now reached the point where they have turned into a virtual universe in which virtual creators entertain virtual users, all in the hope of pretending the whole thing is still alive. I suppose it helps that a lot of Facebook shareholders fit the profile of young entrepreneurs (see I can speak French) who also invest in virtual money... But how long can it last? How long will they support this new Fakebook?
As far as I am concerned, I have pulled the plug last week, by deactivating my account. My artist pages are still there for the time being but I've got no illusion that they really serve a great purpose. It's a constantly evolving scene and we need to adapt. That in itself is not a bad thing.
So, is the beast dead yet? So far it's still pretending to have a pulse, but they're not fooling anyone: we can all recognise the smell of obituaries in the air. It's always blowing in the wind.
David Goffin 25th Feb 2025
ps: feel free to explore the music available through other pages on this website, no A.I. stuff here, all honest creation!
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