What is Quality?
By Herb.
I was recently watching a fascinating clip of guys hanging out of cars feet first on my partner Emil Rensing’s VODCars, Arabian Days - episode 102 when it made me think about the internet and the issue of quality.
What is quality? Everybody seems to want it, many claim they’ve got it. But who really knows? I’m reminded of the Supreme Court Justice Brennan, who when asked what was obscenity/porn, responded “I’ll know it when I see it.” Same seems to be true when it comes to quality. “I’ll know it when I see it.” Except, it may be easier to get a consensus on obscenity than quality.
Why do I mention this? Because I’ve talked to many people especially some Hollywood friends and financial types who think the problem with video on the internet is its lack of “quality”. I say, quality is in the eye of the beholder, it’s more about what you think than someone else.
Let’s take music…The Ramones- to me they are quality. In fact, my favorite bands are always the bands that start off just barely knowing how to play their instruments (like The Clash) and then got better. “Quality” musicians aren’t important to me. Good songs, good beats and a tune you can’t get out of your head are what matters to me.
Which is the way it is with video/television on the internet. Quality as defined by some great “group think” is less important to me than a good visual experience, that’s memorable and something I am going to want to see again. Like Emil’s “Arabian Days”- it’s “quality” like the Ramones, raw and memorable. Check it out. And don’t let the “quality” critics define our space- the audiences will!
February 1st, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Those car videos are wild!
You bring up an interesting point about “quality” being more about the content rather than the technical level of the media.
I think the underground market for bootleg recordings of live shows, and outtakes, supports what you are saying. The technical quality of these recordings varies from fairly high, (plugged into the board), to horrendous, (someone in the back row with a microcassette recorder). It’s the ability to experience the energy of the live performance that attracts the audience to these recordings, and the better the performance, the more highly rated the recording. Of course a high quality recording of a high quality performance trumps all.
Another interesting aspect of this train of thought is something that I’ve been thinking about for years, and is being proven more with each day that goes by, and that is the idea that the level of quality of digital tools to produce media has reached a point where it is leveling the playing field for content producers. When I was in the special effects/ motion graphics field, the defining term to compete was “state of the art,” and to be state of the art one had to have the enormous funds to own top of the line equipment, making it nearly impossible for small operators to compete.
I’m happy to see the shift from “state of the art” to “state of the idea”.
February 1st, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Ah you are a fellow Ramones fan. Excellent
I couldn’t be more proud to be an investor in N3.
February 3rd, 2007 at 1:33 am
Thanks Bijan… A funny story… one Friday early on, Herb walked into the office in the morning and started laughing. Lindsey, one of our youngest team members, was sporting a Ramones t-shirt. Herb had to go back and drag Fred out to see, saying, “Look, Fred! They’re cool again!”
The Ramones have always been cool. Still waiting, though, for the shirt to show up on Lindsey’s blog.
April 15th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I hope I’m not too late here. I just stumbled on this site this morning.
It took me awhile to realize that the man who wrote this blog entry is Herb Scannell, my former neighbor and classmate (HHS class of 1975).
I left Long Island in 1982 and started a small record store in Massachusetts. I still own it. In the 90s I left the day to day operations of the store to a manage” and became PD of a Triple-A radio station.
I came back to the daily operations of the store in 2001. Music has always been near and dear to me.
A couple of quick comments:
Tim is very correct when he says “The Ramones have always been cool”. It amazes me to this day how many kids come into my store, kids born WELL after the Ramones first album came out, wearing Ramones t-shirts and buying Ramones CDs and posters. The Ramones are to this generation of punk-rockers what Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, etc. were to my generation of “rockers”. Icons. Legends.
It couldn’t have happened to a better band.
Rocco’s point about bootlegs is well taken. There is another aspect to bootlegs that makes them cool, though. It’s knowing that you own something that most of the world doesn’t own and probably doesn’t know about. For many fans, there is nothing better than introducing a fellow fan to a recording they know nothing about.
The internet, of course, has made finding concert recordings easier than it used to be, but the “thrill of the chase” is still there… The pride of knowing you have something few others have is still as strong as ever.
Just thought I’d contribute my two-cents here.
Good luck, Herb! Next New Networks looks like a great venture!
Regards,
Dave
April 17th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Dave, Good to hear from you. I was recently explaining to my wife my extended neighborhood and brought up your name (and your Mom was Den Mother.) Love that you stayed close to music and long live the Ramones. Being good is good enuf and the Ramones were real good.