In a recent Pitchfork story about radio, Chris Dahlen asks the question "Who Needs the DJ? (my emphasis in bold):
The satellite radio services, XM and Sirius, display the artists and titles on the receiver, and Internet radio stations almost never bother with a DJ; in fact, more and more of them-- including AccuRadio-- give users the power to skip songs or to filter what they're hearing...
But none of this rules out the DJs: It just clarifies where we need them. And it starts with getting us to listen to music we don't want to hear. With nothing but a turntable and a few minutes to talk between songs, the DJ has to bridge hundreds of divisions. He or she has to serve the people who want to explore new cultures, as well as the cultures that want to hear nothing but their own music; and he or she has to balance the people who propagate their music, who need to pass it on to the next generation, with a next generation that may not care.
This great piece (hat tip to Creative Generalist) made me think of the DJ metaphor that is at the core of Steve Taylor's wonderful book Out of Bounds Church. One of my secret joys is playing DJ, sequencing music and making mix tapes (and now playlists). I consider it a high level of intimacy to sit with a friend and play DJ, exposing them to sounds and sequencing that says things bigger than ideas. There is nothing like introducing someone to a great artist or even genre they've never heard of
One thing that fascinates me about this metaphor is the advent of technologies and social constructs which have given rise to the idea of prosumers. It seems a lot like like the shift that took place when the Bible was published in local vernaculars and when the Guttenberg press allowed for wide distribution of what was until that point the domain of leaders.
So much of leadership is dependent on the idea of human agency, the capacity for human beings to make choices and to impose those choices on the world on a collective basis. Human agency invests a moral component into a given situation. Doc Searls has a sensational email exchange, which has morphed into a conversation, on what he sees as 3 core moralities of leadership in prosumer world:
- Morality of self-interest
- This gives us "owning", "domination", etc. The Old School. Industrial Age shit. Still prevails in many business plans that are just for killing other companies.
- Morality of accounting
- We balance everything. "Paying debts", "owing favors". This is our system of justice, by the way. It's all about accounting. (Note the scales of justice symbol.)
- Morality of generosity
- We give. We are open. We love without expectation of reward, or even accounting. (In fact, when you bring in accounting, you compromise it.) Think about how we give to our spouses, our children, without strings. It pays off, too. But that's fundamentally not what it's about.
While I prefer the morality of generosity in my DJs (and my leaders and pastors), what strikes me is
- transparency is vital to any relationship of trust and ongoing tradition
- individualized media (like iPods) can often shut us off to a silo-like mono-culture, hermetically sealed from new discoveries, filtering what they hear & experience
- the morality of self-interest & accounting are so pervasive in Western cultures that it is no surprise that core institutions have experienced huge erosions in public support and trust
As I ponder these changes, it helps me to think about the definition of a DJ and the value she creates - so of course I turn the Urban Dictionary definition. What strikes me is that the ultimate hope of a DJ (and a leader or pastor) is:
A person who's whole responsibility is to make a crowd of people dance and enjoy the night.
but the reality for many people is:
Those on the radio tend to fill the time between songs with nonsense information that is irrelevant or the weather. Those that spin discs tend to suffer inexplicably from a random happiness for no particular reason.
Dance & enjoy the night - that certainly fits Pink's idea of GOD IS A DJ:
If God is a DJ
Life is a dance floor
Love is the rhythm
You are the music
If God is a DJ
Life is a dance floor
You get what you're given
its all how you use it
If God is a DJ, I suspect this is what scratching must look like:
Comments