Blipper since: August 19, 2008
"Equal access to social rich media is required for social radio to work. We live in one world, and it’s getting smaller."
BrianGreene: I live in Dublin, Ireland.
Dulin: What is the appeal of Blip.FM for you?
BrianGreene: It’s so social. It really knows how to make the music experience a social joy.
Dulin: What are some artists that you have discovered on Blip.FM that others should know about? Why?
BrianGreene: Why? Because I think they are great, others may disagree.
On Blip.FM I have found (or to rephrase, my fellow Blip.FM DJs have alerted me to) the following artists/bands (a non-exhaustive list) Emiliana Torrini, music go music, Chew Lips, Flunk, Wallis Bird, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Anais, The Cat Empire, and loads more. Notice the gender bias here. Actually, draw a line from Wexford in Ireland to Helsinki in Finland and any solo female singer/songwriter that I have found on Blip.FM would be good.
Dulin: What song or artist do you never tire of hearing? What is special about that song or artist?
BrianGreene: Any Billy Bragg. His work is timeless; it is rooted in the reality of life be it the urban gritty love songs or the politics. I never tire of hearing it.
Dulin: Do you remember the first music you ever purchased? What was it? Format (record, tape, CD, mp3)? Why did you buy it?
BrianGreene: First ever was a 7-inch record of “Heart of Glass” by Blondie. It was a secondhand purchase, and I would have bought it because I knew it. I was about 9 at the time. First LP [purchase] was Upstairs at Eric’s by Yazoo when I was 11.
Dulin: Do you tend to listen to a particular genre or music from a specific time period?
BrianGreene: Being a DJ on and off Blip.FM, my music choices are wide and varied. That spectrum of music is what I need and like to play. An inner subset of that is my personal music taste and the artists and songs I love. My faves mainly fall into folk rock female singer/songwriters.
Dulin: How does music, whether playing/listening on Blip.FM or elsewhere, affect your behavior, reflect your mood, or express your personality from day to day?
BrianGreene: Oh, a good set of music can alter my mood. If I need a lift, then I will go in one direction, and if I need to chill I will go elsewhere. But I also love the chase, the find, the kill. Hunting down a track from a small fragment of memory, or from an obscure film score or a new TV advert, that chase fixation and discovery is a drug all of it own.
Dulin: What does this phrase, “people controlled radio,” mean to you?
BrianGreene: “People controlled radio” is radio that we the listeners control. Radio by the people, for the people. Radio has been in the hands of the governments and the regulators and the corporations and the advertising departments for 100 years. Now we have passed the point in needing anyone but ourselves to programme our radio needs. And I don't just mean music; documentaries, news, comment, and chat, we can share it all on social radio platforms, and Blip.FM is the truest form of social radio that I have yet seen.
Dulin: Since you began blipping, have you had any experiences that surprised you? Please explain.
BrianGreene: The camaraderie around Blipathon.com 2009 and 2010 encouraged me. I have lost tons of sleep too. I have made Internet acquaintances similar to the way I did on citizen band radio in the 1980s. Blip.FM or micro-blogging with rich media is way more compulsive that textual micro-blogging such as Twitter. The propping and sharing (the rewards system) that happens is far more important than retweets and @replies where no audio or video exist. The solidarity by Canada/USA blippers with the rest of the world over the imeem tracks surprised me. Imeem is now history but the saga showed that equal access to social rich media is required for social radio to work. We live in one world, and it’s getting smaller. If corporations want to subdivide us, then let them begin with the planets and move outward from there. Social radio works at a global level only, it can’t be territorial.
Dulin: Blip.FM involves online interaction with others that live throughout the world. Do you feel a sense of closeness with others on Blip.FM?
BrianGreene: Other than the imeem saga solidarity, yes I do, there are real people behind the pseudonyms and avatars. I remember being told about the death of Blip.FM DJ @RustyJames, and it was as sad as if I had met and known the guy. I didn't know him and hadn't met him, but we make connections on networks, connections with people, so we must be respectful to people, even if we are a bunch of music nerds! Showing respect demands respect.
Dulin: Does this interaction lead to understanding? Misunderstanding?
BrianGreene: Yes it can. We are all many micro radio stations (people) on many different wave lengths, so yes, often there can be misunderstanding and co-channel interference, but on the whole, there is less friction on a music social network like Blip.FM than I see on Facebook or Twitter. The understandings are the common interests in music.
There is the positive lack of a global language barrier. Music is an international language. Irrespective of the language of the lyrics, I can share and converse in broken English or local language using Google translate with the whole wide world because the common exchange is a 4:30 track from a band or artist that I will never hear programmed on a broadcast radio station in my country. For that, Blip.FM has made us all the richer.
Dulin: If you could Blip.FM one song that could reach everyone on the planet, what would you choose?
BrianGreene: “The Revolution Starts Now” by Steve Earl.
Dulin: Any other thoughts to share?
BrianGreene: As a Blip.FM ambassador, may I thank you for your interest and effort with this series of interviews. The world is a small town now. Blip.FM is the record store with the free tunes. Let us all keep playing the tracks we love, share them with our friends and keep the commons a good place to hear new and not so new, good music. Feedback / comments / suggestions welcome to briangreene@Blip.FM
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Pete Dulin is the co-publisher and editor of www.presentmagazine.com and writes freelance for magazines, websites, and newspapers. Always looking for the next great song, he can be found in the Blip Nation at http://blip.fm/slipperydistortion. He unleashes profound non sequiturs at Twitter.com/petedulin and publishes creative work at www.petedulin.com.
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