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Reversing Global Interests
The Internet introduces people to new stuff they wouldn’t have normally found or liked.
One case and point is soccer, often joked among Americans as a “Communist” sport. But soccer is now the second most popular sport for 12-24 year olds in the US. This didn’t happen naturally.
The combination of early addictive video games like FIFA and television broadcasts laid the groundwork. But now social media is spreading the game rapidly, converting more Americans into soccer fanatics every year.
New adoption for anything requires both education and awareness. Every American is connected to someone outside the United States. It’s impossible to ignore the banter of a trend in the Facebook and Twitter from people overseas. Soccer is one of those constant trends.
The reverse is also true. More Europeans are getting interested in American football and baseball.
Social media is knocking the walls down on a diversity of interests, turning niche interests into global communities. The same phenomena is happening in music, whereby Electronica is now mainstream in America.
Sharing similar interests can only be a good thing for world culture. We can make easier connections and understand each other better. The Internet has made people more open and less myopic.
Electronic music is mainstream, which is odd considering fifteen years ago it was a niche genre placed in the back section of US record stores.
I grew up listening to Paul Oakenfold, Underworld, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, and more obscure electronic DJs like Roni Size and Photek. I never thought electronic music would be popular.
To see dubstep break electronic music is even more surprising. Just a few years ago dubstep was completely underground with the likes of Burial, Skream, and Benga. Skrillex now makes $15 million a year.
Money taints music development. Just look at the destruction of hip-hop, which like electronic music grew out of dance parties and peaked out after the rise of Eminem. When music becomes more about Hollywood than the sound itself, it self-destructs. Electronic music will burst as well but the real crate diggers will continue to support it.
