The Malcolm Gladwell Bandwagon

Happy Easter.

Yesterday, I stayed in bed reading until the late morning, but today I've been quite active. Hillary and I chased around a bit this morning trying to get our hands on a Nintendo Wii. No such luck, as Best Buy and Costco are closed today. At least Trader Joe's was open.***Vampire Weekend grace the cover of this month's Spin but the most interesting part of the article is the section on "the new speed of buzz," which even quotes my new hero, Malcolm Gladwell. The article reads:

[Vampire Weekend's] success demonstrates a radical redefinition of the very term at a time when quantifiable benchmarks are increasingly defined not by units shifted or radio airplay, but by less scientific means. "success might mean a synch on Friday Night Lights," says Alexandra Patsavas, music supervisor for Grey's Anatomy, Chuck, and Gossip Girl, referring to the placement of Vampire Weekend's infectious "A-Punk" on an episode of the football drama last November. "It might mean a Letterman performance or inclusion on a magazine's free CD. There are still gatekeepers, just many of them and smaller gates."

Later the article discusses just how quickly buzz can obliterate, citing Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Tapes N' Tapes. Then Gladwell contributes:

"All creative activity requires at least some time to mature," says cultural critic Malcolm Gladwell, whose book Blink examines instinct and split-second decision-making. "And one of the inadvertently useful aspects of the pre-Internet, pre-accelerated-hype era is that it allowed artists some enforced period of obscurity to develop their art. My biggest worry about the way hype works now is that we're in danger of discovering people before they are worthy of being discovered."

What I am trying to hone in on in is something that captures both this blog-centered high speed of buzz, along with the theories on social trends Gladwell expresses in The Tipping Point. The key is to tap into that buzz but then make it stick. Easier said than done.***Since you did not get to hear about SXSW from me, here are some recounts from a couple of my friends that are worth checking out - Nick from Penny Distribution gives a rather thorough account of each day that also includes numerous industry panels, while Adrian at ipickmynose reports on a number of shows, including the awesome sounding +1 day party.