Alcohol-related Violence – Who’s to Blame?

By Rhys Woosnam

Adam Foster laid beaten and bloody in a gutter in the suburb of Broadbeach. An eight on two assault, him and his friend were no chance. The cowards fled the scene almost immediately. This was an all too familiar sight in the nightclub district. The most shocking part is that police were in clear vision of the incident, not even bothering to call an ambulance.

He was another victim of the dangerous mix of alcohol and violence.

We must ask ourselves, what causes these brutal attacks and is the Government doing enough to stop them?

The effects of alcohol-related violence in Queensland permeate all levels of society and cause significant physical as well as mental damage. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology in report entitled Alcohol-Related Assault: Time and Place, 30.6% of adults have experienced some form of violence that has been brought on through alcohol consumption.

Adam’s sister Kelly was shocked at the lack of involvement by the local law enforcement. “The police was on the scene but did not intervene at all; they did not even call an ambulance. My brother’s girlfriend called the ambulance and a long while after the two were taken to hospital and stayed overnight.”

She believes that if the policemen and women had responded properly to the incident, her brother would have not been left with serious injuries.

“Mentally it affected me that the Broadbeach police witnessed the event and still did nothing. I have the highest level of respect for the defence forces but when it comes to Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise police at night they become arrogant.”

Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise. These two places are the premier suburbs in the Gold Coast for nightclub entertainment and play host to a multitude of young people who drink the night away with reckless abandon. They are, along with Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, major locations for the brutal violence that is occurring amongst the young revellers.

The Valley in particular was the scene of a horrendous attack just a few months ago. A young man who was extremely drunk, punched a female nightclub owner in the head, this then led to a bouncer king hitting the man, leaving him unconscious. “THIS is the face of the shocking cycle of drunken violence that fills the state’s emergency wards with assault victims every weekend.” Lara Lauth wrote in her article in the Sunday Mail about the assault.

The Queensland Government have realised how serious of an impact these attacks have taken on the state and recently published a report that detailed their inquiry into alcohol-related violence.

At 105 pages it is incredibly extensive and covers all factors including the extended opening hours of many nightclubs, parental education to children about the dangers of alcohol and the police presence in these areas as well as sufficient public transport.

The report was chaired by MP Barbara Stone and was kick-started in response to the sharp rise in alcohol-related violence. A number of risk-prevention measures were suggested to the government, the majority of which are now incorporated into the Queensland nightclub scene.

A major factor in the escalating violence is the extremely late opening hours of some facilities. Adam’s incident occurred at approximately 2am. At this time the majority of nightclubs are not only still open, but are still allowing customers into the facility. The 3am lockout is a difficult concept, in some cases it contributes to the violence but in other cases it allows nightclub staff to curb violence and keep people inside and much safer.

The nightclub’s role in preventing violence is incredibly important. Or at least you would think so.

Six prominent nightclubs on the Gold Coast were contacted for their opinion on alcohol-related violence. Five of them gave no reply but the sixth one had an interesting response. They said in an email that “We at (name retracted) believe that violence involving alcohol is not our responsibility and should be left to the Queensland Police to deal with.” Surely the people who supply the attackers with the alcohol should burden some of the blame or at the very least should help to curb the amount of violence?

All levels of Government have been compiling reports and creating initiatives in the community to reduce the risk of violence. The most successful idea in Queensland that stemmed from the previously mentioned report is the Drink Safe Precincts in Townsville, Fortitude Valley and the Gold Coast.

The Drink Safe Precinct initiative was launched as a two-year trial in December 2010 and has seen a significant improvement in the safety of nightclub patrons. The main changes to the areas included in the precinct is an increased police presence, a number of water stations and safe zones and most importantly sufficient public transport till late at night.

The lack of public transport in previous years had added to the danger of leaving a club after a big night of drinking.

According to the 2010-11 Queensland Police Report “As at 30 June 2011, 9397 additional police hours have been worked in the precincts and 2289 arrests made. Police also intervened on over 1090 occasions to prevent conflict and issued 1 269 move-on directions.” The significant jump in policing around problem areas has been a factor in reducing attacks but there is still an alarming amount of violence prevalent and not just here in Queensland.

Young man Thomas Kelly was killed three months ago as a result of an attack in the infamous Kings Cross. He was spending his first night out after turning 18 and was the victim of an unprovoked king hit. If brutal incidents like this are still happening in Australia, then the Government and the community as a whole is obviously not doing enough.

When interviewed about alcohol-fuelled violence last month, Minister for Health and Aging Mark Butler said that there is no single solution to this problem. “There is the question about responsible serving of alcohol within licensed venues. I do think there is a change in the trading hours of hotels, certainly in the twenty years since I was a young person. And what that has done is it has led to people spilling out of venues very, very late often at four, five am. And although there is still violence within licensed venues, more security in those venues meant that the violence is increasingly happening on the streets.”

The fact that a politician high up in the food chain can see what is wrong with alcohol-violence and yet it still occurs on a regular occasion is very worrying. It seems as no matter what to Government does to curb violence among drunken patrons, it will still plague society.

When it comes down to the core of the situation, the only person we can really blame is the attacker themselves. There are countless studies on what makes a person commit violent acts whilst intoxicated but we still don’t have a concrete answer. It means that the community will continue to face an uphill battle.

Alcohol can add enjoyment to social outings, but it comes with a significant risk. The Government will continue to introduce attempts at ending alcohol-related violence, and they may cause a reduction in incidents. The truth is that stories like Thomas Kelly and Adam Foster will unfortunately continue to occur. The best way to lower the risk of being attacked is to simply drink responsibly and if faced with a potentially violent situation, just walk away.

References

“Alcohol-fuelled Violence; Cubbie Station; Gonski Funding.” Interview.Hansard. Parliament Of Australia, 5 Sept. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard

Lauth, Lara, and David Murray. “Nightclub on Frontline of Alcohol-fuelled Violence.” Sunday Mail [Brisbane] 29 July 2012: n. pag. Print.

Queensland Police Service. “Annual Report 2010-11.” 2010/2011 Annual Report. N.p., 2011. Web. 16 Oct. 2012.http://www.police.qld.gov.au/services/reportsPublications/annualReport/1011.htm

Stone, Barbara, Andrew Cripps, Jarrod Bleijie, Steve Kilburn, Aidan McLindon, Ray Stevens, Murray Watt, and Dean Wells. Inquiry into Alcohol-Related Violence – Final Report. Rep. Legislative Assembly of Queensland, Mar. 2010. Web. 5 Oct. 2012.http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/committees/LJSC/2009/alcohol-related-violence/Report74.pdf

Teece, Michael, and Paul Williams. Alcohol-Related Assault: Time and Place. Rep. N.p.: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2000. Australian Institute of Criminology. Oct. 2000. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.http://www.aic.gov.au/en/publications/current%20series/tandi/161-180/tandi169.aspx

Van Den Broeke, Leigh. “Kings Cross Locals Mourn Teen Thomas Kelly after King-hit Death.” The Daily Telegraph [Sydney] 11 July 2012: n. pag. Print.

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die

By Lewis Warner

People have been crying for a while now about the decline video game industry, that it isn’t what it used to be, so I set out to disprove this myth. In the true spirit of “why so serious?” I picked up a copy of Dark Souls and set out to die.

After a painstaking crawl through dungeons and obstacles I have come to an impasse. In front of me stands the Capra Demon, wielding two machetes each longer than a man and covered in blood. My stomach sinks, around his neck hangs the key that I seek. I charge forward, hoping to catch the beast by surprise, but to no avail, it lunges with unnatural speed, swinging its machete in a vicious arc. I catch the first sweeping blow upon my shield. The impact is deafening and I stagger backwards, helpless as the second swipe hurtles down towards me. Then I die, a painful, repetitive, infuriatingly challenging death.

(An anonymous fan art submission of the Capra Demon)

This isn’t the first time the Capra Demon has killed me, nor the second or the third. If I recall correctly it’s somewhere around number twelve. Welcome to Dark Souls, a game that is bucking the trend towards easy, dumbed down games, one gruesome death at a time.

When I read the phrase emblazoned across the front cover of Dark Souls: “Prepare to die”, I scoffed and considered it a challenge.I was so confident in my gaming prowess, I thought I would chew this game up and spit it out with a light smattering of deaths along the way. Much like I do with each AAA title that hits shelves. I was so very, very wrong.

Dark Souls has many aspects that set it apart from any other game I’ve ever played, but the thing that makes it stand out in the current market; it’s hard, uncompromisingly, unapologetically and unfalteringly hard.It does not come equipped with the standard option to play on easy, normal or hard difficulty mode, just the one nail biting, controller smashing default difficulty setting.
Don’t expect an industry standard in-depth tutorial here, all dark souls provides is a long and difficult initial level in which you gather knowledge of the controls and game mechanics and die numerous times in the process.

(A cover image of the dark souls video game)
Maybe you are thinking I’ve painted a pretty grim picture, and that Dark Souls doesn’t sound like it’s even fun to play. Why would anyone want to play a game in which failure and death is guaranteed to be a regular occurrence? After years of playing games in which I could change the difficulty setting down, or level up in order to easily overcome a challenge, it took me a while to pin point why I find Dark Souls so addictive. It is the challenge of Dark Souls that makes it so rewarding.

After suffering countless deaths at the hands of a boss fight, screaming every profanity you had to utter at the developers and swearing that the game is impossible, it is the sweetest most exquisite feeling to finally win.This is why Dark Souls has managed to be successful even whist most other games are becoming easier in order to appeal to a wider audience.

I sat down with an old hand in the video game industry, Michael Lennon, to discuss his experience of the industry, and his view on the trend towards easier video games.

“I think the trend towards easier video games has been happening for a while now.” Michael said.

“Because major publishers are now public companies traded on the stock exchange, there is an need and a drive for games to generate as much revenue as possible. “

“To this end, publishers use the ‘we pay the bills’ trump card to pressure developers into making games that will appeal to the widest possible audience.” He said.

Michael spent eleven years in the video game industry, working for companies such as THQ, Pandemic and EA.

“I really enjoyed my time in the industry, and I was lucky enough to work on six released titles.”

“There were also some negatives though, sometimes the games industry can pressure you into making a game you aren’t happy with.”  Michael said.

According to Michael, a lot of passionate games creators have started small independent studios with the ambition of creating new and innovative games, free of the pressure of huge profit hungry publishers.

“A lot of ex-colleagues of mine have started their own small companies, their games often appeal to niche markets rather than a wider audience, but they don’t make a lot of money.”

When I asked Michael about Dark Souls specifically he was quick to praise the game.

“Games like Dark Souls are reminiscent of the golden age of video games, when there was a huge, dedicated fan base that wanted a challenging experience that offers depth and replayability.”

“Nowadays a lot of consumers are more interested in the graphical advancements, movie like storylines and carbon copy competitive multi player.”

“This means that games like Dark Souls are few and far between, but they are a beautiful thing when they do come along.”

Dark Souls is the rare exception to the rule, despite being unapologetically difficult it has enjoyed immense success.

One particularly passionate fan and active member of the dark souls community is Dean Cormack.

Dean has been a gamer since his early teenage years and says Dark Souls was a pleasant change from most other games on the market.

“I’ve played my fair share of Call of Duty and other similar games, but Dark Souls is so different, it’s the game I just keep going back to.” Dean said.

“I love the challenge of Dark Souls, every death is essentially your fault and you have to learn what you did wrong and approach the problem differently if you want to win.”

Although Dark Souls innovates in the area of difficulty and mixing conventions of the action, RPG and strategy genres it also offers a completely unique multiplayer experience. When you connect to the internet whilst playing Dark Souls the experience takes on a whole new dimension. Messages scrawled on the floor by other players appear throughout the world. These messages are equally useful as they are dangerous.

For example where one player might see fit to warn his piers of a trap lurking around the next bend, another sadistic player might herald an amazing treasure ahead, causing unwary readers to rush headlong to their deaths.

“The messages on the floor are a real highlight for me, sometimes you find one that really sums up Dark Souls.” Dean said.

“I had died at the hands of a particular boss so many times, and as I fought my way up to the lair again I came across a message scrawled at the top of a cliff, it just said ‘try jumping…’, obviously someone else was having just as much trouble as I was.”

Multiplayer isn’t limited to just writing messages to one another however, by using a valuable in game currency, players are able to be summoned into each others worlds to assist in boss fights. By leaving a white summons sign outside the lair of a boss, players make themselves available to be summoned by someone who is struggling to beat the boss on their own.

“Some bosses are pretty damn hard to beat solo, if you aren’t rolling a build that can tank a lot of damage, bosses like Quelaag or Smorg and Ornstein are very hard without summoning.” Dean said.

“If you want a pure Dark Souls experience or you want to be able to say ‘I beat the game solo’ then you can try to do it without summoning, but you’re going to have a hell of a time.”

If you are thinking that this summoning option seems out of sorts with Dark Souls commitment to ruthless difficulty, then you are correct. Summoning assistance comes with one very large catch.

In order to summon, players must change their status from hollow to human. This allows the player to summon other human players into their world to assist with a boss, but it also opens them to being invaded by human players who want to steal their souls. Souls and humanity are the currency of Dark Souls and invading other players is a very lucrative means of gaining souls.

“PvP is a tonne of fun in this game, it’s just nothing like any other PvP experience I’ve ever had.” Dean said.

“When you invade someone and your risking all the souls you have for the chance at stealing theirs it’s an exhilarating feeling.”

“Putting down a summon sign and helping someone beat a boss is fun, but nothing feels more baddass than invading someone else’s game as a spirit of vengeance or a dark wraith.”

I asked Michael Lennon what he thought of Dark Souls approach to multi player, and why he thinks it has been so successful in maintaining an active online community.

“Because Dark Souls seamlessly blends single player and multiplayer, people who love the game are drawn back to it over and over again because every time you play it is different.” Michael said.

“Where one time you summon assistance and defeat a boss with relative ease, the next time you attempt it you might be invaded before you even reach the lair.”

The developers of Dark Souls were not content to rest upon their success however, after completing Dark Souls they were quick to release a substantial expansion pack. In a lot of modern games, expansion packs are pay to win affairs or content that was already developed prior to release but held back in order to make more money, not so with Dark Souls. The Artorias of the Abyss expansion added a whole host of new areas and bosses to test your prowess against as well as new items, spells and characters. But the thing that really made the expansion pack shine is that the developers had clearly listened carefully to what the community wanted and delivered it to them.

Although the PvP system in Dark Souls is a whole lot of fun, and adds an exciting risk to summoning other players, for the hardcore PvP fan it wasn’t quite fast paced enough.

“I love PvP, I could do it over and over again, but in the vanilla version of Dark Souls sometimes you would have to search for quite awhile before you could find someone to invade.” Dean said.

“In the expansion pack, the developers built a dedicated arena within the game world where players could go and match up for PvP battles one after another.”

“This was just the icing on the cake for me, I already loved Dark Souls so much, and this just meant that I can keep coming back and enjoying it, again and again.”

Maybe I’ve swayed you with all this praise of Dark Souls, and you are thinking you might want to give it a try.

Just be warned, Dark Souls will challenge you, it will test your patience, logic and skill. So when you pick up a copy, hopefully you’ll enjoy it as much as I and countless others have, but before you rush in thinking it will be as easy as the last ten games you conquered, prepare to die.

If you are interested in giving dark souls a bash, had any questions about this story, or just wanna say hey, sound off in the comments or drop into the facebook page!

A Nose Grows on One Man’s Forehead

Seven-Year-Old Boy Hears for the First Time

Amazing.

Firefighters Awarded for Their Bravery on Black Saturday

News Bytes

MORE than 4470 fire fighters will be awarded a medal recognising their efforts during the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.

The National Emergency Medal honours people who served their community during emergencies.

Emergency Services Minister Kim Wells says the CFA members deserve recognition for their efforts.

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Kanye West: “I’m the No. 1 Rock Star — on the Planet”

Well, Kanye’s never been the most modest person in the world….

Too Legit to Quit: Street Art vs. Graffiti

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You’ll find it on windows; you’ll find it on walls; you’ll find it in bathroom stalls. Like any country, Australia is not without its vandals, many of whom leave their mark in the form of graffiti. Despite the efforts of the Councils and the Queensland Police Service, vandals still run rampant in the Brisbane area, with an alleged 1.8 million dollars spent in 2012 on graffiti removal, an expensive and time-consuming task.

Of course the Brisbane Council isn’t just losing money and time, it’s also losing culture. I spoke to Brisbane-based street artist Blu Art Xinja on the matter, and he had this to say:

“I started doing my street art because I believed Brisbane needed a bit of a culture boost. I have since met a lot of amazing artists with the same idea, but Brisbane Council is still a bit sterile in that regard.”

Blu Art Xinja strikes a pose.

“I definitely consider my work ‘art’ and not ‘graffiti’. I want people to love what they see. If it gets taken down (and it has) I’d like to think that it was someone’s job and not because they hated it.”

Artist Dion Parker, who recently contributed to a street art project on the Gold Coast, largely agrees with Blu Art Xinja’s sentiments.

“I’m a big fan of street art myself but I can see why some people are offended by it. I don’t think it will ever be totally accepted as a legitimate art form. I think some people will always see it as vandalism, no matter how beautiful it is.”

The project Dion contributed to can be seen near Australia Fair, Southport. The project consists of a series of murals painted by local artists using various techniques, not the least of which was the trusty spraypaint. The project was done as part of St. George Bank’s “Start Something” campaign, with the ultimate goal being to help raise awareness of local artists by displaying their work in public.

“The urban art project was great fun and I was stoked to be a part of it. It was my first mural and first time using cans. I really enjoyed it.”

Dion Parker also writes and illustrates a comic called Jhonny Stroke.

While the project has since been handed over to non-local artists for completion, the urban art project definitely indicates that the legitimisation of street art is starting to take hold on the Gold Coast, coinciding with the incredible overhauls the city has seen in preparation for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Even Councillor Dawn Crichlow has given the urban art project a nod of approval, believing the murals will do much to impress tourists going past on the soon-to-be-opened light rail. With luck, the Gold Coast’s newfound positive reception for street art will outlast the Commonwealth Games and evolve to become a notable feature of its citizens.

Cosplaying for a Cause

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The 501^st Legion is an international Star Wars cosplay group that do large amounts of fan-based fundraising for different causes.

The organisation prides itself on authentic-looking Star Wars costumes and quirky fundraising activities from trash compactor photo booths to charity walks in hot costumes – physically and aesthetically!

501^st member Ashley Bryson is an avid cosplayer who is constantly working on different costumes for pop-culture conventions such as Supanova, where he usually spends whole days at events showcasing these costumes – and he has an impressive collection: Indiana Jones, Severus Snape, and even Korean pop superstar Psy.

The pop-culture community is very involved in participating in conventions, with conventions such as Supanova getting up to 20,000 visitors in one city – which of course not only includes cosplayers, but regular folk.

“I just like how it’s a wide variety of different people in the cosplaying thing, and there’s all different reasons why people do it,” says Bryson. “It’s such a diverse world, but if you’re not in it you think, ‘Oh, yeah it’s just a group that costumes!’ but there’s so many ways people go about it and reasons why – some people just do it because they’re fans of the particular costume, some people just like that outfit so they’re gonna do it.”

In his collection he also has a highly detailed Storm Trooper costume, which he has spent over $1000 on and devoted a lot of spare time to perfecting, that he wears when representing the 501^st Legion.

Bryson has been with the 501^st for about three years now, starting out as a cadet before becoming a full member.

“I was a bit of a cadet for a while before I finally got through and made my Storm Trooper,” says Bryson, who has spent a lot of time and money perfecting his costume.

Fundraising-wise he is currently training for a 60km charity walk which he will be doing in October.

“We’re aiming to hit about $2000 per walker, I’ve raised about $1600 myself just for that walk,” says Bryson. “Even just doing things like walking from Southport to Surfer’s Paradise and back in Storm Trooper gear trying to raise awareness and rattling the tin – you know, people taking photos and entertaining people.”

The 501^st has contributed to a lot of different charities including the Starlight foundation, Red Cross, The Salvation Army, all while doing what they love – turning their favourite fiction into reality.

“Any event – just say hi, drop a dollar in, we’re happy to get photos.”

Why does fundraising for illness have to be so serious, anyway?

You can donate to Ashley here:

http://br13.endcancer.org.au/site/TR/Events/Brisbane2013?px=1028966&pg=personal&fr_id=1050

And read about the 501st here:

http://www.501st.com/

By Rikki Browne

The Oculus Rift and How it Proves That Gaming Isn’t as Bad as the Media Says

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Gaming has always received a pretty bad rap from the media. It’s not unusual to see wild allegations such as ‘video games are the cause of mass shootings’ or ‘video games are ruining the younger generation’.

With the launch of the world’s first true virtual reality technology, the ‘Oculus Rift’, just around the corner, surely these problems are just going to get worse? Society will most likely collapse!

But when I see these doomsday predictions, I can’t help but ask, why so serious? This new product is an incredibly exciting advancement in the world of gaming and I highly doubt it will have the deadly effects the media is always spouting.

The ‘Oculus Rift’ is an unprecedented breakthrough into virtual reality technology. With two angled screens inside a head mount casing it presents the user with a completely immersive experience. Using gyroscopes and other amazing technology it can track the movement of the users head to control movement in game.

For most gamers, this presents an exciting and new experience. The demand for the project is evidenced by the support it gained on crowdsourcing website www.kickstarter.com. The producer put up an original funding goal of 250,000 dollars, and at this point it has reached almost 1000% funding with nearly 2.5 million dollars currently pledged to development. That’s a pretty good measure of how excited the gaming community is for this development.

(To check out the oculus rift on kickstarter.com follow the link bellow
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game?ref=live )

But for some gamers, the ‘Oculus Rift’ is more than just a cool new novelty. The Rift will allow many disabled gamers to access and interact with games in ways that have been impossible in the past.

The Able Gamers foundation is a group dedicated to helping people with disabilities access gaming. They build customized gaming rigs to suit the individual needs of people with disabilities.

I contacted the Able Gamers to ask them about their work and what the oculus rift will mean for the disabled gaming community.

A spokesperson for the group named Steve said that gaming is a powerful medium that opens windows into an otherwise inaccessible world for many with disabilities. In virtual worlds you can run, jump and soar like everyone else no matter your disability.

“So in essence, it’s not about the videogame so much as it is about providing a social outlet and even playing field,” Steve said.

The difficulty comes with the fact that games and their control interfaces are not generally made with disabled accessibility in mind.

The Able Gamers do a lot of work making customized controllers and software interfaces. But these modified individual solutions don’t come cheap, with many costing between 2-3 thousand dollars.

            (To see some of the amazing work the able gamers have done with customized controllers, follow this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM8iNa87-Po )

The Oculus Rift will be a powerful tool for gamers with disabilities as it only requires eyesight and the function of the head and neck in order to be used.

“For the person with audio impairments or slight mobility impairments, Oculus will be amazing.” Steve said.

Steve also said that AbleGamers sincerely hopes technologies will be developed to work along with the device to make it as inclusive as possible.

So, when someone starts spouting game hate at you, saying that ‘violence in videogames is the worst thing since Hitler’, just ask them “why so serious?” Then tell them all about the Oculus Rift and what it will mean to the disabled gaming community.

Internet Evolution Helps Artists to Grow

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By Rhys Woosnam

The evolution of technology has brought about many advances in media production and content sharing thanks to programs and websites like YouTube, iTunes and Spotify. These creations have also ushered in a new era of internet piracy which has damaged the entertainment industry. At the click of a button anyone can download millions of songs, movies and other forms of media that are usually paid for. The boom in illegal downloads has led to many people in the entertainment industry announcing the impending death of profitable art. However, one positive in all this doom and gloom is the advantage the immediacy of the internet gives to independent artists trying to increase their profile.

Without the evolution of social media and music sharing websites, these three talented people would not have the profile they have today.

Jeremy Neale is an independent musician based in Brisbane who has utilized both social media and a number of music websites including Triple J Unearthed to his advantage. He believes that the increased social media presence of musicians allows them direct contact to the people who listen to their music, and this is very important.

“Having my songs on Triple J Unearthed meant I was eligible to be selected as the Unearthed artist to play the Brisbane leg of Laneway Festival earlier this year,” Jeremy said.

“I see a lot of artists that give their social media pages over to their label / management and I can’t understand. It’s one of the last things I could imagine giving up to somebody else to look after. It’s cool to be in direct contact with people who appreciate what you’re doing / creating.”

Jeremy does recognize the challenges of counteracting illegal downloads but he also believes that music streaming websites have the ability to create a proper working relationship with artists.

“The use of music streaming will be super commonplace across all age groups. However with any luck a new music streaming service will emerge that gives better cuts to artists.”

Karl Chandler is a Melbourne stand-up comedian who co-hosts a successful podcast called The Little Dum Dum Club and has written for a number of TV shows including Good News Week and The White Room. In previous decades, comedians were able to get spots on Rove and other variety shows but in recent years there’s been a lack of opportunities. Therefore, Karl along with many other comedians in Australia have taken to social media and podcasting to build their audience.

“As a stand-up, the only way I could previously get my name out there was to hope to get on a gig with the right people there watching, and have them decide to further my career. Social media is a shortcut. Through Twitter, Facebook and podcasting, a lot of new people can and have found content of mine, without TV or radio.”

An excerpt from the Little Dum Dum Club with special guest Glenn Robbins https://soundcloud.com/rhys-dubya/dum-dum-clip

He attributes the increased popularity in podcasts to the public’s hunger for free content and believes it has helped him to gain a more passionate and loyal fanbase.

“With the internet, you’ve got your career in your own hands, rather than waiting for some radio or TV producer to wave a magic wand and make it happen for you.”

Podcasting has experienced an unbelievable boom in the last few years with some of the biggest comedians in the world joining in on the experience including Marc Maron, Wil Anderson and Chris Hardwick. According to Jefferson Graham from technology news site CIO Today, in the last three years the number of podcasts available on iTunes has increased by 20%.

The biggest positive for comedians and other podcast enthusiasts is that they have been able to transition this free content into a monetary venture. Merchandising, exclusive audio and live recordings are all ways that podcasters have created a profitable element to this new media.

Chris Hardwick was quoted in the CIO article as saying “Our culture is so niche-oriented now, you don’t need 3 million people to listen to your podcast. If 10,000 people listen, which isn’t a hard number to achieve, then 10,000 people listen to your podcast. You can do something with that, you can build a community, and literally change the world, just recording into a recorder.”

This exemplifies how artists from all realms of entertainment can revolutionize the way they deliver content to the public whilst also being able to make a living.

Ball Park Music at Triple J’s One Night Stand

Jen Boyce is the bass guitarist in Brisbane band Ball Park Music. She loves the immediacy of social media but is also wary of the dangers of illegal downloading.

“I think piracy of all media forms is only getting worse and worse. I think it’s up to bands and artists to help consumers understand how little they already get from being a musician and how if you were to actually support your favourite band or artist, they could potentially achieve a lot more. It’s already led to record companies signing less artists each year and made it harder for musicians to make money off their music.”

Ball Park Music have achieved significant national coverage thanks to their placings on the Hottest 100 and their appearance on Triple J’s One Night Stand which was broadcast live on ABC2. However, the band still places importance on social media and other forms of media sharing as a way to build their fanbase.

“Social media is one of the key contributors to getting and keeping fans these days. If someone can simply ‘like’ your page or site and get updates from you when you post them, that’s very easy for fans to do and they don’t have to put much effort into keeping themselves updated. If they see that when they interact, the band or artist interacts back, they’re going to keep coming back and are more likely to share it with their friends or invite their friends to interact too.”

Keeping fans updated with information on gigs and new music is vital to the success of any musician and Jen continues to utilize Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to accompany her creative ventures.

“YouTube is probably the biggest helper here. There’s so many things that go ‘viral’ that would have had absolutely no place in the world before the internet evolved into this mega machine allowing you to sit in front of the computer all day without getting bored.”

In an ever-changing technological landscape, who knows what the future of content sharing will be? Artists will need to continue to find ways to make people want to pay for their works, whether that’s through a new medium like podcasting, an increased quality in their performance or just intense social media interaction. In the end, people will always be craving top notch music, comedy and film, no matter what the price and so it’s just about finding the perfect combination of technology and talent.

References

Interview with Karl Chandler, September 1st 2013.

Interview with Jeremy Neale, August 23rd 2013.

Interview with Jen Boyce, August 27th 2013.

Karl Chandler IMDB Profile

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3941854/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Graham, J. “Remember Podcasting? It’s Back and Booming” CIO Today. August 19, 2013.

http://www.cio-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=12300F5CG29F

Wade, A. The AU Review, 2012. “Jeremy Neale”

http://www.theaureview.com/photos/photo-gallery-jeremy-neale-go-violets-james-x-boyd-black-bear-lodge-09-08-12/jeremy-neale-74566

http://www.triplejunearthed.com/

http://www.nerdist.com/podcast/nerdist/

http://www.wtfpod.com/

http://www.tofop.com/