Over the past three decades, digital technologies have refashioned every link in the chain of the music industry, including the concept of “fandom,” which is often overlooked. How can musicians build durable fan bases in this age of distraction? Featuring Travis Morrison, musician and digital entrepreneur; Jake Ottmann, senior vice president for A & R, Warner/Chappell Music; and Randal Doane, author of Stealing All Transmissions: A Secret History of The Clash. Moderated by Jody Rosen, music critic, New York magazine.

Travis Morrison is the lead singer and guitarist of The Dismemberment Plan, a Washington D.C.-based band that has been active since 1993. He is also the cofounder of Shoutabl, a social-networking site for artists. Well-versed in music genres from John Coltrane to German art rock, Morrison is a computer programmer as well as a guitarist. Jake Ottmann, who describes himself as “genre agnostic when it comes to amazing songs,” began his career as an assistant at Elektra Records, where he worked his way up to overseeing radio promotion for the alternative music roster. Today he is responsible for signing and developing new and established songwriters for the East Coast creative team of Warner/Chappell Music. Previously at EMI Publishing, he signed successful acts such as The Fray, Metro Station, and Boys Like Girls. Randal Doane, an assistant dean of studies at Oberlin College who writes periodically about The Clash and other rock rebels, has published widely in the field of cultural studies. His scholarly publications include studies of Ralph Ellison’s adventures in Marxism, ex-punks taking up swing dancing, and the political economy and neurophysiology of illegal file-sharing. Jody Rosen has written for the New Yorker, Slate, and Rolling Stone, in addition to New York magazine. He is also the author of White Christmas: The Story of an American Song and the compiler of an album called Jewface, a controversial anthology of Jewish minstrel songs.

This program is part of the yearlong initiative Cultural Capital: The Promise and Price of New York’s Creative Economy, produced by GC Public Programs in collaboration with the Advanced Research Collaborative. For more information and the full schedule: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/culturalcapital

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