Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-jwnkl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T16:21:24.215Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘A small Utopia’: Unterstützer not Anhänger. Einstürzende Neubauten's Supporter Initiative

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2010

Jennifer Shryane
Jennifer Shryane
Affiliation:
Hartland, Aspen Grove, Saughall, Chester CH1 6AL, UK E-mail: vogelj@fsmail.net
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper argues that the Internet strategy created and used by Berlin musicians, Einstürzende Neubauten, emulates many aspects of Attali's (2006) hopes for the future of music – in particular, the creation of new social relations through a participatory listening and, in Chris Cutler's words (2008), to be ‘research as well as entertainment’. I set out to show that Neubauten's use of the world wide web made their Supporter Initiative a radical innovation. My evidence is that their Subskribentenmodell provided access during 2002–2007 to web-streamed ‘open studio’ rehearsals which facilitated a new relationship between artist and recipient in its declaration of fallibility and attention to feedback. Secondly, I argue that Neubauten's international network of 2,000 Unterstützers (not Anhängers) became a virtual and actual ‘extended family’ who created the cottage industry ethos necessary for successful independence. This family not only supported the band financially and contributed to artistic and practical decisions – as with the DIY Berlin concert Grundstück – but also provided grass roots knowledge and skill for independent dissemination and touring (in 2008) of Alles Wieder Offen. Finally, this anti-record company model now offered a paradigm to ‘infect’ other fringe artists and hence upheld Beuysian/Cageian social aims of art.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , October 2010 , pp. 373 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliography

Adorno, T. 1941. On Popular Music 1, 2 & 3. http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes (accessed 28 October 2008)Google Scholar
Adorno, T. 1944. The Culture Industry. http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944 (accessed 3 February 2008)Google Scholar
Attali, J. 2006. Noise: The Political Economy of Music, trans. Massumi, B., first published 1977 (Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press)Google Scholar
Bargeld, B. 1988. Stimme frißt Feuer (Berlin, Merve Verlag)Google Scholar
Bargeld, B. 1997. Headcleaner (Berlin, Die Gestalten Verlag)Google Scholar
Bargeld, B. 2004–2008. Interviews/conversations with author, 4/5 November 2004, 10 November 2005, 24 April 2006, 14 December 2006, 21 December 2007 and 04 May 2008Google Scholar
Barthes, R. 1977. Image, Music, Text, trans. Heath, S. (London, Fontana)Google Scholar
Benjamin, W., Jennings, M., Eiland, H., and Smith, G. (eds.) 2005. Selected Works, Vols 1 & 2, trans. Livingstone, R.et al. (Cambridge, Belknap Press)Google Scholar
Blühdorn, A. 2003. Pop and Poetry-Pleasure and Protest (New York, Peter Lang)Google Scholar
Bohn, C. 1999. ‘Epiphanies’, The Wire, JanuaryGoogle Scholar
Bohn, C. 2007. Email interview/subsequent conversation with author, 20 April/2 June 2007Google Scholar
Broadhurst, S. 1999. Liminal Acts (London, Cassell)Google Scholar
Cardew, C. 1974/2004. Stockhausen Serves Imperialism. http://www.ubuweb.com (accessed 28 June 2009)Google Scholar
Cooke, E. 2004/2006. Interview with author, 3 November 2004. Email interview with author, 7 March 2006Google Scholar
Cutler, C. 2008. Email interviews with author, 12 and 14 February 2008Google Scholar
Dax, M. 2005. No Beauty without Danger (Bremen, Druckhaus Hamburg)Google Scholar
Duffett, M. 2003. ‘Imagined memories: webcasting as a ‘live’ technology and the case of Little Big Gig), Information, Communication and Society, 6/3, pp. 307–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fineberg, J. 1995. Art Since 1940 (London, Laurence King)Google Scholar
Grossberg, L. 1992. We Gotta Get Out of this Place (London, Routledge)Google Scholar
Gut, G. 2005. Interview with author, 9 NovemberGoogle Scholar
Hacke, A. 2006. Interview with author, 14 FebruaryGoogle Scholar
Hollier, D. 1989. Against Architecture: the Writings of Georges Bataille, trans. Wing, B. (Cambridge, MIT Press)Google Scholar
http://www.alles-wieder-offen.com accessed frequently during 2007Google Scholar
http://www.Neubauten.org accessed frequently during 2004–2007Google Scholar
Kahn, D. 1999. Noise, Water, Meat (Cambridge, MIT Press)Google Scholar
Keenan, D. 2004. ‘Exterminating angels’, The Wire, February, pp. 38–45Google Scholar
Kostelanetz, R. 1987. Conversing with Cage (London, Routledge)Google Scholar
LaBelle, B. 2006. Background Noise (London, Continuum)Google Scholar
Lains, R. 2008. Email interview with author, 12 MarchGoogle Scholar
Lupton, E. 1998. The Designer as Producer. http://www.typotheque.com/site/article (accessed 6 May 2007)Google Scholar
Maeck, K. 1996. Hör mit Schmerzen (Berlin, Die Gestalten Verlag)Google Scholar
Negus, K. 1996. Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction (Cambridge, Polity)Google Scholar
Neubauten Berlin Office Archives, Schwedterstrasse, 10435, used between 2004–2008Google Scholar
Nicholls, D. (ed.) 2002. Cambridge Companion to Cage (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostertag, B. 2007. The Professional Suicide of a Recording Musician. http://www.bobstertag.com (accessed 28 February 2009)Google Scholar
Palouček, K.L. 2007. Email interview with author, 15 MayGoogle Scholar
Perpetuum Mobile Programme. 2004. (Berlin, Holga Wende)Google Scholar
Picciotto, D. 2006. On Tour with Neubauten.org. Monitorpop DVDGoogle Scholar
Schmid, A. 2004–2009. Interviews with author, 3/4 November 2004, 08 November 2005 and 21 December 2007. Email interview with author, 13 July 2006Google Scholar
Sharp, C. 1996. ‘Beauty and the beholder’, The Wire, October, pp. 19–21Google Scholar
Spencer, A. (2000) ‘Kopfarbeit or Theatre in your Head’, in Probleme und Perspektiven (Amsterdam, Rodopi)Google Scholar
Stachelhaus, H. 1987. Joseph Beuys (New York, Abbeville Press)Google Scholar
The Attachment. 2006. Volume 6 (Tokyo, pnEbisunishi Shibuya-Ku)Google Scholar
The Bays. 2007. Email interview with author, 14 June 2007Google Scholar
Unruh, A. 2007. Interview with author, 14 FebruaryGoogle Scholar
Zane, A. 2007. Interview and email communication with author, 3 and 23 MayGoogle Scholar
Zhu, E. 2007. Interviews with author, 11 October 2006 and 14 June 2007. Email interview with author, 26 November 2008Google Scholar

Discography

Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T. Some Bizarre London (re-mastered Potomak, distributed Indigo). 1983Google Scholar
Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala. Some Bizarre London (Potomak). 1987Google Scholar
Haus der Lüga. Some Bizarre London (Potomak). 1985Google Scholar
Ende Neu. Mute Records Ltd. (Potomak). 1996Google Scholar
Silence is Sexy. Mute Records Ltd. (Potomak). 2000Google Scholar
Perpetuum Mobile. Mute Records Ltd. LCDStumme221 (Potomak). 2004Google Scholar
Grundstück. neubauten.org (Potomak), 07149. 2005Google Scholar
Musterhaus 1– 8. neubauten.org (Potomak), 07149. 2005–2007Google Scholar
Alles was irgendwie nützt. neubauten.org, 2006Google Scholar
Jewels. Potomak, 07149. 2007–2008Google Scholar
Alles Wieder Offen. Potomak, 07149. 2007Google Scholar
Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T. Some Bizarre London (re-mastered Potomak, distributed Indigo). 1983Google Scholar
Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala. Some Bizarre London (Potomak). 1987Google Scholar
Haus der Lüga. Some Bizarre London (Potomak). 1985Google Scholar
Ende Neu. Mute Records Ltd. (Potomak). 1996Google Scholar
Silence is Sexy. Mute Records Ltd. (Potomak). 2000Google Scholar
Perpetuum Mobile. Mute Records Ltd. LCDStumme221 (Potomak). 2004Google Scholar
Grundstück. neubauten.org (Potomak), 07149. 2005Google Scholar
Musterhaus 1– 8. neubauten.org (Potomak), 07149. 2005–2007Google Scholar
Alles was irgendwie nützt. neubauten.org, 2006Google Scholar
Jewels. Potomak, 07149. 2007–2008Google Scholar
Alles Wieder Offen. Potomak, 07149. 2007Google Scholar