The exact topic of my assignment 1 is now ‘music for indie games as a growing sector of the music business’. Finally knowing what my analysis in assignment 1 will be about, I am now able to go back to week 5 and discuss the Negus and Deuze readings in regard to it.

Negus elaborated the shift in the corporate strategy that with the technological changes came a fear of trusting one’s gut feelings if there are great financial risks. Negus emphasizes that the large companies should find a way back to trusting their instincts over strategies that might return good, but not necessarily great results.

Indie games, and music composition for this genre, seems to be one of the sectors that goes this way for the very reason that the financial pressure is not as severe (yet). Nevertheless, it is increasing since indie games are becoming more and more popular, among other things because of mobile devices such as the iPhone as well as the accessibility to all the necessary tools to develop games and compose soundtracks without the need for an established development team or a fully-equipped recording studio – in both cases, a powerful laptop and the right software will suffice.

As for Mark Deuze’s book “Media Work” chapters 1 and 2 proved to be very interesting in regard to the key issue at hand.

The first chapter outlines the liquid society we nowadays live our lives in. It is a life that “involves a complex dance between work, play, and life in the context of a rapid-changing “glocal” environment” (p.42). Composers for indie games are oftentimes still involved in some sort of educational phase, be it at a university or even still in school. Their work is not just work, it is part of their identity, it is play as much as everything else. This will arguably shift again slightly once the composers actually wish to make a living off their compositions. Being a composer for indie games, as many other professions in the creative industries, means being in a constant state of change, or as Deuze puts it more generally: “Liquid life, just like liquid modern society, cannot keep its shape or stay on course for long” (p.43).

Chapter 2 of Deuze’s book is concerned with media life, work and the converging culture. He acknowledges the possibilities that are opened to more established enterprises through the “voluntary work performed by “atomized” and therefore powerless individual customers” (p.48).

One key word that has to be eradicated in the context of indie game music is “powerless”. Of course, Deuze talks about a David vs Goliath - or rather David in cooperation with Goliath – situation. But looking at the way how and the people by whom indie games are created, the better term would be Thomas Nelson’s “Army of Davids”: In most cases, the composers will not be the only ones not yet established in the professional world – many game developers are in the very same situation as the composers. And the mere circumstance that it does not take any Goliaths but only motivated and talented Davids in order to create something great is a very exciting development in and through our liquid society.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend, I guess there is a lot of reading and writing as always ;)

Gabi