A couple of weeks ago, we had a minor meltdown happen within the skateboard industry...
I say "minor" because, at the end of the day, it wasn't nearly as big of a deal as I originally thought it would be. But, still: It was fairly significant. If only because the players in this drama were some of our industry's biggest bigwigs and "industry leaders" (I'll explain those quotes in just a few minutes).
Like most industry meltdowns, the causes were pretty mundane, and almost entirely predictable. Some dude that didn't have his thinking cap screwed on tight made a couple of not-so-genius decisions. Actually, in this case, there were a lot of dudes that had their thinking caps screwed on wrong... but, I'll digress. Anyway: As a result of all of this non-thinking, a whole gang of dudes got a whole lotta butthurt… and, at the end of the day, all communication broke down pretty quickly. In short: It was the same as it always is. Actually, I'll go one further: I think that a lot of the world's problems can be attributed to people not thinking, a lot of other people getting butthurt, and everybody eventually ceasing to communicate. It's really no mystery that if we could ever figure out how to turn these damned things around, all of the world's problems would probably vaporize in pretty short order.
Calling In The Cavalry: The Nature of Independent Media
The only major difference between this industry meltdown, and most other industry meltdowns, is that right off the bat, some genius decided to call in "The Independent Media". Which was, of course, The Solitary Life. Basically, we were granted a front-and-center seat to watch the impending trainwreck unfold... which used to be, the rarest of rare scenarios around here. But these days, it's getting a bit more common.
Now, let me explain something really quick. You might be asking yourself right about now, "Hey! How's 'The Independent Media' different from any other media…? What makes y'all so "Independent", anyway?!" Well, those are dome damn snappy questions right there. So, let's take a quick look at that.
Most media in this day and age, runs on money. Just like, almost everything else in this world of ours. As far as the media goes, it is largely funded on a minor scale by the consumers (readers, watchers, etc)… and, on a major scale, by "financial supporters". Which are, the vast majority of the time: The Advertisers.
Of course, not all media is funded by advertisers. National Public Radio (NPR) is a great example of an entirely independent media. NPR is largely funded by the listeners (via their frequent, and sometimes annoying, fund-raising drives), as well as charitable foundations. As such, NPR doesn't really have anyone to answer to, except to their listeners. That's why NPR always has the very best, most impartial, in-depth coverage of all of the day's news and events. Because, they are a listener-driven paradigm. That's pretty much the perfect definition of "independent media", right there.
Similarly: The Solitary Life doesn't have to answer to anyone at all. Shit, man: We're so new, we don't even really have readers to answer to! (*Not yet, anyway...*) Of course, we do have a few advertisers. However: Unlike most skate magazines (or websites, for that matter), we don't charge them one red cent for their space. It's all free, all the time.
As such, we don't have any major companies telling us shit like "Hey! If you don't do or say what we want you to do or say, we're gonna pull our advertising [Which is your major source funding…!]" In the world of The Solitary Life, there is no "funding" to fuck with in the first place. So, we could just as easily kick their asses off of our site, and it wouldn't make a damned bit of difference to us. That's what makes us not only truly "independent"… but also, by comparison, way more "independent" than any of our competitors, anywhere out there on the media horizon.
Really, The Solitary Life is an electronic version of the old, paper fanzines ("'Zines", to those of us old geezers in the know) that used to be found and traded all over the skateboarding scene. Like blogs, 'zines were almost always entirely independent from the skateboard industry, as well as the greater skateboard mass media. 'Zines were by far, the "loose cannons" of their day. That's largely what made them so relevant, so sought-after, and so much fun to read: Because, they could tell the truth (Or, at the very least, their version of "the truth"), and not have to apologize to anyone at all for having done it. It was "FTW", in photocopied-and-stapled-paper form. Just like we're pretty "FTW", but digitized on the interweb.
To make a long story short: Calling in The Solitary Life isn't like calling in "most media", by any stretch of the imagination. It's actually a lot more like, calling in the cavalry. We are truly "the loose cannons" of the industry, and we're just as happy to shoot your ass off as the next guy's, just as long as we get a good fucking story out of it.
So, that's the scene at last week's industry meltdown: We're in the room, quietly taking notes on everything that's going on around us. Everyone else is on guard, because nobody knows what we're writing in those notes, or who's ass is about to get blown off. Surely, noone's gonna try any funny business, with indignant assholes like us in the room to report on whatever transpires. In short? We were just keeping our traps shut, and being good reporters. Because that's what serious journalists do.
The Mad Stampede To Get On The Record
Funny thing is, this time around was a bit different from other "industry meltdowns" that we've been involved with. Typically, industry dudes are kind of shy to go "on the record" with their gripes, sources, and confidential information. This time around, however, only one company showed any hesitation at all to go on the record… and even that wasn't a big deal, because so many dudes were going on the damned record, that one "silent source" wasn't gonna make a bit of difference at all. The other 30 or so other sources that were lining up to blab, we figured, would more than suffice.
Now, can I be absolutely frank here for just a moment? The stone cold truth of the matter is that, this is a dangerous trend in the industry. Historically, the great silencer of whistleblowers and muckrakers in this industry of ours has been fear. Fear of the "big guy", fear of "the leadership", fear of being "a kook" to The Cool Club... fear of whatever it is that these dudes are usually afraid of. Well, here in this New World of ours, and for some reason that I sure as hell can't figure out... whatever the case may be, the "fear" element seems to have suddenly vanished. Nobody seems to be afraid of The Bigwigs anymore. And once you get people talking, it becomes awfully hard to shut them the hell back up. Especially when it seems like everyone's doing it, and you're the Bigwig that's getting your ass roasted.
I guess the tables have finally turned 'round the right way. Let's all hope that this new reality sticks around for a few minutes, okay...?
The Lack of Hard Journalism in the Skateboard Industry
One of the historical problems with this industry, in hindsight, is that- as Matt Warshaw might say (and, we're paraphrasing here)- "This industry is a collection of storytellers. Not, hard journalists". And, he's absolutely right. Historically, there hasn't been a whole lot of hard journalism surrounding the skateboard industry. Very few magazines have ever showed much of an interest at uncovering the truths of things, beyond deeply probing Bryan "Slash" Hansen about his vintage t-shirt fetish, or asking Jeremy Klein why he chooses to wear socks. I mean, seriously? What The Fuck...?!
Reporters- journalists- by their very nature, are tasked to:
- Sniff out, and get "The Scoop",
- Play The Gumshoe, and get dudes to talk On The Record,
- Drill down through all of the red herrings and the false leads to find the krux of the issue,
- Explain to your readers why this bullshit is significant in their lives, and
- Tell the story in a simple, honest, and straightforward manner.
Whatever "significance" Slash's shirt collection, or Jeremy's love of socks has on my life, is entirely escaping me at the moment. That right there illustrates all-too-clearly the skateboarding media's mindset over the last, what, thirty years or so...? "Don't say anything important, or rock the boat too much! Stick to all-fluff, all the time...!"
Playing The Leader
As a journalist, we're not really supposed to take any sort of "active" role in these sorts of things. Nope: As I explained earlier, the job of a good journalist is merely to sit back, relax, have a smoke n' Coke, watch, listen, and write. That's all.
Unfortunately, as far as The Solitary Life goes… these things don't always work out quite as we planned them. For one: Everyone with half a fucking clue, and just a sliver of brain in their heads, knows exactly where we stand on pretty much anything and everything. So, right off the bat, we weren't exactly the "passive presence" that we should have been. We were much more like, the 80,000 lb. chain-smoking gorilla in the room. A very quiet and understated 80,000 lb. gorilla, to be sure. But still, an 80,000 lb. gorilla nonetheless.
But then, on the other hand: Gorilla or no gorilla, our mere presence alone- as a truly independent media source- ended up being fairly significant, in of itself. Like I mentioned above, nobody in their right mind was gonna try any shady shit. At least, not as long as we were sitting there smoking our asses off, they weren't. Just due to our unwavering dedication to "Principles Over Profits", "Doing The Right Thing (For Skateboarding)", our unquestionable perseverance, and our short-fused disdain for anything even remotely resembling "industry injustice"… yeah. Only an absolute retard was gonna try slipping up and blowing it this time around. It was kind of like, if there had been a hypothetical army of bulldozers driving up IASC's asses while they were writing that Under Fire report. Because, if that had been the case...? That report might well have looked far different than it ultimately did. Or, even more likely: It might not have ever materialized at all.
Just due to our presence "in the room", "The Right Thing" was destined to ultimately prevail. And, ultimately, "The Right Thing" did come to pass. In pretty short order, too, I might add. After seeing the whole thing unfold, I might even say that it was… "Impressive". Not that we, specifically, had a damn thing to do with it. The simple truth is, if it hadn't have been The Solitary Life that was invited to the shenanigans? Then, it could have just as easily been Real Skate, Boardistan, or Sack Lunch that was in the room, instead of us. Really, it doesn't matter all that much who's there. Just as long as somebody's there, the results will pretty much be the same, every time.
A New Trend…?
I guess the question is: Does this experience signal the imminent end of "the skateboard-industry meltdown"? Well, my guess is: No, it probably doesn't. I mean, so long as our "industry leaders" are slow to think, quick to get ass-sore, and inclined to either stop talking sensibly, or stop talking at all... all of which our "industry leaders" are mighty good at, I might add... then, yeah, we can probably be pretty certain that another "industry meltdown" is probably right around the corner.
But, what I think that all of this does prove, is the immediate and urgent need for more truly independent skateboard media. More importantly: I think that this experience might have set a whole-new precedent in our industry. That precedent is best summed up as: "When the shit hits the fan? Call in the Media Cavalry!" Because, just due to their presence in the room… the media is going to get results, when nobody else will. No matter what, the independent media is going to be a brutally efficient and effective player in our industry's power struggles, from here on out.
I say, it's about fucking time.
