Continuous Engagement

I frustration over tingenes tilstand, starter musikeren Troels Abrahamsen nu et netværk for udveksling og udvikling af (nye) ideer til processerne omkring musik:

CE is a network for the exploration of modes of creation, communication and distribution within the field of music.

The ways in which we create, share and convene around music should spring from the creators, their works and the audience. This network was established to try and create a repository for knowledge and tools that empower creators and strenghten their autonomy. The goal is to research and investigate the myriad of ways music is created, transported and experienced and to share that knowledge for the benefit of the entire scene.

Continuous Engagement was as the name implies born out of my annoyance with the remarks of a certain streaming service CEO. It was the gazzilionth time I felt as if a billionaire who had built his fortune on aggressive and hostile disruption was manipulating me and others into working in a certain way that aligned better with their businessmodel. A scheme that has been very thoroughly rehearsed during all my years working with music - one that invokes the visionary CEO as the custodian of an inevitable change, a high priest put here to ensure the fulfilling of some inescapable divine prophecy.

This time, though, it hit me that what I was mostly annoyed with was not the arrogance or the smugness but just how exceptionally fuck-off boring the story was. How utterly meaningless, devoid of ideas, empty and just plain hopeless it was as a vision for the future of my field of work. Mainly because it suffered from the same one-eyed focus on growth over development that all for-profit ventures take on.

Growth and development are not to be confused nor are they interchangeable. Meaningful growth only happens when there's development. Growth can happen without development but then it's nothing more than self-replication. And that's whats so sad about the visions of the billionaire CEOs - they seem to seek to replicate themselves in the consumer, with all the loneliness and illusions of being self-made that they themselves are the victim of. They orchestrate and rearrange their systems so they reproduce more of themselves, more of their values and ultimately more of their own depression.

So I started thinking about the stories I tell myself about the future and the powerlessness I feel against these strong narratives. Is it really true that "no one wants to pay for music anymore"? Am I really missing out on some golden opportunity of connection by not being active on the big social media platforms. Was I not already in a state of continuous engagement?

I am interested in technology and how it can be used in constructive and meaningful ways. I long for real and unhindered connection with other people who are eager to work on a shared vision of the future - in finding a common path through the wilderness. Continuous Engagement is an invitation to take part in a practice of exposing and rejecting destructive narratives, building out new ideas and defining shared visions.

Troels har startet en Discord-server man åbent kan joine, hvis man har lyst til at følge eller deltage i netværket.