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And Finally
John Mayer says Twitter zaps your artistic soul
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 6 October 2010
John Mayer has told his fans that he’s shut down his Twitter account – closing a direct link to some 3.7 million fans – because he’s decided the micro-blogging platform is just one big distraction stopping him, and others, from pursuing their art… maaaaaaaaan.
Mayer writes: “Since the invocation of Twitter, nobody who has participated in it has created any lasting art. And yes! Yours truly is included in that round-up as well. No artwork created by someone with a healthy grasp of social media thus far has proven to be anything other than disposable. I’m not knocking Twitter for those who are trying to make a name for themselves… but for those who have already established themselves it’s a slow erosion of the artistic notion”.
In fact, the American guitar man reckons the whole social media phenomenon is bad news for the art of music. He continues: “You want to know the best way a musician can start making shit music? If they start referring to themselves as a ‘brand’. Jif peanut butter is a brand. A singer is a soul. When you convert your art into the art of real-time brand management, I suddenly have no more interest in it… I’m not a brand, and I don’t refer to myself in the third person. I’m a dude who plays guitar and writes songs. When I’m done writing and recording them I will market them”.
He’s probably got a good point there, you know (though I’m not sure enough time has yet passed to say that no one who uses the site has created any lasting art). But given he recently admitted to starting many a day by logging on to some online porn – “There have probably been days when I saw 300 vaginas before I got out of bed” – it’s possibly not Twitter that’s distracting him from all that music making.
