Sinister: Re: das capital

[Tim Hopkins]

David, 
 
I hope you and Katrina don't see this list as something that just gives 
you a load of shite: that's the last thing I (and I suspect the great 
majority of listees) would want. This discussion is necessarly about 
wider issues: pop ethics and how to behave.

It is my perception that people, listees,  are worried about damage 
being done to a list which is a genuine and important part of their 
(our) lives. Naturally they are going to want to talk about it. I don't 
think anyone really cares who set the list up first, or who 'owns' it: 
the issue isn't about ownership or some kind of seniority, it's about 
community. Communities tend to react rather strongly when individuals 
take action which is *perceived* to threaten the wider group.

The thing is that Jeepster seem to be confusing the relationship 
which most sinisterines have with the list and with Belle and Sebastian, 
which I think tends to be deeply personal amd emotional and based in 
communal feelings, with the relationship we have with a record company, 
which is a purchaser / vendor relationship, based in the world of 
small-scale venture capital.

Your argument seems to be that people should lay off you because you 
work hard at your job. Or should that be because you provide a 'good 
service' on a commercial basis, or because what you do stands on its own 
merits as a self-justifying good? I have to say that of all the things 
I've seen over the past few weeks, the thing I've been most taken aback 
by was Jeepster folk suggesting that the meet ups and suchlike were part 
of your job of work. If all that was a *job* to you, that makes me feel 
a little sick. Speaking for myself, I don't feel that the relationship I 
have had with this community can be seen in the context of a service 
provided on a commercial basis. This isn't some kind of focus group.

There is a perception around and about that the new list will damage 
sinister through dilution, through cross-posting, whatever. For myself, 
I think it will probably be alright, in so far as it will make it clear 
to all that Sinister is not an arm of Jeepster, and things will be 
simpler. But you seem to be putting yourself in the position of a shop 
saying 'you might not like the service but it's been a good service up 
till now so you can't really complain'. Trouble is, sinister is not a 
service, it's a set of relationships and, as I understand it, some feel 
that the process of setting up another list is some sort of disloyalty. 
One doesn't expect loyalty from a shop. One does expect it from friends 
and fellow members of a community.

I should repeat that I am not suggesting that setting up a 'rival' list 
was an act of disloyalty, but reading the reaction on the sinister list, 
it seems to have been perceived that way.

Jeepster is a good record company (by this I mean it is a record company 
which releases records by a band I like and seems to give them a high 
degree of artistic freedom...)but it is fundamentally a record company 
and we can't be surprised when it behaves like the branch of small 
business capitalism that it undeniably is. Which means disregarding 
loyalty and community in search of the greater goal: the bottom line. A 
classic example is that David effectively said that Jeepster couldn't 
afford to allow the B&S list to be an arrangement which Jeepster could 
not control, was not accountable to them and so alternative arrangements 
had to be made. Fine, but (I repeat) that I believe the people on 
sinister do not perceive the list as a service, and do not have the same 
vested interest as you do if the service goes away for a few days. It's 
not a matter of being uninformed about the news if the list goes down, 
it's more like being isolated from your mates. I (for one)don't want 
that relationship confused with marketing. And maybe people are unhappy 
because setting up a second list seemed to suggest that someone at 
Jeepster didn't understand the difference. I also have to say that, if 
communicating with sinister people was the priority, then unsubbing the 
news list from sinister was a very strange thing to do.

One last thing (and I know I'm going on): please don't take these 
conversations personally. It is not unreasonable to criticise a record 
company from the point of view of a fan. If I do that, it doesn't 
necessarily mean I'm criticising you personally. If I (or whoever) 
disagree in public with your position, that doesn't mean I'm having a go 
at you or giving you shite. Looking through the sinister archives, I see 
a fair number of messages slagging the idea of a new list (and some for 
the new list) but none slagging anyone on a personal basis. If it's 
impossible to slag off Jeepster (or the way Jeepster behaves) without 
someone at Jeepster taking umbrage, then there are naturally going to be 
bad feelings thrown up. For the record, I like everyone I have met from 
Jeepster very much, you all seem to work very hard and care deeply about 
what you do. That surely doesn't mean I have to shut up when I disagree 
with what Jeepster (as a corporate entity) does. My fear is that, in 
this instance, the difference between bathwater and baby may be passing 
someone by. 

regards
 
Tim


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