Music and Big Business Come Together
The most intriguing presence on the Live 8 stages was that of William H Gates. Musicians have always kept big business at arm's length, and when it comes to an event that makes a political statement, that arm extended for miles. However, the 21st century already seems to have made a substantial adjustment to the position protest music had taken against the generalizations of Evil Politicians and Businessmen.
What has changed?
One of the recent examples of collaboration between a corporate and musicians was the text message campaign triggered by Bono's ONE. The technology infrastructure that facilitated the campaign was provided by Sun Microsystems. This set-up was leveraged for the Live 8 text message effort as well, and will power a similar drive for the Final Push, a July 6 concert in Scotland, just before the G8 summit kicks off.
A cursory perusal of the Gates Foundation website reveals that considerable donations have been made by the Bill Gates led Foundation, toward Education, Health, Libraries and Information Management, and the Pacific Northwest Community. The interesting thing is that no mention is made of any ties to the music world. His presence then, at the Live 8 events, is a new beginning.
The generalizations of the mid to late 20th century were of course just that - generalizations. Politics, Business and the Military had their share of people who strove to further noble causes. Gates and Sun Microsystems are simply the most visible examples today of such participation.
A connection I can speculate on is that both Gates, and the men who manage Sun Microsystems, were part of the demographic that protest music in the '60s and '70s influenced most. I am not sure what Gates, McNealy, Schwartz, and the others listened to in their teens, or whether their ideas resonated with those of the protest movements of the time. However, I imagine that just being students at the time could have made them alive to the message.
The other, even more speculative, thought I have is that both Microsoft and Sun are technology companies - a sector seemingly full of people and leaders who rally to social causes. Okay, I have no statistical study to back this statement up, nor does this mean that other sectors aren't alive to social, political and economic imbalances across the globe.
Any thoughts?
[ Technorati Tags : live8 Sun Microsystems Music Gates ]
What has changed?
One of the recent examples of collaboration between a corporate and musicians was the text message campaign triggered by Bono's ONE. The technology infrastructure that facilitated the campaign was provided by Sun Microsystems. This set-up was leveraged for the Live 8 text message effort as well, and will power a similar drive for the Final Push, a July 6 concert in Scotland, just before the G8 summit kicks off.
A cursory perusal of the Gates Foundation website reveals that considerable donations have been made by the Bill Gates led Foundation, toward Education, Health, Libraries and Information Management, and the Pacific Northwest Community. The interesting thing is that no mention is made of any ties to the music world. His presence then, at the Live 8 events, is a new beginning.
The generalizations of the mid to late 20th century were of course just that - generalizations. Politics, Business and the Military had their share of people who strove to further noble causes. Gates and Sun Microsystems are simply the most visible examples today of such participation.
A connection I can speculate on is that both Gates, and the men who manage Sun Microsystems, were part of the demographic that protest music in the '60s and '70s influenced most. I am not sure what Gates, McNealy, Schwartz, and the others listened to in their teens, or whether their ideas resonated with those of the protest movements of the time. However, I imagine that just being students at the time could have made them alive to the message.
The other, even more speculative, thought I have is that both Microsoft and Sun are technology companies - a sector seemingly full of people and leaders who rally to social causes. Okay, I have no statistical study to back this statement up, nor does this mean that other sectors aren't alive to social, political and economic imbalances across the globe.
Any thoughts?
[ Technorati Tags : live8 Sun Microsystems Music Gates ]
posted by daemon at 8:30 PM
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