The Search for Something Tangible in Our Increasingly Virtual World (Of Vinyl, Typewriters & Festivals)

Last night I attended a Grammy event -- a gathering of music industry execs at a swank Beverly Hills hotel.  But thankfully this was no typical event.  It actually had some real meaning.  Real feeling.  Real passion about the power of music.  Legendary music exec -- founder of MTV and VH-1 -- John Sykes set the tone with is opening words.  That tone continued with Janine Shepherd, an inspirational woman whose TED Talk you must see (link here).

After speaking for a few moments, Janine guided me poolside to a young woman sitting behind a typewriter who asked me to sit down.  She was an author.  A kind-of poet.  And, her tool of the trade was a Smith-Corona.  A non-electric Smith-Corona!  Do you even remember those and that time not so long ago?  She asked for a phrase (I gave her two options, "Life Is Good" and "Music Saves Lives" -- after all it was a Grammy event and I absolutely believe in both adages).  She chose the latter.  And she typed a lengthy "poem" jumping off from that phrase -- a note she gently folded into an envelope, which she handed over to me after completing it.  (I waited until later that night to read it.)

As she typed, I asked her what spurred her, as an artist, to type with a manual Smith-Corona in our ever-increasing digital world -- a world that I love, for sure, and serves as the centerpiece of my digital media business.  She answered that it was precisely that -- the search for the physical ... the tangible ... in our pervasive virtual digital world.  And she told me that she was not alone.  That typewriters are making a comeback.  And, here's the thing.  This was no simple nostalgia.  This was not me talking.  She was young.  No more than 25.  Could have easily been my daughter.

Which brings me to my daughter, Hunter.  At the age of 15, already a passionate music fan.  Not pop music.  Deep meaningful musical art.  And, her medium of choice is vinyl.  Physical vinyl (in fact her bedroom is line with albums purchased at her mecca, Amoeba Music in LA, and a smaller distant cousin in San Diego).  We all know that vinyl too is coming back in a big way.  And it is the millennials leading the way.

What's going on here?

It's simply this.  It is the simple thirst for something tangible.  Something that can be touched, really touched.  Something that has some kind of feeling of permanence -- a permanence that gives it increased meaning.  Think about it.  Notes.  As young kid, we passed them to each other when we liked each other -- and we kept them.  My daughter texts her "notes" -- abbreviated reflexive reactions -- via virtual media on her phone (and receives the same way).  And, SHE -- not I -- bemoans how this kind of virtual interaction has changed boy/girl interaction.  There is less place to hide when writing lengthy thoughts in a note and then handing them over to the one you like.  It is more vulnerable.  Texts are less personal.  Far less.

We see this increasing thirst for the physical in our interactions as well.  Music festivals have sprouted everywhere at an accelerating pace.  Millennials save up all year and spend millions (billions) to make an annual pilgrimages to Coachella, Bonnaroo, Life Is Good, and hundreds of other festivals all over the planet.  Why?  It goes beyond the music (although the music itself is tribal).  It goes to our core desire ... need ... as human beings to have a sense of physical community in our increasingly disconnected (connected?) virtual digital online social media world where we have hundreds and sometimes thousands of friends ... but, how many are real?  Millennials physically connect (literally) at these festivals -- rubbing shoulders (and frequently more) -- and at least for that weekend are, for the most part, heads up and disconnected virtually.  The most physical of these "connections" take place in EDM tents that blast electronic music.  Think about that paradox!

This thirst for the tangible.  It is a movement.  It is a search for meaning (that's why social impact is also core to millennials).  It is manifested by these things -- and a growing number of more.  It is a search and deep hunger for something physical and a bit more permanent.

And it is real, very real ....