The audience is becoming more important than ever before - we always thought it was always about the music. But it's more than that, it's about the experiences of audiences, and new media technology is enabling the audience to become 'self aware'.
Audiences make the gig - it's their reactions that make everyone feel whether it was a good night or not. The band also feed off the audiences energy. This has always been accepted.
Now however it is possible that an audience can have a voice, can represent itself, perhaps lead by an individual or group of individuals who the audience accept speaks on their behalf - blogs, pictures, videos, anecdotes.
We are social beings, and media has been dictated by so called 'tastemakers' who after all are just trying to pick audiences. technology empowers audiences to take their destiny into their own hands and state their opinions, state history as they see it, and even dictate demands.
Watch the changes in the next few years as the Era of the Audience starts to gather momentum to the benefit of its members, for more enjoyable, more connected and even more economically beneficial experiences as they may even be an entity with whom to negotiate!
MC