8A - Monday, September 19, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
BA - Monday, September19, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
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FINE ARTS COLUMN
The Etsy
experiment
rt for art's sake" my friends have closed up their
might be a wonder- shops after going weeks without
fully romantic notion, a single page view, and the rest
ost of today's small-busi- have resorted to relisting their
rtists ultimately hope to items multiple times (for more
the rounds of fees, of course), hoping
they to rank higher in buyer searches
:e onto and attract some sorely needed
buy- attention.
1hether To make matters even more
uti- frustrating, sellers have had to
their compete against more thanjust
as a other honest artists: Many people
ae job, LAUREN have found it profitable to ignore
g to CASERTA Etsy's quaint request that only
a few handmade pieces, vintage items
bucks and art supplies should appear
hoping to financially sus- for sale.
hobby while sharing their Chinese resellers have popped
with others, artists often up with increasing regularity,
tons of time and money and an alarming number of listed
tlling their creations. Of items havea mysteriously ten-
these artists usually have dencyto pop up elsewhere on the
tie of both to spare. Internet. Plagiarism is constant
r the magic of the Inter- and unregulated, and strategic
re specifically, enter the tagging on items, despite being
of a marketplace-style arts a "no-no," ensures that many
fts hub named Etsy. of your search returns will be
n I stumbled across Etsy totally random.
ears ago, I was convinced Best of all, one can always find
ideal marriage between thousands of people peddling
creativity and digital supposedly"vintage" items that
bility had finally been only add to the clutter. What's
d. Here was aplacewhere that? You found a rusty coathook
and crafters could sell in your grandma's basement?
eations online without Just upload an artsy off-center
g websites from scratch. photo of it, whip up a product
open "shops" where they description noting its "charming
y list items for a small fee; patina," and voila! Bonus points
ims a little off of the top of if you photographed it against an
le, but most of the money old hunk of wood!
directly to the shop own- So where are Etsy's modera-
mselves. tors in this mess? They prefer to
gle search bar could let bury their heads in their button-
wse paintings from Seattle boxes and pretend like they're
ndmade soaps from Sin- running a multi-million dollar
Simple, fast and cheap, it website where problems are
1 like it could do no wrong. magically solved using the Power
of Love and Unspoken Mutual
Integrity. They're also notorious-
nt a Snorlax ly non-confrontational toward
sellers who pull ina profit, so
1 painting? don't expect immediate action
if you point out any of the afore-
How a 'U' alum
brought Tiesto to
Ann Arbor
By CASSIE BALFOUR
Daily Community Culture Editor
It would be easy to forget that
recent 'U' alum Adam Lynn and
his partner Zach Ruben, decked
out in designer suits while sit-
ting in a makeshift VIP room
overlooking the EMU Conven-
tion Center arena - which in
mere hours would host hun-
dreds of rabble-rousers cluster-
ing around the world-renowned
Tigsto - are recent undergrads
who were putting on events at
their respective campuses just a
couple of years ago.
But when the industrious pair
poses in the DJ booth on stage
and Ruben dons Tiesto's head-
phones for a photo-op, they both
grin with matching looks, know-
ing they've created not only a hot
new event promotion company,
but a dream job.
Well, this isn't so much a job
or even a career as it is a capital-
L Lifestyle.
After Lynn graduated from
both the University and his
undergraduate college event
promotion business (the aptly
named Social Studyz), he con-
nected with an equally entre-
preneurial graduate of the
University of Wisconsin in
Madison, Zach Ruben, who
had founded his own company,
Prime Productions. Despite the
rumors that the New York native
Lvnn had hord abo unhRun's
BEHIND THE CONCERTS
The Prime Social network
Tigsto played a show at EMU Convocation Center on Friday.
hometown of Columbus, Ohio,
being the "devil's land," Lynn
and Ruben found common
ground after collaborating on a
four-day college tour featuring
DJ Steve Aoki. They combined
their shared talents and markets
to create the hybrid promoting
company Prime Social Group.
They've done 40 shows since the
start of the year, featuring tal-
ents like the DJ Avicii and Lupe
Fiasco.
But it didn't come easy.
"I was just the kid who sent
an e-mail every day," Lynn said,
talking about how he found
enouv o nneo~ns no start +he
wa
.i
business. "I called every other
day until I got something. You
know the movie 'Wall Street?'
Bud Fox calls Gordon Gekko
every day for a year until he
finally gets an appointment. I
was like Bud Fox."
"Zach is kinda the work-
horse," Lynn added. "It's a very
good partnership ... we're part-
ners but we're friends too, which
is good since there's a lot of trav-
eling and we spend a lot of time
together."
The suave duo may don
designer duds and sip the kind of
vodka Ludacris raps about with
world-renowned musicians, but
they are forced to apologetically
pause the interview intermit-
tently to attend to their con-
stantly buzzing smartphones to
deal with last-minute details.
Ruben's Blackberry calendar
looks to be as crammed with
dates and exotic locales as the
President's. Lynn confirms that
catering to the rich and famous
and hand-crafting events awash
in strobe ligits atnded by
thousands is a 24-hour-a-day
job.
"I don't think people under-
stand what our job really is,"
Ruben said. "They think we just
post Facebook photos and pass
out flyers. -But we're financing
the entire show. The term pro-
moter has a negative connota-
tion. That's because of mainly
nightclub promoters in big cit-
ies."
Lynn added, despite the
schmoozing with celebrities and
traveling to Europe - where they
have connections in cities like
Barcelona that Ruben hooked up
while studying abroad in Spain
- to produce shows, their job is
anything but a constant party.
"It's a way prettier position
that it actually is," Lynn said.
"People are always like, 'You
have the best job ever.' They see
the picture of us with Tiasto....
I wouldn't trade it for anything
but you have to put in the time.
We're at a critical point in our
career - we can take advantage
of this and work our asses off,
or be complacent and say, 'Hey
we've done great this year' and
be done with it ... that's why me
and Zach sort of feed off each
other."
The job certainly has its
perks, and Lynn and Ruben are
constantly networking and hus-
tling to expand their already
skyrocketing business. They
work with a travel agency called
College Travel Experts to pro-
vide a spring break package not
only drenched in sun, but in
electronic-music in Puerto Val-
larta, bringing musical acts like
Steve Aoki down to Mexico to
play exclusively for these spring
breakers.
Although the duo has a lot on
th orizon, Lynn and Ruben
h eir share of stories and
bate e scars from running these
shows and providing top-notch
comfort to musicians and com-
edy acts. Even though they're
used to dealing with celebre-
DJs, the pair isn't immune to
becoming starstruck.
As the opening act warms up
the hundreds of partiers situat-
ed below in the arena, the beats
start to seep into the makeshift
but appropriately swanky VIP
room. The two undergraduate
party planners-turned-bona
fide, savvy businessmen reflect
on their rise.
"It's a career now," Lynn said.
"I wake up in the morning, and
I'm not worrying about classes.
I'm worrying about contracts ...
as they say, I'm still living the
dream."
mentioned reselling, plagiarism
o--'r general rule violation (trust
But the art-and-craft world's me, I've tried).
honeymoon with Etsy is ending, But all is not lost. Yes, Etsy
and it's slowly becoming obvi- has some serious organizational
ous who got the better end of the problems. Yes, its moderators
deal, need to growa spine and crack
The problem began when Etsy down on their more unsavory
started to take off. I mean, really sellers. But despite its stunning
take off. Suddenly, all of my artsy ability to take them for granted,
high school friends had opened Etsy is still a collection of some of
a store for themselves and filled the most talented, dedicated and
it with everything from their AP unique people in the world.
Art Studio sculptures to hand- Want an oil painting of a misty
made jewelry. I watched as the nighttime cityscape? Got it. How
number of;sellers swelled into the about one of Snorlax? Done.
hundreds of thousands and list- Yesterday I dove into the site for
ingswere propelled into the mil- 10 minutes and saw everything
lions. Etsy became a marketplace from handmade retro watches
of far-too-epic proportions. and made-to-order'20s-style
Don't get me wrong - wedding dresses to bronze-cast
increased traffic across a global- sculptures and a woodblock print
izedtnarketplace was exactly of a lake that I used to visit. Each
what;Etsy wanted. It just hadn't artist had a fierce passion for his
planned out how to keep its or her trade that shined through
"indie integrity" once actually the work they now offered up to
getting its wish. others.
With no new way to organize If only Etsy appreciated them
this influx of creativity, small as much as their customers do.
sellers now find themselves
drowning in a massive pool of Caserta is lookingfor an Etsy-
competitors with no easy way to bitsy teeny-weeny tie. To point her
stand out from the herd. Three of to one, e-mail caserta@umich.edu.
TODD NEEDLE/Daily
The event promotion group Prime Social planned Tiesto's concert.
CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS,
2010-11:
THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT
POPULATION LIMIT ON CALIFORNIA'S PRISONS
AMERICAN MILITARY ACTION IN LIBYA
BIG BROTHER AND THE FOURTH AMENDMENT
University of Michigan Law School
Hutchins Hall, Room 250
Tuesday, September 20
4:10-5:40 tM.
Refreshments Immediately Following
SPONSORED BY U-M OFFICE OF THE PROVOST
I
DRIVE
From Page 7A
deep into his own subconscious
and doing vengeful things he
could only have imagined. The
fruit for the viewer is momentary
- it's the look on his face when
he shocks even himself - like an
innocent child bearing witness
to murder, the shock becomes
another obscuring layer in his
mind. As he opens himself up to
usbyreleasinghisviolenttension,
he simultaneously closes himself
off to the film's other characters,
to whom he is suddenly a com-
pletely different person.
Director Nicolas Winding
Refn (the "Pusher" trilogy) and
writer Hossein Amini ("Shang-
hai") don't fully develop the film's
backstory and characters - and
purposefully so. In a film where
each supporting character's past
is his or her handicap and down-
fall, a protagonist with no more
than a face and a job becomes the
one-eyed man, king of the film's
conflict and the only person with
the freedom to be the good guy.
It's a violent, bloody film with
classic touches dating decades
back, despite its contemporary
setting. Most noticeable are its
retro '80s-style pink font and
synth-backed music selections,
which indeed hearken to images
of a masculine-type shadowy
vigilante patrolling the streets
of L.A., albeit one shot on now-
grainy film stock, not on the
beautiful Arri Alexa camera foot-
age "Drive" employs.
When the brutal final scenes
of the film hit magic hour - that
evening time when sunlight
shines straight on - the mood of
the film is already set; the crimes
that were once limited to the
nighttime have oozed into the
daylight and taken over our pro-
tagonist's life. Like Butch Cassidy
or Bonnie and Clyde, he can only
drive so far from his problems.
With a strong cast fronted by
the stone-faced Gosling, "Drive"
is an engrossingensemble picture
that will kill you with quiet. The
loud revving of a car becomes a
comfort in its convention; at a
Ryan Goslingm ade sure Herbie would never speak again.
*0
certain point, silence leaves far
too much deadly possibility for
our characters. Ryan Gosling has
described this film as his super-
hero movie, and the comparison
rings true - it's the bubbling-
under-the-surface, superficially
calm hero pic with a hell of a bite.
Like Gosling's face covered in a
splash of blood midway through
the second act, it's a car colliding
with an unsuspecting audience.
It will shock you, and then calm
you, only to leave you open to the
next bloody smack in the face.
And all throughout, we carry the
understanding that our Driver is
on the same page, the innocent
passenger on the most perilous
ride of his life.
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