Chapter 1: Apollo’s Lament

This chapter serves as the introduction, beginning at the vantage point of the 90s and it’s cultural history. Although the book initially affirms the “cultural renaissance” of the 90s (which is argued to have actually began in 1989) and the ongoing nostalgia for the decade, this chapter also establishes that many of the contemporary crises that plague the 21st century were already lurking in the background of the 90s, with plenty of academics and public figures in the final years of the 90s providing warnings about the issues of inequality, surveillance, loneliness, and the privatization of the internet. These warnings were never addressed, leading to these issues continuing to get worse, establishing the emerging dystopia we have today. The chapter also discusses the history of debate about the demarcation of art, with the intent of restarting this debate in the context of 21st century internet culture.

Chapter 2: Cinema on the Brink

Chapter 2 provides a historical timeline of American independent film starting in the 80s into the cultural renaissance of the 90s that independent film is so associated with. It then goes deeper into independent cinema’s history within the 21st century and it’s abysmal decline in profitability, mainstream popularity, and ability to compete with Hollywood. The chapter goes much further in that even veteran filmmakers are struggling to get their films made and achieve mainstream popularity. But there is also a much broader issue of cinema as an art form no longer having the level of cultural status that it used to-leading to speculation as to what cinema’s cultural status has been replaced with.

Chapter 3: Less Music, More Deaf Ears

Cinema’s decline has also concurred with the decline of music. This chapter debunks the “millionaire musician” myth and reveals the dire straits of music as a paying proposition due to streaming platforms monetizing songs into an entire database which strips the band’s music as art in the from of an album. Such an aspect of the internet has long since been decried by prominent web critics such as Andrew Keen, Jaron Lanier, and Nicholas Carr-but there has been effectively no discussion in academia about the lack of genres and bands within contemporary mainstream music. The chapter provides a critique of this issue in that record labels have concentrated their revenue streams to such an extent that mainstream music has been reduced to solo artists in which music that is “mainstream” has become a genre in and of itself.

Chapter 4: Notes on the Still Arts

As the book is almost exclusively concerns itself with the “temporal Arts” of music and cinema, this chapter serves as in “intermission” to devote some time to traditional “still” arts in relation to their prospective decline in contemporary culture. This is especially the case of still art forms similar or associated with the temporal arts such as photography and album art. The chapter addresses the issue of polarization of the arts in which those who want to make music or films at an independent level struggle to due so for a living while their mainstream counterparts achieve billion dollar stardom-concluding with the need to address what these temporal arts are being replaced with.