Off the back of the most recent brief “Since 1989” students of the University of the Underground and members of corporate rock band, Salesforce, created and released new album “Dreamforce” as a result of exploring the research area “Post-truth”.

Salesforce.com, Inc. is an American cloud computing company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Though its revenue comes from a customer relationship management (CRM) product, Salesforce also sells commercial applications of social networking through acquisition and internal development.

As of spring 2018, it is one of the most highly valued American cloud computing companies with a market capitalisation above $90 billion. In August 2017, Salesforce announced that it had reached the $10 billion revenue run rate becoming the first enterprise cloud company to do so.

Salesforce is a band that uses Salesforce.com. Inc. intellectual property as a means of appropriation for a critical purpose. Whereas appropriation in a post-modern context tends to use modes of irony or opposition as a subversive technique (for example doppelgänger brand logos or the anti-capitalist journal Adbusters), Salesforce aims to walk the line between irony and sincerity to create a more unstable narrative; opposed to a ‘David vs Goliath’ myth.

Appropriation “infers an ideology of ownership,” and how that culture of use is directed toward the goal of sharing. This is a notion echoed in discussions surrounding the idea of a Post‐Internet, and in which the culture of use that it intrinsically supports is now less of a novelty. Appropriation in our era is not the outright theft or questioning of authenticity as it was during the height of Postmodern theoretical development. With the rise of the Internet, and in particular with the rise of the many current social platforms, appropriation is now our reigning cultural condition. Through the ‘sincere’ use of appropriating pre‐existing material we can create the emancipatory narratives we are lacking by shifting meaning, instead of reinforcement through opposition. This has relevance and ramifications far beyond mere artistic and philosophical debate, it has an effect on how we understand the procession of cultural innovation, as well as having direct practical, ethical, and legal implications throughout society. Given the immense cultural, global, and pro‐democratic shift the Post‐Internet era anticipates, is it time for art to be more engaged?

Over a seven week period Salesforce produced an album, a live show and a behind the scenes documentary; recording the bands inception to its first and final show. Salesforce also had an active engagement with Salesforce.com, Inc. through their lawyers (who demanded the removal of our website) and the CEO of Salesforce.org who gave his public support.

Check out http://salesforceofficial.biz/ to hear the full album!