If the kind of technological developments that have happened in the past few years continues then it is hard to imagine any limitations for music technologies. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future-Music stated that they didn't expect CD sales to decrease a huge amount, that they were not "astronomically" high anyway and that people who are naturally CD buyers for their CD collection will remain buying CDs. They also predict a change in the way that music stores like HMV sell their music and that they have to if they wish to remain in the music industry. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future of music states that if the music industry wishes to survive its "battle" against the internet and file-sharing then they will have to navigate their way around the audience's "simple urge to exercise their available freedoms."
The future of the music industry is, however, in doubt. If the amount of piracy that is happening continues and new artists that come through do not get record deals because of the lack of CD buying, then this is going to encourage free downloads to be able to publicise their music.
The future of technologies such as podcasting are bright because the future technoloogy will allow podcasts to not only be downloaded onto iPods and MP3 players but also onto mobile phones. This will provide the ultimate, personalised, on-demand media.
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Issues
Piracy:-
One main issue created by new media technologies in the music industry is piracy. A survey in 2006 found that piracy of CDs lost the music industry £165 million in 2005, 10% of sales. One of the main culprits of music piracy is file-sharing, a main file sharing program is Limewire, it is downloadable from the internet and allows users to download music for free that they would normally buy or pay to download. The new media technologies in the music industry do not encourage illegal activity by means of music piracy but it does allow it to happen and make it easy, the fact that fans can merely get their friends to email them albums by their favourite bands makes it so that people will not choose to buy songs when they know they don't need to. However, it has been publicised that music piracy is not a "soft option" an article by the bbc reported on a husband and wife who were sentenced to a total of 5 and a half years for a multi-million plan to de-fraud the music industry by importing pirate CDs and selling them in stores and markets. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2008/04/03/redbridge_cd_piracy_feature.shtml)
In the near future it is not apparant that music piracy will cause loss of jobs or shops to close down but in the long term it is likely to happen if the problem isn't solved. However, CD piracy has been said to "hit CD sales," an article from the bbc stated that a survey in America on college students said that the music industry loses a fifth of a sale everytime a song is downloaded from the internet. It also said that a downloader saves up to 20% on the total amount of money they spend on music because of downloads. Some moral panics are generated by the new music technologies, the fact that people can view other people's playlists on programs such as iTunes does create the worry that it has made it easy for people to hack into other's computers. A study in America stated that the average computer has had a number of viruses that have originated through file sharing etc.
One main issue created by new media technologies in the music industry is piracy. A survey in 2006 found that piracy of CDs lost the music industry £165 million in 2005, 10% of sales. One of the main culprits of music piracy is file-sharing, a main file sharing program is Limewire, it is downloadable from the internet and allows users to download music for free that they would normally buy or pay to download. The new media technologies in the music industry do not encourage illegal activity by means of music piracy but it does allow it to happen and make it easy, the fact that fans can merely get their friends to email them albums by their favourite bands makes it so that people will not choose to buy songs when they know they don't need to. However, it has been publicised that music piracy is not a "soft option" an article by the bbc reported on a husband and wife who were sentenced to a total of 5 and a half years for a multi-million plan to de-fraud the music industry by importing pirate CDs and selling them in stores and markets. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2008/04/03/redbridge_cd_piracy_feature.shtml)
In the near future it is not apparant that music piracy will cause loss of jobs or shops to close down but in the long term it is likely to happen if the problem isn't solved. However, CD piracy has been said to "hit CD sales," an article from the bbc stated that a survey in America on college students said that the music industry loses a fifth of a sale everytime a song is downloaded from the internet. It also said that a downloader saves up to 20% on the total amount of money they spend on music because of downloads. Some moral panics are generated by the new music technologies, the fact that people can view other people's playlists on programs such as iTunes does create the worry that it has made it easy for people to hack into other's computers. A study in America stated that the average computer has had a number of viruses that have originated through file sharing etc.
Audience
New Media Technologies are now being personalised for each consumer: their needs, interests and their personality. An example of this is with the new range of Apple iPods with different advertisements for different customers needs, for example, the iPod nano advertisements read "a little video for everyone," and "don't just take you iPod nano on a run. Let it take you." This advertisement appeals to two types of audience, the audience who would like to watch their favourite television shows whenever they want and for people who want to exercise and let their music control their exercise. New Media Technologies have given the audiences chances of combining their mobile phone with their iPods, playing games, watch videos, store photos. Also, the audiences are using the new media technologies in the music industry as fashion accessories, it is now the norm for a teenager to have some sort of hi-tech MP3 player or iPod. These new additions to music technology are giving the audiences a new way of interacting with new media technologies with the new options given by Apple. Apple also target what people want to be able to do with their music and where they listen to it: "Take your music on the road with seamless integration between your car and iPod."
All of these are advantages to the audience because they give them good quality music and the choice of what induvidual songs they want to download and control over what they listen to, unlike a decade ago.
(http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/)
Also, bands are now giving their audiences easier ways to listen and upload music, Keane's new single, Nothing In My Way, is now available to buy for £3.99 and comes along with other tracks, videos and wallpapers. The interesting thing is that the single will come in a memory stick. This new technology will appeal to rock fans purely as a different way of buying music which is held and stored easier. This will also be a great selling point for bands.
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/oct/19/arts.digitalmedia)
Internet fan bases:-
Internet fan bases for bands and artists are now giving the music audiences chances to be involved with the bands and to get priority tickets for their gigs. For example, The Killer's fan base, The Victims, members of this internet fanbase are allowed exclusive and priority tickets to The Killer's gigs and festivals that they are playing at world-wide.
(http://www.thekillersmusic.com/)
Social-networking:-
Social-networking websites such as MySpace are allowing music audiences to interact with their favourite bands, find out tour events, single/album releases etc.
Shannon Ferguson, the European managing director of Yahoo! Music, said: "Users are becoming increasingly involved in generating content, through blogging, making recommendations to friends, building playlists, posting photos from concerts, and even creating their own videos."
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/oct/04/netmusic.digitalmedia)
Social-networking has given music bands and artists the chance to appeal to their target demographic (16-25 year-olds). Also, it is apparant that it is not only young "rock-lovers" who use the internet to get their music, classical fans are beginning to join the "digital music revolution". In a survey by Gramophone magazine, it was found that 57% of classical music listeners have converted their CDs into digital form.
Disadvantages for the audience:-
In the case of new music technologies their are winners and losers with information rich and poor, the people who cannot afford to buy and iPod and buy and download any music that they want and so lose out because they are information poor. The audiences who are the winners are the information rich. Also, the new music technologies, especially on the internet, are creating a fragmented society. The social-networking websites create divisions between different music genre's fan bases, causing discrimination between fan bases.
All of these are advantages to the audience because they give them good quality music and the choice of what induvidual songs they want to download and control over what they listen to, unlike a decade ago.
(http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/)
Also, bands are now giving their audiences easier ways to listen and upload music, Keane's new single, Nothing In My Way, is now available to buy for £3.99 and comes along with other tracks, videos and wallpapers. The interesting thing is that the single will come in a memory stick. This new technology will appeal to rock fans purely as a different way of buying music which is held and stored easier. This will also be a great selling point for bands.
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/oct/19/arts.digitalmedia)
Internet fan bases:-
Internet fan bases for bands and artists are now giving the music audiences chances to be involved with the bands and to get priority tickets for their gigs. For example, The Killer's fan base, The Victims, members of this internet fanbase are allowed exclusive and priority tickets to The Killer's gigs and festivals that they are playing at world-wide.
(http://www.thekillersmusic.com/)
Social-networking:-
Social-networking websites such as MySpace are allowing music audiences to interact with their favourite bands, find out tour events, single/album releases etc.
Shannon Ferguson, the European managing director of Yahoo! Music, said: "Users are becoming increasingly involved in generating content, through blogging, making recommendations to friends, building playlists, posting photos from concerts, and even creating their own videos."
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/oct/04/netmusic.digitalmedia)
Social-networking has given music bands and artists the chance to appeal to their target demographic (16-25 year-olds). Also, it is apparant that it is not only young "rock-lovers" who use the internet to get their music, classical fans are beginning to join the "digital music revolution". In a survey by Gramophone magazine, it was found that 57% of classical music listeners have converted their CDs into digital form.
Disadvantages for the audience:-
In the case of new music technologies their are winners and losers with information rich and poor, the people who cannot afford to buy and iPod and buy and download any music that they want and so lose out because they are information poor. The audiences who are the winners are the information rich. Also, the new music technologies, especially on the internet, are creating a fragmented society. The social-networking websites create divisions between different music genre's fan bases, causing discrimination between fan bases.
Friday, 18 April 2008
Institutions
The Music Industry:-
The Music Industry is the organisation of the various activities associated with performing, recording and distributing music. The UK music industry has more musical compositions than anywhere in the world except for the US. In 2205, the top 10 album chart of the whole year had 3 British artists in it, Coldplay, Robbie Williams and James Blunt. The music industry has developed in relation to the concept of property rights. The original composition of the music (including the lyrics) is a form of ‘intellectual property’ (IP) and the composer is entitled to the same set of legal rights as any other form of author with royalties, payable each time music is performed or the composition copied. There are several different rights, each of which can be sold outright, assigned to an agent to collect or licensed for a variety of uses.
(http://www.mediamagazine.org.uk/)
There has never before been a company that has fully monopolised the music industry. Apple, however are close to doing this, they have control over the technology side of the music industry, thanks to the iPod and iTunes. These new technologies have allowed Apple to create products like the iPod Touch and the iPhone. It has not taken long for this new technology in the music industry to develop, it has taken merely 3/4 years for Apple to develop their iPod from a black and white screen classic iPod to a pencil-thin, colour and touch screen iPod Touch. Apple have helped themselves develop new ways in which they can reach their audience through their deal with the sports brand, Nike.
"You don’t just take iPod nano on your run. You let it take you. Music is your motivation. But what if you want to go further? Thanks to a unique partnership between NIKE and Apple, your iPod nano becomes your coach. Your personal trainer. Your favourite workout companion. Introducing Nike + iPod."
(http://www.apple.com/uk/ipod/nike/)
Above is the advertisement campaign for the alliance between Nike and Apple, together they act like a personal trainer with a "nike+iPod sports kit" which is inserted in the shoe and sends information to the iPod which can then inform the consumer of how hard and fast they have been training. This has been a new way of appealing to Apple and Nike customers and gives Apple a broader range of consumers.
The fact that Apple iTunes may have monopolised the music download industry is in doubt as a new download business is coming through, Tesco Digital. When Tesco Digital launches next month it will have 3.3 million tracks available for download with 1.6 million in MP3 format in order to target MP3 player users and iPod users. The site will later expand to downloadable movies, TV shows, and computer games. Downloads are said to be "competitively priced", as usual with Tesco, but the price will vary on certain tracks.
Graham Harris, the Tesco commercial director, said: "We wanted to create an exciting and easy-to-use entertainment shop that Tesco customers of all ages and technical ability can use and trust. We're starting out with a comprehensive music offering, but customers can expect downloadable TV and films as well as games to buy very soon."
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/15/tesco.supermarkets)
Record Labels:-
A record label is a company which markets sound recordings and music videos in the music industry. They also manage brands and trademarks coordinates the production, distribution, manufacture, promotion and the enforcement of copyright protection in their part of the music industry. There are four major record labels: Warner Music Group, EMI, Song BMG and Universal Music Group, these four record companies take up around 70% of the world music industry and 80% of the American music industry. Companies outside of the "big four" are usually called "independents" or "indie" groups.
The Arctic Monkeys are an example of a band who use "indie" record labels, an article in the Guardian by Matt Keating in 2006, explains how the Arctic monkeys didn't use the promotion of a massive record label, "all the band did was burn their demo on CD-Rs, gave those out at gigs and then fans fileshared the hell out of them." This shows how the internet has been able to be a publicist for bands like the Arctic Monkeys who rely on "word of mouth" via social-networking and the internet, this has been successful for the Arctic Monkeys, shown by their websites being the number 1 band website (1.90% of the market share). In the case of the Arctic Monkeys, social-networking has had a huge impact on the music industry and music itselfchanging the ways in which it is discovered, made, distributed and consumed.
An article in the guardian in April 2008 by Chris Salmon shows how Radiohead are using MySpace in order to make money from their fanbase, they are offering a remix competition for their new single, Nude, and charging 79p for each of the five parts of the song that can be remixed, essentially charging the participants £4 each to enter the competition.
The Internet:-
Aswell as providing social-networking so that bands can advertise themselves, the internet provides other services that advise consumers what to buy and download. "Pitchfork" is a website which "separates the musical wheat from the pop chaff," it rates bands who are not that well known and is described as "more about what might take off tomorrow than yesterday's news". Pitchfork publishes a number of album reviews each day and has begun to publish music videos and rate them on a scale of 1-10, they have their own interviews and reports and are involved in music festival reviews. It has listings of their own charts such as "the top 50 albums of 2007" and "the 20 worst album covers of 2007".
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/14/pitchfork.music)
The Music Industry is the organisation of the various activities associated with performing, recording and distributing music. The UK music industry has more musical compositions than anywhere in the world except for the US. In 2205, the top 10 album chart of the whole year had 3 British artists in it, Coldplay, Robbie Williams and James Blunt. The music industry has developed in relation to the concept of property rights. The original composition of the music (including the lyrics) is a form of ‘intellectual property’ (IP) and the composer is entitled to the same set of legal rights as any other form of author with royalties, payable each time music is performed or the composition copied. There are several different rights, each of which can be sold outright, assigned to an agent to collect or licensed for a variety of uses.
(http://www.mediamagazine.org.uk/)
There has never before been a company that has fully monopolised the music industry. Apple, however are close to doing this, they have control over the technology side of the music industry, thanks to the iPod and iTunes. These new technologies have allowed Apple to create products like the iPod Touch and the iPhone. It has not taken long for this new technology in the music industry to develop, it has taken merely 3/4 years for Apple to develop their iPod from a black and white screen classic iPod to a pencil-thin, colour and touch screen iPod Touch. Apple have helped themselves develop new ways in which they can reach their audience through their deal with the sports brand, Nike.
"You don’t just take iPod nano on your run. You let it take you. Music is your motivation. But what if you want to go further? Thanks to a unique partnership between NIKE and Apple, your iPod nano becomes your coach. Your personal trainer. Your favourite workout companion. Introducing Nike + iPod."
(http://www.apple.com/uk/ipod/nike/)
Above is the advertisement campaign for the alliance between Nike and Apple, together they act like a personal trainer with a "nike+iPod sports kit" which is inserted in the shoe and sends information to the iPod which can then inform the consumer of how hard and fast they have been training. This has been a new way of appealing to Apple and Nike customers and gives Apple a broader range of consumers.
The fact that Apple iTunes may have monopolised the music download industry is in doubt as a new download business is coming through, Tesco Digital. When Tesco Digital launches next month it will have 3.3 million tracks available for download with 1.6 million in MP3 format in order to target MP3 player users and iPod users. The site will later expand to downloadable movies, TV shows, and computer games. Downloads are said to be "competitively priced", as usual with Tesco, but the price will vary on certain tracks.
Graham Harris, the Tesco commercial director, said: "We wanted to create an exciting and easy-to-use entertainment shop that Tesco customers of all ages and technical ability can use and trust. We're starting out with a comprehensive music offering, but customers can expect downloadable TV and films as well as games to buy very soon."
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/15/tesco.supermarkets)
Record Labels:-
A record label is a company which markets sound recordings and music videos in the music industry. They also manage brands and trademarks coordinates the production, distribution, manufacture, promotion and the enforcement of copyright protection in their part of the music industry. There are four major record labels: Warner Music Group, EMI, Song BMG and Universal Music Group, these four record companies take up around 70% of the world music industry and 80% of the American music industry. Companies outside of the "big four" are usually called "independents" or "indie" groups.
The Arctic Monkeys are an example of a band who use "indie" record labels, an article in the Guardian by Matt Keating in 2006, explains how the Arctic monkeys didn't use the promotion of a massive record label, "all the band did was burn their demo on CD-Rs, gave those out at gigs and then fans fileshared the hell out of them." This shows how the internet has been able to be a publicist for bands like the Arctic Monkeys who rely on "word of mouth" via social-networking and the internet, this has been successful for the Arctic Monkeys, shown by their websites being the number 1 band website (1.90% of the market share). In the case of the Arctic Monkeys, social-networking has had a huge impact on the music industry and music itselfchanging the ways in which it is discovered, made, distributed and consumed.
An article in the guardian in April 2008 by Chris Salmon shows how Radiohead are using MySpace in order to make money from their fanbase, they are offering a remix competition for their new single, Nude, and charging 79p for each of the five parts of the song that can be remixed, essentially charging the participants £4 each to enter the competition.
The Internet:-
Aswell as providing social-networking so that bands can advertise themselves, the internet provides other services that advise consumers what to buy and download. "Pitchfork" is a website which "separates the musical wheat from the pop chaff," it rates bands who are not that well known and is described as "more about what might take off tomorrow than yesterday's news". Pitchfork publishes a number of album reviews each day and has begun to publish music videos and rate them on a scale of 1-10, they have their own interviews and reports and are involved in music festival reviews. It has listings of their own charts such as "the top 50 albums of 2007" and "the 20 worst album covers of 2007".
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/14/pitchfork.music)
Case study feedback #2
Andy - you will need to make a start on your research in order to cover it with enough depth ready for Monday.
CF
CF
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Technology
The literal music technology refers to the way in which music is made, the technology is used to create the music: playback, recording, composition, storage and performance. A key institution that has developed the new media technologies develop is Apple with their development of iTunes and the iTunes Store and especially the iPod. The iTunes Store allows its members to buy and download music albums, singles and EP's for cheaper than stores such as HMV: £7.99 compared to £12 for a chart album. The iTunes Store has provided consumers with a cheaper and simpler way to buy music, their iTunes Store motto states "Instant gratification means never having to go to the record store or wait for a CD to arrive in the post. For just 79p (UK) / 99c (Ireland) each, the iTunes Store gives you high-quality songs that won’t disappear at the end of the month or ever. What you buy is yours to keep," provides the technology that gives consumers what they want: easy, legal and cheap downloads. The technology used in the iTunes Store has developed music buying, when a consumer has opened their iTunes, it automatically connects to the iTunes Store and signs in as their user so that they can buy and download songs and albums which automatically download onto the user's iTunes and then charge the registered account the amount of money spent. This new technology has transformed the music industry bringing about more customers and, importantly, the combination of the singles music chart and the download chart into one to chart where the favourites in music from both single buyers and downloaders. The only negative of this technology introduced by Apple is that it is limited to Apple users.
Through Apple, the link between the music industry and the internet has been made stronger by the introduction of the iPod Touch with developed technology to enable owners to access photos, videos, music and podcasts as well as wireless Internet, access to youtube, GPS and access to maps. All this and the "extra-special" touch screen and the ability to change videos, pictures etc. from portrait to landscape just by turning the iPod.
Companies like Apple have helped to transform the music industry from a push technology to a pull technology. Music used to be controlled into either one disc or into the radio and invariably had no controlover what they were listening to. Nowadays, a listener can mix their CDs onto one CD with different selections of songs on it and they can play their iPod through speakers and, most importantly, choose what they are listening to.
"The UK music industry has rejected the Government's proposal to legalise the transfer of music from CDs to MP3 players without a levy. It has asked for a tax on devices like Apple iPods which it says should compensate artists for the transfer." (guardian website). This was reported on by Jack Schofield and is the Government presenting the idea of legalising the transfer of music from a blank or copied CD onto a normal MP3 player without taxation but keeping taxation on iPods. This proposal shows that the Government is wary of Apple iPods and their increasing amount of technology which is monopolising that part of the music industry and losing the music artists money.
Podcasting is another technology which is important in the new media of music. Podcasts are normally radio shows that are broadcasted via the internet, the idea of podcasting was brought about through the iPod and that' s how it was given its name. It is a downloadable file, normally on MP3 which can be stored on a portable digital player, such as an iPod or MP3 player. It is different and more convienient than normally listening to a radio show because it can be listened to wherever the consumer wants to and only needs an internet connection to download it. As with many new media technologies, podcasting has democratised the music industry with broadcasting, consumers can listen to any show whenever they want.
Through Apple, the link between the music industry and the internet has been made stronger by the introduction of the iPod Touch with developed technology to enable owners to access photos, videos, music and podcasts as well as wireless Internet, access to youtube, GPS and access to maps. All this and the "extra-special" touch screen and the ability to change videos, pictures etc. from portrait to landscape just by turning the iPod.
Companies like Apple have helped to transform the music industry from a push technology to a pull technology. Music used to be controlled into either one disc or into the radio and invariably had no controlover what they were listening to. Nowadays, a listener can mix their CDs onto one CD with different selections of songs on it and they can play their iPod through speakers and, most importantly, choose what they are listening to.
"The UK music industry has rejected the Government's proposal to legalise the transfer of music from CDs to MP3 players without a levy. It has asked for a tax on devices like Apple iPods which it says should compensate artists for the transfer." (guardian website). This was reported on by Jack Schofield and is the Government presenting the idea of legalising the transfer of music from a blank or copied CD onto a normal MP3 player without taxation but keeping taxation on iPods. This proposal shows that the Government is wary of Apple iPods and their increasing amount of technology which is monopolising that part of the music industry and losing the music artists money.
Podcasting is another technology which is important in the new media of music. Podcasts are normally radio shows that are broadcasted via the internet, the idea of podcasting was brought about through the iPod and that' s how it was given its name. It is a downloadable file, normally on MP3 which can be stored on a portable digital player, such as an iPod or MP3 player. It is different and more convienient than normally listening to a radio show because it can be listened to wherever the consumer wants to and only needs an internet connection to download it. As with many new media technologies, podcasting has democratised the music industry with broadcasting, consumers can listen to any show whenever they want.
New Media Technologies-Music Industry and the Internet
Introduction:-
Through new media technologies allowing free downloads of music, the music industry is beginning to fall behind, not being able to keep up with the growing opportunities that the internet is giving consumers to listen to their favourite music for free rather than paying for it, this method of downloading music is commonly known as file sharing. In this case study I will research and identify the causes of the problems that the music industry faces and different ways that the internet is developing the music industry.
Through new media technologies allowing free downloads of music, the music industry is beginning to fall behind, not being able to keep up with the growing opportunities that the internet is giving consumers to listen to their favourite music for free rather than paying for it, this method of downloading music is commonly known as file sharing. In this case study I will research and identify the causes of the problems that the music industry faces and different ways that the internet is developing the music industry.
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