Thursday 9 May 2013
Tuesday 7 May 2013
Danny Answer
To what extent, does youtube and other online music sources, affect how music is viewed or heard and how it is promoted.
Online music sources such as Youtube, Myspace and iTunes have affected how music is promoted and viewed to a great extent.
Since Web 2.0 was introduced the music industry has had a incredibly large re-vamp especially the way music is Produced, marketed and exchanged, Music simply doesn't follow the conventions of those three things anymore.
Beck for example, releases the sheet music for his 'music' and his dedicated, niche fans take the music and interpret how they want, then post their versions online via Youtube, This not only gets their versions listened to all over the world to an audience of millions but also is free advertising and marketing for Beck, Some of his more capable fans have even released their versions on iTunes, where they are making money off people downloading them, since Beck hasn't copyrighted his work his fans can actually make profit from his work, if it wasn't for new digital distributions then Beck wouldn't be able to do what he does, because the PDE isn't conventional anymore the way Beck creates a relationship with his fans and how the revamped exchange stage happens is that Beck has his own website where he shares his favourite versions of his fans music. The fans do all the producing and distribution for him, and if it wasn't for digital distribution then this wouldn't be able to happen and wouldn't work.
Participatory culture is where the fans take charge and become prosumers,they release their own versions of songs by singing covers or releasing mash-ups, Digital media has introduced this new culture as before Youtube, fans would simply buy the CD's and merchandise and attend concerts, that was all the involvement that was needed off them, now fans are actually taking samples of music from all era's and putting them together to create a 'new' song, the way the music is now consumed and marketed is heavily depended on to whether the artist is successful, for example 'Gangnam Style' the recent online world-wide phenomenon by the Korean artist Psy, wouldn't have been as popular if it wasn't for youtube, the fact an artist from the other side of the world can reach an audience over this side of the world is all down to youtube, and other digital media and distributions , his 'song' heavily relied on visualisation and the viral music video that went along with the song, if it wasn't for digital distribution then Gangnam style wouldn't have even reached the borders of Korea and if it wasn't for the participatory culture of his fans recreating the dance and song and posting them online and digitally distributing and in a way marketing his song for him for free using Youtube then he wouldn't be successful today.
Even Major labels such as Sony have been taking full advantage of digital distributions, such as Youtube and iTunes. Because Syco is a conglomerate of Sony and Syco owns the rights to X-factor, when the contestants perform on the live shows, Sony has been taking advantage by releasing the contestants songs on to iTunes for their audience to download making money for Sony. The whole TV programme is a advertising campaign for the contestants after they have finished the competition to build a fan-base so in the future they are already known, they have a fan-base making it easier for them to break out into the market because they are already known. X-factor have their own youtube channel where during the competition, they would release videos of the contestants behind the scenes and weekly updates, this allows the fans to get an inside look and feel they have a personal connection with the artists, in exchange for these videos and songs the fans like and subscribe and buy and download the music, an example of this is ONE DIRECTION, who throughout their time in the competition, they uploaded videos of them singing and doing daily things building and creating a relationship with their fans. Also Major record labels such as Sony have taken advantage of synergy by having conglomerate companies in different areas of media, for example when one of Sonys signed artists releases a song, in this day and age music heavily relises in visualisation so a music video is needed, well Sony already has a production company that can make music videos so it saves them money and then the music video will be posted online on Youtube for example creating free advertising and marketing saving Sony more money, so digital distribution is not only changing the way audiences view or listen to the music or even how the music is sold or marketed its actually saving the record companies money in near enough all areas, massively changing and to a large extent affecting how the music industry is run.
Its not only major record labels taking advantage of digital distributions, Indie labels are also using digital distributions to reach a wider audience and make more money, for example Domino Records, is a UK based indie record label who have signed artists such as The Arctic Monkeys, they have bases in the USA, Germany and France allowing them to reach a wider audience creating a larger fan-base generating more record sales, the only reason why Domino records is able to reach a worldwide audience and still be a indie label is because of digital distributions and online media such as youtube, and their online website, so even though Domino is a indie label they use many of the same techniques as major labels even taking advantage of synergy by having a publishing company and film and TV, and it all derives from the fact they use digital distributions to market and allow their worldwide fans to consume their music.
As you can see digital distributions and online music sources has massively to large extent affected the way the music industry works and not just for the small insignificant bands but for the major large record labels.
Online music sources such as Youtube, Myspace and iTunes have affected how music is promoted and viewed to a great extent.
Since Web 2.0 was introduced the music industry has had a incredibly large re-vamp especially the way music is Produced, marketed and exchanged, Music simply doesn't follow the conventions of those three things anymore.
Beck for example, releases the sheet music for his 'music' and his dedicated, niche fans take the music and interpret how they want, then post their versions online via Youtube, This not only gets their versions listened to all over the world to an audience of millions but also is free advertising and marketing for Beck, Some of his more capable fans have even released their versions on iTunes, where they are making money off people downloading them, since Beck hasn't copyrighted his work his fans can actually make profit from his work, if it wasn't for new digital distributions then Beck wouldn't be able to do what he does, because the PDE isn't conventional anymore the way Beck creates a relationship with his fans and how the revamped exchange stage happens is that Beck has his own website where he shares his favourite versions of his fans music. The fans do all the producing and distribution for him, and if it wasn't for digital distribution then this wouldn't be able to happen and wouldn't work.
Participatory culture is where the fans take charge and become prosumers,they release their own versions of songs by singing covers or releasing mash-ups, Digital media has introduced this new culture as before Youtube, fans would simply buy the CD's and merchandise and attend concerts, that was all the involvement that was needed off them, now fans are actually taking samples of music from all era's and putting them together to create a 'new' song, the way the music is now consumed and marketed is heavily depended on to whether the artist is successful, for example 'Gangnam Style' the recent online world-wide phenomenon by the Korean artist Psy, wouldn't have been as popular if it wasn't for youtube, the fact an artist from the other side of the world can reach an audience over this side of the world is all down to youtube, and other digital media and distributions , his 'song' heavily relied on visualisation and the viral music video that went along with the song, if it wasn't for digital distribution then Gangnam style wouldn't have even reached the borders of Korea and if it wasn't for the participatory culture of his fans recreating the dance and song and posting them online and digitally distributing and in a way marketing his song for him for free using Youtube then he wouldn't be successful today.
Even Major labels such as Sony have been taking full advantage of digital distributions, such as Youtube and iTunes. Because Syco is a conglomerate of Sony and Syco owns the rights to X-factor, when the contestants perform on the live shows, Sony has been taking advantage by releasing the contestants songs on to iTunes for their audience to download making money for Sony. The whole TV programme is a advertising campaign for the contestants after they have finished the competition to build a fan-base so in the future they are already known, they have a fan-base making it easier for them to break out into the market because they are already known. X-factor have their own youtube channel where during the competition, they would release videos of the contestants behind the scenes and weekly updates, this allows the fans to get an inside look and feel they have a personal connection with the artists, in exchange for these videos and songs the fans like and subscribe and buy and download the music, an example of this is ONE DIRECTION, who throughout their time in the competition, they uploaded videos of them singing and doing daily things building and creating a relationship with their fans. Also Major record labels such as Sony have taken advantage of synergy by having conglomerate companies in different areas of media, for example when one of Sonys signed artists releases a song, in this day and age music heavily relises in visualisation so a music video is needed, well Sony already has a production company that can make music videos so it saves them money and then the music video will be posted online on Youtube for example creating free advertising and marketing saving Sony more money, so digital distribution is not only changing the way audiences view or listen to the music or even how the music is sold or marketed its actually saving the record companies money in near enough all areas, massively changing and to a large extent affecting how the music industry is run.
Its not only major record labels taking advantage of digital distributions, Indie labels are also using digital distributions to reach a wider audience and make more money, for example Domino Records, is a UK based indie record label who have signed artists such as The Arctic Monkeys, they have bases in the USA, Germany and France allowing them to reach a wider audience creating a larger fan-base generating more record sales, the only reason why Domino records is able to reach a worldwide audience and still be a indie label is because of digital distributions and online media such as youtube, and their online website, so even though Domino is a indie label they use many of the same techniques as major labels even taking advantage of synergy by having a publishing company and film and TV, and it all derives from the fact they use digital distributions to market and allow their worldwide fans to consume their music.
As you can see digital distributions and online music sources has massively to large extent affected the way the music industry works and not just for the small insignificant bands but for the major large record labels.
Benn- Mock
To a large extent digital distribution benefits independent and DIY artists as it allows them to promote and share there music to a larger world wide audience for free, on the other hand it would affect the major labels as they would loose out on profits due to illegal downloads. It has now lead to Major record labels focusing less on the main meaning of songs and relying on the visuals to make them sell.
Someone who this would affect in a positive way is Beck who is an example of a DIY artist. He created many different songs but just in the form of sheet music, Beck then relied on a niche audience of prosumers to make the music using there own personal interpretation and if they wanted to create a music video. Beck then allowed them to share there music on YouTube and his website for anyone to listen to and take inspiration. This hasn't devalued music in any way, if anything it us adding more purpose and creating better relationships with audiences getting them more engaged with it. A similar thing goes on with the Independent Labels with places like YouTube, Soundcloud, ITunes, Spotify and MySpace it becomes very easy for absolutely any to create and share music to a world wide audience in some cases for free. People can listen to there music on there phones, laptop, computers and tablets whenever and wherever they want you can download or stream music to absolutely anything. This makes it very easy for the audience to listen to it and also find new music which they might be interested in with suggestion box's on music sites.
On to a company which this would effect in both positive and negative ways. Major labels like Sony would loose out on a lot of profits through digital distribution as it means that people can easily download there music illegally, sometimes for there own personal use but also for something that could benefit the huge conglomerates in the long run. With many people using the web there are many 'prosumers' with is an audience that create there own music. If done well mash-ups, created by prosumers, can benefit the a major label such as Sony as it will include music that they have released and when people listen to the mash-up they could hear bits of many songs that they liked or use to like but forgot about and re-visit them and download them which can help boost sales and also promotes music for free. Although that helps it is not enough alone to Major labels, so they look at what music is popular; for example they may take into consideration what is being downloaded a lot on ITunes or what is most watched on YouTube and create more of the same type of music. It also means that they focus less on producing new acts and constantly re model and make new bands similar to another one, constantly relying on visuals to make people buy the songs. They take out the meaning of songs ad catchy lyrics and a good beat then make high budget music videos for people to watch, so in a way they are adapting to the idea of being able to listening music online, but adding something for them to watch too. This is usually viewed by a very mainstream audience. Sony (a major label) relies on many ways to promote their bands, for example One Direction have a online video game, TV programmes and are currently shooting there first film with Syco (connected to Sony) which is a type of Synergy.
Overall I believe that digital distribution benefits the much smaller Independent and DIY as it makes it easier to distribute and market there music to a world wide audience, although it is forcing these larger Major labels to constantly produce mainstream non original acts, these independent and DIY names are becoming recognised and shared adding new value to the industry and creating better relationships with a niche audience of dedicated fans, a community of people that would follow them from start to finish and feel a part of the band.
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