Friday, August 31, 2012

Digital Media Convergence


Digital Media Convergence 

The Online Music Video

By: Andrew Gillin



Media convergence, according to the article by Ander C(ed 2007), is the process by which modern and advanced technologies are accommodated by existing media and communication industries and cultures. 

The transformation of the music video to online broadcasts, social networks, and smart phones holistically demonstrates the phenomenon of digital media convergence. Since the Internet was introduced to the general public it has had a dramatic impact on different mediums and on media convergence.  


The power and importance that the Internet has over its’ consumers initiated the convergence of numerous forms of media. Furthermore, the desire for consumers to obtain multiple services on a single platform on devices like a laptop or iPhone has further prompted this integration of media. 

The transformation of the music video to online media was made inevitable with the continuous change to the media environment. The ever-increasing demand and attractiveness of online broadcasts had forced music videos to implement some changes in order to attend to the masses of online media, and to the continuing demands of technology.

With society being engulfed by a multi level convergent media world, the way we interact with each other has been modified. Even the way we consume, purchase, learn or communicate with each other has been adapted. Convergence therefore marks a shift in culture because consumers are persuaded to gather new information and make connections among disperse media content (Jenkins 2006).


Music videos originated in the 1960’s, with the Beatles’ mocumentary Hard Days Night and became increasingly dominant on the successful music program MTV, which has directed the market for music videos. However, in the 1990’s, MTV shifted its primary programming from music videos to reality TV, Animations, and even Game Shows (Austerlitz 2007). This shift was extremely detrimental to the music video industry, and caused the business to decrease, as it was no longer a committable investment for record labels. According to Austerlitz (2007), this is what made the Internet the new host for music videos. 

Also, the transformation in digital media and the relocation of the music video to the Internet has increased the opportunity for independent artists to promote themselves. Artists could upload their own music videos and display them on the Internet for a broad market all over the world. Formerly, the TV music stations would play particular genres of music for their consumer base to engage; BET would play hip-hop and MTV would play Pop music. 

 Nowadays, online media has created the opportunity for consumers to engage in music forms from all over the world. With that in mind, online media as a form of sharing has brought forth the most powerful tool in social media, the ‘viral effect’.

 The ‘viral video’ is shared through; video sharing websites such as YouTube, social media forms like Facebook, and email hosts (Nikol 2006). It is a concept by which ideas, news and music is spread between individuals and it has gained significant attention, as it is part of the foundation of an online culture.

The transfer of music videos to the online medium has encouraged a participatory culture (Jenkins 2006). The participatory culture is a culture that considers the consumers of media as contributors or producers rather than merely a customer. Recent advances in technologies, particularly computers and the Internet has enabled a link between media industries and consumers (Burgess and green 2009). In this day, anyone can make a music video that will reach a worldwide audience (Barker 2010). The circulation of this content across different media systems and especially the Internet depends heavily on the active participation of consumers (Jenkins 2006). In the digital age music videos have become so universal that sites like YouTube have allowed the opportunity for videos to be shared amongst others, through codes, and has permitted consumers to respond via comments, webisodes, or video response.

The participatory culture is immensely active especially in viral videos. You will find that most individual artists have founded their career from the viral video. With that being mentioned, when the youth are given the opportunity to express their thoughts on music videos it is noticed that they respond to things that they find humiliating or surprising to their music culture. Take for example Rebecca Black, who went from 4000 views to over 4 million views in a weekend on YouTube, due to the fact that consumers found her ‘talent’ very superficial (Talaricco 2011). Rebecca Black’s song Friday has been marked the ‘worst song ever’, and even still she continues to launch into international stardom (Talaricco 2011).  Even so, consumers continue to participate by creating parodies and remixes such as the death metal version of Rebecca Black’s Friday, which has more views than the original video. As the media expands and continues to develop, the online community has encompassed the music video culture and has provided great opportunities for artists and entertainment.

Bands, artists, and business have become increasingly creative with their music videos, and have benefited in many ways from what digital media convergence has to offer. Ok Go is one of the many bands that have innovatively made a name for themselves through their viral music video ‘Here it goes again’. Furthermore, the video Last Leaf was created with the Samsung NX100 and was a collection and formation of hundreds of photos (imaginginsider 2010). The photos were intertwined and formatted to create a music video clip out of an arrangement of images and hand drawn animations, which was further demonstrating the NX100’s technical capabilities and creative versatility, which exemplifies the lead in media and digital convergence. However, the more contemporary video by Ok Go and the Muppets, which did in fact go viral, substantiates the power that convergent media possesses and also proves that artists do not need to rely on record labels and/ or other companies to create a career on their behalf (chola 2011).

The Muppets were a childhood favorite and struck immense popularity up until the 1990’s, when they were replaced by more contemporary animations and cartoons, and therefore can be considered old media. However, due to the Ok Go collaborative project and YouTube as a sharing device, they have returned with the OK GO rendition of The Muppet show theme song (Chola 2011). As a result, the combination of the old media being the Muppets, the advertising of the Muppet show, and the new media, it is unmistakably proof of the contemporary convergence culture (imaging insider 2010).

Conclusively, it is extensively evident that as the media forms continue to develop and grow, music videos will continue to shape and revolutionize the online culture. The shift of the televised music video to an online medium has created a significant opportunity for artists to deliver their music and for fans to receive it, and thus has created a great potential for music videos to advance.


References
  1. ·      Melissa Nikol (2006) Available from: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=viral+video
  2.      Anderson C (2007) “Geekpedia” in Wired, Macquarie University Mas 110 introduction to digital media production
  3.      Jenkins, H (2006) Convergence Culture: Where New and Old Media Collide, New York University Press, pp 1-24
  4.       Austerlitz, (2007), Money for Nothing: A history of the music video from the beatles to the White stripes, New York, London: continuum pp 182-227
  5.       Burgess J and Green J (2009) “Youtube and the Mainstream Media in YouTube: Digital Media and society series, polity press, Cambridge pp 15-37
  6.      Barker D (2010) Internet saved the video star: the renaissance of the music video, in metro magazine Vol 160 pp 140-144
  7.       Brittany Talarico (2011) available from: http://www.okmagazine.com/2011/03/rebecca-blacks-youtube-video-do-you-understand-the-friday-hype/
  8.       Imagine insider (2010) Available from: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WbwpO2DJiboJ:www.imaginginsider.com/%3Fp%3D108206+media+convergence+%2B+ok+go&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au&client=safari&source=www.google.com.au
  9.        Enio Chola (2011) Available from: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/146626-ok-go-vs.-the-muppets/










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 Digital Media Convergence

Advertising and New Media


The phenomenon of digital media convergence has influenced new media and all that are affected by the dramatic change of technologies. Advertising is something that decades ago was most prominent on the television set. The black box confined individuals to wait for their favourite show and sit through commercials absorbing the information that was being presented to them. Advertisers have been forced to converge their techniques alongside digital media convergence. They must 'adapt or die' to survive in the realm of new media. Many advertisers have been able to do so by amalgmating the 'Madison and Vine' concept that Christina Spurgeon had introducted in her text From the 'Long Trail' to 'Madison and Vine'. Another outlook on advertisment is one that actively involves consumers. Consumer sovereignty shapes the way advertisement agencies should present a commodity, and this is insinuated in Kim Bartel Sheehan and Deborah K. Morrison's Beyond Convergence: Confluence Culture and the Role of the Advertising Agency in a Changing World.

The concept of Madison and Vine is the idea that advertisers must amalgmate both advertisment (Madison) and entertainment (Vine) for consumers to be drawn into a product. Spurgeon touches upon two evils of advertising which consist of two key ideas that advertisers have to consider when creating a visual for their media audiences. One is that they cannot simply predicted that media audiences are passive (Spurgeon, 2008). The catalyst for this is that the consumer’s ability to access information online is becoming increasingly significant. Digital media convergence has opened doors to media audiences (Sheehan & Morrison 2009) that allow them to be much more critical before they decide to consider commodities. This is something that challengers advertising agencies. They cannot simply expect to persuade consumers to have faith in a commodity that is represented as desirable which relates to the second evil of advertising that conveys that “perfect information in a market can only be attained through rational, instrumental allocution”(Spurgeon, 2008). This echoes the ‘Madison and Vine'. An example of a successful ad campaign that has become successful through entertainment and advertising is a commercial for BMW, which was presented as a short 10 minute film. In favour of advertisers, this new way of representing a commodity was incredibly popular online. BMW sales increased by 12% in one financial year.



Kim Bartel Sheehan and Deborah K. Morrison's convey the concept of cultural convergence. The individuals are moving online to seek more and more information, which Jenkins refers to as "collective intelligence"(Jenkins, 2006)
Youtube is a key influence on the popularity of many advertisments. Once one video leaks over Youtube, it will effectively leak onto social networking sites which further promote a product. It cuts through the clutter, that is tedious advertisements. Individuals are moving ideas through the online realm, enhancing its value.

New convergent media has effectively created a foundation for individuals. One that holds a new way of doing things. As media has converged so have people, and they have created another life beyond the real, one that entitles the flexibility of space and time. Audiences do not have to wait for their favourite show to air on the television, and they do not have to plan their day around missing a particular show. The catalyst? New media. The internet is the most signficant media source of our current era (Sheehan & Morrison 2009). Audiences are capable of diregarding the tedious commercials that are presented on Television, and this is why advertisement agencies have turned online. Youtube is a forum where individuals are able to post content and vlogs to an international audience. Advertisers are utilising Youtube as a way in which is more cost effective and in a way that targets an international audience that will hopefully move a commodity through culture. Old Spice advertised men's scented body wash gained a profound 42 million views online. An advertisement that went viral. Online users of social netwroking sites such as Facebook and Twitter moved the video through new media, sharing the Youtube clip with friends and family who further moved the video to others online users. After this clip went viral, so did the face of Old Spice, Isaiah. Microsoft later emplyed him to be the face of their newest product. The sent Isaiah to Bondi Beach to promote a commodity, which inevitable worked to Microsofts advantage. The online video had made Isaiah incredibly desirable and humourous that enriched the value of the product. Because we had been exposed to one advertisement, another was able to 'cut through the clutter' (Jenkins 2006). It is interesting to note that this Ad had become an online sensation before making it to the television. This insinuates a tactic for advertisers, that online, they are able to test the popularity of a product before they decide to air something on television which evidently is much more economically repressing.
 



The process of digital media convergence has shaped consumers and the types of audiences that advertisers have to target. Because of this convergent nature of technology, audiences have become much more individualised. Their collective intelligence is moulded through the information they are able to access. This is why the Madison and Vine concept purposed by Spurgeon increasingly more significant for advertisement agencies. They must "adapt or die" in the exercise of being successful. Audiences are much more difficult to please, which is why advertisers need to combine the two concepts of advertising and entertainment to be successful. The videos that have gone viral have not just gone viral with one or the other. Both Old Spice and BMW's Star have cut throught the clutter through representing both a product to be sold and a form of entertainment that can we watched time and time again. A video that will be spread across the face of the online realm, reaching an international audience.


        References











 

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Digital Media Convergence: New Media & Advertising - Zoe Nicholson


Digital Media Convergence
New Media & Advertising
Digital media convergence is essential in defining the modern media landscape, an ever-progressing concept that shapes the future of changing media practises. Dwyer (2010) understands media convergence to be “the process whereby new technologies are accomodated by existing media and communication industries and cultures”. This notion is complex and multi-layered, evolving previously incompatible media formats which are brought together to provide a more centralised multimedia experience based on one or more platforms or devices. Convergent media has impacted social and cultural conventions, blurring the boundaries between the formerly distinct roles of producers and consumers. Advertising has developed and evolved with this technological revolution to target “increasingly distracted, distrustful and disinterested consumers” (Spurgeon 2007). 




Advertising sustains and shapes most of the media that we consume, as new media technologies have radically multiplied the opportunities for the production, distribution and consumption of media content (Khamis 2012). In a ‘new millenium market’, commercial content has become increasingly individualised, differentiated and flexible to support a diverse audience’s interests and needs. The almost endless possibilities of new media have challenged advertisers to reach an audience that can now choose to avoid a majority of commercial advertisements, redefining the traditional execution of advertising within the context of digital media convergence. The techniques implemented in ‘old’ media such as TV, radio and newspapers - the ‘broadcast era’ - are no longer as successful as they once were, as the rise of the Internet has shaped the way in which consumers navigate the media landscape, changing the way we perceive and utilise media (Barkat, Hart, Salazar 2009). The ways that people use media are fragmenting, as technology becomes increasingly mobile, multimedia and ‘internetworked’ (Dwyer 2010). In this sense, consumers are conceptualised by producers and require a mode of address that is circumscribed, or suitably sensitive to their needs. Audiences are continually hard to reach, and advertising agencies must employ a multimedia expertise involving cross-media skills (Dwyer 2010) in order to successfully adapt to the changing media environment.
The Internet is the fastest growing media ever recorded, providing endless opportunities for entertainment, education, social networking, public forums and communications. Within this online domain lies the internet search engine, which is according to Spurgeon (2008), "the single most important development for informational advertising". The most popular of the Internet's many search engines, of course, is Google.

Search engines such as Google have become "globally significant, and, increasingly, locally relevant, advertising-funded media services and institutions" (Battelle, 2005, in Spurgeon, 2008). Search culture, as the largest and rapidly growing components of online advertising, has a direct impact on creative and persuasive advertising approaches and techniques. Search advertisers aim for search terms rather than distinctly addressing consumers' individual needs, integrating advertising into the audience’s everyday life in the way they search for employment, accommodation, transport and love (Spurgeon, 2008).

Online advertising through search engines has also become consumer-localised. New media technologies have allowed ‘real-time location services’ (Jeffries, 2010) to permeate the modern consumer’s search activities, leading them to a more personalised advertising experience. Small businesses and companies can target an audience that is either already geographically close to them, or tourists seeking accommodation, food or entertainment. Location based services no longer even require consumers to search a specific location, as their location is tracked and implemented, providing specific, relevant search results for the audience. This type of search advertising also differentiates between audiences in different countries - search results will differ between an American consumer seeking “holidays in Australia” and an Australian consumer searching the same terms.

In addition to websites, advertisers can also reach their target audience through a variety of apps, accessed through smartphones - a definitive example of how far digital media convergence has travelled.

‘FourSquare’ is a location marketing giant, valued at over $250 million, works by having businesses register a profile, on which customers can then ‘check in’ to those locations and tell their friends where they are. Businesses can also make deals and promotions for its FourSquare audience, keeping consumers interested (Stafford 2011). Electronic word-of-mouth (Spurgeon 2008) is an essential aspect of FourSquare’s location marketing ideals, as users can invite their friends to join, communicate with them and in doing so promote whichever business or facility they are at.


YouTube, an influential global tool used by the public sphere all over the world, has drastically changed the way in which advertising is executed. Launched in 2005, the site aimed to create a way of easily creating, viewing and sharing video content which was formerly difficult to come across. YouTube became a worldwide success and today is one of the most accessed sites ever (Lister, Dovey, Giddings, Grant, Kelly 2009). The boundaries between producer and consumer are blurred, as the video-sharing site’s tagline, “Broadcast Yourself”, invites user-generated content to be uploaded, and if enough ‘hits’ are generated the user has the potential to become well-known and successful.



The endless potential of YouTube for advertising and marketing has been realised through the ability of consumers to ‘share’ videos with their friends, generating popularity for YouTube uploaders easily. Advertisers have found it more efficient and less financially burdening to produce one piece of content, and let consumers ‘move’ it around the public sphere without direct involvement from the company themselves (Khamis 2012). Viral video marketing campaigns have generated much success for various companies, as ads that are more art than commerce emerge; an intersection of hollywood content and advertising content merge into a term coined ‘Madison & Vine’ (Spurgeon 2008).

An example of the wildly successful viral video campaigns is Samsung's "Extreme Sheep LED Art", which gathered over 17 million views.

The video has been shared all over the Internet domain worldwide, and as well as generating public interest and awe, there is also great debate about whether the video is fake, ie digitally reconstructed. Through viral video campaigns such as this one, advertisers can reach out to an extended audience and rely on electronic word-of-mouth (Spurgeon 2008) to market their product rather than putting forward their campaign on multiple levels of social media.

Media convergence has allowed methods of communication and information sharing to merge into more convenient, efficient and multi-faceted platforms of the digital economy (Spurgeon 2008). The digital media landscape has evolved and adapted to suit the consumeristic needs of today's multi-layered public sphere. As the effectiveness of old advertising trends begin to fade, marketing strategies have adapted to fit the demands of a technologically advancing audience. The future of digital media is ever-changing, and continues to alter social, cultural and political boundaries through convergence of platforms, practises and devices.

References
  • Barkat, I, Hart, C & Salazar, JF 2009, Screen Media Arts: An Introduction to Concepts & Practices, Oxford University Press: Australia & New Zealand, pp. 357-364.
  • Dwyer, T 2010, Media Convergence, McGraw Hill, Berkshire, pp. 1-23, MAS110 Introduction to Digital Media Production Course Reader Semester 2 2012, Macquarie University.
  • Lister, M, Dovey, J, Giddings, S, Grant, I, Kelly, K 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction, 2nd edn, Turner, G, Sydney: Allen & Unwin, pp. 237-258.
  • Stafford, P. (2011) The rise of location-based marketing, http://www.smartcompany.com.au/advertising-and-marketing/20110224-the-rise-of-location-based-marketing.html, accessed 26/8/12
  • Spurgeon, C. (2008) Advertising and New Media, Oxon, Routledge, pp 24-45.
  • Jeffries, A. (2010) For advertisers, location-based services "Blew up overnight", http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/for_advertisers_location-based_services_blew_up_ov.php, accessed 26/8/12
  • Khamis, S 2012, New Media & Advertising lecture, MAS110, Introduction to Digital Media Production, Macquarie University, delivered 22/8/12
  • Images obtained from Google
  • Extreme Sheep LED Art, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw
Zoe Nicholson 42847001


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MAS110 Convergence Essay
Digital Media Convergence: Music Video Online

It has been just over a decade that we live in a world constantly increasing its intangible connections. People is communicating with each other from all over the world, watching movies in their personal computers, downloading free contents in a matter of minutes. Convergence, for so long thought of as something about to arrive, is now very much with us (Intellect, 2009). This is, indeed, the era of digital media convergence “where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways” (Jenkins, 2006: 18).  
Evolution of Tenchology (2011)

Convergence offers freedom of choice. It allows new media and platforms to provide public service contents which grant interaction and engagement on the part of consumers. A new world is being created, where there is a discernible shift in people’s behavior away from consuming and viewing, towards using. The user is in fact actively involved, contributing to and interacting with products and services, rather than passively consuming them (Intellect, 2008). 
However, along with this come several questioned issues. For example, copyright infringement is causing movie and music industries to undergo drastic changes economically. Television is no longer a preferred media when it comes to watch movies or music videos, which in consequence brings up to the creation of different standards for mobile TV that have evolved into various technologies and forms (Shani Orgad, 2009). Or the fact that amateurism shared through the network is continually challenging professionalism. “Amid the explosive growth of internet services such as e-mail, music downloads and video streaming, along with the growth of the web itself, little thought has been given to recording information for posterity” (The Economist Newspaper, 2012).  
Therefore, is it fair to say that media digital convergence is positive in the process of society’s evolution?

Concerning music, throughout the digital revolution, the business today is not the business of selling CDs in plastic cases anymore, but the trade of selling songs digitally and producing attractive and memorable music videos, which are no longer watched on television. 

David Byrne (2007). Wired Magazine. Entertainment: Music. 


“But that's not bad news for music, and it is certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists” (David Byrne, 2007).  In effect, the negatively affected here are the music and video production industries. “Copyright law was developed to stimulate publication of new works for the edification of culture” (Hilderbrand L., 2007: 40). YouTube, for example, has been accused of violation of copyrights of texts, articles and music, and has received aggressive antipiracy campaigns and lawsuits.  Unofficial, fan-made music videos are made by synchronizing existing footage from other sources, such as television series, movies or even personal videos, with existing songs, and uploaded.

What is music? What should a music video be?

Thirty years ago, MTV launched, marking the dawn of what many consider the music video’s heyday (History Channel, 2011). Music videos were created to be short films integrating songs and imagery, and were produced for promotional or artistic purposes by label records (Dan Moller, 2011). And only some decades ago, music videos were still intentioned to advertise and illustrate a certain image of every artist. 
“Perhaps more than any other band before them, The Beatles harnessed the power of film to market their records and express themselves as artists” (History Channel, 2011). In addition to starring features such as 'Help' and 'A Hard Day’s Night,' the fabulous four recorded dozens of promotional clips that were broadcast in England and overseas. After that, several rock and roll bands followed their lead, releasing increasingly sophisticated promo films that shared the lineup with live performances on televised music variety shows. “In the past, music was something you heard and experienced — it was as much a social event as a purely musical one. Before recording technology existed, you could not separate music from its social context” (David Byrne, 2007).


Nevertheless, in December 2005, the internet saw the launch of the website YouTube, in which nowadays hundreds of millions of visitors daily use it to access television and music contents, and not only that, but to contribute with videos of their own (Hilderbrand L., 2007: 33). The Internet becomes video-friendly, and television starts being forgotten. Several video-sharing websites were born afterwards, and the industry of music videos radically changed.

It took Adam Young, former electronic musician from Owl City, only a high quality camera, some artist producers, a computer and a bunch of electronic toys to create the music video for ‘Fireflies’, a song which made itself famous in YouTube.



Suddenly home-made music videos were made and uploaded in the network, and any amateur citizen participating in the media could call himself artist. Online music videos started owning the idea of aesthetics originality and imaginative production techniques, without having expensive tools or complex equipment. Anyone possessing a camera and knowing the basics of audio editing could create a video clip acclaimed by the masses. As a result, everyone today can participate in the success of music industry. People can upload and download data, comment, and value music, as much as a professional critic.

Such is the case of YouTube video blogger Jayme Dee, who made herself famous around the web by posting home-made videos of her singing songs. The video from her original song called ‘Love Whiplash!’ which is presented in a still-image video, received 1146001 visits from users and got a positive attention on music consumers. Causing her to being listened all over the world by thousands of people that downloaded the song for free.


Amateurism is now a big owner of art in the web, inducing the discontent of famous critics and professional singers. “There's room for all of us. Some artists are the Coke and Pepsi of music, while others are the fine wine — or the funky home-brewed moonshine. And that's fine. What do we need music to do? How do we visit the land in our head and the place in our heart that music takes us to? Can I get a round-trip ticket? Really, isn't that what we want to buy, sell, trade, or download?” (David Byrne, 2007).

In conclusion, we can say that digital media convergence cannot be ignored. Digital revolution is in fact needed in the world today, and people is in its majority happy about the fact that communication is now worldwide and fame is likely to be achieved with only sitting in front of their computers. As I see it, this matter brings within lots of positive benefits for music consumers and music artists as well, although it is known that global economy is changing due to it. Nevertheless, as fast as technology evolves, mankind can never know what to expect of digital development. At this point digital media convergence seems endless.

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Unit Readings:

  • Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press. (Week 2).
  • Hilderbrand, L. (2007). Film Quarterly. Vol 61. (Week 3).

Recommended  Readings:

  • Shani Orgad (2009). Mobile TV: Old and New in the Construction of an Emergent Technology. London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

Additional Readings:


Digital Resources:

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