Digital media convergence is a multifaceted and complex process that carries important technological, industrial and social implications. The music video medium has seemingly been reinvigorated and reinvented by a transforming media environment in which the boundaries between different forms of media have become increasingly blurred. The shift towards new media has forced the music industry to reconsider its strategies to maintain power over consumers and artists as well as their revenue streams. Artists now have access to a wide amount of creation, distribution and communication platforms. Furthermore, the consumer has gained a greater amount of media influence within the realms of creation, consumption and dissemination of content.
Convergence is a phenomenon that requires media industries to adapt and appropriate their practices in order to remain relevant to their respective audiences. The music industry, in particular has been tremendously impacted by a changing media environment. It has been forced to rethink "assumptions about what it means to consume media"(Jenkins, 2006, 18). On a general level, traditional media companies are in a state of flux as to whether to embrace or resist the developments within the media associated with digital media convergence. On the one hand, convergence represents opportunities for success because "content that succeeds in one sector can spread across other platforms"(Jenkins, 2006,19). Conversely, there remains potential for audiences to fragment or to disappear as they migrate online. The situation for the music industry is made even more tenuous as a result of falling music sales and ongoing music piracy(Sibilla, 2010).
Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media Company have realised the potential for success that immersing music video content in a convergent media environment, as opposed to relying on traditional delivery technologies (Jenkins, 2006,7), represents. The creation of the video-streaming site VEVO, the content of which is syndicated across other sites such as YouTube, allows these companies reaffirm their power amongst an increasingly amount of amateur and user- generated content. Also, VEVO, lets these companies secure revenue through advertising agreements and to strengthen relationships with current and potential consumers. An example of an entity that shifted its focus entirely in the wake of a convergence culture, is MTV. The station was originally considered to be the epicentre for music video consumption and distribution in the 1980s. However, the financial crisis that the music industry found itself in (Sibilla, 2010) as a result of the digitisation of music, meant that this medium was deemed to be failing. As a consequence of this, MTV progressively began to alter its programming; the emphasis shifted from music programming to reality TV content. This change of focus supports the idea that the delivery technology (Jenkins, 2006, 7) of TV is no longer the main point of access for music video content. Convergence has been instrumental in the change of practice for the music industry.
Convergence has had a substantial influence upon practices of music video creation. Digital media convergence solidifies the relationship between the audio and screen industries that was initialised during the MTV era . However, the very notion of the music video has undergone a metamorphosis in a digital media environment. In fact, a divergence has occurred. Videos made for TV and videos made for online media are distinct and varied. The convergence between the audio and screen industries has remained strong, but the relationship between them has changed. Music videos have been "re-mediated" (Sibilla, 2010, 230) with elements of the traditional music video being appropriated and remodelled in a "new digital space" (Sibilla, 2010, 230). Videos are now made with serious consideration for the characteristics of online media platforms. The emphasis in video creation is now placed upon attracting and maintaining interest amongst the virtual communities through creativity and originality of ideas as opposed to focusing on high production values and budgets. A transition from "industry-made" to "hand-made" (Sibilla, 2010, 227) videos has eventuated. This transition is evident when one compares the video for Michael and Janet Jackson's song Scream to Ok Go's video for Here It Goes Again. Scream premiered on MTV and BET in 1995. The set for the video took one month to produce, with several art directors involved. The notoriety of the clip lies in its high budget and high production value. The video cost $7 million to make, making it the most expensive music video of all time (Nika,2011).
In comparison, music videos such as Here It Goes Again, a video made explicitly with online platforms in mind, is a characterised by a "low-fi aesthetic" (Sibilla, 2010, 230). Unlike, Scream the video is not a question of promoting "blockbuster" (Sibilla, 2010, 230) artists and high budgets, but is rather a demonstration of the state of the music industry at the time, with an emphasis placed upon original ideas. The video also highlights how digital media convergence has effectively empowered little known artists to mass-distribute their content to the online community, something that the material nature of analogue media may not necessarily be able to provide. Regardless of this shift in emphases, the overall aim of any music video, as Sibilla notes is to "spread the name and the music of the artist as widely as possible" (Sibilla, 2010, 229). The practices involved in music video creation are heavily influenced by new media.
Consumption of the music video has changed drastically as a result of digital media convergence. Convergence has, in the past, elicited apprehension amongst purveyors of traditional media forms. The concern is that old media would be drowned out by digital media forms and that convergence would cause a “mono-medium scenario” (Dwyer, 2010, 8). However, convergence is more a question of adaptation than becoming obsolete. During the heyday of music videos in the 1970s and 1980s, in Australia the main point of access for consuming music video was the popular series Countdown.
The digitisation of music and the music video has enabled the “deregulation of video practices” (Holt, 2011, 52). Consumers are no longer bound to analogue delivery technologies (Jenkins, 2006, 7) such as television. Convergence culture has allowed for music video content to be produced for “a wider range of platforms and devices” (Holt, 2011, 52) that were previously viewed as distinct and separated from music consumption such as mobile phones. This convergence across platforms has aided in overcoming the distribution limitations of analogue media forms caused by their materiality. The music industry in Australia is an exemplar of how “new technologies are accommodated by existing media and communication industries and cultures” (Dwyer, 2010, 2)
Australian music video show Rage, has remained loyal to the traditional delivery technology (Jenkins, 2006, 7) of television. However, the show has expanded their points of access online through the creation of an ‘app’ for mobile devices and a website in order to account for changing expectations and practices of music consumption amongst its audience. Furthermore, the state of music video consumption in Australia questions the increasingly global sentiment that the “music video is a dead medium” (cited in Sibilla, 2010, 225). Rather, new media platforms have reinvigorated and transformed music video.
Convergence is not simply a technologically driven process; it also carries with it, significant social implications. Analogue media is usually characterised as following a one-to-many communication paradigm. Within the context of music videos, this would typically involve record labels distributing music and audio to major media outlets (Sibilla, 2010). Audiences were traditionally viewed as passive recipients of all forms of media content. Furthermore, analogue media fostered a division between the producers and consumers of media content. Digital media convergence has effectively problematized these features of analogue media dissemination. Media convergence facilitated the rise of a “participatory culture” (Jenkins, 2006,2) in which a dialogue is opened up between artists and their fan communities. Media convergence means that “fans and other consumers are invited to actively participate in the creation and circulation of new content” (Burgess & Green, 2009, 10). An example of a band seeking to engage actively with its fan community is Nine Inch Nails. For their 2008 instrumental album, “Ghost I-IV’, front man Trent Reznor announced that a ‘film festival’ would take place in which fans of the band could create a music video to accompany any of the audio tracks. The created content would be exclusively uploaded to the band’s YouTube channel, with particular tracks being highlighted for their creativity. Reznor stated that this ‘film festival’ was a chance “to experiment in collaboration and a chance for us to interact beyond the typical one-way artist-to-fan relationship."(NME, 2008). New media has transformed communications between the players within the music industry.
The rise of “participatory culture”(Jenkins, 2006, 2) has also caused more change in terms of music video creation in that new media technologies have facilitated the rise of user-generated content and consequently, the "prosumer". This development has worked to weaken “the hegemony of traditional content generators”(Dhar III & Chang, 2007,1), thus eliciting a power shift allowing for grassroots distribution and promotion as well as interaction with virtual communities. Little known artists have been granted a level of exposure that traditional media outlets neglected to provide User-generated music videos can take many forms, as Sibilla contends, they can be “a simple shot of someone singing [their] song…doing a cover of a famous song…or…shots made and edited by a user and cut to an artist’s song” (Sibilla, 2010, 229). In some cases popular user-generated content can foster a significant social media following. An independent artist that has utilised YouTube in order to distribute her music and to establish a far-reaching fan base is Mia Rose. Rose has uploaded both covers of mainstream hits as well as her own compositions. Her channel miaarose has accumulated, since 2006, over 131 million video views (YouTube, 2012).
The success of Rose demonstrates the potential impact of user-generated content upon audiences and artists in an age of digital media convergence.
To conclude, the development of digital media convergence has had far-reaching implications for the music video form and the music industry in general. The notion of music video has changed, correlating to changes in music dissemination, consumption and creation.
REFERENCES
Burgess, J & Green, J 2009, YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture, Polity Press, Cambridge
Dahr III, V & Chang, E 2007, ‘Does Chatter Matter? The Impact of User-Generated Content on Music Sales’, NYU working paper no. 2451/23783, accessed 28th August 2012, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1281347
Dwyer, T 2010, Media Convergence, McGraw Hill, Berkshire, pp-1-23
Hildebrand, L 2007, ‘YouTube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge’, Film Quarterly, vol.61, pp. 48-57
Holt, F 2011, ‘Is music becoming more visual? Online video content in the music industry’, Visual Studies, volume, 26, issue 1, pp. 50-61
Jenkins, H 2006, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press, New York, pp.1-24
Jenkins, H 2006, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press, New York, pp.1-24
Sibilla, G, 2010, ‘”It’s the End of Music Videos as we know them (but we Feel Fine)”. The Death and Resurrection of Music Videos in the YouTube–Age’, in Keazor, H & Wubbena, T (eds.), Rewind, Play, Fast Forward: The Past, Present and Future of the Music Video, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick & London, pp. 225-233
VIDEOS
Mia Sings- “Somebody that I Used to Know!”–Gotye, 2012, online video, accessed 25th August 2012 from : http://www.youtube.com/watchv=1feCGZIl7jU&list=UU5p51GSF4_GXu8PIb7pgCBg&index=3&feature=plcp
Michael Jackson feat. Janet Jackson – Scream Official Music Video, online video, accessed 29th August 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbC2qhIiRrQ
Michael Jackson feat. Janet Jackson – Scream Official Music Video, online video, accessed 29th August 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbC2qhIiRrQ
Ok Go – Here it Goes Again, 2007, online video, accessed 24th August 2012, from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA
Windmills Nine Inch Nails NIN 17 Ghosts II, 2009, online video, accessed 24th August 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MYN_NWuwQw
Windmills Nine Inch Nails NIN 17 Ghosts II, 2009, online video, accessed 24th August 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MYN_NWuwQw
IMAGES
Australian Broadcasting Corporation ,1974, Countdown logo, online image, accessed 29th August 2012, from: http://beccasbyline.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/34_countdown.jpg
Austrailian Broadcasting Corporation, 1987, Rage logo, online image, accessed 29th August 2012, from http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/artists/rage/340.jpg
Manhattan Design, 1981, MTV logo, online image, accessed 29th August 2012 from: http://zedomax.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/mtv_logo.jpg
YouTube LLC & VEVO LLC,YouTube and Vevo Logo, online image, accessed 27th August 2012 from: http://skattertech.com/2010/05/vevo-live-streams-the-national-on-youtube/
ONLINE CONTENT
Nika, C, 2011, The Most Stylish VMA-Nominated Videos, Rolling Stone Magazine, accessed 29th August 2012 from: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/the-most-stylish-vma-nominated-videos-20110830/michael-and-janet-jackson-scream-1995-0121177
NME, 2008, Nine Inch Nails ask fans to create 'Ghost I-IV' visuals, accessed 25th August 2012,from http://www.nme.com/news/nine-inch-nails/35247
miaarose, 2006, Youtube Channel, accessed 27th August 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/user/miaarose
YouTube LLC, 2005, accessed 24th August 2012 from: http://www.youtube.com
No comments:
Post a Comment