Digital Media Convergence: Online Music Video

Digital Media Convergence: Online Music Video

Morgan Loveday

Digital Media has grown, and is still growing, so much that we can almost no longer avoid it. A concept that has played a major role in this growth is Digital Media Convergence. Digital Media Convergence is the process where distinct media and information technology systems that were previously seen as independent of each other intersect (Dwyer, 2010). An example of this Digital Media Convergence is the Online Music Video. The music industry continually needs to adapt due to the threat of music piracy and the music video is a great example of this and of Digital Media Convergence.

Music videos began on television and were shown by television stations such as MTV. As changes in technology came along however it was quite obvious that stations such as MTV wouldn't be able to be supported by just music videos, so these television stations shifted towards different types of entertainment while music video's converged with the internet to provide a new platform.

YouTube being launched in February 2005 had a massive impact on the way music videos were viewed (Burgess and Green, 2009). YouTube is seen by some as the rebirth of music video's in the way it is so easy to make and upload a video to the site (Keazor and Wübbena, 2010). It provided a platform for artists that may not of been recognised before to be recognised at no cost at all (Hilderbrand, 2007). It gives the artists the chance to become international stars through their music video. 

There are many examples of YouTube being used in this way by artists one being Carly Rae Jepsen and her song Call Me Maybe. Carly Rae Jepsen was a musician who placed 3rd in Canadian Idol in 2007 yet never really became a recognised artist. It wasn't until her song Call Me Maybe was posted on YouTube in March 2012 that she became an international star. This occurred due to her video going viral and has now been viewed over 227 million times while there are also now several covers on the site such as one by the USA 2012 Olympic Swimming Team. If not for Digital Media convergence it would be likely that Carly Rae Jepsen would not be as well known as she currently is. If there was no convergence the video would not be as easily accessible as it is, therefore it would of been viewed less giving her less exposure. In this way Digital Media Convergence has benefited the music video greatly.



Another way Digital Media Convergence has changed the music video is in the length of it. In the past there were time constraints placed on songs due to airtime on television with the typical music video being 3-4 minutes in length (with the odd exception such as Michael Jacksons Thriller). However due to the music video now being based online and the artist free to do whatever they like there is no longer any time restraints placed on them.

An example of an artist benefiting from this is Kanye West with his video Runaway. His video is unlike most due to the fact that it goes for close to 35 minutes and is described by many as a movie instead of a music video. West describes Runaway as "the story of a phoenix fallen to Earth, and I make her my girlfriend, and people discriminate against her and eventually she has to burn herself alive and go back to her world." It is also different from a lot of music video's as it actually features 9 or 10 of his songs off "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" instead of just 1. This is due to the fact that West has no time constraints, only possible due to the Digital Media Convergence of the music video onto the internet and sites such as YouTube.

The ever growing interest in music video's has also resulted in a new type of music video in the shape of lyric video's. Lyric video's are generally just the lyrics to the song animated over the top of a bright coloured background or sometime just short cuts of videos. The reason lyric video's are used is because it is quite expensive to produce a full video for every single song an artist releases yet they still want to get that song out to the public. To do this they use a lyric video which is cheap in comparison to a full video. It is now used by many artists including 50 Cent, David Guetta and Katy Perry. One of the first to use the lyric video however was Cee Lo Green with his hit song F*** You. The progression to a lyric video was only possible because of the Digital Media Convergence of the music video as there is no way that a lyric video would be entertaining enough to be played on television.



Digital Media Convergence was viewed by many as going to be detrimental to the music industry and has been in many ways such as the increase in piracy, however it has also been very beneficial for it in regards to online music video's. The convergence of music video's to the internet has turned out to be a massive gain for the music industry especially through websites such as YouTube. It has resulted in musicians being discovered due to the popularity of their music videos as well as taking time restraints off how long a music video can be and creating a new style of music video in lyric video's. Digital Media Convergence has resulted in the music industry finding a new and easy platform to distribute its music and benefited it in a large way.


References

Texts

• Dwyer, T, 2010, Media Convergence, McGraw Hill, Berkshire
• Burgess, J, and Green, J., 2009, Youtube: Online Video and Participatory Culture, Polity Press
• Keazor, H & Wübbena, T, 2010, Rewind, Play, Fast Forward: The Past, Present and Future of The Music Video, Transaction Publishers, London
• Hilderbrand, L, 2007, ‘YouTube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge’, Film Quarterly, Vol. 61
• Austerlitz, S, 2007, Money for Nothing: a history of the music video from the Beatles to the White Stripes

Websites

• Suddath, C, 2011, The 30 All-Time Best Music Videos: Kanye West, 'Runaway' (2010) http://entertainment.time.com/2011/07/28/the-30-all-time-best-music-videos/#kanye-west-runaway-2010
• Kreps, D, 2010, Kanye West Unveils Epic New 'Runaway' Film http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/kanye-west-unveils-epic-new-runaway-film-20101007
• Music Mix, 2011, Lyric Videos: Is this a trend now? Britney Spears' 'Criminal' joins the YouTube fray 
  http://music-mix.ew.com/2011/10/14/lyric-videos-is-this-a-trend-now-britney-spears-criminal-joins-the-youtube-fray/
• Amp Music, Lyrics Videos: Why and How we do Them http://www.ampmusicmarketing.com/blog/the-age-of-the-lyrics-video-why-and-how-to-do-them/

Videos

• Call Me Maybe, 2012, online video, Carly Rae Jepsen and VEVO, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic
• Runaway, 2010, online video, Kanye West and VEVO, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg5wkZ-dJXA
• New Day, 2012, online video, 50 Cent, Alicia Keys, Dr Dre and VEVO, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0mmajhLKh8