Case study

1. 1). Has new and digital media had an impact upon ownership and control of the media institution(s) involved in your case study area?  Explain in detail any impact and what exactly has changed.

New and digital media has had a large impact on the current music industry benefiting and disadvantaging people. According to Forbes Website ‘…it’s been widely noted that the digital download sales decline has been offset by the rise in streaming' therefore stating that new and digital media has destroyed the digital download industry in terms of online music. The industry is limited in the amount they can charge people as they are able to gain access to music online through music streaming services. 

Furthermore, artists now attempt to ignore the traditional music business model in an attempt to gain more publicity and a far greater profit margin as they do not make enough money from just music institutions alone.

• http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/dec/13/beyonce-new-album-revolution-pr
• ‘Roughly 13 to 14 cents per 100 plays’ - itunes according to Steve Knopper writer for Rolling Stones magazine. - http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/will-itunes-radio-benefit-musicians-20130920

Many people would consider the industry as hard to get into and to make a name for yourself, however due to new and digital media some artists are made famous. An example of this is Justin Bieber who made himself a name through posting covers of songs on YouTube. YouTube is considered to have ‘empowered videomakers’ (Stated by Jump Cut editor Chuck Kleinham)as it can help make stars. Online sites such as YouTube ‘potentially benefits artists by helping new artists to become known.’Warner Music is also producing behind the scenes footage and artist interviews available on the user-generated website and was the first established record label to distribute its content through YouTube.However the other side to this argument is that ‘YouTube have anything but their own profit-maximization goals in mind’and thus means that they don’t care much about what they share online as they just do whatever it is that is popular in order to receive money. 

2. 2). What impact has there been on the way in which the audience now consume the media products/ texts involved in your case study?  How does it differ from what went before?  Consider (SHEP).
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Some artists speak out and tell others the fact that record labels do not treat artists fairly and that the business is not as profitable as some make it appear to be. Artists; such as Immortal Technique; really despise the industry and associates the business with ‘corruption’. He believes that music services such as Spotify and even itunes are ‘crooks’ and he says that he would ‘rather have fans download his music illegally on the internet than have record executives accusing the youth of stealing and breaking the law. Whoever is at the top of the hierarchy pyramid will stay on top whereas others cannot move up the pyramid easily. This believe also links in with the hypodermic needle as he believes that the media is feeding false or inaccurate information to consumers. 

People now consume the content differently through digital downloads and online streaming instead of hard copies of physical storage. This is a benefit to users as the 'virtual music file take up less physical space’ (Glen Creeber and Royston Martin, Digital cultures).

The development of Spotify and other services like it benefit audiences through the fact that it enables easy to access music. A ‘virtual music file take up less physical space’ and is easier for people to store. ‘Many composers have recognised the advantages of MP3 as an effective way of sending audio samples via email attachments’ because of its format taking up little to no space. People can access their favourite music and stream them for free legally or illegally with nothing stopping them from this. Furthermore the internet in general allows anyone to access anything they want within seconds which raises the issue of piracy. ‘A study in 2000 reported 14% of Internet users had downloaded music for free. This number has grown rapidly, and online music sharing has been estimated to result in annual sales losses of $3.1 billion by 2005 for the music industry’. People also acknowledge the fact that they are illegally downloading however as the vast population now does this; it has now become part of the norm. “The best way to perfect a service is to roll it out, then use customers’ feedback to evolve and refine it” quoted by Shawn Fanning creator of Napster in 1999.

Audiences have benefited from the accessibility aspect of the music industry as syncing their phone with all their favourite music has never been easier than ever. 

Audiences listen to music for entertainment purposes as it can be considered as a pathway to diversion or to escape from reality as some may believe it helps relax/calm them. This is a recognised theory known as Uses and Gratification theory created by Blumler & Katz, 1974. It is an analysis of why people use ‘particular media’. People listen to music for several different reasons however the way they chose to do this can impact on the music industry. Despite piracy being fast, easy and widely available to all, people should be willing to spend 99p on their favourite artists and help support them. They should go see them in concert and buy their merchandise otherwise they will be forced to sell out and make mainstream music in order to get loads of people to listen to it but will not be as good as their old content. This connotes that new and digital media is destroying the industry as the quality of music is in decline. With ‘up to 25% of all online TV piracy taking place in the UK’.we as a society should take a stand and be willing to pay a small price to sustain our favourite artists careers.

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3. 3). What impact has there been on how the media institution now has to produce the texts and the way in which the texts/ products are distributed and exhibited?  This should involve a detailed textual analysis of at least 3 texts to demonstrate the point.
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The development of Spotify and other services like it benefit audiences through the fact that it enables easy to access music.

A ‘virtual music file take up less physical space’ (Glen Creeber and Royston Martin, Digital cultures). Its format taking up little to no space. People can access their favourite music and stream them for free legally or illegally with nothing stopping them from this. Allows anyone to access anything they want within seconds which raises the issue of piracy.

• ‘A study in 2000 reported 14% of Internet users had downloaded music for free. This number has grown rapidly, and online music sharing has been estimated to result in annual sales losses of $3.1 billion by 2005 for the music industry’.
• People also acknowledge the fact that they are illegally downloading however as the vast population now does this; it has now become part of the norm.
• “The best way to perfect a service is to roll it out, then use customers’ feedback to evolve and refine it”quoted by Shawn Fanning creator of Napster in 1999.

Audiences listen to music for entertainment purposes as it can be considered as a pathway to diversion or to escape from reality as some may believe it helps relax/calm them. This is a recognised theory known as Uses and Gratification theory created by Blumler & Katz, 1974. It is an analysis of why people use ‘particular media’.People listen to music for several different reasons however the way they chose to do this can impact on the music industry. Despite piracy being fast, easy and widely available to all, people should be willing to spend 99p on their favourite artists and help support them. They should go see them in concert and buy their merchandise otherwise they will be forced to sell out and make mainstream music in order to get loads of people to listen to it but will not be as good as their old content. This connotes that new and digital media is destroying the industry as the quality of music is in decline. With ‘up to 25% of all online TV piracy taking place in the UK’we as a society should take a stand and be willing to pay a small price to sustain our favourite artists careers.

4. 4). Is the size of the audience any different now than before the impact of new and digital media (or has the pattern of usage changed)? E.G. consider for the impact of new and digital media on TV broadcasting the change in audience ratings for programmes as a consequence of the deregulation of TV.  (Prior to deregulation audience figures could be 20m+ for Eastenders etc to a situation today where, due to the massive number of channels now available, audiences are vastly reduced and fragmented).
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In some respects, Spotify is helping with the whole piracy issue due to the fact that they provide a service which allows users to listen to music for free without users downloading illegally from websites. The business model Spotify is part of therefore eliminates a vast amount of piracy as people want a free and convenient service which is what they offer hence the reason why they are becoming more and more popular. This is not considered as a good thing because some believe that Spotify does not care much about the music, but they care more about their revenues and profit margins. The size of the audience has now changed due to the development of new and digital media and the way it has impacted on the way audiences now consume music. Audiences now consume music through the use of the internet and audiences take this platform for granted and use it to their advantage thus benefiting them from the various free (illegal) content available online. 

http://www.coris.uniroma1.it/materiali/18.30.01_audience%20evolution.pdf

"Media audiences are changing. The dynamics of how audiences consume (and now, even 

produce) media are changing, as are the ways that media industries make sense of, and define, their audiences. New technologies are at the heart of all of these changes. New media technologies that give audiences increased control and increased choice over when, where, and how they consume media are transforming the relationship between audiences and the media." -> page 2 

"The changing nature of audience information systems provides important new inputs into how media organizations can conceptualize (and monetize) their audience" -> page 3 

The statements above concern new and digital media and how audiences are changing due to the way media products are adapting to new technological advancements. 

Transformation of Media Consumption 

"One key driver of contemporary audience evolution is the technological changes that are 

transforming how audiences consume media. The media environment is changing in ways that are dramatically reconfiguring how, when, and where audiences consume media, and, consequently, forcing media industries to reconceptualize their audiences." ->page 19

phenomenon wherein individual content options are 

disaggregated into smaller, discrete components (think, for instance, of the ability to watch television 

clips, rather than entire episodes, on YouTube, or the return of the singles model to the recorded music  21

industry as a result of the advent of music downloads). This too is a form of intra-media fragmentation, 

as the content unit itself becomes fragmented. ->page 20 - 21

4. 5). Who are the primary target audience now and has this changed?  Who was it before and how do you know?  

My chosen text which I am exploring is Spotify and the way that new and digital media services that allow users to stream their favourite music and their impact on the music industry. Music streaming services provide music to Mainstreamers, Explorers, aspires as well as the rest of the psychographic groups due to them targeting a wide audience range. Streaming services just like Spotify attempts to provide a service for a wide range of audiences so that they can allow anyone to access their favourite songs - whatever the genre.

Artists are able to reach out to a large demographic audience; when on streaming services; without costing them much at all as they can gain publicity and a fan based just through the sheer amount of viewers and subscribers Spotify has to offer. This would be considered as the current day business model for music artists as they are purely using the E-media platform to promote themselves. ‘Low-budget video novices’ were hired to create ‘bold and wild montage videos. However ‘unless you had powerful backing or a name director, your chances of making the MTV playlist were next to nonexistent.’

Spotify has 24 million monthly users and growing with another 6 million subscribers. Furthermore Spotify offers the idea of convenience to people as you are now able to just start listening to the latest songs straight away without having to spend time looking for it online and downloading it.

Obviously it will take some time for the effect of the ruling to trickle down, so we might not see much change in the short term. The long term effect can be ominous though, as online music, and all streaming media, will ultimately take a hit that very well may completely change our consumption patterns. 

Spotify has added 1.5 million users since the end of April, representing a growth rate of 8%.  That compares to 0.5 million new users and 4% growth for the entire month of May in 2011.  Facebook integration, coupled with launching in the US has turbo charged Spotify’s growth trajectory.

And yet, as impressive as Spotify’s total user growth is, it is only par when compared with other streaming music services.  Looking at the growth in total users by month since launch date of service Spotify is close to the average for streaming music services.

User generated content based on article: That’s a brilliant article Mark! Staggering numbers going on there, and it really does highlight just how radically the music industry has changed in the past few years alone in terms of how consumers access music. I remember being really excited about getting a physical album from a shop and having all the artwork in front of me. Now it seems like that same passion for a physical product has been overtaken by the passion for discovering new music – which really seems to be going at a rate of knots, thereby making instant ‘viral stars’ out of artists who upload their music to the public access platforms of YouTube and Spotify: Case in point: Rebecca Black with her song ‘Friday’.

What is your take on the music streaming business as opposed to having an album in your hands? I’m not claiming to be a purist, but having an album is a nice thing, and gives a richer overall experience, however the convenience of being able to instantly find an artist that you love listening to, and then getting recommendations for associated artists/tracks in the same minute is quite remarkable.

Very interesting times we live in, and I hope that the bands who produce this exceptional music – (OK not Rebecca Black) – get their fair % of the subscription costs. (Mainly because I want to be able to make some money out of the music I write in my band).

Sources:

• Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks, I Want My MTV - The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, 2011, page 8
• Bobby Owsinski, Forbes, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2014/01/15/is-verizons-victory-a-streaming-music-killer/
• Dorian Lynskey, the guardian, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/10/daniel-ek-spotify-streaming-music
• http://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/spotify-hits-20-million-monthly-users-and-could-be-on-track-for-8-million-paid-users-1-year-from-now/

6. 6). How have the audience responded to the changes?  Is there more customer choice?  Is there evidence of a more pluralistic model?  What evidence do you have to support this?

The development of Spotify and other services like it benefit audiences through the fact that it enables easy to access music. A ‘virtual music file take up less physical space’ and is easier for people to store. ‘Many composers have recognised the advantages of MP3 as an effective way of sending audio samples via email attachments’ because of its format taking up little to no space. People can access their favourite music and stream them for free legally or illegally with nothing stopping them from this. Furthermore the internet in general allows anyone to access anything they want within seconds which raises the issue of piracy. ‘A study in 2000 reported 14% of Internet users had downloaded music for free. This number has grown rapidly, and online music sharing has been estimated to result in annual sales losses of $3.1 billion by 2005 for the music industry’. People also acknowledge the fact that they are illegally downloading however as the vast population now does this; it has now become part of the norm. “The best way to perfect a service is to roll it out, then use customers’ feedback to evolve and refine it” quoted by Shawn Fanning creator of Napster in 1999.

Audiences have benefited from the accessibility aspect of the music industry as syncing their phone with all their favourite music has never been easier than ever. 

Audiences listen to music for entertainment purposes as it can be considered as a pathway to diversion or to escape from reality as some may believe it helps relax/calm them. This is a recognised theory known as Uses and Gratification theory created by Blumler & Katz, 1974. It is an analysis of why people use ‘particular media’. People listen to music for several different reasons however the way they chose to do this can impact on the music industry. Despite piracy being fast, easy and widely available to all, people should be willing to spend 99p on their favourite artists and help support them. They should go see them in concert and buy their merchandise otherwise they will be forced to sell out and make mainstream music in order to get loads of people to listen to it but will not be as good as their old content.

Digital and social tools have already transformed the artist-fan relationship, but even greater change is coming.  In the anaologue-era music was mass produced, releases cycles were static and music product formats were a creative dead-end.  Mash-ups, engaged online fans and user generated content brought these barriers tumbling down.  The scene is set for the Mass Customization of music, heralding in the era of Agile Music.

Sources:

• Glen Creeber and Royston Martin, Digital cultures - Understanding New Media, 2009, Page 99
• Ian White, Tales from the real world, 2000
• Sudip Bhattacharjee, Ram D. Gopal and G. Lawrence Sanders, DIGITAL MUSIC AND ONLINE SHARING: SOFTWARE PIRACY 2.0?, 2003, Page 107
• Jane Hoskyn, Making music pay, 2007, Page 17
• Daniel Chandler, aber, 1995
• Nick James, Editorial: cheap as silicon, 2009 
• http://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/agile-music-music-formats-and-artist-creativity-in-the-age-of-media-mass-customization/

7. 7). What concerns/ considerations are there (if any) for the media institutions involved in your case study as a result of the impact of new and digital media? (e.g. deskilling or multi-skilling of the workforce/ decline in workforce etc)

It is safe to say that the future of the music industry does not look too bright due to developments in technology occurring all the time. It could be argued that Spotify is a great concept and the idea of streaming instead of downloading does minimise piracy although there are still a few problems with it such as the fact that the average musician does not get paid anywhere near enough. In time, the industry will be different than it is today and therefore anyone seeking a career in music must learn to adapt and exploit the trends that are shaping the music of music. Many question software services such as itunes along with if it can last and if the giants will be toppled. If people start using more music streaming services they will not want to pay for what they can access easily and for free therefore could this suggest that Apple would have to change their whole software concept to guarantee people still buy their products? It all relies on one question: is music streaming the next big thing? 

Most evidence does suggest that new and digital media and technology impacts on the music industry by utterly tearing it apart as the average artist cannot produce the work they want and are almost forced to produce mainstream music to gain profits. Nonetheless, it is difficult to dispute that the development of new and digital media has been nothing but evil as if it was not present, the access to content would not be as convenient as it is currently. Furthermore, it is safe to conclude that the industry has been ruined in some aspects; such as how artists do not make what they deserve; yet has been improved for audiences as music can be widely access through a number of sources. 

Sources:

• Neder Hedfi, Ted, 2013, http://www.ted.com/conversations/19050/what_is_the_future_of_the_musi.html
• Glen Creeber and Royston Martin, Digital cultures - Understanding New Media, 2009, Page 99

8. 8). What are the political and social implications of the new technologies and the methods of their consumption?  E.g. moral panics etc?

Audiences listen to music for entertainment purposes as it can be considered as a pathway to diversion or to escape from reality as some may believe it helps relax/calm them. This is a recognised theory known as Uses and Gratification theory created by Blumler & Katz, 1974. It is an analysis of why people use ‘particular media’. People listen to music for several different reasons however the way they chose to do this can impact on the music industry. Despite piracy being fast, easy and widely available to all, people should be willing to spend 99p on their favourite artists and help support them. They should go see them in concert and buy their merchandise otherwise they will be forced to sell out and make mainstream music in order to get loads of people to listen to it but will not be as good as their old content. This connotes that new and digital media is destroying the industry as the quality of music is in decline. With ‘up to 25% of all online TV piracy taking place in the UK’ we as a society should take a stand and be willing to pay a small price to sustain our favourite artists careers.

Due to new and digital media, consumption and accessibility to music through the online platform, music has become easier and easier to retrieve. The consumption of music has now changed through the music business model created by MTV. 
MTV is considered to be the medium that did 'define pop culture, change generations and shape an industry'. This business model would allow artists to record live music and air them to a large demographic audience without costing them much at all as they can gain publicity and a fan base just through the sheer amount of viewers MTV has to offer.This would be considered as the traditional business model for music artists as they are purely using broadcast media to promote themselves. 


As the mainstream segments engage with on-demand music less, they have less propensity to upgrade to paid music subscriptions. If peoples experience is reduced after a period of time (e.g. usage/play restrictions) they will simply go elsewhere.

Sources:

• Daniel Chandler, aber, 1995, http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/usegrat.html
• Nick James, Editorial: cheap as silicon, 2009 

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9. 9). Consider the effects so far, and possible effects in the future, on media institutions involved in your case study (media production).

A ‘virtual music file take up less physical space’ and is easier for people to store. ‘Many composers have recognised the advantages of MP3 as an effective way of sending audio samples via email attachments’ because of its format taking up little to no space. 
The file sizes concerning virtual music will continue to decrease in terms of its format size which will therefore make it more easily accessible and easier to store on hardware.

People also acknowledge the fact that they are illegally downloading however as the vast population now does this; it has now become part of the norm. “The best way to perfect a service is to roll it out, then use customers’ feedback to evolve and refine it” quoted by Shawn Fanning creator of Napster in 1999.

Audiences have benefited from the accessibility aspect of the music industry as syncing their phone with all their favourite music has never been easier than ever. 

10. 10).What issues may there be regarding media effects and /or regulation/ censorship as a result of changes due to new and digital media?