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How Have Media Changed In The Online Age Essay

How Have Media Developed in the Online Age?

The online age began in 1993 when the World Wide Web was first released to the public. This was in the form of web 1.0, where ‘professionals’ created all content and consumers could not edit or create content. The way in which people used the Internet was revolutionised in 1999 by the introduction of web 2.0. A web 2.0 site may allow users to interact in a social media dialogue as creators of user generated content, in contrast to web 1.0 sites where people are limited to passive viewing. Examples of web 2.0 sites include YouTube and Facebook, where the majority of content is created by the consumer.

It is indisputable that the internet has made a huge impact on the music industry. An interesting example of how the internet has changed the way music is promoted and consumed is UKF. UKF started as two YouTube channels (UKF Drum and Bass and UKF Dubstep) with the purpose of showcasing the best bass music. It was created in 2009 by Luke Hood, who would not have been able to create the channels if it were not for YouTube’s web 2.0 element enabling ordinary or non-professional users to create content. Through clever use of convergence with social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter UKF never paid for advertising, relying on subscribers to share songs they like. This would not have been a possible method of advertising or distribution before the online age.

Another example of how the internet has changed the way in which music is consumed is Spotify. Spotify is a digital music service that allows users to stream millions of songs, either for free with ad breaks between songs, or with no adverts for a £5 monthly subscription. Spotify streams music from both major and independent record labels. This enables users to listen to and buy a vast quantity of music from small independent labels, which are not readily available in high street shops. The online age enables the sale of lots of less popular products aimed at niche markets, in this case songs, to out-gross the mass market popular products. This is referred to as ‘The Long-Tail’. Unlike UKF, Spotify does advertise but also makes use of convergence with social media sites as a form of promotion.

Another industry, which has changed massively in the online age, is video games. Skate 3 is a console game by EA for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is playable offline; users also have the option to play online against or with other people. After purchasing the game, users can download additional content (for a fee) via the internet. This is a way for game developers to gain additional revenue that was not possible before the online age. Skate 3 also has a website (web 2.0) which enables users to create and share content they created on the game for other users to download. User generated content is commented upon and rated by other users. This is referred to as the age of the ‘Prosumer’. The age of the Prosumer is where users create, consume the content, while being able to discuss and interact with other users. In Skate 3, users can find content that is highly rated by the consumer, created by consumer, bookmark it on the website and download it on the console. This is a good example of how cross media convergence can be used in the video game industry in the online age. Before the online age video games where only updated in the form of a completely new release, and playing against other users not in the same room was not possible. There was also no way for users to share any content they created, which has been made possible by web 2.0.

Half Term Work | By Jason

Prezi

Essay (“The impact of the internet on the media is revolutionary”)

In the last 10 to 20 years the the impact of the internet has changed the way we gather information around the world by enabling each of us to use it more than just a way of finding out a piece of information. It has become everything and anything to which the worldwide population can connect, share, and create there own information to then be expanded upon and talked about with other users.  Convergence with all areas of media have rapidly enhanced the way we live and socialise as a civilisation. For example, the monstrosities of the web such as Google, Amazon, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and eBay have monopolised how we purchase, view, listen, interact and search the internet.

My two main topic areas to which i have researched are Video Games And Music. The two draw upon three media concepts (The long Tail, Web 2.0, and the Prosumer) all of which make up the revolutionary internet as we know it today.

Music

Firstly, The music industry. The internet has shifted the way users buy, listen and watch music. If you type into google a popular chart track, you a very much likely to find google places its Music video at the top of the listings. This takes you to the world renowned 6 billion viewed a day Youtube Website. Here music has blossomed to such an iconic figure in the online age, it has completely changed the majority of the generations way of enjoying music from areas around the world you never would have known about, if the existence of Web 2.0 and the long tail theory. More specialifcly the long tail theory has taken upon the idea that lots of small upcoming unknown music artists together make up the majority of the total revenue made in the music industry and dominate the direction music goes in. Youtube has given the Consumer the ability to become a Prosumer by users creating there own Videos, sharing, editing, commenting and interacting with other users with the same ideas and genre content. My case study On UKF Music takes upon the three concepts displaying how it has impacted the internet and revolutionized the way we enjoy music. 

UKF Music was set up in 2009 by Luke Hood, a University Student who studied at Bristol Uni. Luke Hood created his Youtube Channel UKF to share music with friends while studying in 2009. As his subscriber base began to grow, he started to focus on the music channels and expanding the UKF brand. UKF never paid for advertising, relying on its subscribers to share the music through various social media sites. (Convergence) The brand has since sold half of its ownership to AEI Media who produce original content, hosts live events, and helps develop artists and brands.

Luke began his Youtube journey as a consumer of music, eventually becoming a prosumer to which he began his channels UKF Drum & Bass and UKF Dubstep. He uploaded various unknown  upcoming artists with fresh new styles targeted for a fairly small market, as Electronic music was still emerging into mainstream charts. Together this combination of the Long tail and Prosumer, many upcoming artists had the opportunity to advertise there own content on one main genre Youtube channel, which videoed music. This opened the doors to the foundations of web interaction, Web 2.0 which spread music through social media sites. For example, the convergence with Sharing your Youtube Video with friends on Facebook, and Followers on Twitter. A Great, cheap, marketing tool, especially for upcoming music artists. This is how UKF managed to Succeed so well in making the UKF channel more than just a viewing platform, it becomes a Brand, Name to which users connect with on the web.

Continuing on the music industry track, Spotify has become the next revolutionary commercial music streaming service providing, content from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal. Spotify Began in 2006, founded by Daniel Ek, former CTO of Stardoll, and Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of TradeDoubler.  The Spotify application was launched for public access in late 2008. While free accounts remained available by invitation only. The business vision changed fiercely through 2008, to present with the idea being prosecuted due to the worldwide problem of 'free music downloading'. However spotify did not offer free downloads, but instead unlimited streaming of a particular song, which in effect almost acted the same as what free downloads did anyway. In early 2011 Spotify Free members would be transferred to a new product which limited audio streaming to 10 hours per month. This kept record labels slightly more happier than the service before, as criticism towards artists not getting the revenues from the amount of download streams which spotify generates, became a big problem for up coming and mainstream artists needing the revenue to make a career. 

In late 2011, spotify was becoming a huge hit, with over one million paying subscribers across Europe, generating revenue of €10 million per month in revenue. With the secruity of Spotify being a huge sucess on desktop PC', it was time to enter the Mobile App Market.  The applications allow Premium subscribers to access the full music catalogue, stream music and even listen to music when disconnected using the Offline Mode.

Video Games

The video games industry is monumental. With the market in 2009 worth over 10.5 billion Dollars and the average gamer spending 8 hours a week playing it sure isnt a medium which is likely to decline, even though being one of the oldest types of media. Video Games have rapidly developed and evolved in the past 10 to 15 years, with graphics, consoles, wireless connection, online multiplayer, and mobile games taking gaming to new exciting places. 

My First case study in this area is Angry Birds. A fairly recent game, which has become the biggest selling video game of all time in the App market. Angry Birds was developed in 2003 by three university students who produced small console games alongside there university life and after. 51 games were produced before the development of angry birds, and all were fairly successful, but no where near to the success of Angry Birds. What made the game so successful was simply the idea, design, and simplicity of something which wasn't on the market at the time, nor as well polished and thought through as other mobile games. It had a strong character base, humour and a click, ease about it that anyone could easily play the game and instantly find it fun. As the Game began to generate more downloads Rovio saw this product as being something more than just a game. It could become a Brand. And this is what media now days is trying to achieve. Becoming something which is talked about, and commercialised in other areas of media not just in one. 

Case Studies

Video Games

Skate 3
Angry Birds


Music

Youtube - UKF Music





History

Luke Hood created his Youtube Channel UKF to share music with friends while studying at University of West England (Bristol) in 2009.As his subscriber base began to grow, he started to focus on the music channels and expanding the UKF brand. UKF never paid for advertising, relying on its subscribers to share the music through various social media sites. (Convergence) The brand has since sold half of its ownership to AEI Media who produce original content, hosts live events, and helps develop artists and brands. They produce critically acclaimed compilation albums with groups such as Drum and Bass Arena, This Is Dubstep, UKF Dubstep, UKF Drum&Bass and UKF Bass Culture. They manage the labels Get Darker, Pilot Records, Titan Records, and Inspected.

Convergence with other Websites

Consumers are able to share UKFs videos through other social networking sites, Significant as UKF dont have to advertise to gain a large consumer base, instead relying on consumers to share to their friends, (advertise for them)

"The secret to the channels' success is serving up what listeners want, rather than forcing a new format down their throats"'.

Ways to connect with UKF

Film Case Study | Lesson 10

HMV



changing stroes, films games and headphones on bottom flloor, used to just be music focused, music is now up top.

Youtube

How HD Has changed Online Media

The recent development of HD online streaming has been a massive hit to online consumers of video. Music videos and Game Reviews, Montages are able to be uploaded in HD format in great quality.

This increases the motivation for online piracy and copyright infringement, with \HD Youtube video converters which are able to download these full quality hd videos from youtube, as a file onto your comupter. This allows consumers to upload the same file, share and interact with more people online. Furthermore it gives consumers the powerful choice to be able to get the same quality video or music track from buying it of itunes,spotify or amazon. 

Evidence 

New Media Article | Lesson 8

Technological determinism

 Technological Determinism state that media technology shapes how we as individuals in a society think, feel, act, and how are society operates as we move from one technological age to another. 

Examples, Google being the power and control of information

• Dictionaries, thesauruses online
• Magazine, News, Books being consumed over the internet
• Social networking, people interacting on video games (Xbox Live, Steam)
• Music being shared, discussed visually (Youtube, Itunes, spotify and the convergence of these being linked with Facebook and Twiter)
• Music being listened, watched on Youtube, Spotify, Itunes. 

Convergence

Gaunletts famous quote 'The view of the internet and new digital media as an optional extra is replaced with the recognition that they have fundamentally changed the ways in which we engage with all media'.
Change in Consumer Behavior
Prosumers, we create videos and watch videos. Consumers are not only discussing, viewing and interacting with online media they are also creating it, marketing it, and discussing there own media developments

E.g,

Youtube videos, Con
Creating games
Apps being created

Web 2.0

'Allows us to make the media for ourselves - a media landscape defined by horizontal connection rather than vertical delivery'. This means people now are able to connect, and share information together rather than information being passed down from a source and shared. Instead the media is created by the consumer and consumed by the consumer.   

Lesson 6

Here is a level 1 grade answer which answers the question 'For media audiences, the internet has changed everything'

Section b media onlineage-16 marks from Media Studies

Points that are discussed.

• History of online media
• Mobile phones and the internet, apps
• Convergence of TV programs on internet
• Advertising
• Pornography, restrictions? positive or negative effect on society. Security on internet
• Forums Blogs allow for debate
• Online shopping

Key Terms Mentioned

• Convergence
• We Media

Points to consider

• We Media, not to do with question, only meant to talk about one thing
• Poor english language
• Points no developed
• No clear structure
• limited amount of terms used

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/what-really-killed-hmv-jessops-and-blockbuster-180416602.html

HMV Administration

Lesson 4 - Pete's Blog Ideas

Link To Further Information

• How have online media developed? (change from the past)
• What has been the impact of the internet on media production? (does it allow more people to produce their own media? what effect has it had on mainstream media?)
• How is consumer behaviour and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past? (audiences and the difference the internet has made)
• To what extent has convergence transformed the media? (technology's impact- mobile devices, tv online, etc)

1. You MUST refer to at least TWO different media
2. You MUST refer to past, present and future (with the emphasis on the present- contemporary examples from the past five years)
3. refer to critical/theoretical positions

2)Talking about the future for this topic is easy- you can speculate about how your chosen examples might develop in the future- what next after facebook? what can you see happening with mobile media? how will traditional media cope with further spread of fast wireless connections?

Web Apps Play A Bigger Role In Daily Life

One major factor driving this trend is broad mobile Web access. Being able to access important documents or perform tasks on business applications from anywhere is a huge advantage to many users. A lot of opportunities are opening up for mobile workers, who will no longer be tied to a single location, or even a single computer.

Your OS Will Be Online

While your computer will still store some files, the future of the operating system will increasingly rely on Web-based files. In other words, without an Internet connection, your computer’s functionality will be severely limited.

Micro payments

The most prevalent current micro-payment systems are within MMORPGs (massively multi-player online role-playing games). These systems use credits that are usually a fraction of a dollar to buy and sell things in the game. There are numerous cases of people actually earning a living through these systems.

"PayPal defines micropayments as transactions of less than $12. Innopay considers it “a payment of very low value, often under a euro”. Francesco Burelli, of Value Partners, defines it as “an online or mobile, real-time or deferred, financial transaction below €5, which initiates the instantaneous delivery of a digital good”.

"One trend recognisable by anyone who plays smartphone games is the shift among developers towards a micro-payment system as an alternative to traditional subscription-based payment: providing the basic game for free, but requiring some features to be paid for with a micro-currency that is ultimately fed by real-life payments. You might download a racing game for no cost, but accessing better cars and extra tracks costs in-game money, bought for multiples of 69p – purchased one-click at a time, with no credit card anywhere to be seen. Within this model, the player can scarcely resist the upgrade purchases, et voilà: the game is monetised".

Microseries on the web

A really interesting phenomenon which the web has enabled is the microseries or online little TV series either on dedicated websites or on channels within youtube or other video sites.

Many microseries are built around comedy, frequently with an appeal to a niche audience, using lots of in-jokes, both visual and verbal. Online gamers are a particularly fruitful source, as can be seen in 'The Guild' much of which takes place in front of the computer screen. A whole set of characters has been developed , taking the programme through a number of series with quickfire wit and lots of gamer gags.

Lesson 3 - XKCD's Online Communities Map

Prompt Questions

How have online media developed?

What has been the impact of the internet on media production?

How is consumer behavior and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past?

To what extent has convergence transformed the media?

The map displays a variety of different website which can be considered to be online communities. The size of each site shows the representation of the mount of users for each business.

Music

We can see the map displays many music sites to which users can interact such as Youtube, music blogs,  whaler sound and snob sound. Music can also be consumed online through the many social networks such as Facebook and My-space. Both professional and amateur artists promote their music through these sites. Furthermore, Youtube allows you to share a particular music video with other social websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Blogspot.

Games 

The map also represents many different gaming formats. For example, social sites such as blogs, Viewing sites, such as Youtube and Machinima, and Online multiplayer sites such as WOW, Club Penguin. This has meant more games are played online compared to the past. Users have the ability to play against and communicate online with there friends and other users around the world.   

Key Terminology

The Long Tail: is a phrase coined by Chris Anderson, in 2004. Anderson argued that products that are in low demand or have low sales volume can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, but only if the store or distribution channel is large enough.

Tim Berners Lee:  is a British computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web.

Web 2.0:  A Web 2.0 site may allow users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where people are limited to the passive viewing of content. Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and folksonomies.  

File Sharing: the practice of making computer files available to other users of a network, in particular the illicit sharing of music and video via the Internet

Distribution: escribes the delivery of media content such as audio, video, software and video games, without the use of physical media usually over online delivery mediums, such as the Internet.

Remixing (On YouTube): When the creator gives you rights to download the video and change 'remix' there video, to Re-upload it. 

Film Piracy: The illegal recording or viewing of a film without purchasing the rights. 

Digital Technology And Change: 

Social And Networking: a dedicated website or other application which enables users to communicate with each other by posting information, comments, messages, images, etc..

Second Life: A virtual world on the Internet from Linden Research in which "residents" create an identity, meet people, buy land and build their own environment or purchase an existing one. It is a "massively multiplayer online role playing game" (MMORPG), but one that offers users total freedom to create and interact as if they were living another life. Playing the game requires a client download for Windows, Mac or Linux.

Convergence:  the combination of two or more different technologies in a single device. Taking pictures with a cell phone and surfing the Web on a television are two of the most common examples of this trend.

Convergence Culture: The bringing together of all media

Music downloads: 

Memes: "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.

Identify online:  is a social identity that an Internet user establishes in online communities and websites. It can also be considered as an actively constructed presentation of oneself.

Theme Ideas And Prompt Questions

Prompt Questions

How have online media developed?

What has been the impact of the internet on media production?

How is consumer behavior and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past?

To what extent has convergence transformed the media?

Brief Ideas

Games

How have online media developed?

Games online and being connecting with other people around the world, allows for downloading games and other media platforms.

How we find out about games, releases, leaks, news, gaming websites e.g machinima, IGN.

The way we watch games, Youtube, TV, Itunes, Vlogs other people reviewing games.


How is consumer behavior and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past?



Music