Monday, 29 June 2009
The Music Online Age
The music industry is expanding all the time and in recent years it has branched out onto the internet. Since this revelation, music can be downloaded from file sharing websites, broadcasted on social networking sites and band websites, music videos can be viewed and uploaded onto Youtube, and also radio and TV can also be streamed live. On such social networking sites and band websites, band archive, gigs, blogs, merchandise, gallery and more can all be accessed by their audiences.
This revolution of the music industry has its advantages and its disadvantages. The advantages revolve around how music is being made of higher quality and more accessible to its audiences, and the inproved audience to institution communication and feedback is always becoming stronger as the online age grows. The music industry has been able to benefit from this online age financially as money can be made by companies such as Apple, who can merge with record labels and create and sell iTunes and hard/software and share the profits.
Disadvantages however come from such problems as piracy and copyright. Music is being illegally posted across the internet, denying the band and record labels any potential income, and with this online age expanding all the time, this is becoming harder to control. Companies such as Youtube are being targeted as a host websites where such copyrighted material could be posted, and this material is instantly removed or manipulated to solve this issue, at the expense of the quality and intent of the material.
Friday, 26 June 2009
Music and Media investigation ideas
What is the impact of copyright and piracy and the future of this on the music industry?
How technology has brought the music industry and its audience closer together.
R&B vs Rock representation, impact on audiences and exploitation.
The impact of the internet on the music industry.
How companies such as Apple are expanding to meet the ever changing demands of the music industry.
How technology has brought the music industry and its audience closer together.
R&B vs Rock representation, impact on audiences and exploitation.
The impact of the internet on the music industry.
How companies such as Apple are expanding to meet the ever changing demands of the music industry.
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Music Investigation Homework
Spotify
Spotify.com is a website that is like a music library, that allows the user to search for and listen to music online within the website. Links are also referrenced on the website for the user to follow to purchase the music.
Spotify contributes to the future of the music industry as it is a different way of listing and listening to over 6 million different tracks of music, so that any user can use the website for research into various artists and bands for their music archive, and ultimately use this website to branch out to other website that they can purchase the music that they desire. It helps companies join together and profitise, popularise and expand the music industry.
This could be an important area for debate in media studies as it reviews how the music industry us synergising together through technology, advertising, and buying products.
Last.FM
Last FM is a radio and website that user's can subscribe to, and those users can create playlists that cater to their musical taste's based on music they have previously listened to on the website and the radio station. Last FM has changed the way that an audience can consume their music, as this website recommends music to the user that they may be interesting, remembers previously viewed music and, one feature that could be an interesting debating point in media studies and is affecting the future of the music industry, is how Last FM is compatible with a user's portable device via plug in or to their computer itself, so Last FM can stream to this device and this idea can also work with a user's social networking site. A user can create playlists and custom radio stations of their choice, and again, can stream it to their portable devices and computers, and can also distribute it to share with other users over Last FM's website itself. All these aspects are very much at the user's convenience and is putting the power of music into the audience's hands, but this could not be done without the resources that the music industry and Last FM provide, so ultimately the music industry is providing the tools for their audience to express themselves, to which Last FM and the music industry can evolve around and become more successful.
Urban Tribes and Subculture
Urban Tribes is a form of subculture, of which, according to French sociologist Michel Maffesoli, are small groups of people who share common interests. The members of these relatively small groups tend to have similar views, dress styles and behavioral patterns. This theory can relate to an exercise we did in class about bands/artists and their target audiences, and how music can influence this audience. We had to match pictures of bands with pictures of likely audiences, who would share similar music interests and dress sense as them. It is an important and very broad debating area of how audiences view music, the lyrics, and the artists themselves, to which some strings (familiarity) must tie them both together. It is useful to consider how audiences consume their music using this selective approach for buying patterns, how social groups and an individuals experiences and aspirations link to the music and subsequently their interest in this music, which can be categorised into genre. Examples of these urban tribes can be such as gangsta, punk, goth, and emo.
Spotify.com is a website that is like a music library, that allows the user to search for and listen to music online within the website. Links are also referrenced on the website for the user to follow to purchase the music.
Spotify contributes to the future of the music industry as it is a different way of listing and listening to over 6 million different tracks of music, so that any user can use the website for research into various artists and bands for their music archive, and ultimately use this website to branch out to other website that they can purchase the music that they desire. It helps companies join together and profitise, popularise and expand the music industry.
This could be an important area for debate in media studies as it reviews how the music industry us synergising together through technology, advertising, and buying products.
Last.FM
Last FM is a radio and website that user's can subscribe to, and those users can create playlists that cater to their musical taste's based on music they have previously listened to on the website and the radio station. Last FM has changed the way that an audience can consume their music, as this website recommends music to the user that they may be interesting, remembers previously viewed music and, one feature that could be an interesting debating point in media studies and is affecting the future of the music industry, is how Last FM is compatible with a user's portable device via plug in or to their computer itself, so Last FM can stream to this device and this idea can also work with a user's social networking site. A user can create playlists and custom radio stations of their choice, and again, can stream it to their portable devices and computers, and can also distribute it to share with other users over Last FM's website itself. All these aspects are very much at the user's convenience and is putting the power of music into the audience's hands, but this could not be done without the resources that the music industry and Last FM provide, so ultimately the music industry is providing the tools for their audience to express themselves, to which Last FM and the music industry can evolve around and become more successful.
Urban Tribes and Subculture
Urban Tribes is a form of subculture, of which, according to French sociologist Michel Maffesoli, are small groups of people who share common interests. The members of these relatively small groups tend to have similar views, dress styles and behavioral patterns. This theory can relate to an exercise we did in class about bands/artists and their target audiences, and how music can influence this audience. We had to match pictures of bands with pictures of likely audiences, who would share similar music interests and dress sense as them. It is an important and very broad debating area of how audiences view music, the lyrics, and the artists themselves, to which some strings (familiarity) must tie them both together. It is useful to consider how audiences consume their music using this selective approach for buying patterns, how social groups and an individuals experiences and aspirations link to the music and subsequently their interest in this music, which can be categorised into genre. Examples of these urban tribes can be such as gangsta, punk, goth, and emo.
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Conventional Music Video
My Immortal by Evanescence was my choice of conventional music video to look at. Reasons that make me believe that this video is conventional are how the artist is pictured singing the lyrics and the way the musical instruments such as piano, guitar and drums are viewed being played as they are heard in the music. Another aspect of the video that worked well was how match on action was applied switching between the shot of the artist laying on the car and how the focus changes to the trees above her. This technique was also used with the male character walking down the street and looking up when the shot changes to focus onto the buildings he is looking at, with the shot spiraling as his head moves.
Another conventional theme that reoccurs in this music video is the close up shots of the artists playing their musical instruments. In this video there is a close up shot of the male character, previously focused on walking down the street, shown playing the piano. At first there is a shot of him included in the shot, which is then followed by an extreme close up shot of his hand pressing some piano keys to correspond with the music playing. This technique is also applied later in the music video when the drummer and guitarists are heard in the music. Close up shots of each individual artist and as a group playing their instruments, and a cleverly applied over the shoulder shot of the pianist and the drummer and guitarists is used to bring the guitarists and the drummer into the music video as they are first heard in the music itself, with all of these instruments and artists playing in unison.
The lyrics themselves are about a man and a woman, and their relationship that has broken down, and this is reflected in the music video as both are only shot individually and are never in the same one shot at any one time throughout the entire music video.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Music...
>I'm actually really diverse in the music i like, i'll listen to pretty much anything, but if i'm honest...a lot of r&b from todays era does annoy me...so i combat that with rock music!! It's the kind of music i listen to the most.
>A song i've recently downloaded that i like is monsoon by tokio hotel.
>Jose Gonzalez - Heartbeats is in my opinion one of the best song ever!
>To be honest i could sit here and list a number of artists that i like but i would be here all day! I'll just leave it as Sum 41, Foo Fighters and Evanescence as the ones i listen to the most =]
>A song i've recently downloaded that i like is monsoon by tokio hotel.
>Jose Gonzalez - Heartbeats is in my opinion one of the best song ever!
>To be honest i could sit here and list a number of artists that i like but i would be here all day! I'll just leave it as Sum 41, Foo Fighters and Evanescence as the ones i listen to the most =]
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