3.What are issues with the importance of music videos? Are they still relevant?

Music vidoes are very important to the music indusrty. First, the cable channel: Music Television (MTV) garnered their initial success through broadcasting music viddeos. This television channel diversified their selection since, but relied the success of the company soley on music videos in their debut. Second, music creates a relationship between the artist and the audience. The lyrics create an emotional appeal, and the audience feels a connection with the artist. Music vidoes allow the artist to visuaize and promote an emotional appeal with the audience. Vidoes are used to advertise the artist, but can also be used to promote other items: merchandise, clothing, ect. The continuing technological advances have limited the role of music vidoes; however, they are still relevant. Media devices may consume a portion of the audience, but loyal customers will continue to look for vidoes of their desired artist. Music videos will never dominate as they did in pat years, but the consumer will never allow the service to become extinct.  

Mitch Bailey

Advertising: Growth of Commercial Television

When first thinking about how television would be run, it was an easy decision that commercials would become a mainstay on television and offer advertising.  Similar to how advertising was on the radio.  Advertising sky rocketed as sponsors were buying time so that they may so that they may get their product or idea across a large audience.  In 1957, Variety reported that during a typical week a viewer saw 420 commercials which was equal to 5 hours and 8 minutes.  This was a large amount and showed that advertising and commercials were not going anywhere and if anything, they were going to continue to grow.  an important figure to advertising on television was Tony Schwartz as he was known for his political ad called “Daisy Spot.”  This political ad hinted that if the republican party won than we would be led into a nuclear war.  Advertising in commercials can be used for anything especially to persuade people.  Without advertising on commercials, some of the worlds greatest products may have never been seen besides in magazines which meant that it would have a select audience and not the entire country.  Commercials helped to show products and ideas so that consumers may view them and if they like what they saw, then they could learn more about it.  Not long after came infomercials which were television programs directed towards a product.  These were important because they led to something that had never been done and allowed a viewer to learn about a product on television that they may be interested in buying.  

6 Keys

Product: Commercial

Technology: Television

Industry: Television, Commercial 

Money: Sales of product

Law and Government: Fairness Doctrine

Audience: Everyone who watches Television 

Conclusion:

Television and commercials have helped Advertising a lot to become as big as it is today.  Without television who knows how big advertising could be with only signs and radio.  If certain products would be known and bought by an entire country.  A lot of questions could be raised about advertising, but they are not thanks to television and commercials.  

Michael Petrone

The next generation of TV watching: Hulu

Television has essentially been improving and developing since its inception. Tailoring programming and medium to the needs and wants of consumers has long been the mission of the industry. In the fast-paced world that we live in and use technology in, television has been incredibly accommodating to the needs of users to access television programs for their education and for their entertainment at their convenience.

Between busy work and family lives, consumers can’t always make it to their TV to watch their favorite television show. Consumers are paying for the TV service regardless if they use it. Now, consumers don’t have to speed home or change their lifestyle to watch a show. It’s now available on-line, and at many times for no additional fee, through websites such as Hulu.

Hulu’s marketing slogan reads “Watch your favorites. Anytime. For free.” (hulu.com) When comparing Hulu to standard television services, Hulu reigns as far as consumer demands go. The “watch your favorites” aspect appeals to the consumer majority. Consumer behavior experts pinpoint the TV programs that are in most demand for watching on-line and offer them on demand on Hulu. The “anytime” feature allows users to watch at anytime, especially if one cannot make the network airing.

The “for free” component is what’s most poignant in the industry. TV network companies put their content on Hulu because they know of its tremendous audience base and its potential for receiving portions of advertising fees. Hulu makes its money from fees and costs for corporate advertising. It’s advertising policy, from its website, reads: “Hulu’s extensive and ever-growing selection of premium content, along with our powerful distribution network including broad reach partners, niche communities and ubiquitous embeds, and our flexible targeting capabilities make Hulu an indispensable vehicle to reach your audience.”

Hulu is certainly here to stay in the TV industry: Its CEO, Jason Kilar, recently stated: consumers will be able to consume content where they want, when they want, how they want (http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2010/11/hulu_ceo_jason_kilar_on_the_future_of_tv_advertising_online.html).

Six Keys
1. Product: Television programming
2. Technology: Television, Internet, Computer
3. Industry: Television (education/entertainment) industry
4. Money: The control of the money in the industry is shifting from TV service providers to on-line TV providers. Advertisers are readjusting their spending to reach the largest target audience, which is appearing to shift towards on-line (for example, Hulu).
5. Law: Copyright laws and sharing will come into play as the industry shifts.
6. Audiences: The next generation is a more on-demand generation wanting their TV programs cheap and when they want them.

Obviously, watching programs on television when it’s airing isn’t going away anytime soon. However, it appears that on-line program viewing may no longer be seen as an alternative to watching but rather the new primary channel for some in such a fast-paced, in demand world. Advertisers will be sure to keep Hulu costs for users low through their tremendous spending to target those large audiences.

Ch. 9 Social Media : The influence of Facebook

What started as a young Harvard college students project to create a social network connecting just college students has now become one of the largest privately owned companies in the world. Facebook now holds roughly 500 million active users around the world which is about one in every fourteen people. How has this successful, social media network changed the way many of us communicate today? I for one know that I at least check my facebook account multiple times a day and often find myself communicating with my friends and family through wall posts and messages ( all functions of Facebook.com) more often than through my cell phone. Is it possible that this great expansion of social network users will eventually influence people around the world to communicate primarily with networks such as facebook rather than using a cell phone as a primary medium of communication? I do believe that the development of these social networks on cell phones through smart phone apps could possibly influence the way we communicate in the future in favor of social network sites. This is because the only reason that I could possibly prefer talking to my friends would be through texting because i could take my cell phone anywhere with me and it is far more convenient then going from computer to computer. However if social media networks find a way to dominate mobile communication devices, websites such as Facebook could potentially take over industries such as the cellular phone industry and change the way we communicate today. The success of Facebook  would certainly suggest the strong possibility that social media networks become the primary medium for communication in the future.

Six Keys

1. Product: Cell Phones, Mobile devices

2. Technology: Social media networks, computers

3. Industry : Facebook, Verizon Wireless

4. Money: Facebook is free for users to join, advertisers pay facebook for any ads featured on the website.

5. Law and Gov. : There are no issues of law infringement, however there are cases where Facebook Inc. has been charged with invasion of privacy. These charges were dropped.

6. Audiences: Facebook users and those who primarily communicate through texting are generally in the same target segment for Facebook inc. and Verizon. That specific audience consists mainly of young adults or college students.

August Wright

Chapter 11: How has MTV changed the music industry?

First, the increasing access to cable and satellite television produced a direct threat to the programming dominance the three networks had enjoyed since television becoming a mass medium. MTV was added as a cable channel in 1981, and showed its first music video “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Music television has dramatically changed the way music is promoted, and has introduced new innovative programs such as: The Real World, Jackass, and The Osbournes. Since the introduction of MTV, critics claim that there is a large emphasis on the actual video, and not the quality of the music. However, the music-video format has been successful, and various other music channels devoted to a specific genre have emerged. MTV was a pioneer in a sea of change in the programming industry. Initially, network television followed a limited, one-size fits all approach. However, cable or satellite television introduced a fragmented and specialized programming approach. Channels devoted to travel, food, cars are now common on cable or satellite television. In conclusion, music television has changed the way music is promoted. An artist’s success is no longer based on the music produced. Instead, quality is measured by a combination of music and video. Therefore, MTV, or music television controls how an artist is promoted and the success rate. This promotion is dictated by the artist’s overall presentation of their product: music, video, ect.

Mitch Bailey

Motion Pictures Go Digital

Movies have been making a dramatic change in the way that we as the audience view them.  Movies are changing in the way that we watch them with great special effects that they can now offer.  These special effects make the viewing experience for an audience something that has never been seen before.  USing digital technology visual effects can be created that surpass anything that has ever been seen in the past.  with new computers and cameras that are used in the movie industry, animated characters such as in the movie Beowulf can seem very realistic.  Going digital not only helps the viewer by offering a better viewing experience but it saves money for the studios as it is cheaper to make and duplicate copies.  Although digital movies are a wave of what is to come, they are slowly being brought about.  This is because producers are worried about there movies being watched on swapping services such as napster and also that not enough movie theaters have put in digital projection cameras.  As for today 3-D pictures are all over the place and I believe that with in the next couple years the only movies that will be seen will be in 3-D.  I believe that this is true because technology keeps updating everyday and people want to continue to move along with it.  It may take sometime for everyone to make the switch to only watching 3-D movies but if you do some research then you will find that they are already making 3-D televisions.  That just shows that anything is possible in the movie industry today.  I believe it is only a matter of time until 3-D dvd players are made and then you can enjoy the experience at home.

6 Keys

1. Product- 3-D movies

2. Technology- movies, tv

3. Industry- Movie

4. Money- Person buying to watch

5. Law/Government- The use of satellites

6. Audience- Everyone watching

 

Michael Petrone

Ch. 5 blog Terrestrial based broadcasted radio vs. satellite radio

The emergence of the broadcasting radio is one that is still impacting one of the largest mediums of communication. Broadcasting allowed for communication from one location to numerous locations, as opposed to only being able to communicate from one location to another. With this development came the development of radio stations such as Rochester’s 98 pxy which plays a top 40 hit list every week on a terrestrial based broadcasting system. This means that the signals from a land based origin are able to be broadcasted in a very numerous and wide spectrum (respective to whatever area) from one digital signal. However the latest radio technology is satellite radio which offers the same digital signal, yet spread out to different locations on an even greater spectrum than that of terrestrial based broadcasting. The question is, will sattelite radio eventually out last terrestrial based radio? I believe that satellite radio will eventually outlast terrestrial based radio just because of the fact that in order to use the satellite radio services you must subscribe to a company who provides the service such as Sirius or XM radio and you must choose what radio stations or genre’s that you want to pay for and listen to in your package. This enables for a more hands on and friendly user interface because it allows for customer customization and therefore can ensure customer satisfaction. John Pavlik and Shawn McIntosh’s text book titled “Converging Media” they comment on the popularity of the industry in satellite radio through an example saying, ” It is still unclear whether Sirius or XM satellite radio will survive amd if it does not whether another satellite radio service will take its place and try to pick up were it left off”(157). Therefore it is still relatively too soon to decide whether or not the industry of satellite based radio will die out or not, however I still believe that it is bound to outlast the land based radio broadcasting simply because of how much wider the spectrum satellite radio offers.

Six Keys:

1. Product: Satellite and terrestrial based radio

2. Technology: broadcasting stations

3. Industry: Sirius and XM satellite radio

4. Money: Subscription fees

5. Law: Less restrictions on satellite radio because of subscription fee

6. Audiences: all ages

August Wright

Ch. 5 Blog — The Control of the Music Industry’s Major Labels

It’s the dream of many music stars to be a big name artist with one of the major recording labels backing them, but what does that actually mean for the industry. The music industry is divided between the four major labels, controlling the majority of the industry’s money, and small, independent labels controlling the majority of the industry’s actual albums. At first glance, this concept looks like a type-o. How could the independent labels produce more music from more artists, but the four major labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, EMI, and the Warner Music Group, produce roughly 80% of the money in sales? The answer lies in the major label’s ability to market and reach large quantities of audiences compared to the smaller, independent labels with limited resources. “Major labels also have the advantage of having more money and better distribution networks than independent labels, which gives them a better ability to meet a demand for their product as they see it growing” (http://hs.riverdale.k12.or.us/~hfinnert/exhib_06/davidp/paper4.html). Because of their size and power, the four major labels also have reach into various other forms of media, including radio, TV, and news that they can use as channels to reach potential markets for distributing the music of the artists they represent. The major labels have strong control over the market, which limits the scope of music experiences and diversity. Also, “major labels have also been slow to utilize the marketing potential of the internet” (http://hs.riverdale.k12.or.us/~hfinnert/exhib_06/davidp/paper4.html). Both of these flaws are found less in independent labels, which are founded on diversity and networking.

The Six Keys of Major Labels in the Music Industry:
1. Product: Representation of artists in the music industry
2. Technology/Platform: Internet, radio, music recording
3. Industry: Music
4. Money: The major labels represent only about 44% of potential artists/music, but control 80% of the money in the industry, which creates an imbalance in the industry (as compared to independent labels).
5. Law/Government: Monopolization/control of industry may eventually come into play in the law sector.
6. Audience: Music is widespread across audiences. Different interests and likes/dislikes in the industry are less diversified in major label production. Less artists are represented by major labels, but more people hear major label produced work, because of their ability to reach larger audiences.

Major labels in the music industry can and do reach large audiences because of their size and power and control of money, but represent a much less diversity and base of artists than independent labels. In most industries though, money talks, so it will be interesting to see if more and more independent labels are absorbed by the four major labels as larger percentages of funds go to the major labels, or even if one of the major labels is absorbed by another. It will also be interesting to see if more money is found in major labels over time accompanied with an even larger decrease in artist representation, which will indicate an even slighter diversity in major label representation. Stay tuned…

Magazines and Their Functions

Magazines are something that people in the world read everyday.  A magazine should never be confused with a newspaper and there are three factors that distinguish the difference between them.  A magazine offers a more long-form writing.  This is instead of having shot clips of a story in a newspaper.  Another factor is published on a regular basis.  Magazines are published on a monthly basis and sometimes a weekly basis, on the other hand, Newspapers are published everyday for people to read.  Finally, magazines are published on a better paper than Newspapers are because they are meant to be kept longer.  In society Magazines are very important because they offer things that a newspaper cannot.  Magazines serve specific functions to society such as, surveillance, correlation, entertainment, and marketing goods and services.  Another way that magazines separate themselves form newspapers is how specific they are.  Magazines most of the time are related to one thing such as sports.  Magazines such as Sports Illustrated and ESPN the magazine are examples of this.  Newspapers however discuss many different topics throughout their daily news.  Magazines offer a wide range of stories not just related to sports.  There are magazines such as, People which talk about the starts in Hollywood and entertainment news.  Another reason that magazines can offer more than newspapers, has to do with the paper they are printed on.  Because the paper is better in magazines, it allows them to use pictures to attract the audience.  I think that magazines are very important to society and are needed so that people can obtain certain information that would not be printed in a newspaper.  I do not believe that magazines will ever be taken off the market and replaced with online material either.  Magazines offer the feeling of holding something in your hand and reading it which I believe is important to society.  The functions of a magazine such as longer stories are important because it allows the reader to obtain a full story instead of a few sentences that may have been printed in a newspaper.  Something of importance involving magazines is that they have a defined audience.  This is extremely important because it allows magazines to sell in stores.  Certain people want certain information about topics that interest them and magazines offer that to those readers.  The six keys can be applied in this situation.

Six Keys

1. Product- Magazines

2. Technology/Platform- Paper, Pictures

3. Industry- Sports, Fashion

4. Money- Subscription Fee

5. Law and Government- Tarnish Government reputation at times 

6. Audience- Readers to specific topics

Michael Petrone

Chapter 8: The History of Napster

File-sharing services using P2P networks attracted media attention in late 1999 prominently because of the popularity of a program called Napster. The program was created by Shawn Fanning, an eighteen-year-old Northeastern University student. Napster used central servers to compile information labeling what music files were available on a particular users’ computer. These users searched the Napster database, viewed the music which they intended to download, and then linked directly with that user to download the music. Napster simply facilitated the process. Record lables saw this as a threat, and in December 1999 they filed a lawsuit against Napster. In short, the suit stated that Napster facilitated massive piracy among its millions of users. In response Napster claimed that the program exposed emerging and unknown musicians to the general public, the copying of music filed should be considered “Fair use”, and that it should be protected under the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act. This federal action allows consumers to make digital recordings for their own personal use. However, the courts did not agree and they were instructed to shut down completely, but were granted a stay of that injunction for six months. Under an agreement, the program blocked access to any copyrighted songs it did not have a license agrreements for. Napster began negotiations with one of the record labels in the original suit: Bertelsmann AG’s BMG label. The conversation was targeted towards developing a fee-based service that allowed access to all music in the BMG archive. He invested about $85 million in Napster, but could not keep the struggling company afloat. Finally, in July 2001 the program was shut down. In May 2002, Bertelsmann bought Napster’s assets for $8 million. Napster declared Chapter 11 bancruptcy in June 2002, and the brand/logo were purchased at an auction by the music company Roxio. In September 2008, Napster was bought by Best Buy for 121 million, and operates as a paid music subscription service.