Digital Media Convergence in Online Music Videos

The Phenomenon of Digital Media Convergence in Online Music Videos

In today's modern society, the way that we view and share media content is influenced by the technologies that we have on hand. If we look at the way that media content have been produced and targeted, we see a shift towards a digital platform. To understand this shift towards a digital platform, we have to look at the process of digital media convergence. The process of digital media convergence is the process whereby new technologies are accommodated by existing median and communication industries and cultures (Dwyer, 2009).

This shift towards a digital platform has greatly affected the way that we view music videos and this has been greatly been affected by technology. In the past, the only way to view music videos was to watch the music programs on television. In these modern times however, you can simple go on YouTube (www.youtube.com) and search for your favorite music video on your mobile or computer. This allows music producing companies and their artists to share their music all around the world. This larger audience is great for the big record companies. Instead of  playing the music on radio stations and/or TV, they can increase their audience by quite a large number through using multiple media platforms which include a digital media platform. They do however, as Huang et al. (2006) discusses, have to update their staff , production quality  compensation for multi-media production and the legitimacy of media convergence. The phenomenon known as digital media convergence has greatly affected the music industry since we can access most music videos that we want in an instant instead of watching music programs on TV and hoping that your favorite song will come on.

A very good example of digital media convergence is the website YouTube. This website is a video sharing website where you can view many different types of videos. It is also a great example of digital media convergence seeing how more and more annoying advertisements are popping up on YouTube. It has also helped create viral advertisement videos for different products such as Old Spice. The focus however, is on music videos. YouTube has been a great stepping stone for both the professional and the amateur/low budget musician. As Xu Cheng et al. (2007) discuss in their work, YouTube is a great stepping stone for people because of the social-networking aspect of the website.  Everyday, we see more and more music videos being uploaded by the different kinds of musicians there are. It has also begun streaming live music events such as the recent Lollapalooza. Whether you're a classical music person or a heavy metal person, YouTube will have music videos for you.

There are many professional musicians on YouTube who use this website to share their songs with their viewers. They can also post their song on YouTube in order to try and sell their song more and gain popularity all over the world. An example of a professional musician who used YouTube to share their song is the Korean rapper PSY. PSY is the artist behind the really popular song Gangnam Style This song is about the people of  the rich neighborhoods in South Korea and the way that they use their money. The original target audience was obviously Korean people (due to the fact that the song is in Korean) but after posting the song on YouTube, this song has reached almost 75million views from all around the world. This song is a prime example of digital media convergence. Instead of just playing this song in Korean television and radio, they exposed this song to a larger audience by posting the song on YouTube which has viewers from all around the world. (Wessles, 2009) mentions that media convergence can refer to various aspects of media synergy which involves multi-platform promotion and storytelling. This is very apparent in the way that PSY promoted his song seeing as how he gained a worldwide audience by posting it on YouTube.

There is also the increasingly popular amateur musicians who produce and distribute their great work through YouTube. One of the more known amateur musicians who produces and distribute their work through YouTube is known as Mystery Guitar Man (MGM). MGM is an amateur musician who creates different types of music videos as shown below.

These amateur/low budget musicians work on a digital media platform where they can just record themselves and post the video for a very low budget. If they were to try and do this on other types of platforms such as TV or radio, it would be quite harder for the musician to gain popularity since the audience will be smaller and they would have less contact with the audience since instead of just instantly commenting or liking the video, the viewers would have to write them a letter or. But on YouTube, the artist has direct contact with the viewers which allows for quick commenting on the direction that they're going on. The amateur musicians have had great success in their musical path due to the shift in media content. This shift towards digital media content have created a medium through which low budget and amateur musicians can post their work and have most of the world decide whether their work is good or not.

Digital media convergence has greatly affected the music industry. It doesn't really matter if you're an amateur/low budget musician or a professional musician with a giant record company behind you, the world is moving towards a more digital based platform for media content.  As seen in the examples above, the shift towards a more digital media platform allows the musician to display their work to a greater audience and in the end, more people who view their work earn them more money which drives the music industry.






References:

Course Reader

Dwyer, T. (2010) Media Convergence. McGraw Hill, Berkshire. pp. 1-23

Recommended Reading

Wessles, Emanuelle (2011) 'Where were you when the monster hit? Media convergence, branded security citizenship and the transmedia phenomenon of Cloverfield' Convergence, vol 17 no 1 pp. 69 - 83  

Own Research

Chen, X., Dale, C. and Liu, J. (2007) Understanding the Characteristics of Internet Short
Video Sharing: YouTube as a Case Study. pp. 1-9

Huang, E., Davison, K., Shreve, S.,Davis, T., Bettendorf, E.and Nair, A. (2006) Facing the Challenges of Convergence: Media Professional's Concerns of Working Across Media Platforms. Convergence, vol 12 no 1 pp. 83-98

Videos

 PSY - Gangnam Styke, Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0 <accessed on 30th August 2012>

Guitar: Bumble- Flight of the Bumblebee in Stop Motion , Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQXA7ErL708 <accessed on 30th August 2012>