Digital Media Convergence in Relation to Online Music Video

    Digital Media Convergence

in Relation to Online Music Video

In the past, telephone is only a tool to make phone call. Then, mobile phone was developed and became the one of the beginnings of media convergence as it could not only make phone call but also send messages. Now, mobile phone allows users to take photos, access the internet, play games, listen to music and so on, and it has become a device which perfectly reflects what people called “digital media convergence”. As Dwyer (2010) has stated, “media convergence is the process whereby new technologies are accommodated by existing media and communication industries and cultures”. The phenomenon of digital media convergence has affected or even shifted the whole media industry, including music industry. The purpose of this essay is to discuss this phenomenon in relation to online music video and argue that the structure and format of music industry may have changed rather than that music video is dead.

Music video simply refers to the combination of music and image on screen. It was generally reckoned that music video has originated from Britain as a tool for pop promotion and then has been developed in the United States as a television phenomenon with the launch of MTV (Music Television) on 1 August, 1981. The first cable music station was emerged then (Wollen, 1986). The song plus the singer, has formed a new popular music model, which brought television fans to music and brought music fans to television. However, as long as the emergence of digital media convergence, music video television was overtaken by online delivery. Music video was once made only to make money, as the loss of its consumers, music industry did not have enough money for music video any more, music video therefore was gradually fading away from television. That is why that music video is considered dead.       

  

Just as its name implies, online music video can be generally viewed on internet. As Hilderbrand (2007) said, “television – computer convergence has been a long-time prospect”. The convergence of television and computer has finally become another reflection of digital media convergence. Online music video offers the flexibility and repeatability that television cannot afford. Users can watch any music videos at anytime and without limitation of times. The search engine can help viewers find the certain music video quickly via key words, and it usually also provides relevant videos, so that viewers will not have to do multiple searching. 

Take YouTube as an example, as the best-known online video site, YouTube has probably become the first place that most users search for content (Hilderbrand, 2007). YouTube provides variety of clips include TV shows, sports, news, self-documentations, stunts and of course most current music videos. A range of these online music videos still come from some music companies which represent their artists through uploading their music videos on YouTube, such as “Photo Finish Records”. As Jenkins (2006) claimed, “old media never die, what dies are simply the tools we use to access media content”. What has changed is simply the platform – moving from television to internet. 

            


On the other hand, YouTube is not a platform only for those online music videos which are transferred from industrial made music videos, it also gives opportunities for audience to create their own works and upload them to the site (Meikle & Young, 2012). For example, the video below is about a cover of “call me maybe” performed by US soldiers and is quite popular on YouTube these days. They have created their own music video of the song “call me maybe” and have attracted a large number of audiences. It thus can be seen that the structure of music industry is actually changing or shifting by the phenomenon that consumers become producers under the context of digital media convergence.




                            

As long as the development of digital technologies, online music video is no longer limited to computers, but also can be watched through other smart electronic devices, such as iPhone, iPod, ipad and so on. As Dwyer (2010) has mentioned in his work, a definition of convergence used by the UK’s convergent media regulator is that the ability of people to use different services on one platform or use given service on different platforms. Online music video, as a given service, can be accessed on multiple devices and exactly matches this description of convergence. YouTube video can be undoubtedly watched on these smart electronic devices since YouTube is a site for online music video originally. Additionally, music video television has also taken a place in this convergence. For instance, Rage is originally an all-night music video program broadcast on ABC1 in Australia since 1987. It still exists on television as one of the few music video programs (As this essay has mentioned before, music video television is fading away, however is not completely dead). Rage is not just a music video program on television, it also has an official website where allows audience to watch music video online and check the playlists; it can also be accessed on mobile devices such as iPhone and iPod now as a mobile application. Again, it represents the change of the industry – music television itself is changing forms to cater to digital media convergence.   

In summary, digital media convergence has changed the media industry by changing the ways that people access or even create media content. Music video, as a type of media content, was once considered dead due to the tendency of online music video, nevertheless it was explained in this essay that music video is simply moving online and changing its format through two examples – YouTube and Rage. Under the phenomenon of digital media convergence, music video has been endowed with a new meaning and online music video has formed a new popular culture.    

Reference

Text

Burgess, J & Green, J 2009, Youtube: Online Video and Participatory Culture, Polity Press.

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

Hilderbrand, L 2007, ‘Youtube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge', Film Quarterly, Vol 61, pp 48-57. 

Jenkins, H 2006, Convergence Culture, New York University Press.

Meikle, G & Young, S 2012, Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life, Palgrave Macmillan.

WOLLEN, P 1986, ‘Ways of thinking about music video (and post-modernism)’, Critical Quarterly, 28: 167–170.

Image

Flcc Connects, 2012, MTV Logo, [online image] Available at: <http://flccconnects.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/mtv-coming-to-flcc.html>, [Accessed 28 August 2012].

John Charter, 2011, Rage Logo, [online image] Available at:

<http://www.johncharter.com/updates/memory-layne-abc-rage/>, [Accessed 27 August 2012].

Unknown, 2010, YouTube Logo, [online image] Available at: <http://www.one.com/en/web-hosting-news/web-hosting/youtube-makes-website-readjustment$19703655.htm>, [Accessed 27 August 2012].

Video

Photo Finish Records, 2008, 3OH! – DON’T TRUST ME [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO], [online video], Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdB3Oyd5HtU>, [Accessed 27 August 2012].

TheChuckfive, 2012, Call Me Maybe Cover - Kunar, Afghanistan - US Army Soldiers, [online video], Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EjLbVmXIqg>, [Accessed 27 August 2012].