ADVERTISING AND NEW MEDIA; THE PHENOMENON OF DIGITAL CONVERGENCE

ADVERTISING AND NEW MEDIA;

THE PHENOMENON OF DIGITAL 

CONVERGENCE 

Alexandra Starling 
41973143

Digital Media Convergence has ushered in a new era of technologies, created to accommodate multiple services on a single platform or device (Dywer, 2010), allowing many media formats which were previously incompatible to come together in unison, appealing to much wider consumer audiences. It is now becoming harder for advertising to reach the modern consumer, due to the increasing amount of time that consumers spend online, resulting in less time using traditional media (Sheehan and Morrison 2009). Television has been the traditional focus of advertisers and their revenue for decades, however with audiences moving away from television to more easily accessible content of the internet, companies are having to find ways to combat the avoidance of advertisements.  Agreeing with this point, Sheehan and Morrison observe the issue of online television, due to,

...consumers’ increasing use of pull technology such as TIVO and Web–based programs making it possible to avoid commercials aired in a traditional broadcast channel. Advertisers and content providers both seek ways to address this avoidance issue.

(Sheehan and Morrison, 2009)

Digital Media Convergence has affected the industry of advertising and new media to such a degree that companies are now harnessing advertising in a much broader spectrum, focusing their recent efforts towards online viral campaigns, search advertising, YouTube commercials and sponsorship of social networking giants such as Facebook and Twitter.

Social Media Bandwagon.
Source: Wordpress

Popular video media site YouTube has accommodated the advertising industry through the fruition of compulsory advertisements, inevitably played at the start of many videos, emulating television advertising, while still allowing viewers to watch the full video free of commercials.

Screen Shot of YouTube advertisement.

Social networking giant Facebook encapsulates the heightening success of advertising through converged media, by giving opportunity to a variety of companies to advertise as "sponsors"- allowing Facebook to continue to run as a free social networking site while still making a profit through the payment of various companies, allowing greater social and economic opportunity.

Screen Shot of Facebook Advertisements

The viral campaign is noted as one of the most recent evolutions in the world of advertising, with major companies such as Samsung, Coca-Cola and Volkswagen realising that for little expense on their part, they could manipulate consumers into marketing their product for them with viral marketing, hoping their audiences will “actively propel them through social networks” (Spurgeon, 2008). Through such viral methods, these companies successfully harnessed modern converged media and re-established a connection with their consumers, even harnessing the use of social media as a testing ground through basing advertising success on the number of “hits”, “likes” and comments. As discussed by Wessles,

Rather than falling into obsolescence, so-called ‘old media’ have embraced new media forms, such as interactive campaigns, to extend the scope and reach of their products.

(Wessles, 2011)

Consumers are less brand-loyal than ever before, paying more attention to the recommendation of friends and family than marketing messages. Thus, traditional advertising is failing in its purpose (Kemp and Kim, 2008). The success of a viral campaign is based on the audience sharing the video with friends. Often in traditional forms of advertising such as television ads, companies must ensure their advertisements are kept short and succinct, however the fruition of online viral campaigns has allowed companies more time and flexibility in the content of their videos. 

For many years, independent artists were hidden away in the shadows, as major companies sought out large advertising agencies to create and distribute high quality advertisements to a large television audience. As the popularity of the internet grew and audiences branched away from following television in its traditional form; the need for high quality video ads has lessened.  Companies are now choosing instead to recruit independent artists to create videos, giving opportunity for lo-fi videos to be distributed globally in a cost effective manner. This can be seen in Samsungs “Extreem Sheep Art” video, which generated a massive 17 million views on YouTube.

Accordingly, it must be noted that it is not only major companies that  are harnessing viral campaigns, with one of the most successfully executed examples being the YouTube based mini series “Will It Blend?” The BlendTec company creatively presents the power, strength and durability of the BlendTec blender by blending popular and expensive brands of electronic goods, creating interesting videos appealing to a wide variety of audiences.  With the use of humorous narration, catchy theme music, and somewhat dramatic content, the videos sky-rocketed in popularity and pushed the BlendTec company to gain more exposure than many other brands on the market. The BlendTec Youtube Channel boasts a massive 424,041 subscribers and a whopping 197,920,508 total video views across their 119 videos. 

Another way in which advertisers have converged with new media is the use of search advertising, in order to accommodate the "fragmented audiences of true niche content online" (Sheehan and Morrison 2009). As Battelle correctly observes,

the internet search engine is perhaps, the single most important development for informational advertising since the time of the first paid newspaper advertisements or the telephone directory. In less than a decade, search engines have transformed into new, globally significant and, increasingly, locally relevant advertising-funded media services and institutions.

(Battelle, 2005)

It appears as though there is no escape from the world of advertising, as search engines harness the information in the users search, providing relevant advertisements in the hopes that the ad will be of more interest to the consumer than a randomly generated, obscure commercial.  As Spurgeon states,

“Search advertisers target search terms rather than consumers.”

(Spurgeon, 2008)

Screen Shot of Google Advertisement

Even Okazaki and Barwise agree with such assumptions,

digital display advertising has grown—and continues to do so—but increasingly it has been overshadowed by search (dominated by Google) and online classified ads.

(Okazaki and Barwise, 2011)

Digital media convergence, though positive for many aspects of changing media, was in the past seen as having a negative impact on particular industries, taking audiences away from print newspapers, magazines and television, allowing media content to be more easily accessible online. Though the movement in the focus of the consumer was seen as somewhat detrimental to the advertising industry, a different light has been cast upon the change in commercial format. Now with the revolution of online viral campaigns, niche advertising and search advertisers, new opportunities have allowed companies to broadcast advertisements to a more relevant audience, with ads viewed upwards of millions of times a day in some instances. This shift in consumer focus has allowed room for companies to advertise more effectively and with more control, and has even revolutionized and created new formats and platforms for companies to successfully reach their target market and audience. 

References:

Battelle, J, (2005), The search. How Google and it's rivals rewrote the rules of business and transformed our culture. New York: Penguin Group.

Dwyer, T, (2010), Media Convergence, McGraw Hill, Berkshire


Kemp, MB and Kim, P, (2008), The Connected Agency, Forrester Research (2008; summarized in 
Morrissey 2008b) [online] Available at:
http://www.forrester.com/The+Connected+Agency/fulltext/-/E-RES43875?docid=43875


Sheehan, K. and Morrison, D. (2009) Beyond convergence: Confluence culture and the role of the advertising agency in a changing world. [online]. Available at: http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2239/2121


Shintaro Okazaki and Patrick Barwise, (2011): Has the Time Finally Come for the Medium of the Future? Research on Mobile Advertising. Journal of Advertising Research: Vol. 51, No. 1. Available at: http://www.warc.com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?MasterContentRef=a942cd09-d812-4d82-95c1-b375795397ca&q=convergence


Spurgeon, C. (2008) Advertising and New Media. Oxon: Routledge. pp.24-45.

Wessles, Emanuelle (2011) Convergence, 'Where were you when the monster hit? Media convergence, branded security citizenship and the transmedia phenomenon of Cloverfield'  vol 17 no 1 pp 69 - 83 [online] Available at:
http://con.sagepub.com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/content/17/1/69.full.pdf+html

Video

Will It Blend? - iPhone (2007)  Blendtec (released on July 10, 2007). Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI [Accessed 27th August 2012]. Standard YouTube License. 


Extreme Sheep LED Art (2009) BaaaStuds (released on March 16t, 2009).
Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw [Accessed 27th August 2012]. Standard YouTube License. 

Images

Social-media-bandwagon. [photograph] Available at: http://mconvergence.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/social-media-bandwagon1.jpg

Screen shots taken by Alexandra Paula Starling, (2012)

Digital Media Convergence: Advertising and Games. (43050735)

Digital Media Convergence: Advertising and Games

Introduction

Media has always been the forefront of how people get their information, from the town crier in the Middle Ages to the simple paperboy, there has always been a means for information to get around. However, with the introduction of the Digital Age the media has found itself having to re-think its designs to try and keep up with the changing pace. This is the concept known as Digital media convergence, where the old must try to accommodate the new to remain relevant in the fast pace of today's society. Advertising is no exception to this rule as they have to develop new techniques to reach a generation that have found ways around the usual methods. With advertisers arguing amongst themselves about the right way to attract audiences, it has come abundantly clear to all involved that they need to be open to the idea of new mediums that are outside of their comfort zone, one such medium comes in the form of Video Games (Spurgeon 2008)

The Market

Recent studies have been done into both Facebook and Smartphone usage as a means to determine what these two popular brands of social communication are being mostly used for and in both cases the answer is the same: Games. At the time of the research it was shown that within the 30 day testing period, the most downloaded app for smartphones with a percentage of 64% was in fact various forms of games (Nielsen, 2011). Facebook had similar results with 51% of the people who logged onto Facebook were using it to play the games and 69% of those were actually women, this equated to at least 56million people playing games on Facebook daily (O'Neill, 2010). The major driving force for this high success is the introduction of the casual game into society, the benefit of these games are the fact that they are so easily accessible through the mediums they are offered. Also due to the simplicity of the design compared to full production games the more popular titles are regularly updated and worked on. These market numbers as well as the numbers already seen by the top production games have really demonstrated how much interest in video games there is and this understanding has lead to a genre of games known as; Advergames.

                                   

Neil Patrick Harris attempting to play a real life Angry Birds (demonstrates the popularity of games)

Advergames

"Unlike movie or television placements, video games draw the user inside the entertainment medium. Instead of just seeing a brand or product, video game players can interact with it again and again (Lagario, 2007)."

This is the biggest draw that companies have when using a video game as the medium for their advertisements. The player is essentially presented with their brand for as long as they play the game and unlike a television commercial or a movie, games can average around 10 hours of gameplay. That is essentially exposure on a level 5 times greater than a movie. The most famous advergame would have to be the FIFA franchise where not only are you playing with the players who have the logos from their actual team sponsors but the side of the stadium is plastered with advertisement that have been put into the game by the developers much like advertisements used at a real football stadium. In 2010 studies were done with EA Sports in conjunction with Gatorade to find out how much their in-game advertisements had helped with the offline sales for the power drink company. The studies showed that the in-game advertisement actually increased household dollars spent on Gatorade by 24%, and offered a return investment of $3.11. (Nielsen, 2010). This is an outstanding result for the minimal amount of effort that would of went into the advertisements as opposed to running a television ad. 

Demonstration of in-game advertisement through Fifa.

eSports

“The eSports scene is one of the hottest trends in video, and is rapidly attracting the core 18-34 male demographic in greater numbers than any other medium or category,” (Lanzone, 2012)

Video games have been played in a  competitive fashion since their inception. The very first tournament was held by Atari in 1980 for Space Invaders, over 10,000 participants showed up to compete in a game where all you were trying to do was beat someones high score. Since then the ideals of "Professional Gaming" or "Electronic Sports" were founded and have been growing a following ever since. The concept was first big in South Korea where the game known as Starcraft, a real time strategy game where the sole purpose is to build an army and destroy your opponent, was seen on the level as soccer in terms of their athletes prowess. Television studios would broadcast the matches and the games got so much exposure that tournaments would be held and sponsored by leading brands such as Coca-Cola and LG in attempt to advertise to a demographic that they couldn't attract with the older forms of media.

 

Lim "SlayerS_Boxer" Yo Hwan doing an advertisement for a candy bar.

In the last two years the concept of Pro-Gaming has blown up in the west and this is due to the introduction of Major League Gaming (MLG) on to the scene. This event runs at least four times a year with millions of people tuning into the live streams over the weekends just to watch their favourite players play a video game. The sponsors of MLG will play their advertisements during the breaks between the games and if that is not enough the casters will constantly plug the companies throughout their casts just to make people aware of who is actually allowing the content to be produced. On top of these events Twitch.tv, the leading broadcasting network for video games, attracts over 16million people a month to their site just to watch the online tournaments and each stream plays ads throughout the broadcasting. Video games are becoming a prime link between companies and the youth of the world.

                                       

Intro to MLG in 2010, showcasing the professionalism of the event.

Reference List

Unit Readings

• Spurgeon, C 2008, Advertising and New Media, Routledge, Oxon.

Websites

• Lagario, 2007, What Will They Think Of Next, viewed 30 August 2012, < http://caseycid.wordpress.com/2010/03/>
• Lanzone, Jim 2012, Major League Gaming Announces Partnership with CBS, viewed 23 August 2012, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/04/17/major-league-gaming-announces-partnership-with-cbs/>
• Nielsen 2011, Play Before Work: Games Most Popular Mobile App Category in US, viewed 23 August 2012, <http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/games-most-popular-mobile-app-category/ >.
• Nielsen 2011, Video Game Advertising: Playing to Win...and Sell, viewed 28 August 2012, < http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/video-game-advertising-playing-to-win%E2%80%A6-and-sell/>.
• O'Neill, Nick 2012, 10 Mind Blowing Facebook Game Statistics, viewed 28 August 2012, < http://allfacebook.com/facebook-games-statistics_b19240>.

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>

  

The Rise of New Media And Advertising

The Rise of New Media And Advertising (student id 42662818)

Over the last decade there has been a huge growth in media technologies. People have moved from old media forms such as television, newspapers and radio to new media such as the internet. According to Dwyer (2010) this shift is a result of digital media convergence. Media owners in the twenty-first century look to use the new media forms to reach a larger market. The rise in new technology has resulted in a major decline in traditional media advertising as most industries have moved to the internet as a more effective platform from which to sell their product. Both Google and Facebook are prime examples of online advertising platforms. 

The term digital media convergence refers to the coming together of technologies for media consumption, production and distribution (Dwyer 2010). Jenkins (2006) believes the old media are not being replaced rather their functions have been altered with the introduction to new media forms .The main difference between media industries compared to the post 2000 is the number of delivery methods and media platforms. Prior to this era of new media, companies would specialize in particular forms of content and media and a result audience needed different skills to access these media forms. New media enable consumers to obtain multiple services on a single platform or device, for example a mobile phone which can perform the functions of a radio, television and a camera.  Burton (2005) suggests that new media hasn’t replaced old media but rather old media now has evolved and has grown to form new media.

With the rise in new media the internet has somewhat replaced print media (Lloyd A. Davidson 2005). This is primarily due to the ease in which an individual can gain access to information over the internet. The internet has become a tool not only for business purposes but for leisure. Unlike print media the internet reaches a larger audience through a single portal at a free or relatively cheap price. The clear benefits of digital media over print media is that of the fast pace in which we attain the information we need and the ease in which we can share information. With the introduction to e-books and e-journals print media has lost its value. A Kindle or an E- reader is an example of the convergence between old print media and new technologies. It enables individuals to open books, journals, news articles and any form of text as if it were a book.

In the recent years due to new media forms television viewing has declined. This is primarily due to the convergence of digital media. Now live television can be watched on mobile phones and computers. This enables individuals to watch what they want when they want. As a result audience participation varies. With the introduction to IPTV’s or Internet protocol televisions users are also able to pause live. The IPTV is also more interactive enabling its user to access the internet, shop online and play games.  With the rise of these technologies fewer businesses are willing to invest in advertising on television; rather they prefer to advertise online.

Advertising has changed dramatically as it has moved from old media forms to newer media. Due to a larger audience the internet had become a popular platform to advertise.  In the late 1900’s Yahoo! ( 2000) revealed their profit of $18 million in the year of 1998. Similarly Google over the years have proved themselves to be a top competitor with a sophisticated search engine (Spurgeon, 2008). Google enables its clients to bid for spaces and positions in their website by taking part in a web based auctions. (Spurgeon, 2008). Google began the process of auctioning for adverts in 2000 and by 2001 77 percent of Google’s income was obtained through advertising services. Google now is the biggest search engine. In 2006 Google had bought over YouTube $1.65 billion. Youtube is a video sharing website that enables individuals to upload and watch videos, listen to music and even share with other people. It brings media forms such as music videos and television into a single platform which is available to anyone with an internet connection. Youtube gets 94% of its revenue from advertising itself (Mrinal Todi 2008). Before every video on YouTube there is a 30 second advertisement.

Media has become a major part of our daily lives. More and more online users express their thoughts and desires on the web. Advertising industries look to engage with the audience regardless of the venue allowing users to participate in advertising (Sheehan ,2009). With the introduction to Web 2.0 and social networking, social media sites have proved to be a new very popular. Facebook in the sixth year of existence has taken over Google for the most visited site. It claims to have 500 million users whom half are online on any given day (Daniel Miller, 2010). With its high user population businesses tend invest in advertisements on Facebook pages. Facebook similarly to Google auction their spaces and positions. Depending on your Facebook activity Facebook customizes the ads it presents to you. Social networks are now available on mobile phones through apps.

In the recent times there have been significant changes in the technological industry. Technology has changed rapidly and with it so has society. Individuals are now able to access music, videos, radio and internet on a single device. New media has not replaced old forms of media rather old media has evolved and changed with technological advancements. These changes have come about due to several reasons such as ease of access, cost effectiveness and safety. With the high use of new media such as smart phones and the internet, advertising companies use new media as a platform for selling their product to a larger audience. As technology changed so did the expectations of society. Social Networks were prime targets for advertising companies to get a large market.

References:-

-Dwyer.T (2010), Media Convergence, McGraw Hill. Berkshire .pp1-23

-Sheehan, Kim and Morrison, Deborah (2009) Beyond convergence: Confluence culture and the role of the advertising agency in a changing world in  First Monday vol 14 no 3

-http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2239/2121

-Jenkins.H (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, NY University Press.

-D.Miller (2011) Tales of Facebook, Cambridge CB2 1UR Uk, Polity Press.

-Todi, Mrinal ‘Advertising on Social Networking Websites’, Wharton Research Scholars Journal, accessed on 30th September 2012, < http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=wharton_research_scholars

-Spurgeon, Christina, 2008, ‘From the ‘Long Tail’ to ‘Madison and Vine’, Advertising and New Media, Routledge, New York, International Journal of Toxicology Vol 1.

-Burton.G (2005) Media and society 2^nd Ed, NY Open University Press.

Davidson.A.L(2005) The End of Print: Digitization and Its Consequence−−Revolutionary Changes in Scholarly and Social Communication and in Scientific Research

Images-

Nemeroff’s Blog, Media Convergence 2010 [online image] Available at: http://anemeroff.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/mc1.jpg

The Gadget Website 2011 [online image] Available at : http://www.t3.com.au/files/2011/09/Amazon-Kindle1.jpg

Digital Buzz 2011 [online image] Available at : http://digitalbuzz.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Facebook-Statistics-Stats-Facts-2011-Small.jpg

Video-

EricssonTechnology IPTV:How Does It work? 2008  [online video], Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-2XyBD1ego

Media Convergence & Music Video Online (43054900)

Media Convergence & Music Video Online

As technology develops, media takes on new forms that build on what has come previously to some degree (Jenkins, 2006). The process by which media combines - be it film and audio, or phone and mp3-player – is called convergence (Dwyer, 2010). Digital media convergence has been indisputably illustrated by the migration of music video from dedicated music channels and shows on television (such as MTV and ABC’s Rage) to online streaming services such as YouTube. The music industry has faced it’s fair share of change due to media convergence; the transition from vinyl to tape, tape to CD and CD to iTunes, and running parallel to this last transformation has been the global trend to consume media online. If songs are to be bought and sourced from online music distributors, such as iTunes, then it makes sense that music video appears in an online digital form. YouTube since launching in 2005 has seen a staggering level of growth, due to its ease of access and low barrier for entry – anyone with a video camera, computer and internet-access can upload to YouTube. Many short films, advertisements, comedy acts and amateur videos have found success on the video-hosting service (going “viral”)(Hilderbrand, 2007), and other similar websites, so it comes to no surprise that the music industry has formed a strong presence on the site.

In an attempt to control and direct the market, major record labels have made the move to online music videos, with VEVO hosting and distributing the music of almost all “traditionally” major artists, with viewership in the hundreds of millions. By hosting all their content on one site, or adding “VEVO” to their YouTube channel, major labels are hoping to create a sense of brand familiarity, and control what gets advertised along the sides of these 100 Million viewer hits and introduce to consumers other artists signed by the same label. Changes in digital media technology has meant an increased demand by consumers to watch what they want to watch, when they want to watch it, rather than waiting for a countdown or particular artist to feature on MTV. Viewers can and do frequently view their favourite videos without having to wade through music they may not particularly like (such as in traditional televised media) and this has meant that a clip that might get a couple hundred thousand views on ABC’s Rage over a few weeks of airing, is now getting millions of views in a fraction of that time. The music industry is facing a formidable crisis of music piracy and file sharing (Hilderbrand, 2007), and so in comparison the transition to online music video has been largely beneficial for the industry. With many more views, and hyperlinks to purchase the music now on iTunes, record labels are in the best possible position given the circumstances.

While MTV may have shifted its focus to reality television and Rage is only on at inopportune times, the music video industry is quite clearly not dead (Sibilla, 2008). So in demand are music videos on sites like YouTube, that there has been success for music videos that lack a video element, that is, songs put to low-quality effects and scrolling lyrics, some featuring album artwork or concert footage. Taylor Swift’s latest single is in such high demand that her record label has put out a filler video where her music video will go (a cheap and quick animation of the lyrics), just to attend to those (currently 10 million) consumers who want to hear her music, before the release of an official music video (Brodsky, 2012).

This process has been picked up by many artists, showcasing songs that aren’t singles, or weren’t quite big enough to be given the budget for a music video. Amateurs will upload the song and put it to words, and companies like VEVO are noticing the trend and doing the same, just to maintain their viewership and to keep their audiences attention focused on their brand and artists. Below is a Katy Perry clip uploaded by her official VEVO channel with over 8 million views, which is just the audio and album art.

Whilst the transition of music video from televised media to online counterparts constitutes an example of digital media convergence, it is also worth noting that there are other types of media overlapping with music video, with the goal of supporting each other through synergy (Wessles, 2011). Blockbuster films have faced, albeit not quite so severely, the threat of online re-distribution and piracy, and have also made the migration to video-hosting services such as YouTube to promote their product. Jaden Smith teamed up with friend Justin Bieber to produce a song - “Never Say Never” - and accompanying music video, which featured excerpts from Jaden Smith’s 2010 film “The Karate Kid”, in an effort to promote the upcoming film, and in return was featured in the film to promote Justin Bieber and his music. The convergence of film and music video in an online form managed to reach over 333 million viewers to date, as one of the most popular music videos on YouTube.

Music video’s migration to a free online format has not necessarily had the negative effect the music industry had initially feared (Sibilla, 2008), as it has resulted in unprecedented popularity by many unheard artists, and an increased viewership that can be targeted and directed by what they choose to watch on YouTube. The industry has observed and learnt from the online community, and taken lessons in getting their product to the consumer, even if unfinished (such as the Taylor Swift clip); just to get the fans something to sink their teeth into. By placing their product online and in accessible format, the music industry has made a progressive step into a digitally convergent future, and will be able to manage this transitional period. Online music video enables media outlets to focus advertising and target fans of certain artists, in order to increase viewership of similar artists, only forwarding the industry and expanding their audience’s perspectives. MTV and ABC’s Rage were fantastic avenues for music video, but as technology enables the music and media industry to access vast libraries of streamed video, it can better accommodate its consumers and maintain the promotion of their various products and artists. Music video is a media type that is not fading out,  but making an important convergent step to the online realm, and as such is a perfect example of digital media convergence.

References:

Texts

Dwyer, T, 2010, Media Convergence, McGraw Hill, Berkshire

Hilderbrand, L, 2007, ‘YouTube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge’, Film Quarterly, Vol. 61

Jenkins, H, 2006, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, NY University Press

Sibilla, G, 2008, ‘It’s the End of Music Videos as We Know Them, But We Feel Fine: The Death and Resurrection of Music Videos in the YouTube Age’, in Keazor, H & Wübbena, T (ed.), Rewind, Play, Fast Forward: The Past, Present and Future of The Music Video, Transaction Publishers, London

Online Articles

Wessles, E, 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 http://con.sagepub.com/content/17/1/69.full.pdf+html

Brodsky, R, 2012, Sneak Peek: Taylor Swift Parties On In Her 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' Video!, MTV, http://buzzworthy.mtv.com/2012/08/29/taylor-swift-we-are-never-ever-getting-back-together-video-sneak-peek/


Video

Never Say Never ft. Jaden Smith, online video, Bieber, J., Smith, J. & The Island Def Jam Music Group, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5-P9v3F8w

The One That Got Away, online video, Perry, K. & Capitol Records, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePQe5E69INg

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Lyric Video), online video, Taylor Swift & Big Machine Records, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcMn_Eu-XTE