MAS110 - 43032117,Joshua Shelley, Essay

                                                                     

Digital media convergence has ultimately fashioned music video’s to be observed online. The music video collaborates music and video on screen, it was where music and screen converged at a time were two relatively struggling industries needed to be re-invigorated, for both the industry and audience. It changed the idea of what artistry was and what we would expect, image became tied to the sound and created ideologies.

                                                                         The music video was produced and always viewed on television, screened by major entertainment corporations such as MTV and Rage. That is until the birth of the World Wide Web (The Internet), facilitating the convergence of technology, merging multiple media functions together. Jenkins states that, ‘convergence is primarily understood as a technological process bringing together multiple media functions within the same device’, (Jenkins, 2006) Thus, the music video became not just accessible by means of television however, available online viewable on computers, laptops and smart phones at the desire of the consumer. ‘Music video’s have now found a new life online’ (Austerlitz, 2007); the Internet has initiated the distribution of music videos from television to online content, assisted by social media. Facebook and YouTube have allowed music videos to be advertised to an extensive audience online and convergence has offered producers the opportunity to extend and sell artists locally and globally without advertising.

Productions of music videos are expensive and were made predominantly for the content of television, although this is slowly diminishing as the Internet has been converging with digital media, thus creating new media platforms. Among the increase of music videos becoming available online, MTV have began removing majority of music videos being broadcasted and Rage’s scheduled screening of music videos has been pushed to the early hours of the morning, evidently to early for consumers to view. That is until a new media phenomenon was launched in 2005, identified as Youtube. Youtube is a free broadcasting website which has supported the existence of music videos, creating a storage component online.  Hilderbrand says ‘YouTube has been called “viral”, “revolutionary’ and a “phenomenon.” Youtube has now become a broadcasting phenomenon, converging music videos to online content, creating a participatory culture. Music videos can now be produced and uploaded by professionals and amateurs.  Consumers not only consume but also engage, drawing the audience to the online content of music videos.  Music videos use to be about the money and the overall production, but with industry lacking finance and the growth of online music video, it has become all about the gimmick, spectacle and the best idea. 

Hilderbrand additionally states that, ‘YouTube has become the go to website for finding topical and obscure streaming video clips (Hilderbrand, 2007, pp.33). A recent real life example of this in relation to online music videos is a Korean singer named PSY (short for Psycho), who recently just went viral with his hit online song ‘Gangnam Style’. He is the latest musical sensation to disperse upon the world from South Korea, via a YouTube music video that has been viewed by over sixty million people in less than one month. PSY has created the ‘spectacle’; he sings in Korean and executes choreography based on horse riding. PSY is overweight and the choreography is comical. He is breaking the boundaries of what society see or say a music artist is. As in the case of Michael Jackson’s thriller music video, the choreography performed is tied to the sound and subsequently appropriated with the music video, and as result the same outcome will be present for PSY. The editor of Billboards, Bill Werde says, “Years ago we talked about this great democratizing force the Internet was going to be, and it would strip down nationalities and barriers and boundaries, and this is a great way of that happening." As a result of the music video being broadcasted on Youtube the video has been shared and viewed globally, across a diverse range of cultures and technological devices. Jenkins states that, ‘Convergence is a word that manages to describe technological, industrial, cultural and social changes,’(Jenkins, 2006). Furthermore through social media and the digital convergence of music videos now capable of being broadcasted and accessible online, the four convergence forms have been achieved.

Music videos online have furthermore created an ‘instantaneous virtue’, according to Hilderbrand. He says ‘the specific moments a viewer wants to see can now be searched and accessed without the hassles of watching live broadcast, making recordings or watching through exposition and commercial breaks. In the process, it fosters a new temporality of immediate gratification for audiences.’ (Hilderbrand, 2007). Implicating that consumers no longer have to or want to wait to view music videos, the convergence of digital media has created accessibility at the demand of the consumer, hence the declining display of music videos that are now available on television.

In conclusion, music videos were once only televised though now they are evidently sourced and viewed online. Digital convergence alongside with the Internet have made this probable, with much admiration to the website YouTube, which has now created a storage space for music videos to live online, and to be accessed when and wherever required by the consumer. If music videos were left only televised they could potentially become lost, as the production of new music videos being generated globally is increasing extensively. A diverse range of content is made available to the audience both amateur and professional, and we no longer have to wait to view our specific genre of favorite song we are waiting to listen and observe. This broadcasting phenomenon has thus allowed music artists and up coming artists, to reach out to fans and advertise themselves, locally and globally through media platforms made available by digital convergence.      

References

1. Jenkins, H, 2006, “Convergence Culture”, New York University Press.

2. Austerlitz, S, 2007, Money For Nothing : A History Of The Music Video, From The Beatles to the White Stripes

3. Hilderbrand, L, 2007, “Youtube: Where cultural memory and copyright converge” from Film Quaterly Vol 61, pp.31-33

4. IBNLive 2012, 'Uncool' Korean star Psy goes viral with 'Gangnam Style', viewed 20 August 2012, <http://ibnlive.in.com/news/gangnam-style-uncool-korean-star-psy-goes-viral/285865-45-75.html>

Images

• Convergence image - lc.wnlsd.ca 
• Computer covergence image - globaltimes.cn 
• Mtv logo - observer.com 
• Rage logo - immersionimagery.com 
• Facebook - honeynet.org 
• Music video on phone - microsoft.com 
• Youtube logo - theshannoncompany.com.au 
• Internet world - uk.queryclick.com 

Videos

• Gangnam style, PSY - http://youtu.be/9bZkp7q19f0

• Thriller, Michael Jackson  - http://youtu.be/jQ_ExkfcBao