Digital Convergence: The Importance of Music Videos
Digital convergence can be defined as the coming together of technologies for media consumption, production, and distribution. This has increased attraction for consumers to share and experience digital media, as well as influence new audiences worldwide. Digital convergence merges old media such as radio, TV, and music, and new media such as the internet and YouTube to bring new possibilities for both mediums. The areas of digital convergence include media creation, media distribution, and media consumption. New developments of these three areas have led to self-producing and cheaper resources for content production, allowed content to be distributed easier and faster, and for content to provide interaction and feedback.
Because of the increase in popularity with online media, industries have transformed and altered the way they produce their media. Dwyer explains how the internet "will increasingly function as a common technology platform for convergence developments among the different media branches" (2010, p. 6). For example, the television industry now offers shows to be watch online instead of just strictly off the TV screen. This has also affected many other industries such as radio and music. The radio industry offers online streaming of music without the advertisements such as Spotify and Pandora, and the music industry sells and distributes albums and songs with a click of a button, such as iTunes and Amazon. But one of the biggest attributes to the music industry is music videos. The combination of music and image together on a screen has brought more diversity and creativity to the industry than ever before.
Neil Diamond sings the first song in movie history.
This new idea of combining an image with a song brought audience engagement from both sides of these mediums; fans from music come back to television, and fans from television come back to music. This importance of music videos has brought aspiring artists to life, as well as emphasised the image of popular musicians. The question to ask is has the convergence of digital media affected the way people feel about music videos? Has the importance of this medium dwindled?
“Offering an environment, an experience, a mood, ‘music videos have animated and set to music a tension basic to American youth culture: that feeling of instability which fuels the search to buy and belong’” (Aufderheide 2006, p. 57). The experience that music videos bring is unlike anything else. The way artists sounded was as crucial as the way they looked or performed. The first example of this importance is Michael Jackson. Everyone was well-aware of who Jackson was back to when he was a young boy in the Jackson 5. Jackson’s goal was not to have the audience know who he was; he already established that. His goal was to have people see him in a different light, and show that his image was unique.
Jackson’s music video, Thriller, brought people in to his world and revealed how talented of an artist he is. After the release of this video, he changed the way people thought and his actions are now tied with the music.
Jackson's iconic moves are intertwined with the song, Thriller.
Without the creation of music videos, Jackson may have not been able to show his true colors and illustrate that he is a changed artist from when he was young. This was before the digital age, would have Jackson’s music video been as successful in today’s world than back then? Aufderheide states that “Music videos are key to a musical group’s success. In the year 1984, only three of the top one hundred Billboard albums did not have a promotional video” (2006, p. 73-74).
This theory may not exist today; because of the start of online music videos, artists and bands now alter the way they make music videos to maintain an interested audience. Instead of simply turning the MTV channel on a television, consumers now have to search through online clutter to find an artist’s music video. This effect led to the difficulties in promoting music videos, and having them outshine through the clutter.
An example of the diminishing effect that music videos have on an audience today is the artist Carly Rae Jepsen. Jepsen’s song Call Me Maybe was released on February 22. 2012 and reached the screens of computers instantly (carlyraemusic.com, 2012). However it was not her official music video, it was the self-made music video created by Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Ashley Tisdale.
Call Me Maybe by Bieber, Gomez, and Tisdale.
Because of online music videos, anyone can simply create their own music video and upload it onto the World Wide Web. For Bieber, Gomez, and Tisdale, this is exactly what happened. Unlike Thriller, Jepsen’s official music video is not what her audience thinks of first; they are reminded of the self-made music video that Jepsen did not create. YouTube has diminished the importance of Jepsen's original music video and what the song is really about with the ability to create music videos.
Digital media convergence has brought influential aspects to the music video industry. Consumers can critique, give feedback, and share how they feel about music videos online for the world to see, as well as the artist that created it. However, according to Jenkins, this convergence puts artists and music industries at risk because it requires them to rethink old assumptions of how to consume media (2004, p. 37). As previously stated, music videos can be viewed in numerous ways such as television or online, and it is difficult for artists and producers to be able to pinpoint exactly who their consumers and what their reactions will be.
“Wherever they appear, music videos are distinctive because they imitate dreams or manufactured fantasies rather than the event structure of bounded programs” (Aufderheide 2006, p. 65). As much as the music industry is up-to-date on the new converging technologies and advances, music videos will never have as much of an impact on consumers. In today’s world, anyone can become a producer and music videos are often hidden in the mess of online consumption. Musicians have to discover other ways to influence their target audience because the importance of music videos has become nothing but a faint memory of the past.
References
Reader
- Dwyer, T., 2010. Media Convergence. McGaw Hill. Berkshire. pp 1-23.
Case Studies
- Aufderheide , P. , 2006. Music Videos: The Look of the Sound. Journal of Communication, 36/1, 57-78.
- Jenkins , H. , 2004. The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence . International Journal of Cultural Studies , 7/1 , 33-43.
- Rogin, M. , 1992. Blackface, White Noise: The Jewish Jazz Singer Finds His Voice. Critical Inquiry , 18/3, 417-453.
Independent Research
- CarlosPenaTV. (2012). "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen - Feat. Justin Bieber, Selena, Ashley Tisdale & MORE!. [Online Video]. 18 February. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsBsBU3vn6M. [Accessed: 29 August 2012].
- CraoLeroux. (2011). Extrait The Jazz Singer (1927). [Online Video]. 05 March. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j48T9BoKxlI. [Accessed: 29 August 2012].
- MichaelJacksonVEVO. (2009). Michael Jackson- Thriller. [Online Video]. 02 October. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA. [Accessed: 29 August 2012].
- The Official Carly Rae Jepsen Website . 2012. Music . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.carlyraemusic.com/. [Accessed 30 August 12].
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