Digital Media Convergence: Music Video Online

Digital Media Convergence: Music Video Online

The term ‘digital media convergence’ has several meanings, however it ultimately refers to the combination of industrial, cultural, technological and social media processes.

“Digital media convergence is the process by which media forms, industries, cultures and practices of use have merged. It is the coming together and combining of various technological, industrial and cultural processes.” (Dwyer T 2010)

Convergent media was brought forth as the necessary progressive step forward for the media world as it was viewed that readers, audiences and advertisers were leaving the traditional forms of media such as television, radio and newspapers, and migrating online. This change in social behaviours required powerful media companies to re-evaluate the way in which they had previously been offering their product to the public. It sparked the creation of new technologies being formed through the use of existing media and communication industries and cultures.

Digital media is “the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behaviour of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want.” (Jenkins, 2006)

This media revolution can be best viewed through the transformation of music videos – all beginning with move from traditional analogue to digital media. The phenomenon of digital media convergence created issues for the music industry as it attempted to market a product that was becoming freely accessible to consumers online. However, that’s not to say that Internet and the convergence of digital media have killed music video.

 

In order to comprehend the effects that digital media convergence has had on the music video industry, one must look back in history to the beginning of audiovisual material and how companies produced such a thing to begin with. 

Media industries were once separated, specializing in one particular form of media, may it be just audio or just visual. Audiences needed different technologies to access each form of media. However, the two mediums of production have been inextricably joined since the introduction of the first “talkie” – The Jazz Singer in 1927.

"Media convergence has instigated social and cultural change, shifting the cultural paradigm, and the convergence of the audio and the visual has been irrevocably changed" (Phelan, 1993)

For decades, music video has been an integral element of music distribution and was used as a marketing technique to promote an artist and boost sales. Countdown was one of the first programs that addressed this void in media and initiated industrial convergence. The Australian program was brought to television during the 1970’s and demonstrated one of the first forms of music and video coming together – subsequently drawing a huge veiwership following of young Australians.

 Countdown Top 10 in 1980 - with host commenting on each

song and Molly Meldrum live with the Village People.

Countdown sparked the beginning of a new music video era, with more music video programs developing such as ABC’s Rage in 1991. Rage became renowned for providing specialist commentary to music using ‘Guest Programmers’, broadcasting unlimited video art, and it’s specialised segments such as The Rage Trap and Rage Goes Retro. Following Rage came MTV (Music Television) and subsequently the rise of the online video site Youtube, which we will get to shortly.

Before we can analyse the world of Youtube, a website that Burgess and Green describe as a simultaneously 

"high-volume website, a broadcast platform, a media archive, and a social network", 

we need to understand why it became so greatly popular and what drew audiences away from the music video programming on televisions and onto their computers. It simply has to do with the “on-demand” idea that was coming to light through the advancements of digital media convergence.

“In the last five to six years, we have witnessed the emergence of a huge amount of ‘on demand’ video services on the Internet, specific ‘Internet TV’ Channels, and ‘time-shifted’ versions of parts of programming from traditional broadcasters.” (Henton & Tadayoni, 2008)

With audiences enjoying freedom of being able to access any music video they liked, whenever they liked, television programs like MTV became redundant. While the popularity of music video television has declined, with MTV broadcasting more reality television shows than music videos, the form however hasn’t completely disappeared.

“Music video were once the most interesting things that happened in the media landscape in the 80s and 90s. However, the golden age of the music video is long gone and the Internet has caused the end of music videos as we know them. But music videos are born again, in a new form, and in a new space, Youtube” (Sibilla, 2010).

As Hilderbrand (2007) noted, television – computer convergence has been a long-expected prospect, despite the hype surrounding the speed of Youtube’s success. All types of artists today take advantage of what Youtube offers to gain exposure, promote themselves, and harness a fan base. Established artists such as Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Pitbull use the platform to distribute their high-quality, over-produced music videos to accompany their latest single that would be previously released worldwide and already well-known.

Beyonce's movie like video clip to her song Run The World (Girls)

demonstrating the type of big-budget, high-quality music video's

that well-established artists are debuting on Youtube.

Some may wonder why well-established artists bother putting thousands or even millions of dollars into making music videos only to put them on Youtube in a low-resolution format subjected to illegal duplication. The reality is that music video’s allow listeners to develop a connection to the music and the band members through the story-telling and visuals that support the song, ultimately attracting more fans.

Along side the established artist, Youtube is home to aspiring and independent artists with limited funds distributing their music solely online. In this sense, digital media convergence has had a positive effect on the music industry, allowing little-known artists to promote themselves and generate a fan base without the cost of producing and airing a high-quality music video internationally. West Australian based band San Cisco are an example of an independent band that have generated a small fan base and hype with their music video and audio track titled “Awkward”. The video is simple yet clever, ironically converging elements of social media with iPhone messages appearing like speech bubbles between the two lead singers.

Music video's were thought to be dead due to the impact of digital media convergence on the industry. However, in reality digital media convergence has opened up the music video industry to the public rather than limiting it to media conglomerates with the funds to develop video clips.

Books and Articles:

Burgess. J & Green. J (2009) 'Youtube: Online Video and Participatory Culture' Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies. Polity Press

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

Henton. A & Tadayoni. R (2008) ‘The impact of the Internet on media technology, platform and innovation’ in L. Kung, R. Picard and R. Towse (eds) The Internet and the Mass Media. London: Sage.

Hilderbrand. L (2007) ‘Youtube: Where cultural memory and copyright converge’ Film Quarterly. Vol 61

Jenkins. H (2006) 'Introduction: Worship at the Altar of Convergence' Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide. New York University Press

Phelan. P (1993) Unmarked: The politics of performance. London: Routledge

Sibilla. G (2010) It's the End of Music Videos as we know them (but we feel fine). Transaction Publishers, pp 225-229

Websites:

The Jazz Singer (2012) Wikipedia. At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jazz_Singer [Accessed on 27 August]

Countdown Memories. At http://www.countdownmemories.com/beginning_index.html [Accessed on 27 August]

Rage (2010) ABC. At http://www.abc.net.au/rage/ [Accessed on 28 August]

MTV. At http://www.mtv.com.au/ [Accessed on 28 August]

Youtube. At http://www.youtube.com/ [Accessed on 28 August]

San Cisco, Triple J Unearthed. At http://www.triplejunearthed.com/SanCisco [Accessed on 29 August]

Pictures:

TechnoLovers (2010) Ipod Nano. At http://www.the-picturefixer.com/2010/09/enjoy-the-quality-of-ipod-nano/ [Accessed on 28 August] 

Redscroll Records (2011) Records. At https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6buJKeoaBfTeyt6f6GlbdYdy3WGQdysDBcgV6mwdo23SCxwqm0PCD6tulJAaZRfC3NPEb566oMZOkNDB4JMOQzfc1GwB7Ykiy2i55f1mqtTcCmzuGyJpP8ywVQbP1emX2HK0Oc266Ywk/s1600/records.jpg [Accessed on 28 August]

Youtube (2010) Youtube Logo. At http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/geography/_files/images/site/youtube-logo.jpg [Accessed on 29 August]

The Narrow Road (2012) MTV Logo. At http://followthenarrowroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/mtv_logo.jpg [Accessed on 29 August]

Videos:

OzTVHeritage (2011) Countdown Top 10 1980. At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-2uTSQLQsg [Accessed on 28 August]

JustinBieberVEVO (2012) Justin Bieber - Boyfriend. At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GuqB1BQVr4 [Accessed on 28 August]

LadyGagaVEVO (2009) Lady Gaga - Bad Romance. At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I [Accessed on 28 August]

RihannaVEVO (2011) Rihanna - We Found Love ft. Calvin Harris. At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg [Accessed on 28 August]

PitbullVEVO (2011) Pitbull - Give Me Everything ft. Neyo, Afrojack, Nayer. At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPo5wWmKEaI [Accessed on 28 August]

BeyonceVEVO (2011) Beyonce - Run the World (Girls). At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U [Accessed on 28 August]

SanCiscoMusic (2011) San Cisco - Awkward. At http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukNOaKeUEQY [Accessed on 29 August]