Digital Media Convergence & Online Music Video

Digital Media Convergence

&
Online Music Video

Stephanie Colacino

The use of the music video and how the consumer accesses them has changed dramatically over time. Once people flocked to their television screens to see the latest video single broadcasted out to a nation. However, times have changed and the current trend is to sit down at a computer and watch the videos on YouTube. YouTube is one of the most popular websites on the Internet and is a fascinating phenomenon. One of the most notable effects of the website has been how the musicians, the music industry and Internet culture has converged into a new media consuming and prosuming culture. Media convergence refers to the processes where new technologies are merged with existing media industries and cultures (Dwyer, 2010), or more simply the coming together of things that had previously been separate (Meikle & Young, 2012). When music videos became popular online it involved a convergence of musical and participatory culture, technology and the music industry.

Traditionally when music videos were viewed on television shows like the ABC’s Countdown or the long lasting Rage there was no interaction between the broadcaster, producer and audience. Yet with the introduction of Web 2.0 this has changed. The music video has moved online. Now due to YouTube or other video database websites music videos are consumed on the Internet. Either through Vevo, record label channels or just their own personal channels on YouTube, musicians are able to post and share their music videos online to their fan bases. Their fans are then able to respond to it in the comments section or through videos. This is a form of Internet participatory culture. Audiences are now able to interact as opposed to merely being passive consumers. Convergence happens inside the brains of individual consumers and then through their social interactions with others (Jenkins, 2006). Once when media consumers were passive they had little to no contact with media producers and creators. However this has changed, seen throughout YouTube the prosumers or producer consumer has become a lasting trend. A YouTube prosumer is a user who has created, produced and uploaded original content. This is also known as user generated content.

A common trend on YouTube by prosumers is to post up videos of themselves covering famous songs or alternately a tutorial on how to play them. This subsection of the website is growing with many cover versions going viral being shared through Facebook, Twitter and other social media. For example the cover version of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Walk Off The Earth, in which the five-person band plays one guitar together has amassed over 133 700 000 views as of August 2012 after having being posted onto YouTube in January 2012. In fact “SomebodyThat I Used To Know” is one of the most covered songs on YouTube. On August 12^th 2012 Gotye responded to this by posting a remixed version of the song called “Somebodies: A YouTube Orchestra” on his channel. Having download various cover versions of his song Gotye combined them together by taking samples out of each and created a new version of “Somebody That I Used To Know” dedicated to and featuring his fans and their musical accomplishments. In the video description Gotye says thank you to everybody who responded to “Somebody That I Used To Know” via YouTube. This is an example of the interaction between musician and fan base, which before music videos converged with the Internet hadn’t been possible.

“Somebodies: A YouTube Orchestra” and the multitude of “Somebody That I Used To Know” covers raises the question of what exactly a music video is in the current digital media convergence era? Is it only content produced by music record labels featuring the musicians performing their music? Or does it include videos of cover versions and parodies, lyric videos, prosumers posting videos of original music content, lip-synching videos or even cats dancing to Lady Gaga? If a music video is simply defined as music being played as a soundtrack, companion or feature to a visual, then yes maybe they can be. Previously an audience knew what a music video was, being able to define it simply as a song accompanied by a memorable visual, paid for by a record label and then played on television to promote the song itself or the musicians who wrote it (Vernallis, 2010) Yet now because of the convergence between the music industry and the participatory culture of YouTube the definition of the music video has had to have been broadened. What was once a simple definition has become something incredibly hard to define. For example, Vernallis argues that the short clip entitled “haha baby” of a baby laughing at his father making noises off screen, is a music video. That it can be experienced as a music video, with the laughter the father and child being made becoming a singable melody (Vernallis, 2010). In fact, the clip has been remixed into a more recognisable musical form by taking the laughter and turning it into a form of melody layered with other sounds.

This change and widening in definition is one of the more notable impacts convergence has had on the music video and it’s industry. The participatory nature of YouTube and its user generated content means that the medium has not died out but instead has been brought new life online. And while it does live on in its traditional form through television shows like Rage it has evolved with the technological and social trends. It now encompasses a variety of video types, including cover versions, parodies or remixes. The prosumers have used the phenomenon of digital media convergence to create a more diverse and interactive music video industry.

Reference List

Readings:

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

- Jenkins, H. (2006) Convergence Culture, New York, New York University Press, pp 1-24.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Digital Media Convergence & Online Music Video

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