Digital Piracy

Obviously through the creation of home music producing and editing software, many questions are raised over the security of artists' and record labels' rights.

In the USA, a legislation was formed to counteract this problem, chapter 10 of the United States' Copyright Law, which states:

-the first government technology mandate in the copyright law, requiring all digital audio recording devices sold, manufactured or imported in the US (excluding professional audio equipment) to include the Serial Copy Management System (SCMS).
-the first anti-circumvention provisions in copyright law, later applied on a much broader scale by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
-the first government-imposed royalties on devices and media, a portion of which is paid to the record industry directly.

The fact is, with the technology now available to us as an audience, we have the ability to take pre-existing records, deconstruct them and then publish them as our own, without going through the usual routes for covering songs. Obviously, this is a huge concern for the music industry and poses as yet another threat to the list provoked by the wave of new technology entering our media ecosystem.

Audience Experience

Whereas a few years audiences had to take what they were given and be grateful for this, now new media technologies' focus is on the convenience of the consumer. The MP3 player and other software that goes with it enables the audience to create playlists, listen to the portable device whenever they wish, add videos to the music that they are listening etc. This means that the audience is getting much more of a personalised experience.

With programmes like "iTunes", audiences can now download only the exact songs they want to listen to, instead of having to go out and buy entire albums. This means that record companies are now focusing more on the sales of singles rather than albums, as this is where they are likely to make most money. Now, the entirety of a person's musical experience can be formulated over the internet: they see singles advertised through MSN and other sites, listen to them and watch the videos over sites like Youtube, and download whatever they wish over iTunes. They can even discuss all of this in music forums. Everything that they do is designed tobe therefore for their convenience and be only what they want it to be.

Part of this started with the 'MP3 revolution' when the first iPods came onto the market. These then became an essential to the media ecosystem, replacing the portable CD player as smaller, with no jumping of music, and no having to carry around CDs.

Now more and more new media technologies are being converged, and this includes musical ones. Instead of buying a phone and an MP3 player, why not buy a phone with an MP3 player on it that you can plug into the internet and download whatever you like onto it? And it even comes with earphones! Oh, an don't forget the digital camera.

Not only has this become possible in the passed few years, but the amount of choice available to audiences is incredible, as every company wants a slice of the technological pie, e.g. Apple has the iPod, but Samsung have the equivalent. Each of these focus on the idea that audiences are unique individuals with their own needs, so the ability to create playlists, download what they like, and even choose what colour their MP3 player is is very important.

Gorillaz

Gorillaz is a virtual band formed in 1998 by Damon Albarn of Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl. The band is composed of four animated band members: 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel. The band's music is a collaboration between various musicians with Albarn being the only permanent member. Their style is broadly alternative rock, but with a large number of other influences including hip hop, electronica, dub and pop.

The reason the band is essential to the understanding of new technologies' influences on our society is that, essentially, you could look at it like second life. Two men have made millions by becoming four made-up characters. At live perfomances they use hollographic images instead of appearing themselves of these characters, never breaking the pretence. This ties in with the alias' that we as a society are creating for ourselves, and audiences love this "futuristic" and original approach to music and the combination between music, art and technology.

The band is an alternative example of the convergence happening between the different forms of merdia. Rather than a item of new technology, like the MP4, it is a band made up of the convergence of different new technologies, like the way animation is created, music produced and advertised and performed. It goes against the traditional conventions of elite persons created in the music industry as well, as it is entirely fictional with a range of non-permanent artists playing the music and, whereas as a society we are focused one representation, this band has taken technology to be able to create their own representation of themselves and their characters.

Production

Thanks to new technologies, it has become much easier and quicker for both artists and amateurs to record their music.

Traditionally, record producers have numerous roles in the recording process. among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. Their roles can be compared to those of film directors. Usually, there is also a whole team of people involved in these processes, which take days to complete to the standard of album tracks.

Today however, there is a huge amount of high-quality, low-priced software that has been designed to enable amateurs at home to be able to produce their own music. These programmes include Cubase, Garageband and Logic. This means that, rather than a large team of professionals, the effect can be created by just one producer at home. This is contributed to the rise in emerging artists; they create the music at home, and the put it immediately on Myspace. However, this does then produce copyright issues if they don't first gain rights before publishing. The combination of the internet, where creativity is a two-way flow, and home software like Cubase change the way in which the music industry functions.

The way in which music production has changed also applies to the types of music being professionally recorded. Thanks to the advent of portable recording devices, live music recording has become much more cost-effective and therefore more often are tracks recorded live rather than plugged in and layered up, also meaning that a lot of time is also saved.

Pitchfork

More and more artists are being "discovered" over the internet. Whether this is all just a marketing ploy by record companies or not, this is how they gain popularity. To go along with this, the new critics of these artists are expressing their views, not in magazines like Rolling Stone, but over the internet as well.

Pitchfork is one of these sites, started up by 19-year-old Ryan Schreiber, who is now in his thirties, the site focuses on new artists with an already-established fan base, but who have not yet hit MTV. This ties into the way in which the public gains most of its information now from the internet rather than magazines and newspapers. The site even makes money, showing the profit that can be made by using the internet to contribute to the music industry.

The popularity of the site means that it has expanded and broadened its views, becoming more professional in its approach. The site anchors the way in which the music industry has generally become much faster in its development and signing of new artists, as it publishes five album reviews a day, which adds up to a lot in a year. Because of the internet, the music industry has broadened to encompass more and more artists, and this site encompasses and focuses on these.

Article by Jack Schofield

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/14/pitchfork.music

Radiohead and Social Networking

As mentioned in my previous post, stars are rapidly losing out on money because of new technology. However, with Radiohead as a prime example, they are striking back with new ways to get their money using the most imaginative means to conform with society's interests and pastimes.

Radiohead is the latest band to start up its own social networking site, to the style of myspace, facebook etc; there are friends, chat rooms, blogs. Many stars before Radiohead have managed to make a substantial amount of money from these kinds of sites. Fans buy ringtones, downloads, merchandise, and Radiohead have added to this by designing a competition to engage fans in their music and create remixes, which they have to pay to be able to download in the first place.

This also ties into the way new technology has enabled anyone to create or edit music for themselves. Radiohead has managed to use these new technologies to their own advantage.

This issue combines those of web 2.0, the combination of producer and consumer and how artists are making their money back. This means that the MP3 revolution may not be a disaster for them after all. Without web 2.0, it may not have been possible for this to happen, and it is a natural evolution of the music industry to use it. As one new technology grows and expands, others go with it.

Article by Chris Salmon http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2272312,00.html

Jack Schofield: Taxing iPods

With the wave of new technology that has entered society in the last few years and the craze for MP3 players has come the huge drop in profit for the music industry. The debate about taxing iPods has arisen due to this drop. The problem is that now that people are ripping tracks off CDs, sharing them, getting them off illegal sites like limewire, artists and rights-holders lose their money because not nearly as many CDs are sold anymore. So how does one combat this? By placing a tax on iPods and other MP3 technology. This way, producers and consumers get what they want.

But what will the effect of this be on the consumer?

Well, obviously this means that it will cost a little more than we are now used to to get our music, and there are those who would try to get round paying this. However, most will and those who hold the rights to the the music will get their due. This would still probably wind up being cheaper and easier than previously when one had to go to the shops and doesn't take away from the general convenience of the whole thing.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/04/16/uk_music_industry_demands_an_ipod_tax_and_the_law_is_still_an_ass.html

Key Terms and the Music Industry

Convergence

New technology arising from different brands that all stem from the same idea, i.e. the iPod (Apple Inc.), the iRiver (ReignCom) etc, all MP3 players produced by different companies that do the same thing.

Personalisation

The MP3 experience, e.g. iPods and iTunes, allows consumers to personalise what they listen to. They now have the ability to access songs without having to buy an entire album, and can share tracks with one another accross the internet.

Democratisation

Not only can audiences now consume what they wish, but also produce their own songs. Anyone can be an artist, with technology such a Cubasis, and blogs such as Myspace, on which it is possible to have a Myspace Music account. The idea is that the consumers can now produce and share their own work, or simply give their opinions on other works. If Lily Allen can do it, why can't you?

Digitisation

Digital files consist of 1s and 0s, meaning they can be moved, shared and read by different hardware more easily. This makes the sharing of music easier, and transference from computer to MP3 to CD player.