New Media in Entertainment
From Baruchnewmedia
Contents |
Introduction
New Media is hard to define as it changes everyday and is the main vehicle for innovation and change. New Media has had a tremendous effect on the entertainment industry. It has changed the way the public accesses various forms of entertainment, including movies, TV, music, books, gaming, etc. Social media platforms such as Facebook have made it possible to share our entertainment interests with our network of friends and coworkers. The discovery of new forms of entertainment has also changed thanks to new media. One of the biggest current teen pop sensations Justin Beiber was an online discovery and is now famous due to New Media. This page covers the various sections of the entertainment industry and the effect that new media has had on them.
Online Social Networking
Online social networking focuses on building online communities of people who share similar interests and/or activities, and who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social networking services are web-based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact like e-mail and instant messaging services.
Some social networking sites are
History of Facebook:
Facebook was founded in 2006 and over time it became the university network colossus, which currently has around 175 million active users and it is the eighth most visited site on the Internet. It belongs to the biggest social and community networks in the world and also in some respects; it leaves behind a very popular networking site such as MySpace.com.
Facebook has the basic purpose of communication between users, sharing of multimedia data, maintaining relationships and fun and entertainment. Recently, there is much debated issue of treatment of your personal information and even awareness of each user because we never know how far the data can go across the entire universe. Once again, we always have to consider what data we provide and share easily with hundreds of friends. It has recently been heard that Facebook is planning to launch a phone with an Android OS. It is expected to do well in the market as the phone is synced with ones Facebook account allowing you to in touch with your social network at all times.
However, there are some great features that can be used on facebook such as facebook on mobile. Moreover, it can be used just for fun or entertainment to chat with your friends.
Facebook Applications
Facebook has many web-based applications for users to play games. One application, which is particularly great for students interested in the equities market, is called Friend Stock. Friend Stock teaches Facebook users how to buy, boost, and sell stock. This game gives people an idea of how the stock market works.
Restaurant City is another application in Facebook, where users can design their own restaurants and trade food with other users to create food recipes. Moreover, users can hire and fire their employees. Users need to use their knowledge to manage their restaurants in order to earn more money and higher popularity.
Facebook also has applications that users can share with their friends for entertainment purposes. Graffiti, similar to the painting software on computers, is one of the first applications which allows users to draw funny or interesting pictures on friends' profiles. Another popular Facebook application for entertainment purposes is Superpoke. The Superpoke application provides a more entertaining version of the original "Poke". The original "Poke" would show up on your friends' walls saying that they had been "poked" by you. Superpoke allows you to do other actions such as throwing a cow or nicer things like doing a waltz rather than just virtually poking your friends. This application allows users to remain in contact with friends without having to hold a full conversation or exchange of words. It's good for people who are too busy to actually have a conversation and just want to check in on their friends.
Facebook also provides the options to play games. The user friendly version of television games (Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, Deal or No Deal, etc) provide ample entertainment. They are also a huge area for advertisement. One can also post items that need to be sold on Facebook creating a perfect marketplace. Their have been instances of people getting married on Facebook as well. So any social activity that one can imagine is possible on this social networking platform.
Downsides to Facebook
Facebook can be your best friend or your worst enemy especially when it comes to employment opportunities. There have been many instances where a boss is added as a friend, which causes people to filter statuses and profiles especially relating to their job in order not show a conflict of interest. Another downside of Facebook is the privacy options; you cannot hide certain information from friends added to the network. This means that if a status is written stating negative comments about your place of employment, chances are if your boss is added to the network they will be able to see that particular status. Another downside to social networking is the lack of rules and morality issues. Many people love social networking sites because of the freedom it gives you to exercise your feelings and ideas, but sometimes that could be taken too far. There isn’t no one to monitor every single page to make sure you are saying things that are appropriate, so one could easily go to another’s page and post something inappropriate to another’s page, if not on their own page.
Here are some examples of Facebook GONE WRONG!!
Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites. First, we should consider well what the nature of the data we provide and share with hundreds of friends or random people on facebook.
YouTube
YouTube has had a lot of influence in today's world through all of its sociological accomplishments. YouTube can be accessed in hundreds of countries, opening the doors to easily explore and learn about the different cultures that exist around the world. While YouTube is offered in twenty-two different localized versions, meant to make it easier to search videos in one language, any one can watch any video. This means that someone from Japan can easily watch a video posted by a British user, who just watched a Brazilian user’s video and so on. Thanks to this, users are exposed to cultures and people they could not even imagine existed. Videos go viral on YouTube and common people transform into celebrities. It has helped discover numerous stars.
YouTube allows users to comment on every video uploaded, as long as the user who uploaded the video did not turn that feature off. A lot of comments lead into conversations, which eventually leads to getting to know these people[1]. One of the most interesting abilities of YouTube is the ability to upload a video in response to the video someone just watched. This lets users to be unbelievably creative and promotes ingenuity. With all of these methods of communicating with the users of YouTube, the site, in essence, has created a vast social community [2].
Google +
Google + which just opened up to the public has Facebook in its sights. It has a very clean look, and puts and emphasis on organizing your online social life with its circles feature, where you group people by circles. It has introduced video chatting that's accessible through its smartphone apps, so in that way, it also serves as some competition for skype. Its still in its infancy so time will tell how it will be perceived in the public and if it will even survive, but facebooks growth has seemed to plateau so maybe people are already looking for an alternative.
Protecting Yourself on Social Networking Sites
Many, if not all social networking sites will have downsides, but there are ways to protect yourself.
1. Don’t put anything on a social networking site that you wouldn’t want on the front page of a newspaper or your grandmother to see. Since our society has become increasingly social, add your boss and/or superiors to the list with your grandmother.
2. If you must post a picture or status that you want a specific group to see on a social networking site like Facebook, take advantage of the privacy settings.
3. Screen the people who add you as a “friend,” if you don’t know him/her it’s ok to decline or ignore, they won’t know whether you ignored them or haven’t seen the request.
4. Make your page private to the public, allow visitors to see a little bit of you and if they want to see more of your page, they will add you. If you don’t want to know more, then ignore or decline them. Search for yourself on any search engine and see how others will view your profile (you will need to be logged out of the site to view your profile the way others will see it.)
5. Do not put too much information about yourself i.e. your telephone number or home address. If someone needs to contact you, the first method they can use is sending a personal message via the same social site.
You won’t regret following these guidelines, especially when you hear or see the next downfall of someone because of a post on a social networking site.
Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_2301480_protect-yourself-social-networking-sites.html
Twitter
READ http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5641893.ece
New Media in Music
The New Media and Music section of our course wiki will cover many new ways that people combine New Media and New Music. New media is used in the music industry for the sole purpose of being more convenient for consumers. The use of new media in music allows consumers to purchase music from the comfort of their own home as opposed to buying it out on the streets. This allows music to be more accessible for people anywhere from their home computers, to their laptops, and even on their cell phones. New Media also allows music producers to be more creative in the ways they form new sounds and add new flavors to their music. Now that we have so much technology, new media allows an endless amount of creativity and commodity to be used in the music industry. Another continuing trend is the amount of involvement consumers have with the final content produced by the entertainment industry. Companies are taking into consideration more than ever the public's opinion. Overall consumers have gained a great amount of participation with the industry. New media has also allowed for the surge in user-generated content (UGC) such as YouTube videos, music videos, songs on MySpace pages, etc.
Using new media standards and web 2.0, a new website dedicated to music called Imeem was launched. It is a free music service that allows users to listen to music in various languages.
The concept of music marketing is taken to a whole new level when it comes to new media. The world has moved past the downloading of music illegally because the entertainment industry has made it easy for people to download music easily and at a low cost. Also it has become easy for labels to offer coupons and free downloads that enable people to try the music before they buy the whole thing. The majority of these new options are available through sites such as iTunes, Rhapsody and a few others. These sites connect people to show what others like in terms of music they have already purchased. It creates a community among the users and separates them into the music genres or artists that they like.
This has been a huge movement for the industry because it was all but dead due to the increasing amount of people who stopped buying music. This had happened because music became free and consumers no longer had to go out and buy a CD to listen to it. Mostly everything became digital. However, in combination with the federal government cracking down on sites for copyright infringement, the innovation of these online sites where you have to pay for the music saved the industry. These sites are supported financially by advertisements(mostly by labels for their bands or artists) and the money that people spend on the music. The site/company gets a cut of that money and the artists get the majority of the money.
Major music downloading sites include:
Source: http://www.musicbizadvice.com/a_little_history_on_music_piracy%20.html
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/exhibitionist/a_funny_music_note_000.png
The Public Record
The Public Record is a musical endeavor spearheaded by ex-Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee. The website is a place where Tommy Lee along with his new band, Project Mayhem, keep fans up to date as to the production of their new album. This website takes the production of the album in a whole new and exciting direction. Fans are able to download the individual "skeleton" tracks of a song, play along with it at home, upload what they have recorded, and submit it for consideration by Tommy Lee and his production team. Accepted submissions might be heard on their next album, or modified entirely to follow the musical direction of the song they played on.
From the website:
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Besides the obvious user-generated content the site is based upon, the website exemplifies convergence by incorporating many other aspects of new media. There are blog-like comments, YouTube video links, a Twitter feed, etc.
New Media in Radio
Audio broadcasting service transmitted via the Internet.
Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as web-casting since it is not transmitted broadly through wireless means. Internet radio involves a streaming medium that presents listeners with a continuous "stream" of audio over which they have no control, much like traditional broadcast media; in this respect, it is distinct from "on-demand" file serving. Internet radio is also distinct from pod-casting, which involves downloading rather than streaming. Many Internet radio "stations" are associated with a corresponding traditional (or "terrestrial") radio station or radio network. Internet-only radio stations are independent of such associations.
Internet radio services are usually accessible from anywhere in the world. For example, one could listen to an Australian station from Europe or America. Some major networks like Clear Channel, in the US, and Chrysalis, in the UK, restrict listening to in country, because of music licensing and advertising concerns.[citation needed] Internet radio remains popular among expatriates and listeners with interests that are often not adequately served by local radio stations (such as progressive rock, ambient music, folk music, classical music, and stand-up comedy). Internet radio services offer news, sports, talk, and various genres of music—every format that is available on traditional radio stations.
Some internet radio stations:
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_radio
http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/clear-channel.jpg
Digital Radio
Another section where music has become integrated with the process of new media is where sites place music on the internet for people to only listen to. Some examples include MySpace, Pandora as well as the app Spotify where you have an option to create your own play list of your favorite music videos or just play the ones that have been already created. Just about every local radio station gives people the ability to listen to music on their computers or phones.
Spotify adds a social dynamic to internet radio as it allows users to collaborate on playlists and listen together. It is heavily integrated in Facebook, where it displays what you are listening to in other News Feeds and encourages them to join in. This is similar to turntable.fm where users can go into different listening rooms and be represented as an avatar on a dance floor. Depending on the room there are a certain number of spots to DJ and users can jump into them as they become available. DJ's can either pick from an extensive number of tracks in the library or upload their own music no matter its origin as long as it's under 20min in length. Listeners can vote on whether they like the current song. If they like it, the DJ who plays it gets points, and if a certain amount of people don't like the song it gets skipped.
Music on MySpace is pretty much done by each individual artist or label, putting music up on their page for people to listen to for free. In doing this they hope that people will listen to their music, like it, then go out and purchase the album (in CD or digital form).
Pandora is a little different. This runs more like an actual radio station, where music is set up as playlists. These playlists change depending on your ratings of the songs that you have listened to. You can use the options: "Like", "Don't Like" for songs, bands or genres. This puts the control in the hands of the user and the computer that generates the playlists.
Finally, there are the radio stations websites. These are all run by the programmer of the station. Aside from the few sites that let you listen to songs off of their playlists for free, most sites will just live stream their broadcast online. This caters to the people who sit at a computer all day and want to listen to their favorite station. The main difference here is that the user has no choice over the songs; just the ability to listen to the radio through their computer.
Impact of the Internet/New Media on the Music Recording Industry
Much has been written on the transformation the Internet has wrought on all manners of industries. From the obvious telecommunications sector to airline ticket retailing and financial services, the Internet has had a profound effect on existing market structures as well as traditional production and distribution processes. As such, the Internet has not only changed the manner in which we communicate, but in which business interact among themselves and with consumers.
No industry has been more impacted by the emergence of New Media/Internet than the media/entertainment industry. Although entertainment-related products and services have progressively evolved over the decades to take advantage of digital technology and better respond to changing consumer taste, the industry's structure has remained relatively unchanged. This is due to several factors common to most media/entertainment sectors including: (i) the traditionally high cost of content creation, (ii) the role of content ownership and licensing rights, (iii) the necessity of a near-ubiquitous distribution network in the applicable market, and (iv) scarcity of distribution outlets.
In the case of the music sector, this has resulted in an industry structure characterized by (i) a highly competitive upstream market of content creators (the artist), (ii) a tight, vertically integrated oligopoly in production, ownership and distribution (major record labels * ), and (iii) scarcity in available retail and media outlets (TV, radio…). As such, the major labels have acted as a bottleneck in the sector, mediating between the competitive upstream and scarce distribution outlets. This has traditionally placed record labels in a near-monopsony role, permitting them to extract supra-competitive rents from upstream actors and limiting product control and innovation both in the upstream and downstream market.
The Internet though has challenged this entrenched structure by shifting the supplier-distributor relationship from a hierarchically layered structure to an open structure where traditional roles of manufacturing, distribution and retail are being fundamentally requestioned and redefined.
These transformations are intrinsincly linked to the open nature of the Internet and its ability to act as a uniform platform able to support any number of competing application and media. This is intrinsically different from traditional processes which depend on (i) closed, proprietary systems with high transaction costs, (ii) high sunk cost associated with entry in key sector of the production processes, especially in distribution and marketing/branding, (iii) high barriers to associated with vertical and horizontal integration.
In the case of the music industry, the Internet/New Media has hit the sector like a freight train by fundamentally restructuring costs throughout the sector, reducing entry barriers and significantly increasing the number and nature of downstream outlets while providing upstream actors with greater control over content ownership, production and distribution. This presents the record labels with the threat of being bypassed altogether by the downstream and upstream market.
This is symptomatic to what we refer to as the ‘legacy paradox’ where traditional firms with legacy systems characterized by high sunk costs face those systems’ obsolescence to emerging technology while finding themselves at a competitive disadvantage as compared to the new breed of entrants. This is analogous to telephone companies’ often reluctance to widespread deployment of xDSL for fear on cannibalizing their higher-margin T1 services.
As such, the reaction of traditional industry players has been to attempt to impose existing rules and processes to the new medium in order to leverage their market power. They have adopted a two-pronged strategy of using legal channels to attempt to erect barriers to the availability and use of emerging technology while themselves proposing technologies to tackle potential threats in the law to their control of the market power derived from their legacy systems. A result of this strategy is that they have had little presence in this new market, allowing new player such as AOL, Microsoft, E.Music and MP3.com to take advantage of this vacuum to aggressively build the infrastructure and processes for the marketing, distribution and retailing of music online.
The paper will examine the changing structure and evolution of the music industry by considering key factors shaping the industry including: (i) shift from physical to virtual distribution, (ii) decreasing transaction cost among the different segments of the industry, (iii) proliferation of new, competing distribution formats, (iv) emergence of new downstream and intermediary players, (v) flattening of industry's hierarchical structure. In addition, the paper will incorporate results from recent online sector surveys conducted by Tag It to provide a clearer understanding of the trends characterizing the new online music industry. http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~jmueller/its/conf/torino99/abs/e_deFontenay.html
New Media & Recording Artists
Recording artists have benefited significantly from the induction of new media in music. Sites such as Youtube and Myspace have opened up a new portal for the discovery of new music. Current recording artists Colbie Caillat & Justin Bieber have both had the privilege of being discovered via one of these sites. Justin Bieber had a Youtube channel where he would upload himself performing various songs. Colbie Cailliat's popularity on Myspace gained her ample attention from record labels. Both of these stars have gone on to have tremendous success as artist's and have garnered a huge fanbase for themselves.
More recently, a teenager by the name of Greyson Chance has also been discovered via Youtube by Ellen Degeneres. One video, covering Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" at his school's talent show, has gained over 39 million views on Youtube. [1] Ellen Degeneres signed him to her record label and he has just released his EP titled "Waiting Outside the Lines" on iTunes. [2]
In addition to helping artists be discovered by record labels, new media has offered independent artists an opportunity to market and distribute themselves without the help of a record label. Artists on a limited budget are no longer at a disadvantage. They can create profiles on various social networking websites and gain fans and attention by recording and distributing their own music. For example, the website Pure Volume allows artists and bands to create their own profile and upload their tracks to the profile. The most listened songs and most popular artists are featured on the sites homepage, which helps gain more attention for the artist. You can browse music by popularity or by featured artists. All songs are available to stream, while some are available for download as well. Each band has an individual page where they can post band information, their songs, and users can comment or add songs and singers to their favourites. Bands can sign up for free and start promoting their music, but there is also a pro account for musicians with additional features, including the opportunity to be included in the featured artists. Additionally, PureVolume allows for integration via social networking, which adds another dimension to an artists marketing capabilities. 
Distribution websites such as CDBaby allow independent artists to sell their music for a profit. Similarly to Purevolume, CDBaby also posts lists of the most popular songs categorized by genre, which allow the public to discover the best new music available.
CDBaby currently has a catalogue of over 250,000 albums and is therefore the largest online community of independent artists. As of 2009, over $157,000,000 had been paid directly to artists. [3] Online distribution of music has helped independent artists make a profit without having to depend upon the marketing budget and assistance of a record label. In some cases, independent artists make a larger personal profit off of online distribution than if they had been signed to a label.
New Media in TV & Cinema
TiVo is a HD DVR that allows users to watch and record their favorite shows whenever they want to. It allows up to 2 different programs at the same time. Therefore, users won't miss their favorite shows when they air at the same time. What's interesting about this device is that it also allows you to control live TV by having features such as fast forward, rewind, pause (up to 30 minutes), among others. It also lets the user search for the shows they want to watch or browse the TV listings by searching categories, actor, director, etc. Find out more on [4]
Furthermore, Blockbuster partnered with TiVo in order to deliver movies to their subscribers through it. [5]
MUTABLE CINEMA
Mutable Cinema is based on an interactive software interface that allows a player to perform live editing of a movie in front of an audience. As the player edits the movie in real time, he or she generates new patterns from the broad narrative database, such that each performance delivers a different interpretation on the cinematic content. The tools available to the player are derived from the conventions of cinema. Devices such as flashback, foreshadowing, cross-cutting, point of view, voice-over, repetition, transition, colors correction, and others are available. Using these devices, the player navigates the story in real time and creates a unique interpretation path that the audience observes unfolding and can participate indirectly. The cinematic content is specially created with multiple parallel story lines to form a multifaceted, and multidimensional, narrative space. This space is explored as the player actively chooses their own sequential path to access different narrative outcomes. There is sufficient complexity in the back-end design that each player, based on their performance, can generate a unique story. Mutable Cinema strives to provide an enjoyable multimedia experience that will enhance forms of social communication and modes of participatory learning.
FANDANGO
Fandango is the latest new media trend within the movie industry. It brings the movie going experience to a whole new level allowing users to preview movie data online, purchase tickets remotely and participate in discussions about the movies they have seen.
Fandango was formed in 2000 by seven of the 10 largest movie exhibitors in the U.S with the goal of creating a company that would make the movie-going experience more convenient and fun for consumers.
Described as the nation’s leading moviegoer destination, Fandango sells tickets to more than 15,000 screens. Fandango entertains and informs consumers with trailers, exclusive clips, celebrity interviews, fan reviews and news, while offering the ability to quickly select a film and conveniently buy tickets in advance. Fandango
Fandango was acquired by Comcast Interactive Media in April 2007.
Recent competitors of Fandango are: http://www.movietickets.com/ http://www.moviefone.com/
NETFLIX
While movie lovers are still unable to watch newly released movies outside of the cinema, companies such as Netflix offer instant gratification for viewing movies that have been released on dvd.
With more than 16 million members in the United States and Canada, Netflix, Inc. [Nasdaq: NFLX] is the world’s leading Internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows. For $7.99 a month, Netflix members can instantly watch unlimited movies and TV episodes streamed over the Internet to PCs, Macs and TVs. Among the large and expanding base of devices streaming from Netflix are Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PS3 consoles; an array of Blu-ray disc players, Internet-connected TVs, home theater systems, digital video recorders and Internet video players; Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as Apple TV and Google TV. In all, more than 200 devices that stream from Netflix are available in the U.S. and a growing number are available in Canada. For more information, Net Flix
Recent competitors of NetFlix are: Amazon Apple
Online TV
Online streaming episodes of television programming became very popular in 2008, and even more popular in 2009. The noticeable popularity of these websites streaming free tv episodes, such as Family Guy, Burn Notice, House M.D. and others, is finally being recognized by the industry ,as it is becoming a lucrative business.
As well, devices have been developed that stream content live from home set-top-boxes to mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, PC's, and smart-phones. Slingbox has been the leader in this field offering a variety of devices and levels of services ranging from standard single unit controllers to multiple input HD controllers. As well they have partnered with cable companies such as Time Warner to include their product in premium level packages.
The following websites offer free television programming at HD quality.
The following websites offer free episodes of shows and even movies!!!
Another popular online streaming video website is YouTube, which has been around since 2005. YouTube is an online community that allows users to share their videos by uploading them onto the website. Not only can you view YouTube videos on your web browser, you can also view YouTube videos on your mobile devices now.
Here are some other sites similar to Youtube:
- AniBOOM
- Break
- Buzznet
- Crackle
- Dailymotion
- Gawkk
- Imeem
- Liveleak
- MetaCafe
- Reel Time
- Tudo
- Vbox7 (Bulgarian)
- Veoh
- Youku (Chinese)
- Vidoosh (Iranian)
Additional TV Sources
You can't be a computer addict and a TV addict at the same time, not unless you start watching TV on your PC. Don't bother to connect your TV tuner card. No TV tuner card is required, when you have something called the Internet. So order your popcorn and settle down for your favorite shows.
South Park Stream Sites:
- http://www.allsp.com/
- http://www.stansdad.com/
- http://allabout-sp.net/
- http://www.southparkx.net/
- http://southparkzone.com/
The Simpsons Stream Sites:
Family Guy Stream Sites:
List supplied via ~"http://www.instantfundas.com/2008/01/120-sites-to-watch-tv-and-movies-online.html"
Cutting the Cable...
The consumer trend to forgo standard Cable service in favor of devices and services that cost lest and have less clutter in ways of unappealing content. Streaming services such as Hulu and Netfix can be accessed via apps on devices such as Apple TV or Roku as well as many other devices. Some devices such as many blu-ray players, PS3s and XboX 360s feature this technology built in.
New Media in the Movie Production
Modern movie production including animation movies use new media technology.
New media in the movie production has seen a huge transformation over the time.In class we talked about virtual world and i remember watching how big studios are using it to make daring stunt movie without jeopardizing the life of the actor.A new movie of Tarzan did not use real animals such as lions that once terrorized the movie crew members.
New Media in Fashion
Designers Go Live Online By Pia Bhattacharya
If you didn’t have the golden ticket to attend New York's Fashion Week at Bryant Park this year, designers offered another alternative for fashion lovers. It is becoming a popular trend for fashion moguls to broadcast their shows online, often live. The result is a front row seat for anyone who wants a first look at their latest creations. Among the designers that used this new platform were Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton, and Roland Mouret. According to Style.com, Louis Vuitton broadcasted the show live from Paris to the popular social-networking site Facebook. The shows were also broadcast on YouTube. Yet another use for new media has been found in the form of fashion.
Sources:
http://www.cultbeauty.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/fashion-week.jpg
Fashion Blogging
by Fdarpi678
Blogging has been very popular since it first came in the world of new media. Blogger can create any kind of web log they desire. This is an opportunities for fashion industry to reach their followers from the entire world. People used blogger to spread news about anything that fashion lovers want to know about the newest trend in fashion world. Not only blogger can write about the newest style but they can also interact with their readers through their comments. They can see people’s reaction about designer's works. This also help the designer to get feedback about their designs, styles and taste so that they can incorporate to create a new product that customers will love. Nowadays, many blogger have access to go into certain events because designers know that blogger help them advertise their products through their blog. In a way, blogger represent the "security" that let you in for free into an important fashion trends.
Some Fashion Blogs are:
Social Networking and the Fashion Industry
by Ilana.m
Social networking sites provide a great way to stay in touch, but can also be used to make new industry contacts. New social networking sites which are tailored specifically to the fashion industry have emerged over the recent few years, allowing models, photographers and agency reps to communicate directly and seek out new opportunities for their careers. Most popular examples of these sites are ModelMayhem and Models.com. These sites allow models and photographers to upload their portfolio giving a chance to demonstrate their work to a broader audience. The sites also often provide agency information and the latest scoop on ongoing fashion events.
Virtual Worlds
What are virtual worlds?
A virtual world is an interactive cyber environment where multiple users interface online. Virtual worlds also known as "digital worlds. It allows users to create avatars of themselves or anything they want to be in virtual worlds. They can develop an avatar to either be completely identical to their present personality or create someone else.There are six types of virtual worlds.
- Shared Space: the world allows many users to participate at once.
- User Interface: the world depicts space visually, ranging in style from 2D "cartoon" imagery to more immersive 3D environments.
- Immediacy: interaction takes place in real time.
- Interactivity: the world allows users to alter, develop, build, or submit customized content.
- Persistence: the world's existence continues regardless of whether individual users are logged in.
- Socialization/Community: the world allows and encourages the formation of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods, etc.
Purposes of the Virtual World:
Virtual worlds have been created for many different purposes. The largest and most common type of virtual world is the Playing Game. Virtual worlds have also been built for other purposes than gaming. The following part summarizes a few ways in which virtual worlds are currently used:
Commercial Gaming
Commercial gaming worlds focus on fiction, such as character focused avatars. Avatars progress through an interactive narrative storyline and a competitive event. It’s strongly focused on fantasy, science fiction, and anime genres of literature and film. The majority of virtual worlds today are commercial gaming worlds. Many great sites contain comprehensive lists of commercial gaming worlds. Here are a few:
- GameSpy: GameSpy, also known as GameSpy Industries, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software.
- MPOGD: The Multi-Player Online Gaming Directory (MPOGD) is a site dedicated to providing information about multi-player online games. MPOGD contains daily news, in-depth game reviews, editorials about current hot topics in multi-player online gaming, a forum system where game developers and players interact, and the MPOGD Game of the Month Poll.
- GameSpot: GameSpot is a gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The content produced by GameSpot staff, also allows users to write their own reviews, blogs, and post on the site's forums.
- IGN: IGN is website focused on reviews, multimedia, trailers, and user reviews. This company owns Gamespy, in addition it covers movies, music, technology, and television.
- mmorpg: mmorpg is website that offers reviews, updates, information on newest mmorpgs, game videos, blogs,photos and a forum for the online community.
Socializing / Online Community Building
There are many commercial communities in virtual worlds that focus on socializing rather than gaming. These worlds offer a more open-minded experience, and are influenced by the culture of chat rooms. Additionally, virtual world games are incorporated into a social world. Participants are not always there to win or play a game, but to socialize with others. In many cases, such as Second Life, participators create and decorate a personal space such as a home, room, or apartment. In social worlds, users can even create their account based on romanticized versions of reality.
One of the most popular types of virtual worlds are Massive Multi-player Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). Millions of users are playing popular MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft or Ragnarok Online. These people play for various reasons; some play for virtual fame and fortune, some play for friends and family, some play for relationships, and some even play to escape from the real world. What makes MMORPGs attractive is the sense of a fantasy world where people can role play the character they want to be. These games are usually easy in the beginning, allowing beginners to enjoy the game and draw them in with a sense of accomplishment. The online communities in MMORPGs is identical to the real world; there can be inflation/deflation of the in-game currency, communities continue to grow bigger, and most MMORPGs even have guild or clan systems that allow large groups of players to stay connected with one another.
The most recent generation of video game consoles has also taken advantage of online communities with the creation of their own community services. Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable utilize the PlayStation Network, and Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360 use Xbox Live. Both of these services offer players the opportunity to connect with one another just as they would in social networking sites like Facebook. Players can send private messages to one another, chat with text or voice, and even compare trophies/achievements (even in single-player games). The PlayStation Network and Xbox Live also give players the option to create digital avatars and personal spaces for those avatars in PlayStation's Home and Microsoft's Game Room. Players can buy clothes and accessories for these avatars to differentiate themselves from everyone else as well as purchasing decorations for their personal digital space. The Nintendo Wii, meanwhile, has all of these functions except for the trophy/achievement system. Nintendo's Mii avatars are much simpler than their HD competitors, but can be stored on Wiimotes for use at other people's houses. Miis can also be used on the Nintendo DS in a few select games, or they can be attached to messages sent to other players.
One similarity among all three of these services is that some games let players use their created avatars as in-game characters, giving players even more of a reason to spend time (and money for Sony's and Microsoft's online stores) on these avatars. Another similarity is that all three services allow players to buy downloadable content for retail games and full, but smaller games through each company's respective online network.
References:
Education
Some virtual worlds are created for educational purposes. In most cases, educational virtual worlds are sponsored by academic institutions or nonprofit organizations, and some, by corporations. Educational virtual worlds are set up in a variety of forms, such as “3D recreations of museum and gallery spaces, computer programming tutorials, virtual libraries, and meeting spaces for online university courses.” Active Worlds Educational Universe is one of the oldest and largest networks in virtual educational worlds. In addition, Adobe Atmosphere is being used to build virtual worlds for educational purposes.
Political Expression
Virtual worlds are also used for political expression and debate. There are many virtual worlds on gaming, socializing, and learning, but there are very few virtual worlds for political debating. Among the few political virtual world is AgoraXchange.
Need for a Corporation
Virtual worlds enable a company to do several things: provide a meeting place; engage in v-commerce (buy and sell goods and services); allow advertising and product placement (rent or build billboards and use other "in-world" channels to advertise products, or place products in high-volume parts of a virtual world where they will be exposed to "traffic" by visitors); or build organizational experience in a virtual environment where mistakes and failures can safely occur. They also enable "v-CRM" virtual Customer Relationship Management: companies can reach out and collaborate with their customers in new ways.
Medical
Virtual worlds can also be used to help hospitalized children (suffering from painful diseases or autism for example) to create a comfortable and safe environment which can expand their situation, experience interactions which they may not have been able to experience without a virtual world, healthy or sick. Virtual worlds also enable them to experience and act beyond the restrictions of their illness and help to relieve stress. They may also be able to socialize, form friendships and relationships much more easily and avoid the stigma and other obstacles which would normally be attached to their disabilities. This can be much more constructive, emotionally satisfying and mentally fulfilling than passive pastimes such as television watching, playing computer games, reading or more conventional types of internet use.
Military Training
Virtual world technologies are used in interesting ways by the U.S. military. America's Army is used as a tool to recruit potential soldiers. For example, companies like Forterra Systems are working with military groups to develop training simulations. Forterra Systems, Inc. is a 3D graphics software company headquartered in San Mateo, California that produces private and secure MMO virtual worlds for corporate, government, defense, medical and educational clients. Forterra Systems also shares a close history with the MMOG.
A majority of Americans do not know about virtual. However, as time passes by, people are getting familiar with virtual worlds. Consequently, many problems have arisen: people are stealing others’ design; teenagers are facing cyber bullying; and so forth. According to the article “What kids learn in virtual worlds,” virtual worlds “encourage kids to play games, dress up online characters, and buy virtual goods to decorate their in-world homes or avatars.” NBC news claimed, “the sex, porn, drugs, and suicide that occur are also in the virtual world.” Therefore, virtual worlds are experiencing real problems.
This is just the beginning of virtual worlds. It is difficult to predict the future of virtual worlds and whether virtual worlds can be used to advance society. Even though few businesses are using virtual worlds to promote their businesses, it is clear from the current boost in virtual world users that more companies will be using them to advance their businesses. In addition, as technologies develop, virtual worlds will be used for all types of purposes. We can hope that virtual worlds will be give us a friendly, informative place to learn more about them in the future.
References:
- http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061121_727243.htm?campaign_id=alerts
- http://news.cnet.com/What-kids-learn-in-virtual-worlds/2009-1043_3-6218763.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality
- http://www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressDetail.cfm?press_ID=3205
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_world
- http://www.iconarchive.com/icons/3xhumed/mega-games-pack-23/256/Americas-Army-2-icon.png
- http://www.masternewmedia.org/images/virtual_worlds_main.jpg
Virtual World In Business
By Doli Kumar
Virtual world has change the way a company conduct businesses online. It has helped software companies and clothing retailers to give a new experience to their customer while they shop online. There are websites online which take the concept of virtual world to display and advertise their products. For example zugara.com. It is one of the most famous online clothing store. The most interesting thing about shopping here is that you can try on clothes virtually before you buy. These website make an avatar or in some cases your own real presence with the help of a webcam. All you need to do online shopping is to just have a computer with a webcam and a printed zugara log. The logo is used to set the position of the object in this case a suit if you are trying. Once you have positioned it you can use your hand to try new designs, change colors, and take a picture. You can instantly to share that with your friend over different social networking web sites to get feed back from your friends before buying it. This is new amazing shopping experince was just another aspect of virtual world and it was all possible just because of the New Media.
References:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxQZuo6pFUw
Spore
Spore is a single-player video game that is a great example of user-generated content in entertainment. This game uses a "Creatiolutionism" theme, and allows users to create their own species. Starting as a micro organism, it evolves from a single cell organism into a complex animal with social needs, and after finally mastering its planet it is then able to conquer space and interact with alien species from other planets across the galaxy. The way a user plays during each given playthrough will affect the personality of their species which can be seen.
Spore also has an agreement with YouTube allowing the players to upload videos of their creature's activity directly from within the game. Although there is no direct interaction with other players in the game, each player's creatures can be uploaded to a central database and distributed to other players for interaction in their own games. Those species' personalities will also change depending on the way that species was played in the original creator's game. The creator will also be able to see statistics on how other players interacted with their species through the in-game "MySpore Page".
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore_(game)
Device Apps
Applications for mobile devices have become a cash cow for their developers. Most American's are buying into smartphones and tablet's these days, the primary platform for "apps." There is a linear growth between the increasing sales of these commodities and the sales of apps. There is an endless array of applications to satisfy an individuals needs, ranging from: Gaming, Learning, Banking, Cooking, and many more. "Combined revenues from the four major mobile application stores run by Apple Inc., Google Inc., Nokia Corp. and Research In Motion Ltd. will leap 77.7 percent in 2011 to $3.8 billion, with the Apple App Store projected to eat up a gargantuan three-quarters share of the total market, according to new IHS Screen Digest research." [6] During the beginning stage of applications, Apple Inc. ruled the market by being the only supplier of applications to its products. However, the introduction of the Android phone aided in taking some of the market away from Apple. Now, one can purchase a smartphone or tablet computer from one of many company's and have the ability to chose from a similar pool of apps. Applications are a form of new media because of their ability to connect individuals with each, whether it be through a video games online ranking system or Twitter. Apps provide limitless opportunities to connect one with the rest of the world. Take the application "Word's With Friends" for example. This application allows users to play a scrabble-like word game against others who have the app on their device, whether it be the iPhone or an Android product. Facebook and Twitter have also created apps for these devices further allowing users to stay connected.
Books and Reading
Book End How the Kindle will change the world. By Jacob Weisberg
The Kindle will change the world, I'm doing my best not to become a Kindle bore. When I catch myself evangelizing to someone who couldn't care less about the marvels of the 2.0 version of Amazon's reading machine—I can take a whole library on vacation! Adjust the type size! Peruse the morning paper without getting out of bed!—I pause and remember my boyhood friend Scott H., who loved showing off the capabilities of his state of-the-art stereo but had only four records because he wasn't really that into music.
So apologies in advance if I'm irksomely enthusiastic about my cool new literature delivery system. Like the early PCs, the Kindle 2 is a primitive tool. Like the Rocket e-book of 1999 (524 titles available!), it will surely draw chuckles a decade hence for its black-and-white display, its lack of built-in lighting, and the robotic intonation of the text-to-voice feature. But however the technology and marketplace evolve, Jeff Bezos has built a machine that marks a cultural revolution. The Kindle 2 signals that after a happy, 550-year union, reading and printing are getting separated. It tells us that printed books, the most important artifacts of human civilization, are going to join newspapers and magazines on the road to obsolescence.
Though the PC and the Internet taught us all to read on screens, they have not actually improved the experience of reading. I remember Bill Gates, in Slate's Microsoft years, mentioning in an interview that he read our webzine printed out—a tribute that underscored an inherent flaw. For all their advantages in creating and distributing texts, screens have compromised, rather than enhanced, the feeling of being transported into a writer's imaginative universe. You can't curl up with a laptop. Until now, Gutenberg's invention had yet to be surpassed as the best available technology for reading at length or for pleasure.
For the rest of the story follow the link below
http://www.slate.com/id/2214243/pagenum/all/
Electronic Book Readers
Sony Media originally developed the display technology called E Ink used for electronic readers in 2005. Since then E-readers have become a popular item in the electronics market. E Ink display technology allows electronic readers to be small and portable because the screens use very little power, therefore the need for a large battery is eliminated. Although electronic readers allow the user to read multiple types of files, electronic books purchased off of bookstores will have a specific and protected file type in order to avoid usage on an electronic reader of another brand. For example, electronic books purchased from the Barnes & Noble (Nook) will be of a file type not recognized or usable on the Amazon brand of electronic reader (Kindle). This allows each manufacturer of electronic readers to use digital rights management to prevent illegal sharing of the electronic books. Major manufacturers of electronic readers include Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook. Services like Google Books and Apple Books were later introduced as an app only product that is accessible on the respective company's platform devices.
Sony E-Reader
Sony manufactures a line of electronic readers that can be purchased in many U.S retailers including Costco and Best Buy. Sony was the first manufacturer to use E Ink technology for electronic readers. Beginning in 2006 until present date, Sony has released nine versions of their electronic reader.
Amazon Kindle
The original Kindle sold by Amazon came out on November of 2007. Its features included external memory, 6” display and 250MB of internal memory.
The Kindle 2 was released in February of 2009 and featured text to speech technology allowing the user to listen to their books, lighter hardware and no external memory. The Kindle 2 also has an international version. Amazon also sells a version of the Kindle for textbooks and newspapers called the Kindle DX. The Kindle DX is lightweight with a larger screen than other Kindle devices.
The Kindle 3 was released in July of 2010 and is the best selling version of the kindle to date. It features volume control for the text to speech technology, higher contrast on the screen and higher internal memory ay 4GB.
Barnes & Noble Nook
Bookstore giant Barnes & Noble offers their own electronic reader. The reader is named the Nook. Two versions are available for sale, the first generation model introduced in November of 2009 offers two variants, the Nook Wi-Fi and the Nook 3G. The Nook Wi-Fi is the cheaper of the two and offers Internet access through Wi-Fi only. The Nook 3G offers Internet access both through Wi-Fi and 3G. 3G service is a subscription based mobile Internet access through a wireless carrier.
The second generation Barnes & Noble E-reader was introduced in November of 2010 and is known as the Nook Color. The second generation offers improvements its predecessor such as, full color screen, touch capability, external memory access and is powered by Google's Android operating system. The Nook Color is only offered in Wi-Fi and not 3G.
Mobile Devices Running On Android (Google) and iOS (Apple))
Devices running on the Google's Android Operating System and Apple's iOS are the newest forms of e-reader type services. The main applications for offering eBooks can be downloaded through the Android Market or the Apple Store. They are the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook. However each device offered something new, Apple Books and Google Books. Apple Books was introduced on January 2010 with the announcement of the iPad. Since it's launch, it has been made available on the iPhone with the iOS 4 update. Google Books was introduced on December 2010. The Google Books app was made available to both phones and tablets since its launch.
iPad
In 2010 Apple introduced its much anticipated tablet computer, the iPad. Apple, who tends to captivate its audiences attention with each new product, did just that with the iPad. Its thin body and sleek touch-screen wowed the crowd. As well, its features were impressive. Aside from giving users the full capabilities of a computer, the iPad also allows it users to read entire books. It is a similar product to the Amazon Kindle, and Barnes & Noble Nook. However, the iPad offers stunning visuals, crisp text, and allows users to buy books directly from the Internet. As mentioned earlier, tangible books will facing fierce opposition from its digital competitor. In 2011, Apple introduced the iPad 2, an updated, more aesthetically pleasing device with greater computing power and some new features. The iPad's real advantage over its rivals in the eBook industry is the easy access to purchase new books through its personal marketplace, iTunes.
New Media in News
During the 2008 Presidential Elections, Facebook and ABC News collaborated in a partnership to allow users to view ABC News’ political coverage on the elections. Using the ABC News application on Facebook, users were able to view reports as well as take part in debates and polls, and share it with friends and family.
This was the first time a social networking group signed with a news group.
Facebook and The News
As smart phones and other portable reading devices continue to change the way we consume news, its getting more common for those who consume news on these devices to share articles that pique their interests on social media site such as Facebook. The traditional print newspaper industry has taken large financial losses with the proliferation of the internet and free online news. If they don't adopt an online pay-wall such as the New York Times has, they're only source of online revenue is advertising.
The Washington Post recently introduced The Washington Post Social Reader. This allows the users to easily share articles they read with their friends on Facebook and encourage discussion. As well, it provides users with custom homepages that can be accessed directly from Facebook. This will not only give a boost to the Washington Post and affiliated news organizations, but it also gives Facebook users less reason to leave their website.
Piracy
Piracy has existed in various forms since before it became a contemporary cultural phenomenon. The first type of piracy involved the distribution of sheet music throughout London in the 19th century. New technology such as the phonograph and advancements in methods of printing and shipping made circulating sheet music cheaper and easier, and allowed outlaw printers to produce and sell sheet music without compensating copyright holders. In 1902, protestors and the passing of the Musical Copyright Act ended the pirating of sheet music. Piracy was not considered a serious threat again until the 1990’s, when the Internet allowed users to download unauthorized music free of charge from various file-sharing websites. In 2001, the issue of internet piracy exploded into the eye of the media and of the public when the popular rock band Metallica filed a lawsuit against one of the more popular file-sharing websites known as Napster. Once again, new technology was making music distribution cheaper and easier while at the same time posing a threat to the music industry and encouraging copyright infringement.[7] Since then, the act of piracy has expanded throughout other forms of entertainment. Through file sharing users are able to transfer movies, songs and other files to and from one another at no cost. The file sharing occurs through new platforms of new media. For instance, the website BitTorrent allows users to download its FREE software. This software will then allow the user to have access to more downloadable content than one can imagine. The United States has created anti-piracy laws in order to prevent piracy from occurring. These laws are necessary because "counterfeiting and piracy costs the United States nearly $250 billion annually, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce." The top three industries affected by piracy are the music, movie, and video game industries. Advancements in technology, which ultimately fuels the movie and video game industries, has an underlying negative response. These same advancements are used by the people who try to exploit the system.
The Threat of the Internet
The problem of the Internet is that it is near impossible to control and regulate. The Internet makes music distribution cheap and easy with file-sharing websites such as Napster, Kazaa, Limewire and Ares. Joining these websites and downloading these programs is simple, and take a total of about fifteen minutes. Once an Internet user has installed Limewire or Ares onto their computer, they have access to millions of free songs that take mere minutes to download. These websites make charging for music online virtually impossible. Even promoting music is made easier with websites such as Myspace and Facebook where various artists and bands interact and network with one another in attempts to build a large fan base. When all of this is possible on the Internet, the need for a record label or a recording company to produce and sell music disappears.
One of the largest threats on the Internet is something known as a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. P2P networks distribute unauthorized files from computer to computer by blocking and maneuvering around potential network blocks. [8]This basically means that files shared through a P2P network are virtually immune to most attempts at blocking a computer from pirated music because security blocks have trouble identifying the network as a peer-to-peer application. The P2P application is assisted by the file format of mp3’s, which is the audio file of a song compressed to a size that is easy to share or email through a simple file transfer. Because the mp3 format is known as an “open standard”, it cannot be given a digital signature or watermark to lock the file, which would make it impossible to illegally download the song. The recording industry is hit hard by the ease of downloading free music off of the Internet. The notion of going out to a record store to purchase a CD seems ludicrous to an Internet user who can simply log on to Limewire and download the entire CD for free. As a result, record sales are at an all-time low. Recording companies are fighting for their lives as they try to put a stop to music piracy and control the spread of music on the Internet. The Internet is a vast universe all it’s own, and the regulation of it is proving to be impossible. All tangible objects associated with the music industry – compact discs, walkmans, cassette-tapes, albums, record stores – are being replaced by the Internet. To quote Edgar Bronfman Jr., the head of Universal, the worlds largest music company, soon “a few clicks of your mouse will make it possible for you to summon every book ever written in any language, every movie ever made, every television show ever produced, and every piece of music ever recorded.” [9]
Music Piracy
The rise of music piracy began in 1999 with the introduction of Napster. Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing service.
Putting a Stop to Music Piracy
The fight against music piracy has been an ongoing war for the recording companies. They have fought through countless lawsuits and taken numerous security measures in their attempts to stop music piracy. In addition, various pieces of legislation have been passed in recent years regarding the issue of music piracy.
The recording industry has taken a “one by one” approach in their fight against music piracy. By publicizing the location and punishment of serious pirating offenders, the recording industry hopes to show the public that downloading music off of the Internet is a serious offense. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) currently has more than a handful of lawsuits under their belt, which have been settled for thousands of dollars and a pledge from the accused file-sharer to stop pirating music online. [12] In addition to lawsuits of major offenders in an effort to scare off other users, attempts to close down various file-sharing websites continue as well. The problem with this one-by-one approach is that Internet users are not threatened by the potential threat of a lawsuit, and the proof is in the numbers. “A recent NPD Group report says 19% of U.S. Internet subscribers 13 and older download free music from peer-to-peer (P2P) services, just 1% less than the 20% reported when the RIAA began its litigation campaign in 2003.” [13] A similar problem exists with the shutting down of various file-sharing websites. As soon as one is shut down, another website is sure to be created soon after. For example, when Napster was put out of business, new file-sharing programs such as Limewire became wildly popular among Internet users. [14]
In addition to lawsuits and the fight against file-sharing programs, the recording industry has attempted to increase security on CD’s in order to make it harder, and hopefully impossible, for hackers to distribute the files on the Internet. Recording companies have attempted to distribute “broken records”, which contain a type of protection that prevents their content from being extracted via computer. [15] Other companies have included a program on their CD’s that if a computer tries to extract files from it, the user is directed to a website ordering them to purchase a license to download the songs. This way, if a user wants to distribute the files online, first they must pay for the CD twice. However, these security measures have not been widely successful. First of all, the problem with security codes on the CD’s is that it stops most of the CD’s from being readable by CD drives. The CD will no longer play on a CD player. In addition, hackers find ways around the security codes, and find ways around purchasing the license, just as they found ways to extract files from a CD and distribute them illegally. Searching the Internet to find a procedure to avoid making a second purchase is as simple as typing in a search term on Google. [16]
A final way that the recording industry has attempted to put a stop to music piracy is through various pieces of legislation. Follow-ups to the Musical Copyright Act of 1902 include the No Electronic Theft Act of 1997 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. The No Electronic Theft Act of 1997 dealt with closing a loophole in the existing case law of copyright infringement stating that the infringement had to be associated with financial gain and the material had been given away. [17] The passing of this act would allow the RIAA to file lawsuits against pirating individuals even if they had not been compensated monetarily for distributing unauthorized music on the Internet. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 made it “illegal to make or sell any device that could circumvent copy-protected works”. [18] The problem with this law is that it is too broad. “Any device that could circumvent copy-protected works” technically includes a computer, and putting a stop to the distribution of a computer during the present-day would be impossible. Promising negotiations between Internet service providers and recording companies are in effect presently. The idea is to place an additional surcharge on Internet service in order to cover the cost of illegally downloaded music. This would require a coalition of recording companies and ISP’s in the future of digital music distribution. A “music tax” placed on Internet service would help to take the recording industry out of its current recession. If the monthly charge were five dollars, recording companies profit would be about $20 billion. [19]
Recently, other websites have contributed in the aid of blocking the spread of pirated material online. For example, Youtube has established an agreement with companies such as Universal Music in order to remove any unauthorized content on the website. Also, Google, the largest search engine on the internet, has come up with various strategies to eliminate pirated material in it’s searches. It has pledged to grant requests for the removal of infringing material within 24 hours of being notified. [20] The assistance from third parties will hopefully be a huge help in the avoidance of users downloading pirated music and other forms of media on the web.
Another option is to embrace piracy in a way that will benefit the major labels. Record companies have begun to realize that the users of illegal file-sharing programs are music fans. This incredible enlightenment has helped executives to begin using pirating programs to their advantage, by planting decoy files with promotional material for artists in the top searches on various P2P applications. Jay-Z’s attorney, Michael Guido says it perfectly, “"While peer-to-peer users are stealing the intellectual property, they are also the active music audience," and "this technology allows us to market back to them." One problem is that some of the applications don’t appreciate being used as a platform for major label marketing, and are declaring the decoy files as spam. [21]
Music Piracy & Recording Artists
Since the musical artist makes most of their money from sales from live shows and performances, their income is not strongly affected by music piracy. Their money does not come from copyright. However, most musicians simply find the practice of downloading their music for free as disrespectful. [22]
In efforts to battle music piracy, musical artists have attempted to strengthen their relationship with their fans. Some artists have offered free tracks of their music in exchange for an email address to add to a mailing list.[23] By doing this, the artist hopes to build a fan base that will pay for tickets to attend live shows and buy merchandise, therefore offsetting the decline of album sales. In addition, the band or artists can use the P2P networks to their advantage. By isolating ISP (internet service provider) data from file downloads, an artist can determine the most profitable areas to tour in. [24]
Recently there have been several cases where the common people have to pay a huge price for sharing or downloading music from a P2P website. Such an incidence came into light when a mother for Minnesota was sued for $1.5 million dollars for music worth of $24 in total. Is this fair? It seems that the entertainment industry is taken huge steps in order to eradicate piracy issues and is taking it seriously. [25]
The digital era has also allowed artists to begin distributing and marketing their own music instead of having the major label take full control. Some artists even choose to remain independent and sell their music from websites. One popular example is Radiohead, which began selling their albums for free on their websites in order to re-establish a connection with fans. [26]
Movie and TV Piracy
Movie piracy has been around before computers made it so easy. Bootleg DVD's have been consistently sold since the compact disc has been around. With advancements in technology, piracy in the film industry has moved to a whole new level of vulnerability. The Internet has made transferring files so quick and easy, that once a decent copy of a movie or T.V. show is released, it spreads like wild fire. Movies and T.V. shows are pirated more often than music. This may be due to the higher costs of actually purchasing a film or television series on DVD. "Watchmen was downloaded nearly 17 million times from bittorrent trackers like the Pirate Bay and Mininova, according to Big Champagne. The second most pirated film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was downloaded 13 million times. Heroes episodes were downloaded a total of 54.5 million times, just ahead of the CBS show Lost, with 51 million downloads." [27] Film and television are downloaded the same way as music, through torrent files. Users visit any of the websites listed below and have access to millions of downloadable files. Most film and television files downloaded occur within a week of the DVD release. This is the case because those who upload the files usually do not have a good copy until DVD release. On rare occasion will one be able to download a good copy of a movie during its theatrical release. However, copies of private screening DVD's do sometimes appear on these torrent websites as a result of being leaked by the owner. These copies usually have "watermarks" embedded in their file in order to distinguish them.
The Effect of Piracy
There is no doubt that piracy has a negative financial effect on the entertainment industry. The downloading of pirated files leads to losses in sales. This effect causes the industry to tighten its belt and be less willing to venture into new prospects. As well, we can tell from the overloaded celebrity coverage in today's media that the celebrities are not the ones suffering from the downloading communities unjust actions. It is the people in the background, those who make everything come together who suffer. However, even if with insurmountable illegal downloading going on, the industries still seem to flourish. The fact is that there are still many loyal and law abiding people who understand the ramifications of illegal downloading and make it a point to not get involved. One such effect of piracy is this: "In 2005, The Los Angeles County economy lost over 283 million dollars in lost tax revenue , along with 100,000 jobs to counterfeiting and piracy." [28] There is a harsh reality to the lives affected by piracy.
Torrent Websites
The Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites:
1. BitSnoop
3. Fenopy
4. Isohunt
5. FlixFlux
6. TorrentTree
8. VCDQ
9. Torrent Funk
10. Demonoid
Sources
http://www.thepublicrecord.com
- ↑ Lange, Patricia G. "Publicly Private and Privately Public: Social Networking on YouTube." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13.1 (2007). Web. <http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/lange.html?ref=SaglikAlani.Com>.
- ↑ Lange, Patricia G. "Publicly Private and Privately Public: Social Networking on YouTube." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13.1 (2007). Web. <http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/lange.html?ref=SaglikAlani.Com>.
1. http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/10/13/us-intellectualproperty-law-idUSTRE49C7EI20081013
2. http://investigativeconsultants.com/ipcrimes/html/music-movies.html
3. http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/04/online-video-piracy-technology-e-gang-09-movies.html
Marketing and New Media
by Ilana Morgounovski
Intro
New Media provides a great way to reach a vast audience instantly. Internet marketing has experienced a "boom" over the recent years with the increased number of devices which allow online access. The number of revenue generated from online advertisements has increased steadily from 2001, with a 7.5% increase from 2009 to 2010 translating into $5.9 billion in revenues.[29]
Social Networking Marketing
Social Networking sites are a great platform for marketers to capture the interest of potential clients. Sites like Facebook generate a substantial amount of their revenue from online ads. These ads are often tailored to reflect the users's interests and thus are effective in targeting potential buyers to match specific products. This technique used by advertisers on social networking sites is called "behavioral targeting." This means that online advertising can be targeted based on a user's online behavior. For example, if a user's profile indicates that they live in a specific geographic region, like New York City, are female and have recently visited a place page for a fashion designer, or are a fan of a beauty related product or event, they will most likely be shown ads offering special deals on salon's, spa's etc. This is achieved by clickstream analysis enabled by cookies stored on the user's computer or the website itself (such as profile information and club participation).
Twitter and Entertainment Marketing
Twitter is a great way to stay abreast the latest entertainment news. The Twitter phenomenon has spread to the celebrity circle, many of whom use the media to market themselves and generate followers. When you sign up, Twitter suggests who to follow. Among the most followed celebrities on Twitter are Lady Gaga, Justin Beiber, and President Obama respectivley according to Twitaholic. Charlie Sheen has also recently used the tool to promote his comedy tour. Many celebrities and companies higher people for the position as social-networking marketers, who use sites like Facebook and Twitter to communicate with fans and notify them of upcoming events, creating a more personal experience for the fan. Twitter also provides a service called "promoted tweets" where your tweet can be showcased for a fee on the front page generating attention from fellow twitterers.
The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton are one of the most Tweeted about events this year, allowing many people to "participate" virtually in the ceremony. The Royal wedding was the #1 trend among Twitter users on the day the couple wed, April 29, 2011 according to Mashable.com.
Business Marketing
Yelp, Citysearch, Twitter and Facebook are a great way to promote a business or brand. Yelp and Citysearch cater to local business where for a fee, the owner's can build a custom webpage describing their business, and where users can leave reviews and comments about their experience of the business and socialize with local fellow locals. Twitter offers a similar service, where the business can build a custom profile and "tweet" to customers. Facebook provides businesses with an opportunity to create a page promoting their brand for free. Thus, social media allows businesses to learn more about their customers through feedback from the customers themselves, and create better marketing campaigns in the future. New smartphone technology and gadgets allow for 24/h access to these sites through "apps" or applications, making it an even better promotional tool due to ease of access.
Television and Cinema Marketing
Movie releases are now advertised via channels of new media such as Youtube, versus the traditional trailer in the movie theatre. Youtube is also affiliated with Vevo, which allows advertisers to attach promotional clips at the beginning of popular music videos hosted by the site. Many popular Television shows have Facebook and Twitter pages, where fans can discuss the show and where the network can announce or even offer a sneak peak of upcoming episodes and participate in special promotions from the networks, like sweepstakes or castings for the show. Many entertainment industry sites like the CW, have incorporated social networking as a premiere tool to help promote their shows by having a FB "Like" button and Twitter "Follow" button link to their page.
