Media Revolution (BBC 2)

Over the past 10 years a mass amount of newspapers have lost a mass amount of readers. The figures show that; The Dailies have lost 2.25 million readers, The Mirror have lost 750,00 readers and The Sun lost 400,00 readers. The Guardian has lost 10% of readers and Telegraph gone down by 17%.

The Sunday papers lost 500,00 last year alone (2008). These facts may need to be looked into again as this documentary (Media Revolution) was made in 2009.

Advertising has had a huge effect on newspapers as it has gone down, meaning that the sales of newspapers have also gone down. 75% of revenue comes from advertising for local papers. Therefore if they are loosing readers, advertisers will not publish their ads within that specific paper resulting in sales dropping dramatically.

Rupert Murdoch revolutionized the newspaper production in the mid 80's by moving his papers out of Fleet Street to new digital offices outside of London. The Sun is the only newspaper to not have lost any readers over the last year. The newspapers has successfully increased their circulation by cutting its cover price down to a small 30p.

In order to counteract the loss in revenue from advertising newspapers have put up their cover prices and decided to start to giving away free-bees with their newspaper. The Mail on Sunday is highly famous for doing this as it gives away a CD or DVD or book near enough each week. McFly made a deal with the Mail on Sunday to give away their new album for free. The Mail on Sunday gave them a lump sum of money in order for them to be allowed to give away the albums for free. The normally rate on a sunday of papers being sold is 2.1 million, where as on this particular day the rate was increased to 2.4 million.

The free newspapers have created the opportunity to deliver newspapers to commuters who are traveling to and from work who would not normally stop off and buy a newspaper. They have dumbed down the content so it is simpler and easier to read.'The metro' is a free paper made up of 55% news and 45% advertising. The audience they are targeting are great for advertisers as people who are not spending money on newspapers, have money to spend on other things which shall be presented to them through the adverts displayed.

The web has had a huge impact on newspaper readers, especially the younger audience, as they can read whatever they ant wherever and whenever they want, they have mass choice.

The Telegraph has now embraced the digital age by opening new digital high-tech offices with huge projectors where the workers can see what the website looks like as they are working. Also within the offices they have a huge table displaying which article is being read the most and the exact figure of people who are reading it.

Online access has had a huge effect on the industry as new things have been invented with easy access wherever such as The Kindle and The Ipad.

The Guardian are now online however only 1/3 of their audience online are based in the UK. 1.3 of America are reading The Guardian and the final 1/3 is from the rest of the world.

Case Study : HMV

Another case study I am going to use is HMV. HMV are closing down 60 of their stores this year due to a loss in profit.

How have online media developed?

The development within the online media has caused record stores to lose a mass amount of sales as people are now buying music online through itunes legally or through illegal sites such as LimeWire. Spotify is a software which people are downloading where you can get it for free or pay for a better version. Spotify are aimed at building the bridge between downloading illegally and legally. They are offering people to listen to music for free to a certain extent, however the artists are still making money because they get a fee from Spotify for their tunes to uploaded onto the software. Therefore people do not need to leave their homes and go to a store to buy a CD. As the online media age develops CDS will not be available in shops as the sales keep dramatically decreasing.

What has been the impact of the internet on media production?

The internet has had a huge impact on media production. With people downloaded illegally, no money is going into the music industry as people are not paying for the music they are listening to therefore record companies are not making money. Many artists put a lot of money into producing videos and albums for their audience and when people are sharing them for free they are not getting money back to pay for their hard work.

How is consumer behaviour and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past?

People are not going out to buy as much music from shops such as HMV therefore they are not making the money they need to stay up and running. Back in the day you could only get music from stores therefore they were booming businesses. However when people can access what they want whenever they want from the comfort of their own home it has become a necessity to turn to the internet instead of the high street.

To what extent has convergence transformed the media?

Convergence has transformed the media massively as people can now link music up to their phone which they have illegally downloaded therefore they are spending no money on buying music to take on route with them. Also if you download some songs illegally off the internet you can make a CD via your computer and then say you want to take it on holiday or put in your car you have access to the CD for free. Also you don't have to just buy an album that has been produced by one artist or band, you can select a range of different genre of artists and songs and place them all on one CD for your own personal enjoyment. People would rather make their own where they will like every song rather then buy it from a record shop where it will be just one artist or maybe a variety of artists however they will not like every song. This could be classed as 'a waste of our money'.

Useful Link to the decrease in music sale

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/jun/09/games-dvd-music-downloads-piracy

Case study: Limewire

How have online media developed?

The initial release of Limewire was on May 3rd 2000. The software was discontinued on 26th October 2010. When Kimba Wood issued an injunction forcing LimeWire to prevent "the searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality, and/or all functionality" of its software. A trial investigating the damages necessary to compensate the affected record labels is scheduled to begin in January 2011.

As a result of the injunction, LimeWire 5.5.11 and newer have been disabled using a backdoor installed by the company. However, version 5.5.10 and all prior versions of LimeWire remain fully functional and cannot be disabled unless a user upgrades to one of the newer versions.

When the software was up and running anyone with access to the internet on their computer could download limewire and downloaded and share files illegally.

What has been the impact of the internet on media production?

Limewire is just one of the many softwares which have enabled users of the internet to download content illegally over the past decade. Recently the effects of illegal file sharing has had a huge effect on record companies and artists. 95% of music is downloaded illegally and it said that the music industry is loosing an estimated 12.5 million a year. This has resulted in a major record company 'mercury records' announcing that they shall be not producing anymore 'singles' because they don't have the money to make this possible due to so many people not buying their music.

How is consumer behaviour and audience response transformed by online media, in relation to the past?

When internet access was very limited people had no option but to purchase their music from stores. With the progress of illegal file sharing exploding lately, music has become more available to a wider audience than ever before. People who could not afford music before are able to access it through sites such as limewire. It has been explored that those who are downloading illegally spend around £77 a year on music, where those who buy everything legally only spend £44. The advantage of online file sharing could be that it is a 'view and buy' process. People may listen to the album, like it and then decide to buy it rather than spending the money and finding they don't enjoy the artists content!!!!

To what extent has convergence transformed the media?

Limewire is a method convergence as you can download songs via your computer through the Limewire software. Once you have done this you can successfully share the songs you have illegally downloaded with your friends through msn or maybe create a CD and share it with your friends. This has transformed the media in a positive way as the media is now more accessible and people can afford it more often. However this is affecting the artists and the music industry in general as people are sharing their music for free. As well as sharing for free, the majority of people who have downloaded the music which they then share, have downloaded it illegally in the first place. Due to illegal downloads record companies are loosing industries and not being able to take on new artists to create new music and are now starting to abolish the production of singles.

Case Study: Theories

Theories to take into account when explaining my case studies

§The Long Tail

§Wikinomics

§We Think

§We the Media

§Web 2.0 & 3.0

§Active/Passive audiences

§Ideas from the Virtual Revolution (The Great Leveller & the Cost of Free)