Alex Sexton

7 November 2013

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Producers and Consumers

According to Lev Manovich, We are in the middle of a new

media revolution - the shift of all culture to computermediated forms of production, distribution and
communication. (2002: 19) What are the implications of new
media technologies and practices for the consumption of new
media?

+ Media distribution is easier

+ New content can be shared and created, meaning that content sharing and being

discovered is easier
+ Content is cheaper to distribute
- Piracy
- A new wave of digital crime
- How has consumption changed since the early 2000s?

The revolution of new media has spurred on the creative industries around the world.
New media has made it easier for content to be shared, distributed, critiqued and
appreciated. This statement is especially pertinent when concerning both the film and
entertainment industries, such as the start-up of popular web service YouTube. However,
the shifting of traditional distribution and viewing services to a digital replacement may be
advantageous in some respects, but cause problems in others. This essay will examine the
divide between the positive and negative aspects of the new media.

Evidence displays that web 2.0, over the past decade, has been a growing technological
advancement. The phrase implies a higher order, or way of thinking - 2.0 suggests an
upgrade of sorts; a definition that is evolving with its users, and enabling content to become
more interactive, and also providing users with a user-centric way of classifying information,
and sharing content with each other.
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The emergence of web 2.0 has allowed for a number of technologies and services to
flourish, and for new mediums of consumption and distribution to emerge, giving users an
increasing amount of methods to access content. Evidence suggests that services such as
YouTube and Spotify have become key distributors in the online entertainment industries.
On the 20th of March, 2013, YouTube released a statement in an online blog post,
detailing information surrounding their viewership, as well as figures on global viewing. The
post states that: YouTube now has more than a billion unique users each month (Olanoff, 2013). This
number of unique visitors is a clear indicator of the scale in which online vendors grow,
under the conditions of a 21st century online society. The effect that YouTube has had on the
online entertainment industry can be surmised from a blog post hosted on YouTube. The post
details statistics about users, subscribers, the partner program, and copyright enforcement
programs. The post on viewership is as follows:

- More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month.

- Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube that's

almost an hour for every person on Earth, and 50% more than last year.
- 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.
- 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US.
- YouTube is localised in 56 countries and across 61 languages.
- According to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults aged 18-34 than any

cable network.
- Millions of subscriptions happen each day, and the number of people

subscribing has more than doubled since last year.

(Youtube.com, 2013)

There are a number of elements in this list of statistics that emphasise the scale of
growth that YouTube has achieved in just under 10 years. For example, According to
Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults aged 18-34 than any cable network. The
statement made here is a clear display of a shift in how the viewing habits of an incredibly
large primary audience demographic have shifted over the past ten years. The repeated use of
the word Millions is yet another indicator of the size of YouTube.

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Another new media service that has had a resounding effect on the music industry, as
well as the way that consumers acquire their music, is Spotify. With a public release of the
service launched in October 2008 via closed registrations, the services now operates on a
subscription-based business model. (Wikipedia, 2013)
With subscriptions starting at around 4.99 per month, the Spotify model allows users
access to millions of tracks for a low cost (Spotify.com, 2013). When combined with the social
uses that Spotify has, such as the ability to share playlists and tracks with friends online, the
relatively low cost becomes much more attractive. The low cost, social platform has also had a
substantial impact on the issue of piracy within the music sector.
Piracy has been a long standing issue within the entire entertainment industry - with the
music industry being the industry that has suffered the most as a result of it. File-sharing via
sites such as BitTorrent still remains one of the most popular ways to illegally acquire music,
but the trend may be starting to see a decrease as a result of the actions introduced by Spotify.
This excerpt describes the relationship between music piracy and the interest in Spotify in
Sweden:

A new report looking into online music consumption habits shows that since 2009 the
number of people who pirate music has dropped by 25 percent in Sweden. The sharp
decrease coincides with a massive interest for the music streaming service Spotify. One of the
main reasons why people switch to legal services is the wider range of material they can find
there.
Looking at the motivations for people to switch to legal services, participants in the
survey cited the range of music thats released as the primary reason (40%). Other
explanations were the absolute increase in available music (30%), and the fact that legal
services have become cheaper (24%) and simpler (24%).
("Ernesto", 2013)

The report details the amount of swedes that are willing to switch to legal methods of
obtaining content. This kind of positive change suggests an upward trend in the decline of
illegality, when looking at music consumption. The availability of music, in terms of the
subscription model, may not be the only element that is drawing users towards the service.
Another feature that may prove useful to recently-converted torrent users is mobile
functionality offered by the service. Entire albums can be downloaded in minutes, meaning

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that the kinds of rapid delivery of content that torrent users are accustomed to is available,
thus further increasing the appeal of a legal alternative to music piracy.

While Spotify may be encouraging legal acquisitions of music, new media and digital
technology are proposing new methods of piracy. While they may not be classed as piracy
officially, alternatives to paying for music have been circulating around the internet since the
inception of YouTube itself. One of the main methods that provides teenage audiences with
free, legal music are services such as YouTube2MP3.
These services provide free content by taking

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