Monday 28 April 2014

NDM - Music Ind

Myspace

Myspace was a profound platform for independent music artists a decade ago.  Myspace was “founded in 2003 and was acquired by News Corporation in July 2005 for $580 million.  From 2005 until early 2008, Myspace was the most visited social networking site in the world, and in June 2006 surpassed Google as the most visited website in the United States.  In April 2008, Myspace was overtaken by Facebook in the number of unique worldwide visitors.  In June 2011, Specific Media Group and Justin Timberlake jointly purchased the company for approximately $35 million.” (Myspace)  That means in six years their net worth decreased by $545 million dollars, an astronomical amount.
Myspace is an example of a platform that experienced unheard of growth and success only to lose a substantial user base to other competing social platforms. 

The Pirate Bay

The Pirate Bay is well-known file sharing platform currently on the internet.  The Pirate Bay is a “Swedish file-sharing website founded in 2003 and, as of May 2012, has over five million registered users and hosts over four million torrents.  According to the Los Angeles Times, the Pirate Bay is “one of the world’s largest facilitators of illegal downloading” and “the most visible member of a burgeoning international anti-copyright or pro-piracy movement”. The site’s torrents allow a variety of content to be downloaded via peer-to-peer.” (The Pirate Bay).

DatPiff

A platform that has actually benefited the genre of hip hop and rap by providing registered consumers with new music from a variety of well-known artists is DatPiff.   DatPiff is an “online mixtape distribution platform owned by Idle Media Inc. It was launched in 2005 and specialises in Hip-hop and Rap music.  A large number of popular Rap and Hip-hop music artists have released mixtapes on the site, and the total downloads of their most popular mixtapes exceeds 19.7 million. They have also received major sponsorship deals from companies such as Nike and VH1.” (DatPiff)


Music fans can go to Twitter or Facebook to keep updated about our favourite artists, while new tracks or videos will almost instantly be launched on social network accounts for the artist. Furthermore, social media is where music audiences naturally congregate, forming their own communities and sharing their experiences of bands and artists.
On social networks you can see how many people are talking about the artists e.g. FB saying how many people are talking about it right now. This allows measuring online conversation providing insight into the popularity of an artist. Fans go by how an artist’s produces music to their liking and then stands by them if it is good to them.
Engaging fans will make them aware of the music released, make them feel closer to the celebrity and allow them to stay loyal to the account, liking their posts, sharing, retweeting etc. Promotions, brand endorsements and blogger outreach all have to deliver sales. The loss of CD and sales of songs and albums because of digital downloading and piracy leads artists to make money out of concerts, advertising and other things.

landscape





Impact on the Music Industry

Evolution of Music: The impact of Digital on the Music Industry Infographic

NDM - cancer research

No-makeup selfies campaign generates £2m windfall for cancer research


http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/21/no-makeup-selfie-campaign-facebook

no make up

The #nomakeupselfies campaign raised the money in just 48 hours, the charity said, with hundreds of thousands of donations from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter users sharing pictures of themselves without makeup and nominating a friend to do the same.
Twitter said the hashtag started to gather steam on Tuesday and peaked on Thursday, with 83,000 mentions since Wednesday alone. Instagram saw 59,000 posts in 24 hours from Thursday to Friday, and estimated those users would have donated £180,000.

Some people thought that the whole idea was odd since women were being see as 'brave' to show themselves without makeup. It created many debates among commentators and bloggers ect relating to young women seeing this and molding their opinions and views on how women should look and some with feminist views and comments. Furthermore the link between no make up and fighting for lives of cancer patients was loosely tied and also created a buzz between posts. Selfies are popular with a lot of social media focus on them early this year, it was used by relating to the audience and reader making the hashtag a success.

Saturday 19 April 2014

NDM 3

Row over Tory 'beer and bingo' Budget advert
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26658742

Chancellor George Osborne

Bingo and Beer advertisement from the government saying they've reduced prices for bingo and beer. However the way they did this in their wording resulted in the feel of how the government would do those things and it's something that is for the lower socio-economic class. Giving the vibe of there is a differentiation, how the gov isn't in their category and are different from the public that enjoy bingo and beer. It came across as patronizing and insulted many people who saw this advertisement. Many people on Twitter and other social networks commented and gave their opinion on the advertisement, it created a hype for a day and involved many views and opinions of how the government act and do things.

Thousands of Morrisons staff personal details leaked online

Dalton Philips, Morrisons chief executive, at the supermarket group's Bradford headquarters
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/14/morrisons-staff-personal-details-stolen-published-online

This story talks about the breaching on the internet and NDM has allowed theft much easier, Morrison's staff details such as their wages/salaries which link to bank accounts were published into leading to a drop in shares by 12%. Their reputation and images was damaged by this incident affect their share percentage and therefore makes them look bad to the public. for a large company, security should be a big priority as it affects and can determine success or failure in their aims and objectives as a business. As there's various ways to breach into technical and important information such as bank details, and is getting easier to do, the company should step up their protection methods and control it more. This embarrassing issue will effect employees and customers affect the store a great deal in terms of trust and belief.

David Cameron mocked on Twitter after 'serious' Obama phone photo


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10679769/David-Cameron-mocked-on-Twitter-after-serious-Obama-phone-photo.html

I've been speaking to @BarackObama about the situation in Ukraine. We are united in condemnation of Russia's actions. pic.twitter.com/7Rk2k8iOIK

David Cameron tweeting a serious picture of him on the phone to Obama has lead into celebrities as well as any other user to tweet memes, images and funny text posts. People felt it was a crave for attention and unnecessary and therefore mocked it with celebrities and people on twitter imitating and making jokes.
This overly posed for picture is a target for many younger users as they do the same to twitter accounts they follow, of friends etc as a way to have a laugh with their friends. If an important figure of the UK does the same as what some twitter users see 'attention seeking' like many teenage girls it's only natural for them to go for this image.

NDM 3

US paper tells reporters the more stories you post the more pay you gethttp://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2014/mar/25/digital-media-us-press-publishing


Reporters are also expected to increase their average number of daily posts by 25% by the middle of the year and an extra 15% during the second half of the year.
They are also being required to post the first comment under any significant article on the website, Oregonlive.com, in order to stimulate online conversations among readers.
This will create more talk between readers but may degrade the quality of news and perhaps may wonder off topic at time just for writers to post something or anything. As their bonuses will depend on story numbers and not quality of the stories they post this gives them more pressure to write about something resulting them to post large amounts that won't attract readers or interest them as news of the world. Futhermore they may be vunerable to writing about lies or hoaxes under the pressure of publishing stories before they investigate the reliability of sources used.

Turkey steps up bid to block Twitter after users flout ban


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/23/turkey-twitter-ban

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

In threats of blocking a social networking, people have commented on how Erdogan is joining ranks of elected dictators and oddly enough he was elected on an anti-corruption basis. People believe his days running things are numbered and that people will rise against him. Many people already know ways to get around a blockage such as the comment below:
Haven't we learnt anything from the blocks on the Pirate Bay? And how well they turned out? As long as a middleman can be accessed outside the state that is not affected by the ban (i.e. any computer outside of Turkey), that middleman will route the traffic through proxy.


7 ways a streaming iTunes could compete with Spotify and its rivals

Apple sold 151.5m iPhones in 2013.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/24/apple-streaming-music-itunes-spotify

Music download sales tipping into a decline,

Figures published this month by industry body the IFPI showed that labels' income from download sales fell 2.1% in 2013, while streaming revenues rose by 51%. Download revenues were still more than three times bigger – $3.93bn to $1.11bn – but it still felt like a tipping point.
Some countries tipped long ago: streaming accounted for 70% of music industry revenues in Sweden in 2013, and 65% in Norway.
Note another recent Billboard report about Apple lobbying for more exclusives on iTunes – albeit the download store – after helping BeyoncĂ© to sell nearly 829,000 copies in three days last December, through an exclusive digital deal.

Saturday 12 April 2014

News Corporation

1) Research News Corporation’s response to the growth of new and digital media by listing each of the institution’s brands (Sky News, Times etc.) Have any closed, changed or been in the news in the last five years for any reason?

Falling newspaper sales cuts into profit of The Times and The Sun

Less money spent on journalist in terms of wages means that News Corp can save money as User Generated Content and Citizen Journalism can be used opposed to professional journalists. The job is paid considerably well and cutting back on employees means a massive amount in saved resulting in a positive impact. Journalists are now not needed everywhere in the world. Example of UCG and Citizenship Journalists is Twitter a source many people go to to see the important events of the day seen by rehastags and trends.  Furthermore an example of News Corp saving money is how they use the same journalists from The Sun for The Sun on Sunday which replaced The News of the World after the scandal from hacking phones. 

As less money is spent on journalists this could mean less quality as en example of employees for newspapers getting lazier in a way and making them dig into stories less and will lead them to ignore opportunities to find corruption and scandals such as the Watergate would be found this way. Less staff means it's less likely to find scandals and the readers would be at loss and unaware of the scandals. 

News Corp CEO Rupert Murdock implemented a paywall as he thought the new and digital media would allow readers more sources and more content elsewhere with more choice for free and that the sales of the newspaper would plummet down. The Sun and The Times have reacted by using a paywall for their web content and has also encouraged sales with rewards such as access to football matches.  

Institution content and appeal means newspapers would time to time start targeting younger audiences can lead to loyal readers feeling at loss as the younger audience want to know about celebrities and the older readers want to know about important news.


News online - mobile - not needed to watch 24h news.


2) Develop examples of the impact that new and digital media has had on News Corp’s brands (paywalls, readership figures, audience share etc.)


Falling newspaper sales cuts into profit of The Times and The Sun

Less money spent on journalist in terms of wages means that News Corp can save money as User Generated Content and Citizen Journalism can be used opposed to professional journalists. The job is paid considerably well and cutting back on employees means a massive amount in saved resulting in a positive impact. Journalists are now not needed everywhere in the world. Example of UCG and Citizenship Journalists is Twitter a source many people go to to see the important events of the day seen by rehastags and trends.  Furthermore an example of News Corp saving money is how they use the same journalists from The Sun for The Sun on Sunday which replaced The News of the World after the scandal from hacking phones. 

News Corp CEO Rupert Murdock implemented a paywall as he thought the new and digital media would allow readers more sources and more content elsewhere with more choice for free and that the sales of the newspaper would plummet down. The Sun and The Times have reacted by using a paywall for their web content and has also encouraged sales with rewards such as access to football matches.  

3) Use what you have found out about News Corp to answer the following question:

Why and with what success are traditional media institutions adapting to the challenge posed by new/digital media?


News Corp has tried to adapt with some success through how the CEO Rupert Murdock implemented a paywall as he thought the new and digital media would allow readers more sources and more content elsewhere with more choice for free and that the sales of the newspaper would plummet down. Furthermore they have attempted to bring in the football fan audience through offering their football app if they pay for the newspaper. Although it has had some success the majority have other sources of  news to go to and may just check twitter for their news through trends and newspaper tweets. Twitter is also very popular for the younger audiences as their following users select interesting news articles or may check the trend for the latest update every so often in the day. Twitter acts as a fusion of communication, social networking connecting to people from all over the world as well as a news source. Although it has seen some success they have sacrificed a lot to do so and readers will eventually or often go to free sites such as BBC news, guardian for their news. New digital media give instant updates of news making it more useful than newspaper, big news during the afternoon will be in the news the following day making it seem delayed while twitter is swarmed with tweets about it becoming a trend as well as news sites. UGC also allows anyone with access to a camera to record events at the time, instantly to send to newspapers to put on their websites and social networking. I think that although they see some success, new digital media is dissolving the importance of professional newspapers.




News on the Tweet

Why are respected news brands good news for Twitter?

Twitter by itself would produce tweets and posts that aren't reliable, Twitter allows anyone to make an account thus allowing them to lie and tweet things that may not be true or reliable. Official Twitter accounts are respected with a good reputation and big names/brands are known to be careful about what they do or say to the public meaning that they are good for Twitter as their information is reliable and trustworthy for Twitter followers.

Why in turn is Twitter good for respected news brands?

Twitter allows users from all over to world to access and follow Twitter accounts which include respected brands such as designers, celebrities, organisations and businesses. Twitter acts as a advertisement platform where people can follow, tweet and re-post the information thus allow other followers and accounts to access this information. Accessing it online is easier and better for users opposed to paying - An example may be how a person may not buy The Telegraph but can view articles on their Twitter page out of interest on how they report a story to compare. Furthermore twitter allows a easier and quicker access to articles and newspaper home pages.

The report suggests that old and new media “are not, in fact, in direct competition, but often work extremely well together to enhance both the media eco-system and the consumer experience”. What evidence do they provide to support this idea? Do you agree with it?

Users on Twitter think that the social networking allows them to keep connected and updated to their favourite brands and celebrities, clothing brands for example or favourite artists. Twitter and news brands provide the public with news, gossip, information for readers, working side by side creates a stronger ground to provide users with that information. Along with the ability to connect more people together about the topic making the experience amplified, this also creates opinions, offspring of posts and comments. A verified brand informing users of news or gossip will allow users to register and believe it instantly as it is respected with a reputation, etc and will encourage people to spread the news to fellow friends, co-workers etc. the verified sign creates a trust, allowing people to spread and react to it as they please since they will assume instantly it is true without doubt.

On page 24/25 of the report, the focus turns to gossip or banter. What example tweets from journalists are used to illustrate this? 

A tweet about how a university has spent £20,000 building a pub to investigate why people get drunk - it's ironic and makes a joke about it. The other examples look like their about celebrities and social interest and sports then some about politics and university, the pub tweet is a great example of mockery.


Do you think the increasing amount of gossip or banter is harming the reputation of news and journalists?

Yes as it makes professional journalists appear more of a blogger than from a professional news brand. It makes it more readable and interesting for the younger audiences and holds their interest more as they appeal to that sort of news opposed to the older audiences. furthermore gossip and banter is more unusual from news and journalists and therefore get more attention as its out of the ordinary and would get more attention, re-tweets and comments about it.


What does the report say about trust in Twitter and journalists (look at pages 34-39)?

information such as news is very important for the public and for users and needs to be from a trustworthy source to ensure it is 100% true and not tampered or made up, this is why verified branded names or businesses help builds trust and ensures the public that is a reputable account tweeting real information for them to read. Having more character and personality from a journalist makes it more interesting than news company and therefore having a news employee journalist on twitter can mean they can interact and get more users interested. 

Finally, do you think new and digital media developments such as Twitter have had a positive or negative impact on traditional newspapers?


Twitter a new and digital media development has both positive and negative impacts on the tradition newspapers, allowing users to engage with journalists from the news businesses and interact more with the people following the account. The prestige view of how a twitter user and appear to be at a high level and not interact with followers can be broken using a twitter account by a journalist dissolving that type of impression. This more relaxed and more interesting way to getting more readers and followers for a newspaper has made newspapers result in price wars in order to get more readers picking up their paper at stores.