online age

Discuss the extent to which the distribution and consumption of media have been transformed by the media.

The internet has transformed the distribution and consumption of the media. I am going to discuss the changes which have occured in relation to two specific media areas, online television and within the music industry.

We can see a major transition within television as consumption has transformed from the tradition television to the desktop. The invention of the television in the late 20th century brought the family together as on audience. The television showed programmes such as Coronation Street and Eastenders which illustrated a reflection of a generalisable society which audiences would consider the norm. In the past television was a way of constructing a form of collective identity for the viewers as the narratives related to family values and friendships. However, in the past most households would only consist of one television, this meant that there was very limited channels suggesting that programmes would run under a fixed schedule.  This fixed scheduling, suggested that the family would have to be together to watch the soaps. This is a prime example of audience fragmentation.

This then began to change due to media development, the number of channels began to increase as well as repeat scheduling, even the number of televisions in the home increased, suggesting a sense of audience fragmentation. This means that entertainment no longer was a factor that brought the family together but diffused the family into different rooms. Further technological developments such as online media continued to change the consumption. The internet was another form which was used as a new platform for television to reach its audience. BBC iPlayer was launched in 2007, it allowed audiences to watch episodes of Eastenders anytime up until seven days after its first launch on BBC. This new featured prevented restrictions meaning that audiences were now able to create their own scheduling. By 2009, 86% of users streamed with desktops. It could be said television audiences were no longer in front of the television anymore. Therefore it could be said that there are constant changes and transformations due to new platforms of viewing television have been discovered by the big media corporations such as the BBC.

On the other hand, it could be siad that distribution and consumption have faced a transition due to further social networking sites such as Youtube and Blogger. Wesch describes web 2.0 as a way of linking people together in a way that they haven't been linked before. He believes that the media is creating the concept of mediating human relationships. He states that between 1948-2008, for every hour is equivalent to 1.5 million hours of programming and 'Youtube' have created more than this amount within the last six months, thanks to normal citizens. Over 9000 hours of programming is uploaded within a day.He states that the main purpose for Youtube was to enable citizens to contribute and upload.It can be seen as a celebration of a new type of community that we have never witnessed before. 

The clear difference between the producers and consumers have somewhat diffused within the music industry. We have faced a large transition from visiting music stores to buying music from the internet and technological devices, such as iPhones. The internet has created a large impact on the distribution and consumption of the media. Chris Anderson’s theory on long tail distribution is a prime example of establishing the internet as having an effect on distribution and consumption. Due to the limited storage space in shops such as HMV, niche products are not displayed in such stores. However, the internet’s endless storage space enables more storage space therefore more niche products are then produced online. This leads to more people being able to consume niche media products. For example, it is impossible to track independent artists such as Josh Kumra within stores such as HMV. Due to the extinction of Virgin Music stores, we can automatically predict the eventual disappearance of HMV.

According to the words of David Gauntlett, media in the past had major divisions between the distributors and the consumers. Before, terms such as "God" was used to describe the roles of the distributors, this is because in the past you needed big recorded devices and cameras which was impractical as most people did not really afford to own such things. Gauntlett states that media was "handed down from on high", in terms of accessibility and general attitudes and tones towards it. The consumers were seen as "little people" due to the lack of control. He compares the general architecture of the Broadcasting House with the exterior of a church, justifying the power of the distributors.  This had an impact on music industry in particular as potential artists would struggle to be able to distribute their music without having to send their material off to the large record companies and these artists would almost have to hope they would be signed with a label.

However, now there are portable, small devices such as laptops and phones which can be any easy source where the previous "little people" can upload there material on social networking sites such as Youtube and Wikipedia for fans to follow, these sites display a variety of videos such as homemade videos and they manage to gain a wide

audience which enforce the individual to carry on making songs for their followers. 

Gauntlett states that one of the main reasons for the transition was due to the founding of Web 2.0. Before this discovery, Web 1.0 meant that everybody created their own websites separately from one another. However the discovery of Web 2.0 enforced the idea that everybody contributed towards the internet together. Lana attempted to be discovered through the record companies as Elizabeth Grant however she was incredibly unsuccessful making it through this route therefore she then re-established herself through the internet as Lana del Rey with her song “Video Games” which gained over 24000000 Youtube views while it was going to the press.