Conglomerates vs the indies presentation.

Bibliography

Bibliography

www.grabstats.com (for figures)

www.itunes.com (for information and history)

www.answers.yahoo.com (for personal opinions from others, helping me gain an idea of what the public think)

www.channel4.com (to read up on their advertisements)

www.youtube.com (Rebecca black stats)

www.channel4.com (to read up on their advertisements)

Essay (creative media sector)

“In the last decade, technology has changed the creative media sector beyond all recognition”

This essay will investigate the impact of technology on two industries in the creative media sector; it will explore the music and TV industries.

A record breaking 10 million songs have been sold in one day alone on ITunes before, this is an astonishing fact showing what the media sector is capable of. 

Currently the creative media sector is dominated by the BIG 6. Conglomerates used to dominant the media sector, captivating us with the new technology they offered us, however in recent times Independent’s have bombarded us with cheaper ways to publish our own work, such as music.

Conglomerates have always bought into other companies, striving on their success and to make it their own, however because of the independent’s they now have competition within the media market. Unfortunately because of the overpowering success of Independent companies in the recent years conglomerate companies now have to come up with new ideas to engage their audience again, such as HD Sky.  Independent companies allow users like us to publish our work virtually free (such as YouTube) and gain success and popularity that way, whereas a conglomerate company would help you to gain popularity through a structured, expensive way. An example of an independent company is how Rebecca Black gained quick success through the use of the web, YouTube, she has now gained 30 million-and continuing hits on her viral video, earning her possibly over one millions pounds. However because she is an extremely controversial celebrity within the public, she has had a lot of hatred towards her, you could blame this on the fact she made success through an independent company, therefore had no one to guide her, but that’s how the independent companies work, they cant guarantee you anything, its up to you, unlike conglomerate companies who gain success by buying into other companies, forming as one.

Over the years music has been one of the most successful ways of connecting with the audience and gaining vast amounts of money.  Recently ITunes has become the largest music retailer in the US according to Grabstats. Since launching in 2003, ITunes (along with sites such as napster and soundcloud) has become a large part in the new technology involved with the music industry, by selling items from songs, TV shows and even some films. All of these can be downloaded in mp3 format, a new turn for the industry. Originally ‘film’ didn’t exist, the only way you could experience media would be through comic strips and other print media types. However over the years media has developed vastly, from VCRs to discs, and now to mp3 format. So now media is not only easily accessible, but also portable and kept all on the same hardrive. Media is now available to even the most individual audiences, allowing customers around the world to acquire products suitable to their unique music taste. Also, ITunes offers individual track sales to the audience. Instead of having to buy a CD (for the sake of 2 or 3 loved tracks) for around £8.99, you can buy those tracks for a mere 79p each from online stores. Although new technology such as ITunes has been brought to the industry, physical record sales are still over $5 billion higher than digital downloads. ITunes is such a recent addition to technology that people are still not used to it and aren’t fully aware of the capabilities and benefits of such a hi-tech programme. Therefore physical record sales are still high, as people like the idea of owning a hard copy of their favourite tracks. Another recent addition to the media industry is pre-recording. Radio stations, TV and other sources can pre-record music shows and play them on a loop so as to provide a larger variety of experiences to the target audience. Also, equipment has drastically improved in the last few years, creating the possibility to make music videos with special effects, pre-done pyrotechnics and dubbing so as to create a better all round experience for the audience.

TV plays a very important part in the media industry; from film to adverts to news shows. A huge number of companies are involved in creating day to day television, all of whom are employed by the media industry. Television started as a basic selection of 4 programmes, offering live shows. However the media industry is now suffering a sudden realization – with the invention of products such as sky TV and virgin media, we as the audience have the ability to fast forward adverts or credits, and to pause live television. This could potentially create a large problem for self-sufficient channels, which receive their funds mainly from advertisements during the channel breaks. This is due to the fact that most people WILL use new technology to their advantage, and fast forward through endless adverts, meaning that the media industry have had to make adverts shorter, and snappier, so even whilst being fast forwarded, the audience still gain an idea of what is being advertised. Channel 4 is a perfect example of this. They are now under threat, as they currently make a huge profit from the fact that the majority of their income is from advertisements. The reason they are no longer making so much money, as advertisers are choosing other, newer channels (such as 5* and ITV) that are airing programmes more in line with what the public currently wants. The advertisers will no longer go to channel 4 for slots, as they believe their products will gain more viewings if they are placed in slots on more popular programmes. This in turn means that channel 4 is no longer getting as many funds from adverts, so there is a risk of closure.  Another fabulous new invention is On Demand. The most popular films and channels, as well as news reports, weather maps and games, are automatically saved into the hard drive of the television, so the audience can pick and choose when they wish to see these options. This is especially useful to people who work long hours, or have a busy family life. One of the newest inventions is 3D television. This was first seen in cinemas, offering various films, where the audience could go into the cinema, don a pair of specially made glasses, and watch a film where objects would fly at you from all angles, and seem to really come alive. Although this has only recently been brought to home TV’s, audiences are desperate to get their hands on their own 3D set, and the recent TV’s with this technology have received a fantastic response.

Due to new technologies being created in recent years it has changed the way the audience view things. Illegal downloading is virally being displayed over the internet now, resulting in companies such as ITunes and even Music stores suffering severely. Years ago illegal downloading hadn’t even evolved, so companies could make vast amounts of money through selling their music, however because of new technologies it has developed into something almost everyone wants to try and do. There’s consequences if you are caught illegally downloading, but many people feel that although there’s a risk, they know they can get the music they want for free. All of this has taken a huge effect on how music industries now make profit, as they need to come up with new ideas on how to gain the audiences attention towards them. Just like the music industry the television industry is almost the same, although their losing profits through advertisements now. Because of constant technologies being produced, the media industry has been forced to develop and expand their ideas to catch the audience’s eye, without doing so this could result in many media industries being under threat. The advertisement cake is a perfect example of how companies are now struggling with making profits, because of the ongoing technologies being brought to the public eye, its making company’s decisions harder and less expandable on where they want to invest in. This is because new technologies are preventing companies from getting the full potential of what they are trying to advertise to the audience, so companies now have to come up with new methods of how to engage with the audience, causing more hassle and more money for them.

Technology will defiantly affect the conglomerate companies because they are secure with what they offer to the audience, ITunes is a perfect example of this. Although they are very well known globally, because of illegal downloading they are under threat because they now have competition. However independent companies may slightly benefit from the new technologies because they now have the advantage of being able to sell music for a much cheaper price than ITunes. As technology progresses independents are becoming increasingly popular, so there giving competition to the conglomerates.

Although technologies are constantly progressing, certain things have remained the same.  People will always follow the trend of what’s new to buy, if there’s a song that’s popular one week then everyone will want to listen and buy it, the music industry has always been like this, and although the industry is expanding with what they can offer you, this will always remain the same with the audience. Basic things such as the news will always stay the same within the media industry, there may be faster, more visual ways of broadcasting it to the audience now, but newspapers which were the first form of any media context still is widely bought across the world, this will never change because we constantly read the news to understand our surroundings. Although music has developed hugely, it will always remain the same with the idea that the music is produced exactly how it used to, just with more technology to advertise it now. Television still has the first four channels it ever aired on TV, over the years this has expanded to hundreds of channels now, but without those first 4 channels the other channels wouldn’t be there.

In my opinion things change within technology for the better, we have advanced software now which allows us to expand on our ideas to create more and more technology in which the public will indulge in, creating more profit for these companies doing so. Certain things will always remain the same, however we just add on to this to create newer, more technical products. The audience would get impatient with having the same technology every day, wanting to get more out of what it offers, this is why we create more advanced products to keep the audience satisfied. The media industry strives on the success of these new technologies being made, so without it, what would the media industry be? Would it still be around in the way it is now?

In the future I would love to see these vast upcoming technologies progressing onto further, more in depth things such as being able to view the internet simply on a glass slab, or having the ability to browse the web in 3d, being able to control everything by the touch of your hand. As the audience we constantly come up with ideas that near enough seem impossible, but in the future our ideas will almost probably come to reality.

glossary of key terms

Private Ownership - a situation in which a company is owned by privateshareholders

Public Company - A company which has issued securities through an offering, and which are now traded on the open market.

Public Service Media -

A Multinational Company - A multinational company has branches in may countries. Ford and Sony are examples.

Multinational companies do bring some benefits to developing countries. They provide jobs and increase the wealth of the local people. The country gains some wealth by way of taxes.

However, there are some problems as well. The jobs are often low-skilled and poorly paid. Much of the profit will go out of the country, and the company may pull out to relocate in a country where it can make a greater profit. Multinational companies are primarily interested in making profits for their shareholders. Paying wages is an expense that the company will try to reduce to as low a level as possible.

An Independent Company -a company which is not controlled by another company

Conglomerate/ Parent Companies/ Subsidiares - A corporation consisting of several companies in different businesses. Such a structure allows fordiversification of business risks, but the lack of focus can make managing the diverse businesses more difficult.

A Monopoly - A situation in which a single company owns all or nearly all of themarket for a given type of product or service.

An Obligopoly -A state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers.

Globalisation -

The worldwide movement toward economic, financial, trade, and communicationsintegration.

Globalization implies the opening of local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world with free transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers. However, it does not include unhindered movement of labor and, as suggested by some economists, may hurt smaller or fragile economies if applied indiscriminately.

Cross Media Ownership -It’s where one person or group owns more than one form of media - radio, TV, newspapers, especially in the same area.

This is terrible for Democracy - there is NO incentive for the reporters to investigate and get the story, since the ownership alone decides what is news and what isn’t and there is no competition for viewers/readers.
Democracy can only survive if the people are informed - hence the emphasis placed on our freedom of the press via the first amendment.

Vertical Integration -The process in which several steps in the production and/ordistribution of a product or service are controlled by a single company or entity, inorder to increase that company’s or entity’s power in the marketplace.

Horizontal Integration -Consolidation, through mergers, acquisitions, or takeovers, of multiple companies involved in the same level of a production process. Amerger between several retail brokerages would be an example of horizontalintegration, while a merger between a retail brokerage and a mutual fundmanagement company would not.

The ‘Advertising Cake’ -

A Franchise - A form of business organization in which a firm which already has a successful product or service (the franchisor) enters into a continuing contractualrelationship with other businesses (franchisees) operating under the franchisor’strade name and usually with the franchisor’s guidance, in exchange for a fee. Some of the most popular franchises in the United States include Subway, McDonalds, and 7-Eleven.

A Media Format -

AVI - Audio Video Interleave This file format was developed by Microsoft to store audio and video data for simultaneous playback. The screen resolution for AVI is limited to 320 X 240 pixels with a bitrate of 30 frames per second; this is slow and fuzzy, and so not efficient for viewing full screen or full motion video. AVI files are the most common audio/video formats on your PC.

DivX –named for its developer, DivXNetworks, Inc. This format is a video codec. Video codec technology allows a standard 6 Gigabyte DVD to be compressed and stored onto a CD. With calm movie scenes, the difference in clarity between the DVD and CD versions will be minor. But when the scene includes a lot of action, the difference is clearly evident

MPEG –also named for its developer, Movie Picture Experts Group MPEG is the name of the method used to compress the audio and video into bit stream tokens so that a movie will fit on a DVD. For more information about the evolution of the many MPEG formats, read our article: What is MPEG?

SVCD – Super Video Compact Disc This format uses a bitrate of 1500 to 2600 kilobits per second and has a screen resolution of 480 X 480 (NTSC standards) or 480 X 576 (PAL standards). SVCD produces a video quality greater than the video CD, its predecessor, and about equal to laser discs. With the advent of SVCD, you can store up to four channels of high quality audio as well as subtitles.

VCD - Video Compact Disk This format uses a bitrate of 1150–kilo bits per second and has a screen resolution of 352 X 240 (NTSC standards) or (352 X 288 PAL standards). VCDs–videos on CD–can play movies at greater quality than VHS movies.

WMV – Windows Media Video Developed by Microsoft, WMV is part of the Windows media framework. WMV files are usually ASF files with a WMV extension. Microsoft is now introducing a High Definition format of WMV. Most of the players available from our site will play .wmv files.

XVCD & XSVCD Extended Video Compact Disc, Extended Super Video Compact Disc These are the same as their counterparts but allow for higher bitrates and resolution capabilities. XVCD is comparable to MPEG–1; XSVCD is comparable to MPEG–2.

Web 2.0 -Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. Web 2.0 basically refers to the transition from static HTML Web pages to a more dynamic Web that is more organized and is based on serving Web applications to users. Other improved functionality of Web 2.0 includes open communication with an emphasis on Web-based communities of users, and more open sharing of information. Over time Web 2.0 has been used more as a marketing term than a computer-science-based term. Blogs, wikis, and Web services are all seen as components of Web 2.0.

A Merger - In terms of business - The combining of two or more entities into one, through a purchase acquisition or a pooling of interests. Differs from aconsolidation in that no new entity is created from a merger.

A Takeover - In terms of business - Acquiring control of a corporation, called atarget, by stock purchase or exchange, either hostile or friendly.

Convergence - When two or more companies come together, and reach a conclusion.