Case study research tasks
- Inside Beyonce's business empire: How she became a global brand:
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/02/business/beyonce-business-global-brand/
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150415-beyonc-voice-of-a-generation
- 7 Lessons From Beyonce's Social Media Guru
http://www.inc.com/rebecca-borison/beyonce-digital-media.html
But no Twitter. “Currently, we don’t use Twitter at all. It is a personal choice. I think as an artist, Beyoncé really prefers to communicate in images. It’s very hard to say what you want to say in 140 characters,” said Wirtzer-Seawood. “This is just a personal preference to her at this time. But also the Twitter channels are so crowded: it’s a different kind of experience that the fan has…”
“I would never open an account and not expect that we can continue to fill that channel forever: that it will continue to grow, and we’ll need to continue to fill it. That’s a huge responsibility,” she said.
- Tidal
- Beyoncé Shows How Social Media is Changing Marketing
The artist turned to Instagram and Twitter instead of traditional marketing methods
to spread the word about her album release.
http://www.inc.com/abigail-tracy/beyonce-shows-the-true-power-of-social-media.html
- How Beyoncé Keeps the Internet Obsessed With Her
The singer's social media presence combines faux intimacy and calculated messages that make events out of her most normal moments.
- Beyoncé Rejects Tradition for Social Media’s Power
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/business/media/beyonce-rejects-tradition-for-social-medias-power.html?_r=0
Media Magazine research
tackles real issues: drugs, absent
fathers, hypocritical politicians, friends who are
users.
Lily’s videos and lyrics all contain an element of
comedy. In ‘The Fear’ Allen exposes the empty-
headed world of the modern day pop princess
wannabe, product of the X-Factor generation. She
is wrapped up in a bow and everything is sugar
and spice.
I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless
Coz everyone knows that’s how you get famous. Lilly Allen
Catchy skits and samples provide the basis
for Allen’s chatty discourse: she is the social
commentator of our age. The messages and values
that Allen promotes – through the role of cheeky
little girl who speaks more truth than politicians/
the media – need the element of comedy to
engage her target audience in the important issues,
the issues that really matter, rather than the latest
fashion fad. ‘If I buy those jeans I can look like Kate
Moss.’ (‘Everything’s Just Wonderful’) The clever
thing about Allen is that she manages to contrast a
sweet, childish voice with hard-hitting facts/social
images, making her an instant hit on radio.
Allen tackles real issues in an accessible way.
Humour draws us in and makes us listen more
closely. It is a tool vital to her success. She has an
opinion too – but she is less of the preacher, more
the sarcastic poet who has seen too much of life.
Artists like Allen scare the institution of the record
industry – freedom of speech is a dangerous thing
in terms of a vocal 24-year-old who will not just
shut up and be told what to sing. However, her
recent comments (in September 09) that she could
never make a profit making new records, that she
has ‘no plans’ to make another album and she is
not renewing her record contract, do lead one to
wonder how hard life was made for Allen in the
record industry, and how hard she had to fight to
claim her own voice. If Allen sticks to her intentions,
then British pop music will suffer.
page.47
Emma Clarke studied Media at A Level and is now a
Literature graduate working in Brighton.
George Ritzer (1996) suggested
that postmodernism usually refers to a cultural
movement – postmodernist cultural products
such as architecture, art, music, films, TV, adverts
page.42
BBC 6 Music and Asian
Network face closure
BBC Director General Mark Thompson, speaking
on the BBC News Channel, admitted 6 Music was
‘distinctive’ and had loyal fans, but said its closure
was necessary ‘from a value-for-money point of
view.’
However, some people claim the BBC is
motivated by fear of more severe cuts after the
election. Jonathan Freedland, writing at on the
Guardian’s Comment is Free website, said:
The BBC is caving to a Tory media policy
dictated by Rupert Murdoch.
page 8;mm33
• Music
–This is a topic area going through many
changes at the moment. You may be
interested in looking at the ways the
different platforms are dealing with changing
technologies and changing audience
behaviours. Traditional radio and music
televisions is a good starting point but
you might also want to consider how the
web is being used to access music and how
print media is responding to this. Social
networking is being used by institutions
and musicians to help promote music
and offers a more interactive relationship
between musicians and audience. Twitter,
for example, is now a powerful tool for
communication between stars and fans,
some bands offer music free online, others
encourage audience members to get
involved in the production process, offering
tracks for mixing and so on.
-radio
-youtube
-sound cloud/online streaming
-music magazines
Finally, although vinyl was on the
way out, the music industry had a fairly stable
physical distribution system through tapes and
pg17:mm33
What is Networked
Feminism?
Feminism is often divided into ‘waves’ to explain the cultural context in which they began. The ‘first wave of feminism’ began in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, with a main focus on suffrage. The ‘second wave’ began in the 1960s, campaigning for the growth of equal rights and leading to the Equal Pay Act of 1970, amongst other equality laws. Since the late 1990s, we are believed to have entered the ‘third wave’ (often identified as post-feminism). The new fourth wave of feminism is also known as ‘networked feminism’. it aims to tackle social equality issues found both on, and using, modern technology. Thousands of campaigns, blogs and hashtags have been used to spur on the feminist upheaval. Ideologies and communities that were thought to have been extinct have been watered back to life through the roots of the internet. User-generated content websites have seemed to flourish with the words of the feminists: blogs, submission sites and YouTube are all being utilised to set up, grow and oppose campaigns. Twitter is a big player in representing modern feminism; people are now able to instantly engage with the ideologies, and hashtags such as #WomenAgainstFeminism and #YesAllWomen have trended Feminism is not about promoting matriarchy, but solidarity
McRobbie’s work on all aspects of youth
culture for young women, including pop music,
dance and magazines. No doubt he was pleased
by their academic success and the way in which
the Centre’s work, especially under the leadership
of Stuart Hall, developed theoretical ideas that
overcame the problem of how to approach
popular culture in a productive way.
Mark Ashelford considers that:
There’s no doubt that the relationship
between musicians and record companies
needs to change. But let’s look at things from
the other perspective. People buying music
want to do so without any fuss – and they
only want to pay once for the same piece
of music. We can use the analogy of how
supermarkets managed to sell ice to their
customers. It’s not so much the content, it’s
the service. For music, we must make it easier
to legitimise the services, because the rights
of performing and composition must remain
central.
pg.27:mm.35
FACTSHEET 68
- The growth and popularity of the internet has challenged the power of conglomerate control within the industry in a number of ways. The music industry has had to respond to the advent of the digital revolution due to its impact on production, distribution, artists and audiences.
- The rapidly increasing trend of internet file-sharing has resulted in both positive and negative outcomes for both artists and fans. Artists are rewarded with free ‘viral marketing’ where word of mouth spreads ‘like a virus’ amongst users, generating free publicity and ‘buzz’ around an artist, video, album or single.
- However, this has the potential to increase music piracy and illegal downloading of music which in turn can contribute to massive financial losses for record labels as users are able to download or stream music for free rather than purchase a physical copy.
- Contemporary ‘DIY’ culture within the music industry, shaped by artists such as Lily Allen and The Arctic Monkeys, has led to the role of the conglomerate becoming less pivotal. Artists have taken ownership of key industry processes such as marketing and distribution, processes usually carried out by the record labels themselves. Artists are now able to take ownership of their own marketing and distribution online using sites such as MySpace, working independently of conglomerate support.
- As conglomerates becomes less dominant, audiences gain more choice over the types of music they want to hear and access, rather than being restricted by the type of music distributed by record labels. If high levels of interest for an artist are established online, indicated by the number of ‘adds’ or ‘friends’ an artist has acquired, then a record deal may be offered to an artist, putting them under conglomerate control.
- The digital revolution has enabled audiences to move from passive to active, leading to a participatory culture as audiences get more of a say in what music is produced and which music succeeds. The fan-run ‘Rage Against the X Factor’ Campaign is an example of how consumer power won in the battle to challenge conglomerate control.
- Audiences succeeded in using the social media site Facebook to overturn Simon Cowell’s monopoly over the Christmas Number 1 spot. Collectively, fans put Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name Of at Number One, ahead of X Factor Winner Joe McElderry’s cover version of The Climb.
- In an era where reality TV and manufactured talent dominate primetime television and music chart platforms, the face of mainstream popular music is often criticised for its lack of originality and mediated nature. Within this musical landscape, Lady Gaga has become a cultural figure of public interest, courting much controversy amongst media commentators.
Example:
- Gaga exists across numerous media platforms, combining art, fashion, music, film and technology through her creative brand ‘Haus of Gaga’. This refers to the collaborative team who work with Gaga on her videos, stage shows and creative vision. The Gaga ‘brand’ is further promoted through her business activity off stage. She has her own high street fashion range in shops such as River Island and Topshop, a make-up range for MAC and is the face of many product endorsements including Polaroid.
- Lady Gaga offers a new business model by successfully combining traditional industry practices (being signed to and financed by a major record label) with new media forms. She utilises the power of a major conglomerate whilst embracing the development of digital technology. Since the Gaga phenomenon began, her music has been available to access for free via streaming on her many online profiles, including those on Vevo and Myspace. Rather than reduce record sales, this move has proved financially beneficial for the institution as fans are also paying to download the music via iTunes.
- Audience in the Digital Era ‘Fandom’ is defined as the expression of a passion for something and is a form of audience response. The rapid growth and popularity of the internet and new technologies means that fans are becoming more active consumers, able to interact with their subject in a variety of new ways.
- By embracing social network media platforms, musicians and record labels are able to utilise an interactive relationship with fans that is beneficial to both producers and audiences. For example ‘groups’ or ‘pages’ on sites such as Facebook can invite subscribers or fans to join and following a person, organisation or brand on Twitter allows fans to build direct relationship with their subject.
- The rise in digital technology has seen an increase in online video consumption. This can create free word of mouth for producers, with the number of viewings per video providing a sign of audience engagement with a product. Fans can view videos on YouTube and share clips with other fans by embedding them into blogs, Facebook or MySpace. Fans can leave video comments, post a video response or spoof and upload music to their own social network profile. These forms of user generated content illustrate the changing relationship between producers and audiences in a move towards a ‘demand led’ music industry where fans themselves have the power to influence what is produced.
- Jackie Stacey (1994) presents a theory of spectatorship exploring the practices surrounding fandom by looking at the pleasures fans can get from a star, highlighting two key processes of spectatorship: escapism and aspiration. Richard Dyer (1985) offers a definition of escapism stating that ‘entertainment offers the image of ‘something better’ to escape into or something we want deeply that our day to day lives don’t provide’.
- style and aspirational empowered female stance and behaviour. Stacey argues that the confidence and independence of female stars is aspired to by spectators who may see themselves as unable to possess such qualities, primarily due to the entrapment of traditional gender stereotypes. By offering an empowered female representation, both lyrically and visually, Gaga presents fans with a strong female role model of aspiration. (MCROBBIE)
- Digital media platforms mobilise fans to emulate their icons and share their collective appreciation of a star. The fan made Facebook event ‘National Lady Gaga Day’ has attracted over 100,000 followers and encourages fans to dress, sing and act like Gaga by having themed parties, experimenting with fashion and displaying an empowered attitude.
In summary, the digital revolution is both challenging the power of the music
industry as something that is conglomerate controlled, and transforming the role
of the audience by giving them more power over the way they consume and
respond to media products.
This Media Studies Factsheet was researched and written by Rebecca Ellis.
Media Factsheet research
9FACTSHEET 122)
- However, this traditional model is changing. Developments in technology and the emergence of the Internet mean that artists have the potential to reach audiences without the need for a major company and where once recording equipment was expensive it was out of reach for the average person; it is now widely available at a low cost. You can purchase sophisticated music production software for a few pounds on your mobile device or tablet. Damon Albarn, for example, recently produced a Gorillaz album in its entirety using software on the iPad. In many cases artists are able to promote and distribute their music digitally without the assistance of a record label. Unsigned artists can sell their music on iTunes, have it streamed on Spotify or Soundcloud and produce their own videos for YouTube. But how far is this impacting on the dominance of the big 4?
- In an era of fragmented platforms, file sharing, and non-traditional routes to market, the music industry is facing various challenges. It has had to react to change: new formats, new technology and new business models mean an industry in a constant state of transformation. This has been particularly obvious in the way that audiences are dictating how they want to consume their music, but having more ways you can listen to music is not necessarily the same thing as having more choice.
- How audiences are purchasing and consuming music has changed dramatically with the emergence of digital technology and the music industry has struggled to keep up at times and this is especially true when it comes to changing audience behaviours. One of the most problematic issues that the industry is facing is the ‘culture of free’. In recent years consumers are less willing to pay for their music and as a consequence piracy and file-sharing have seen the industry lose billions over the last decade.
- According to the Institute for Policy Innovation global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year. In order to combat this music streaming services such as Spotify have worked in conjunction with the industry to try offer audiences the opportunity to listen to music but not actually download it, which means it is not being shared YouTube has also placed ID content censorship on videos to stop music being downloaded. However, these are only temporary measures and the industry has had to find more ways to prevent this.
- Palmer already had an establish fan base which she appealed to fund the production and distribution of her album through the crowdsourcing site Kickstarter. In return she also pledged to break down the barriers between artist and audience by doing impromptu performances such as having fans come up to her balloon-covered body and pop one. This way she could make the music she wanted and also develop a more intimate relationship between fan and artist. This close relationship was further cemented with the emergence of Twitter.
- What is clear is that in a trans-media age where changes are brought about by the developments in technology at a rapid pace the interrelationship between the artist and consumer is evolving beyond the traditional models, but whether they will ever challenge the monopolies is yet to be seen.
- Para-social relationships – Psychologists use the term “parasocial relationship” to describe the connection people get from celebrities and other famous people but which an illusion is.
The Guardian- Digital Media
Adele
tickets partner Songkick raises new $10m funding round
The British company that helped to
prevent 18,000 touts from buying tickets for Adele’s 2016 tour has raised $10m
of funding to continue developing its technology.
Will Tidal be the next music straeing service to
drown?
Spotify beefed with
Taylor Swift and got sued by songwriters; Apple messed withpeople’s iTunes collections and was accused of sexism; and Deezer abruptlycancelled plans to go public in 2015.
No such
thing as bad PR: Is social media saving or damaging the music industry?
Rarely a day passes without
the words “online spat” or “Twitter tirade” passing the lips of any
entertainment reporter. The many terms to describe a litany of social-media
fallouts and fluff-ups have become a depressingly frequent part of the modern
journalistic vernacular: outrageous statements are made, passive-aggressive
missives are fired. In the case of Kanye
West, a drip-feed of every waking thought is bashed
out, and sometimes deleted, with worrying regularity. If you pulled out a tiny
violin for the entertainment reporter, however, perhaps upgrade your instrument
to something bigger, a cello perhaps, for the hard-grafting management and PR
teams, whose job it is to manage this very modern media storm. Or maybe not.
hammered with the talent and
more a reactive role in which “no comment” is dished out as frequently as
Stephen Fry deletes his Twitter account. The impact of social media has had a
profound effect on how the job is done; the way a news story is spread or a
song is shared is now defined by social media, with the tradition of securing
editorial coverage no longer being the end of the process but the beginning.
Now that many of the industry’s biggest stars decline interviews (Year of the Fanboy Profile: Writers Fawning
Over Subjects Because They Don’t Have a Choice is a must-read), their creative output and
their social media accounts are the only ways in which fans can learn about an
artist’s every move, every new tattoo orshade
of quiff. A week on the road with a
musician might not be something that the press have access to any more, but we
can see what they had for breakfast on Instagram.
While West has caused outrage with some
of his recent comments, many believe his outbursts are a provocative part of
the promotional process – PR, not for The Life of Pablo, but for his role as an
entrepreneur. In the age of the artist as a
celebrity brand, attention is everything. He has the world captive
with the release of his new album; why not voice some other concerns, thoughts,
controversial statements, while he is at it?
“In some situations I have seen
artists – not who I work with – do it on purpose for the publicity, which I
find entirely bizarre. But some people still believe in the old-school ‘all
publicity is good publicity’ saying,” says one PR.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/24/youtube-star-connor-franta-music-compilation
While West has caused outrage with some
of his recent comments, many believe his outbursts are a provocative part of
the promotional process – PR, not for The Life of Pablo, but for his role as an
entrepreneur. In the age of the artist as a
celebrity brand, attention is everything. He has the world captive
with the release of his new album; why not voice some other concerns, thoughts,
controversial statements, while he is at it?The basics
Your chosen industry: music
Your chosen case study (i.e. text/institution etc.): beyonce
Have you received approval for this case study from your teacher? Yes
Research and answer the following tasks on your MEST3 exam blog:
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