Feedback #2

Well done James - you continue to take a thorough approach to your research.

Test your blog

Write a list of general terms related to NMTs
Personalisation
Convergence
Digitisation
Interactivity
Democratisation
Linear/Non linear
push/pull media
Institutions
Technology

Write a list of key terminology related to your chosen technology
DRM (digital rights management)
P2P Filesharing
Portable music players (mp3s)


From your blog, select 10 statements (stats, quotations) that you have found during your research which relate to debates on audiences’ changing experiences, institutions response to technology, the future etc. NAME ANY SOURCES

1. Sixty seven per cent of the UK online population has tried some sort of digital activity, for example reading blogs. downloading music or podcasts. Over half have downloaded music and 8 per cent have downloaded a podcast. From the Guardian's digination study
2. 61 per cent, listen to downloaded material at home. Thirty-eight per cent listen to it on their PCs and 46 per cent on their iPods/MP3 players. Again the guardians digination study
3. Lilly Allen was asked if she was 'discovered by MySpace', Allen stated, "Not accurate at all, I had a record deal before I set up my MySpace account so, erm, that's ... couldn't really be further from the truth." taken from the wikipedia page on myspace
4. ."Businesses that seek to trade off on our content, and the hard work of our artists and songwriters, shouldn't be free to do so without permission and without fairly compensating the content creators," Universal Music statedin a bbc story.
5. "That would imply criminalising socially admitted and widely practised behaviour where the aim is not to gain wealth illegally but to obtain private copies," said a spanish judge after judging thatfilesharing was legal if for personal uses.
6. over the last week it has emerged that online music sales have slumped by 25% in the third quarter of 2002 compared with a year earlier. the guardian online.
7. "Clearly the first place to go is music, so we will tap into the music scene," he said."We're already working in the US with CD:UK which is coming over to the US, to be called CD:USA, and we're going to integrate bands from MySpace into that programme."We hope when we go back to the UK to tap into how successful that show is. Hopefully they'll want to market through MySpace and we'll tap into the local events scene, parties, clubs, artists, film makers, television producers, so I think it's going to grow pretty rapidly." stated a representative of myspace on the recent launch of Myspace uk.
8. Steve Jobs hailed EMI's dropping of file protection as "the next big step forward in the digital music revolution".
9. Forty three per cent of music downloaders say that free downloads have encouraged them to buy more music than they did; only 35% believe that illegal downloading or file sharing is wrong. The guardians digi:nation study.
10. Barriers preventing the remaining 46% from downloading are lack of knowledge, knowing which sites to use and not owning an MP3 player. guardians digination study.

Hypothesis answers.

How has digital technology changed how people listen to and download music?
Sixty seven per cent of the UK online population has tried some sort of digital activity, for example reading blogs. downloading music or podcasts. Over half have downloaded music and 8 per cent have downloaded a podcast. Fifty four per cent of the online population downloads music (32.6m) and 43 per cent of online population owns an iPod or MP3 player. Forrester Research told us this week that one in seven Europeans downloads music and that more than 40% of frequent downloaders confess to buying less music as a result.

Is using limewire or P2P filesharing actually illegal? and what effect is it having on conventional and internet music stores?
A Spanish judge has dealt a blow to the global music industry after ruling that there is nothing illegal about downloading music for free from the internet as long as it is for personal use.
Music industry could reap benefits of free downloads from the netThe internet music "pirating" technology, Napster, could give a boost to the record industry, a web conference in Glasgow heard yesterday. over the last week it has emerged that online music sales have slumped by 25% in the third quarter of 2002 compared with a year earlier. We already know that total US retail music sales have dropped by 7%.

What are internet stores doing to combat P2P filesharing?
The music industry is adapting to evolving consumption models and signing content deals often based on a cut of advertising. Record company EMI are dropping their DRM protection this will allow itunes to place higher quality versions of EMI recorded tracks. Other ideas have included yet-to-be-launched "legal" P2P networks (ie users will be able to swap DRM-encoded tracks).

How has the i-pod changed the face of listening to and downloading music?
the lateset ipod holds up to 20,000 songs, up to 25,000 photos and up to 100 hours of video — or any combination of each. So you can browse music videos on the iTunes Store, download the ones you want, then sync them to your iPod. this means people can carry more music than ever around in there pocket and can therefore access this media wherever and whenever they choose to do so.


What effect have sites such as myspace and bebo had on the music industry?
MySpace's music section has helped many amateur bands progress. One illustrative example is English band Arctic monkeys, who owe some of their success to the publicity that MySpace generated for them. Other artists that have become succesful through myspace include Lily Allen and Sandi Thom. However recently there has been a case of reading the small print in which myspace said "you hereby grant to MySpace.com a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit, and distribute such Content on and through the Services". this resulted in Billy Bragg removing all of his songs from the site. Now, however, myspace has changed the small print and claims no royalties on any artists music.

MySpace's music section has helped many amateur bands progress. One illustrative example is English band Arctic Monkeys, who owe some of their success to the publicity that MySpace generated for them. When asked about the popularity of the band's MySpace website in an interview with Prefix magazine, the band pointed out that they did not even know what MySpace was, and that their page had originally been created by their fans. It has been claimed that pop artist Lily Allen's fame is also due in part to her being promoted on MySpace. In response to an interview question on Triple J, in which she was asked if she was 'discovered by MySpace', Allen stated, "Not accurate at all, I had a record deal before I set up my MySpace account so, erm, that's ... couldn't really be further from the truth."

Until June 2006, there was a concern amongst musicians, artists, and bands on MySpace such as songwriter Billy Bragg owing to the fine print within the user agreement that read, "You hereby grant to MySpace.com a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit, and distribute such Content on and through the Services". The fine print brought particular concern as the agreement was being made with Murdoch's News Corporation. Billy Bragg brought the issue to the attention of the media during the first week of June 2006.
Jeff Berman, a MySpace spokesman swiftly responded by saying, "Because the legalese has caused some confusion, we are at work revising it to make it very clear that MySpace is not seeking a license to do anything with an artist's work other than allow it to be shared in the manner the artist intends".
By June 27, 2006 MySpace had amended the user agreement with, "MySpace.com does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, or any other materials (collectively, 'Content') that you post to the MySpace Services. After posting your Content to the MySpace Services, you continue to retain all ownership rights in such Content, and you continue to have the right to use your Content in any way you choose".

Hypothesis questions

1. How has digital technology changed how people listen to and download music?
2. Is using limewire or P2P filesharing actually illegal? and what effect is it having on conventional and internet music stores?
3. What are internet stores doing to combat P2P filesharing?
4. How has the i-pod changed the face of listening to and downloading music?
5. What effect have sites such as myspace and bebo had on the music industry?

lily allen on myspace

'It's such a powerful thing, to send your stuff out there and get such a massive response'Singer Lily Allen on how she's profited from airing her music on MySpace.
'I'm constantly getting harassed for new material. It's amazing really,' says Lily Allen, MySpace's latest star.
Amazing, because she's yet to release a single record. But since joining the MySpace community last November, things have been snowballing for the 20-year-old Londoner, whose ska-driven musings on life, love and selfloathing have seen her acquire numerous online fans.
It's not hard to see why. Lily Rose's music has the same qualities which made the Streets' debut album, Original Pirate Material, so ground-breaking - honesty, ingenuity and humour, all wrapped up with a catchy melody.

MySpace launches UK version

A UK version of the social networking site MySpace.com is to be launched "within the next 30 days".

Intermix Media which owned MySpace was bought in July last year by News Corporation, the parent company of Fox, for $580m (£332.85m) as part of its strategy to increase its presence online.
Around a million of its current users are based in the UK.
In an interview with the BBC News website, Mr Levinson said the first priority of the new site would be the UK music scene.
"Clearly the first place to go is music, so we will tap into the music scene," he said.
"We're already working in the US with CD:UK which is coming over to the US, to be called CD:USA, and we're going to integrate bands from MySpace into that programme.
"We hope when we go back to the UK to tap into how successful that show is. Hopefully they'll want to market through MySpace and we'll tap into the local events scene, parties, clubs, artists, film makers, television producers, so I think it's going to grow pretty rapidly."

Myspace sued

Universal files copyright lawsuit against - Universal Music Group is suing MySpace, claiming the network site has infringed the copyright of thousands of its artists' work.
Universal, which is the world's largest music company, filed the lawsuit in California. It accuses MySpace of allowing its 125 million users to share music and videos on the site without permission. The company has artists such as Guns N' Roses, Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Keane and Razorlight on its roster.
The legal action follows several months of talks on music rights which broke down on Thursday. Universal claims thousands of links to music from its biggest artists are widely available on MySpace, even ahead of their release to music stores."Businesses that seek to trade off on our content, and the hard work of our artists and songwriters, shouldn't be free to do so without permission and without fairly compensating the content creators," Universal Music said in a statement.The company estimated maximum statutory damages for each copyrighted work at $150,000.

Label leads the way with DRM-free music

EMI's move to release its catalogue without music protection has been welcomed, but critics claim Apple still has a lock-in
One month, three weeks and five days might seem like an awfully long time to the digerati.
But that's how long it took between Steve Jobs publishing his Thoughts on Music and EMI's announcement this week that it was going to offer downloads without Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Fans put up funds for band's first album· Deal could herald music industry revolution · Website contributors to get share in profits
Hearing the news that they had just been given £26,000 to make their first album would make most bands do something a bit rock'n'roll: go on a drinking binge or take some drugs, perhaps. As it was, when Second Person found out about their windfall, they made a few phone calls, smiled, then went back to work.
The muted response by the London-based band belied the revolution the deal could herald: the money for their album had not come from a record label or wealthy benefactor but had been given by fans who knew about them from the internet and wanted to see them record a complete album.

Bebo introduces music sotre

Social networking website Bebo is introducing a music download service allowing bands to sell music.
Bebo introduced a bands section in July 2006 which allowed users to upload their own tracks. The new indiestore service, in partnership with web music firm 7digital, allows bands to upload and sell four tracks, with the band keeping 70% of the revenue.
Bands can upgrade to a "pro" service to sell up to 20 tracks and keep 80% of the revenue. The same tool can be used to play market tracks from any of the artists on the indiestore site, which includes tracks from 4,000 major and indie labels.
Unlike MySpace, Bebo only allows selected companies to supply widgets or plug-in services to the site but indiestore is the only music widget for the site.
MySpace introduced a music-buying service in September 2006 in partnership with Snocap, but the service has not yet been extended to the UK.
A spokesperson for MySpace said that the deal was a "natural extension" for the music on MySpace and that the company is looking at expanding similar services internationally.
The 7digital managing director, Ben Drury, said the service differs from the Snocap service, in which users listen and buy through a widget.
"It's like a sampler, so you listen to the tracks, view the artwork and so on inside the widget and then come out to the indiestore site to buy," he said.
"We don't believe that people are comfortable entering credit card details in a widget."
Bebo users can also buy tracks with PayPal, through BT Click and Buy and by text message. The indiestore service will be available to Bebo users in the UK and Ireland, US and Canada and Australia and News Zealand.
The site currently has 450,000 registered bands. MySpace has 6.5m.

Digi:Nation stats and figures.

Sixty seven per cent of the UK online population has tried some sort of digital activity, for example reading blogs. downloading music or podcasts. Over half have downloaded music and 8 per cent have downloaded a podcast. Fifty four per cent of the online population downloads music (32.6m) and 43 per cent of online population owns an iPod or MP3 player (26m). Podcasting. Of those who have downloaded a podcast most, 61 per cent, listen to them at home. Thirty-eight per cent listen on their PCs and 46 per cent on their iPods/MP3 players. Paid for podcasting is unpopular, 71 per cent said they would not pay to download; however the remaining 29 per cent said they would pay up to a £1. This is well on its way to reaching the mass market with 54% of the online population downloading music. Barriers preventing the remaining 46% from downloading are lack of knowledge, knowing which sites to use and not owning an MP3 player. The top two sites for downloading music are iTunes and Limewire, and half of music downloaders do not pay for any music that they download. However, 46% of music downloaders say that they spend the same amount on non-digital formats than they did before they started downloading, and 21% say that they actually spend more. Forty three per cent of music downloaders say that free downloads have encouraged them to buy more music than they did; only 35% believe that illegal downloading or file sharing is wrong. Our digital profile The research also identifies five digital profiles based on our degree of digital adoption.

DRM

Many online music stores employ DRM to restrict the usage of music purchased and downloaded online. There are many options for consumers buying digital music over the internet, in terms of both stores and purchase options. Two examples of music stores and their functionality follow:

• The i-Tunes store, run by Apple allows users to purchase a track online for under a dollar. The tracks purchased use Apple's Fairplay DRM system. Steve Jobs has stated that Apple would be willing to sell music on i-Tunes without DRM As a result of this, EMI has agreed to sell its music DRM-free and at a higher quality on i-Tunes for a 30 cent premium, beginning in May 2007.
• Napster , which offers a subscription based approach to DRM alongside permanent purchases. Users of the subscription service can download and stream an unlimited amount of music encoded to WMA while subscribed to the service. But as soon as the user misses a payment the service renders all music downloaded unusable.

Feedback on research #1

Well done James - you have made significant progress with your research. I like the responses to the 5 key areas of research. This is a good starting point, however you will need more depth to these comments - back up with quotations and statistics.

There are still some areas that you need to research in more detail - Digital Rights Management and the current debates raging with Sony and EMI and Apple. Look in more detail at how our expereince of music has changed - who ipod successfully targeted, the non-linear approach to consuming music. Also consider how Web 2.0 (interactivity, community - see article in handbook) has had an impact for users.

The Future

• Following the current trend it is likely more people will fileshare unless something is done to stop it.
• if people continue to purchase music from online stores the main stores at this time such as HMV could close leaving the record sales to be digitally rather than normally.
• With the potential availability of internet on phones combined with the new i-phone could eventually lead to the loss of computers to use the internet.
• Another possibility is that the rise of free download leads to the loss of artists, because they simply do not make any money from making tracks and so stop creating them

Issues

• i-Tunes is outselling conventional record stores. this could eventually lead to the closure of stores such as HMV. This could lead to the loss of jobs. Of course i-Tunes is not the only thing to blame.
• P2P sharing sites such as Limewire are causing general sales whether in conventional or internet stores to fall.
• According to various sources downloading the music for personal use is not illegal it is the sharing of the music that is illegal, it is almost immposible to stop P2P file sharing.

Audience

• Audiences can now access more music than ever before thanks to i-Tunes and more new bands can be accessed through myspace.
• I think audiences are continuing to do what they always have done but are using there spare time to download music.
• The new technologies are generally consumed by young adults or teenagers of both sexes.
• EMI's dropping of its copywright has enabled i-Tunes to put up higher quality songs up for download. Other things that cna be an advantage to the audience ar convergence of the phone and the mp3 player it has two things that many people already have and are used to combined into one space. the audience also has choice over what songs and what sites to use .
• It also allows access to many songs and musicians from many countries allow cultural imperialism.
• The piracy of music is on the increase and limewire is a prime subject many people download off of it for free, some then go on to put the songs on to cd's and in one case sell these tapes or cd's to people e.g. pirate copy's of music.

Institutions

• Apples i-Phone is converging three main media interests mobile phones, music players and internet into one product. this convergence effectively allows Apple to enter two markets the mobile phone market and of course continue in the MP3 market. this will further increase there profits and enable the further production and development of new technologies.

Technology

• The main companies currently providing music download services are Apple, Napster, limewire and to some extent Myspace and Youtube. The main providers of Mp3 or Mp4 players include Creative, Apple and Sony.
• The target audience for the advertising campaigns are young adults and teenagers of both gender.
• The online music store is a reasonably new technology, however, recently it has been going through some changes in recent months. this includes EMI dropping its protection and P2P filesharing becoming more and more popular. MP3 players are effectively and old technology which has been thorugh radical change because they had developed from the sony walkman tape player.
• Music downloading is non linear because it is what the person wants choice therefore he or she is not lead down a route to that music he or she makes his or her own choices and the experience is his or her own.

The i pod video

How much can your pocket hold? That’s up to you and your iPod. It holds up to 20,000 songs, up to 25,000 photos and up to 100 hours of video — or any combination of each. So you can browse music videos on the iTunes Store, download the ones you want, then sync them to your iPod. Same goes for new iPod games, 79p (UK) / 99c (Ireland) songs, bestselling audiobooks and an entire universe of free podcasts, including captivating tours to zoos, museums and French chateaux. Go ahead. Fill ’er up.

Creative Zen Vision M

Loads of entertainment without the loadAward-winning ZEN Vision:M does more than play your videos, photos and music. It displays them in their true glory on a vibrant, large 2.5" full-color screen, perfect for road trips long or short. Carry your entertainment in the palm of your hand. Choose from a sleek 30GB model in five dazzling colors - blue, green, pink, black and white; or a heavy-duty 60GB model with USB host feature, in black or white.
It allows you to have Up to 240 hours of movies, Tens of thousands of photos, An amazing 15,000 songs, Big screen entertainment with video out connection, 2.5" high-definition LCD screen, Personal organizer and an FM radio.

Creative Zen Vision M

Loads of entertainment without the loadAward-winning ZEN Vision:M does more than play your videos, photos and music. It displays them in their true glory on a vibrant, large 2.5" full-color screen, perfect for road trips long or short. Carry your entertainment in the palm of your hand. Choose from a sleek 30GB model in five dazzling colors - blue, green, pink, black and white; or a heavy-duty 60GB model with USB host feature, in black or white.
It allows you to have Up to 240 hours of movies, Tens of thousands of photos, An amazing 15,000 songs, Big screen entertainment with video out connection, 2.5" high-definition LCD screen, Personal organizer and an FM radio.

i-Phone

iPhone combines three amazing products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone.

Online Music stores compared to P2P sharing sites

Advantages

• More respectful to copyright law as interpreted by groups like the RIAA.
• Decreases chances of legal disadvantages.
• Avoids some social stigmas and moral regrets that some people have.
• More consistent and higher quality meta-data, because the entering of the meta-data is more centralized and done by groups with financial interests.
• Companies sometimes behave more accountably to users than other users.
• Centralized repository of music makes it easier to find the songs you want.
• Notably Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs claimed in his introduction of the iTunes Music Store that file swappers get paid less than minimum wage for the work required to download audio.
  
  Disadvantages
• Some stores cannot be accessed on a Linux computer.
• Many stores offer music in few audio formats.
• Users do not have a "hard copy" of purchased music, such as a CD, for archiving although music can usually be backed up to a CD or portable music player.
• Some stores do not provide artwork or liner notes.
• Stores have limited catalogs, because of more attention paid to copyright concerns.
• Some file swapping advocates claim that, because file sharing costs nothing, any pay service essentially costs infinitely many times more than file swapping.
• Some stores use Digital Rights Management, which limits use of music on certain devices (for example, iTunes Store tracks can only be played on computers and iPod digital audio players). The restrictions vary between different services, and sometimes even between different songs from the same service.
  

'Pirate' technology may boost record sales

Music industry could reap benefits of free downloads from the net
The internet music "pirating" technology, Napster, could give a boost to the record industry, a web conference in Glasgow heard yesterday.
Peter Jenner, a member of the Association of United Recording Artists and manager of musicians including Billy Bragg, said Napster may stimulate a new generation of music lovers, with free downloads from the net feeding a "music addiction".
"Five years ago, the music industry complained that students and young people were playing computer games," he said, adding that free music would increase the overall number of record buyers
Napster allows internet users to share MP3 music files. It is currently the subject of lawsuits in the US by heavy metal group Metallica, hip-hop artist Dr Dre and Madonna. Madonna's record company claims Napster is giving out unreleased tracks from the singer which will damage sales of her new album.

over the last week it has emerged that online music sales have slumped by 25% in the third quarter of 2002 compared with a year earlier. We already know that total US retail music sales have dropped by 7%: Forrester Research told us this week that one in seven Europeans downloads music and that more than 40% of frequent downloaders confess to buying less music as a result.
Also Microsoft announced that it had developed software to enable recording companies to restrict unauthorised copying of songs from compact discs.
Faced with an industry in freefall, what should one do? One option would be to have a look at the facts about how it affects Britain.
By how much do you think record sales fell in Britain last year - by 20%, 10% or 5%?
The answer is none of these. Sales of albums (accounting for 90% of total sales) actually went up last year. Figures to be released shortly by BPI, the trade monitoring body, are expected to show a rise of almost 3%.


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Youtube announces free video downloads

"A little over a year ago it did not exist. Today it is viewed more than 100m times a day and has become one of the most spectacular success stories of the internet in recent years.
But the dazzling influence of the video filesharing website YouTube may have only just begun, after the site announced plans that observers say could revolutionise the music industry and threaten even the online music giant iTunes.
YouTube's popularity has been based on the facility it offers users to post short home videos, usually of about five minutes, on the site, which other users can view, link to and share.
it has declared its intention to become a mainstream entertainment player, announcing plans to post on its site a copy of every single music video ever made. Like the rest of its content, they would be free to view and download. It is that innovation that net watchers say could threaten Apple's iTunes service, which charges users to download videos."

Spanish court rules free music downloads are legal for own use

A Spanish judge has dealt a blow to the global music industry after ruling that there is nothing illegal about downloading music for free from the internet as long as it is for personal use.
The decision, the first of its kind in Europe, opens the way for Spain's estimated 16 million internet users to swap music through online sites. "This is extremely unusual," said a spokesman for the international recording industry body IFPI, as the judgment was announced yesterday.
Judge Paz Aldecoa threw out a case against an unnamed 48-year-old man who offered and downloaded digital versions of music on the internet. He also sent selections of music recorded on CDs out to people in the post, claimed the prosecution.
The judge ruled that, under Spanish law, a person who downloaded music for personal use could not be punished or branded a criminal. "That would imply criminalising socially admitted and widely practised behaviour where the aim is not to gain wealth illegally but to obtain private copies," she said in her judgment.

EMI drops its copy protection

'Big step forward in music revolution' hailed as EMI drops copy protection

Music group EMI has scrapped copy protection on all its digital tracks. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs hailed it as "the next big step forward in the digital music revolution".
For the first time, downloads by artists including Robbie Williams, Coldplay and Joss Stone purchased from any online music store will be playable on any digital music player, including the market-leading iPod, with no restrictions on their use.
Previously owners of digital music players have been restricted to buying downloads from certain stores, depending on the make of their device and the sort of copy protection it could handle.
Now owners of devices other than the iPod can buy songs from the iTunes music store, and the tracks will be available with higher quality sound. iPod owners will also be able to choose from a wider range of stores.
The announcement by Apple and EMI was tempered by news that the companies may face an investigation into anti-competitive behaviour.

Technology - Evolving models

Sourced from the media gaurdian.http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2040201,00.html

The music industry is adapting to evolving consumption models and signing content deals often based on a cut of advertising. It has to - the revenue hole from falling CD sales is not being plugged by iTunes downloads.

Elsewhere, yet-to-be-launched "legal" P2P networks (ie users will be able to swap DRM-encoded tracks) QTrax and Mashboxx have all signed deals with major labels. The former will run on the Gnutella network, while the latter is headed by former Grokster boss Wayne Rosso. BitTorrent, meanwhile, has recently launched a legal download service. Its software will also power the next wave of video platforms in the shape of the BBC's iPlayer. And then there is Joost, whose founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, developed the technology that powered Kazaa.
"Six years later, the labels have learned the difference between P2P and piracy," says Rosso. "They've learned that P2P is a technology. Ultimately, I think that the content will be free and all ad supported."