AUDIENCE POWER ESSAY
“The internet has given audiences much more power than ever before.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Introduction (50 words): Thesis Statement (setting out your argument)
- Introduce the question and how it will be answered. Summarise how the internet has changed the position of the audience (consumer) in relation to the producer.
- Explain what your own argument is: do you think that the internet makes the audience more powerful or less powerful and why?
INTRODUCTION
The internet is a big part of the 21st century world, having a powerful impact over producer's work, social lives and politics etc... with the rise of digital media and the internet, consumers are becoming prosumers who interact with with the media e.g "retweets" and "shares"etc...This means audiences are more active and bring their own experiences and ideas to beat - many advantages and disadvantages are resulted in this.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
The evolution of music has changed massively over the past decades, and the most beneficial change would be accessing music digitally. In the past people had phonographs and were buying wax cylinders to listen to at home. Those cylinders held only about three minutes’ worth of music at most, though, which caused a big change in the length of musical compositions: they got shorter. As years past people started discovering new ways of displaying music and since then music has developed into a much easier source to listen to. A change that is due to the internet is the rise of the 'bedroom bands'. The NDM (new digital media) allows people from across the world to start producing their own content and displaying it to billions of people that can respond to it. Below the line (comments section) gives the audience power to share their feelings on what they've watched, to give feedback and too just generally respond to what they've watched. They can also share videos, music etc by just simply sending it to whom they'd like to show. Even though this is a more advanced and easier way of spreading content over the internet, disadvantages may take place. Below the line, as i said before, gives the consumer the role to say anything they like, and depending on how the consumer feels its not always positive. When the producer receives such inconsiderate hate on what they've decided to share with everyone it really triggers them.The comments may involve cyber bullying which can unfortunately result in depression and suicidal thoughts. Also another change due to the internet is there are more illegal downloads. Although people are not having to pay to listen to the music and can easily download it, it puts the producer in a position to where they might not be making as much money. It can also be difficult to become known as there are many other talented people around the world that also create content and this can become competition.
However, over several disadvantages must result in some advantages. Advantages due to the changes are there are lots of choices, meaning you can be as unique as you'd like and share whatever you've got to display to billions of people which they might find interesting because its something they haven't seen before. Another advantage is you are able to produce your own content without high costs, all it really takes in this generations music industry is to start of with talent and a camera, and this can get you to many places such as people signing you, song in the top charts etc...
A artist that is popular in today's music industry is Logic. He is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Logic developed an interest in music as a teenager, and ventured into a musical career in early 2009 releasing Logic: The mix-tape under the name "Psychological", and releasing a mix-tape titled Young, Broke & Infamous in 2010. He signed with Visionary Music Group, before releasing three more mix-tapes over three years. His talent has resulted in him being a well known artist in today's music industry by expressing his emotions in his music and although he sometimes receives hate comments about his career he continues to produce what he loves doing the most. His journey may influence the children of this generation that have gone through similar experiences as him to do the same and use his story as guidance to create a platform of their own that supports them and their music.
FILM AND TV INDUSTRY
As the internet has developed over the past years, there has been an increase in on the spot available shows digitally, rather than only being able to watch a show at an appointment to view (specific time and on a specific day on TV). Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime etc.. are gaining lots of publicity nowadays because you are able to watch shows using the apps services all the time and can watch whatever you want wherever you want. Many services have increasing amounts of subscribers viewing the content they display and currently there's about 109.25 million streaming subscribers worldwide. Some streaming services such as Netflix have started making their own shows that are only available to people who use their services - such as Stranger Things, which is a Netflix Original series, that has gained a large fan-base because people are interested in it and it's become part of their routine to either binge the series or whenever they're free they can just watch it. However, there is a downside to streaming services. There has been an increase in people who have stopped going to the cinema because many films are available illegally and legally online for free. This has resulted in cinema's increasing the prices of their tickets and their confectionery so they won't lose too much money and be compulsory for them to shut down. When it comes to film and television on the internet audiences are very powerful because they decide whether a company makes money from what they've produced or lose a ton of money. It's in the audience's hands whether or not a film or TV series is successful, their feedback is what producers focus on to give viewers what they'd like to see.
NEWSPAPER
Another extreme industry change that has occurred in the 21st century is newspapers. Usually people used to read the news straight from paper and wait until a new one is published to read more. As technology has developed and become more advanced the news is now shown over the new digital media but paper news still exist - it's not as popular as it was back then. The NDM allows the audience to view the news online wherever and whenever which is a much accessible way of finding out whats going on around you and the world. This also allows the audience to express their opinions about the news, knowing its more reliable if a big company has published it. A rise of citizen journalism has spread across the media platform these past years - mostly because its easy to become one and you're earning money. This is useful to those who are there in the moment to live stream an event that is taking place. If you're lucky you can be known for what you do and gain a larger platform of viewers and this could become a everyday job. New technology means you can cover events in new ways, this is helpful for the producer because it'll be more likely for people to tune in if the news is being presented in an interesting way eg. drones. However, there are risks of news being presented to the audience watching meaning it's fake. The aftermath could be false word of mouth being spread and people having knowledge of the wrong things instead of authentic news. It's also hard to make money unless you have connections in the industry. If you spend a lot of money reporting events and don't gain lots of viewers it'll of just been a waste.
CONCLUSION
Overall I think the internet does make the audience more powerful. I think this because as said in the previous paragraphs^ the NDM has advanced drastically over the years and has many new features to the internet that gives the audience a voice. Whether it's anonymous or said with identity the audiences comments, shares etc.. all have an impact on how the producer decides to continue their content. If negative messages are being said about their content, instincts will most likely tell them to change up what they're doing and if it's the opposite they'll do their best to keep creating good content that interests their viewers. It all comes down to the audience, because without their opinion, producers will not know how to improve their content to gain more consumers.
The internet is a big part of the 21st century world, having a powerful impact over producer's work, social lives and politics etc... with the rise of digital media and the internet, consumers are becoming prosumers who interact with with the media e.g "retweets" and "shares"etc...This means audiences are more active and bring their own experiences and ideas to beat - many advantages and disadvantages are resulted in this.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
The evolution of music has changed massively over the past decades, and the most beneficial change would be accessing music digitally. In the past people had phonographs and were buying wax cylinders to listen to at home. Those cylinders held only about three minutes’ worth of music at most, though, which caused a big change in the length of musical compositions: they got shorter. As years past people started discovering new ways of displaying music and since then music has developed into a much easier source to listen to. A change that is due to the internet is the rise of the 'bedroom bands'. The NDM (new digital media) allows people from across the world to start producing their own content and displaying it to billions of people that can respond to it. Below the line (comments section) gives the audience power to share their feelings on what they've watched, to give feedback and too just generally respond to what they've watched. They can also share videos, music etc by just simply sending it to whom they'd like to show. Even though this is a more advanced and easier way of spreading content over the internet, disadvantages may take place. Below the line, as i said before, gives the consumer the role to say anything they like, and depending on how the consumer feels its not always positive. When the producer receives such inconsiderate hate on what they've decided to share with everyone it really triggers them.The comments may involve cyber bullying which can unfortunately result in depression and suicidal thoughts. Also another change due to the internet is there are more illegal downloads. Although people are not having to pay to listen to the music and can easily download it, it puts the producer in a position to where they might not be making as much money. It can also be difficult to become known as there are many other talented people around the world that also create content and this can become competition.
However, over several disadvantages must result in some advantages. Advantages due to the changes are there are lots of choices, meaning you can be as unique as you'd like and share whatever you've got to display to billions of people which they might find interesting because its something they haven't seen before. Another advantage is you are able to produce your own content without high costs, all it really takes in this generations music industry is to start of with talent and a camera, and this can get you to many places such as people signing you, song in the top charts etc...
A artist that is popular in today's music industry is Logic. He is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Logic developed an interest in music as a teenager, and ventured into a musical career in early 2009 releasing Logic: The mix-tape under the name "Psychological", and releasing a mix-tape titled Young, Broke & Infamous in 2010. He signed with Visionary Music Group, before releasing three more mix-tapes over three years. His talent has resulted in him being a well known artist in today's music industry by expressing his emotions in his music and although he sometimes receives hate comments about his career he continues to produce what he loves doing the most. His journey may influence the children of this generation that have gone through similar experiences as him to do the same and use his story as guidance to create a platform of their own that supports them and their music.
FILM AND TV INDUSTRY
As the internet has developed over the past years, there has been an increase in on the spot available shows digitally, rather than only being able to watch a show at an appointment to view (specific time and on a specific day on TV). Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime etc.. are gaining lots of publicity nowadays because you are able to watch shows using the apps services all the time and can watch whatever you want wherever you want. Many services have increasing amounts of subscribers viewing the content they display and currently there's about 109.25 million streaming subscribers worldwide. Some streaming services such as Netflix have started making their own shows that are only available to people who use their services - such as Stranger Things, which is a Netflix Original series, that has gained a large fan-base because people are interested in it and it's become part of their routine to either binge the series or whenever they're free they can just watch it. However, there is a downside to streaming services. There has been an increase in people who have stopped going to the cinema because many films are available illegally and legally online for free. This has resulted in cinema's increasing the prices of their tickets and their confectionery so they won't lose too much money and be compulsory for them to shut down. When it comes to film and television on the internet audiences are very powerful because they decide whether a company makes money from what they've produced or lose a ton of money. It's in the audience's hands whether or not a film or TV series is successful, their feedback is what producers focus on to give viewers what they'd like to see.
NEWSPAPER
Another extreme industry change that has occurred in the 21st century is newspapers. Usually people used to read the news straight from paper and wait until a new one is published to read more. As technology has developed and become more advanced the news is now shown over the new digital media but paper news still exist - it's not as popular as it was back then. The NDM allows the audience to view the news online wherever and whenever which is a much accessible way of finding out whats going on around you and the world. This also allows the audience to express their opinions about the news, knowing its more reliable if a big company has published it. A rise of citizen journalism has spread across the media platform these past years - mostly because its easy to become one and you're earning money. This is useful to those who are there in the moment to live stream an event that is taking place. If you're lucky you can be known for what you do and gain a larger platform of viewers and this could become a everyday job. New technology means you can cover events in new ways, this is helpful for the producer because it'll be more likely for people to tune in if the news is being presented in an interesting way eg. drones. However, there are risks of news being presented to the audience watching meaning it's fake. The aftermath could be false word of mouth being spread and people having knowledge of the wrong things instead of authentic news. It's also hard to make money unless you have connections in the industry. If you spend a lot of money reporting events and don't gain lots of viewers it'll of just been a waste.
CONCLUSION
Overall I think the internet does make the audience more powerful. I think this because as said in the previous paragraphs^ the NDM has advanced drastically over the years and has many new features to the internet that gives the audience a voice. Whether it's anonymous or said with identity the audiences comments, shares etc.. all have an impact on how the producer decides to continue their content. If negative messages are being said about their content, instincts will most likely tell them to change up what they're doing and if it's the opposite they'll do their best to keep creating good content that interests their viewers. It all comes down to the audience, because without their opinion, producers will not know how to improve their content to gain more consumers.
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