Benjamin_Rombola_Assignment1

What is digital media convergence?

To converge can be defined as ‘to tend to meet in a point or line’ (Dictionary.com 2012), so when it is applied to digital media, it is the process of bringing both new technologies and old technologies into a central point, converging the old media systems to accommodate for the rising of new technologies in today’s society.

Digital media convergence is where already existing media accommodates new technologies. This term can be used to explain the adaptation and merging together of new and old technologies, which shows just how important digital convergence is, as it is what brings together everything into a common ground.

Media Convergence has a number of different levels to it, including cultural, industrial, technological, and regulatory. Media convergence on a cultural level has increased the ability to function on the move, bringing access to multiple media types through a single device (eg. Smartphone, tablets, etc.).  (Dwyer 2010)

How has it impacted on Music videos?

Music videos have been a part of a changing industry. They have been subjected to the onslaught of the rapidly increasing amounts of new technology, causing it to need to undergo digital media convergence. This convergence with the new technologies has changed music videos from the classic Michael Jackson’s thriller to the well-known online video of OK Go – hereit goes again.

Media convergence has brought together music videos to multiple media forms, but has also diversified music videos in the process. The modern age of having the ability to access music video’s anywhere you go, through the Internet and multiple television channels hasn’t always been available to the music industry. This is caused not only to the increasing use of the internet, with increasing speeds and accessibility throughout the world, but also to the increase in new technologies allowing small personal computers to process and function at the levels required for music videos. The change to the more online oriented music videos have shown a change in the creation process and brought more creativity to the industry. The traditional television music videos were made with expensive budgets and produced a high quality output, with large casts and intended for large audiences. For instance, Michael Jackson’s – Thriller Music Video was all out incredible. It had a large amount of actors, and had multiple cameras, a backing track and more!

 Whereas, the shift to online music videos has brought in some new elements to the production of these videos. One of the main online music video channels is VEVO, which has both the more modern online music videos as well as the traditional television clips.

The online music videos are generally made with a lower budget, and intended to be viewed on a personal computer. For example OK Go’s – here it goes again was created from a low budget, had a cast of four people, which meant that one of the actors had to start the music. There was only one camera used in the creation of this clip, and only one scene from beginning to the end of the video.

Mobile Media

Mobile media is another key example of digital media convergence. With the increasing use of mobile devices to deliver media to the users, mobile TV has started to take off as well. “Different standards for mobile TV have evolved around the world, and the term refers to various technologies and forms. There are two main technological forms: streaming and broadcast.” (Orgad 2009) These forms bring music videos to a whole different audience. The streaming of digital media is usually performed through the mobile 3G network and has allowed users to gain access to multimedia on the go.

Even though this is a newly emerging technology, media convergence is still evident. The music videos are a great example of this through bringing out mobile applications and streaming their videos to an even wider audience.

 This includes the ability to create games and other apps to capture new audiences and new markets. For instance, the creation of Tap Tap Revenge (Smartphone application) has brought benefit to the music industry, converging it with the already existing media. The broadcasting has also influenced digital media, and is thought to be even better than streaming. This is because of the capacity issues that streaming has. When a multitude of viewers are watching the same thing, streaming will start to struggle, whereas, broadcasting doesn’t have this limitation.

 

“ ‘TV in your pocket’, ‘in your hands’, ‘on the go’, ‘anytime, anywhere’, ‘enhanced TV’, ‘beyond broadcasting’ (Meikle and Young, 2008), and ‘delivering the future of broadcasting’, are some of the terms and concepts being used to describe and market mobile TV services.” (Orgad 2009). The introduction of mobile TV is the current new technology which digital media is adapting to bring into sync with the current technologies out. Music videos will have to adapt to another level to bring the same types of results. The online music video has already adapted quite a lot from the original television videos that were made. They will also need to change in some element to provide fast and effective results on mobile TV, which will help converge this new technology.

References

Dictionary.com 2012, Converge, viewed 30 March 2012, <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/converge?s=t>

Dwyer, T 2010, 'Media Convergence', McGraw Hill, Berkshire, pp. 1-23

Orgad, Shani 2009, 'Mobile TV: Old and new in the construction of an emergent technology' Convergence, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 197-214

Image 1, <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2011/12/vevo-logo-l.jpg>

Image 2, <http://www.mcmmedia.com.au/media/Take_40_mobile_app_product_page_tile_2012.jpg>

Image 3, <http://mexico.cnn.com/media/2011/09/27/rock-band-videojuegos-musica-tapulous-tap-tap-revenge.jpg>