Martin Stewart Mock Answer

To what extent does digital distribution affect the marketing and consumption of media products in the media you have studied?

I feel that digital distribution strongly affects the marketing and consumption of music as it constantly changes the way in which the music is presented and marketed. Through digital distribution the music can now be marketed through sites such as Twitter and YouTube allowing very little budget to be spent on the marketing and achieving a higher fan involvement level that will in cases of some artists such as Beck create a dedicated niche audience. The majority of music now is marketed digitally through the internet in some way and i will be comparing how and to what levels of importance different giants within the music industry use this digital distribution to their advantage.

Major conglomerate labels such as Sony are affected by digital distribution both positively and negatively. I will start with the positive aspects. Digital distribution allows them to create a much wider fanbase for their artists as in the case of the record label Syco and their artists One Direction they are able to market them through internet games, sites such as youtube and social networking sites such a Twitter. Through these abilities they can appeal to a much wider audience and generate a lot more audience feedback through the exchange process allowing them to know what they have to change in the future to allow the band to appeal to a wider audience. Major labels are strongly affected by digital distribution as it allows them to market their artists through music videos rather than the music itself. This is known as visualization and with the increase in digital distribution through sites such a YouTube it is become increasingly more noticeable that the videos and the images of the artists are more important to the audience than the music itself. This is shown again through the major labels use of Synergy, through combining music and television digitally through shows such as X-Factor they can attract a much wider audience and also allow for a increased focus on visualization. This digital distribution not only affects the marketing of music but also how it is consumed. Digital distribution means that the music can be uploaded instantly and this is used to record labels advantages through shows such as X-Factor in the way that as soon as the show is finished all tracks performed are available from the iTunes store, this plays on the audiences immediate involvement with the artist and also allows the labels to see what has received the most downloads so they know how they can shape and mould their future artists. Digital distribution however is not always positive, through the increased availability of music online their is an increase in the amount of music being pirated. his costs the major record labels vast amounts of money and does not allow them to create a strong link with their fan base. Due to this inability to make as much money as they could through record sales they rely on extortionately high live ticket prices to make back their money. This shows how due to the high levels of piracy associated with digital distribution major record labels push emphasis onto live shows and the image of their artists.

DIY artists however are affected by digital distribution very differently to the ways that major labels and conglomerate companies are affected. A key example of this is the artist Beck and his album Song Reader. Beck chose to release this album in the form of sheet music which meant he went against the idea of digitally distributing his music as tracks. He released no recordings of himself playing any of the songs simply a book with 20 tracks written in the form of sheet music and over 100 pages of inspirational artist. Through this he was encouraging is audience to create and distribute their own interpretations of his music for themselves. Through releasing Song Reader as sheet music he immediately targeted a specialist or niche audience for his album showing that to him dedicated fans are more important than being generic and trying to appeal to as wide a range of people as possible. This worked effectively as fans now publish their own interpretations of them performing his sheet music, some even go as far as to create music videos, these videos are published both on youtube and the song reader site itself. Through this fan involvement the fans are acting as prosumers and exchanging something with the artist Beck. They are letting him know which is the most popular way for the song to be performed but they are also doing almost all the marketing for him without him or a distribution company having to be involved. This shows the advantages of digital distribution through a dedicated fanbase as it spreads word and creates a lot of enthusiasm for the artist allowing a pre-prepared audience for his later releases. This is very different to how digital distribution affects the major record labels as whilst the majors tend to distribute and sell their music themselves online Beck would rather sell the classic form of sheet music and allow his fans who he has now created a strong relationship with to spread it themselves and be strongly involved.

Digital distribution has perhaps its strongest affect on the community of prosumers, often teenagers these prosumers use digital technology and sites such as youtube to download songs and create new tracks such as mash-ups themselves. Through doing this they mix together many past hits or tracks that they like to create a song in which they are all mixed together, and then re-publish the song themselves digitally on sites such as youtube giving them a chance to enter the music world and attempt to make an impact. Through sites such as youtube allowing them to distribute music digitally this is increasingly easy and takes only a low level of computer knowledge for any average person to act as a producer through create these mash-up type tracks. Major record labels often allow this despite owning the copyright to many of the songs used as they know that it gains them publicity for many old tracks that may have been forgotten or just for the tracks of any artists signed to them in general. It allows for them to know which songs from their back catalogue they can re-release with current or future artists to achieve the highest sales and interest in the artists. This shows how digital distribution affects the consumption of music as it has reached a stage where record companies often actively allow their music to be pirated in order to know what fans like so that they can shape future artists. This shows a high level of co-operation between major record labels and prosumers whilst still being drastically different to the relationships between the prosumer audience who interpret Becks music. Therefore leading to the idea that digital distribution affects all types of artists in a variety of different ways but all digital distribution strongly relies on a relationship between the audience and the artist allowing for an exchange of ideas.

In conclusion i feel that digital distribution strongly affects the marketing and consumption of music as it puts a strong emphasis on audience involvement for artists such as Beck making it a positive thing, however it also allows for a high rate of piracy causing a influx in ticket prices and more focus on visualizations for artists signed to major record labels.

Martin Stewart