Stars compose new way to use music

http://music.guardian.co.uk/pop/story/0,,2044714,00.html

This story informs it's audience of a new technology brought about which enables the user to input certain data in order to turn it into music.

It is being promoted by The Who guitarist Pete Townshend - it is called "Lifehouse Method"
http://www.lifehouse-method.com/index.html

Townshend had been seeking help from:

• mathematician/composer Lawrence Ball, and
• software engineer Dave Snowdon

Townshend states that "widely shared software tends to evolve through its use (or abuse) by the end user" using Google as an example. It has transformed the web scene by creating a search engine which specifically searches for listings which are relevant to most users searches.

This is stating that technology evolution is based on consumerism and how people work with the technology offered.

Genesis musician Peter Gabriel is mentioned as well. He is publicised by the 0D2 online musical distribution in which helped establish. He is developing a programme named "The Filter".

http://thefilter.com/

It is co-working with iTunes and Nokia.

Gabriel discusses how as people search for more information which varies in a great way, the way we search for that desired content has become more important and complex, and so it is up to software engineers to create systems which make this process much more simple.

Nine Inch Nails musician Trent Reznor has been promoting ways for artists to interact with their audiences in different ways. He states that USB drives are a "convenient promotional vehicle".

Reznor has also released tracks from his forthcoming album in files in which audiences can edit and remix how they choose.

Software for this includes:

• GarageBand - http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
• Sony's ACID - http://www.acidplanet.com/

The age of permanent net revolution - John Naughton

1993 - the world wide web takes off

Naughton mentions the term "endism" - referring to the process of new technologies coming in and replacing older ones. For example, when the the CD-rom arrived, people believed this would be the end of the printed book etc.

• Cultural critic Neil Postman proposed a media ecology borrowing the idea of a biological ecosystem.
• The "organisms" in our ecosystem include broadcast and narrowcast television, movies, radio, print and the internet. Whilst broadcast TV was the most dominant for a long time, it has now undergone an extreme change with its audience fragmenting.
• narrowcast digital television is incoming with specialist content which is aimed at subscription based audiences. Internet Protocol TV, television on demand is now being created, and delivered via the net.

Broadcast TV's problem was that the dynamics of it were based on attracting mass audiences. It will, however, continue to exist because some things are best covered using "a few-to-many technology".

The web and the net are very different things. The web is just one kind of "traffic" in the net. It is already being overtaken by other forms of "traffic".

"peer-to-peer networking traffic now exceeds web traffic by a factor of between two and 10, depending on the time of day".

The signs of net's centrality are everywhere which include:

1. the spread of broadband
2. online retailing
3. streaming media
4. Google
5. internet telephony

The internet is clearly becoming essential in our lives and our children will live in an environment dominated by technology and the internet.

Broadcast TV is what is known as a "push" medium, which consists of pushing it down analogue or digital channels at audiences which are assumed to essentially consist of passive recipients.

The web on the other hand, is a "pull" medium. Basically "you're in charge!" - the switch from push to pull is an extreme increase in consumer sovereignty, the power is becoming unlimited.

The emergency of a truly sovereign, informed consumer is thus one of the implications of an internet-centric world.

Broadband TV used to assume that it's audience were to some extent "uncreative" and "passive", but it is now being discovered that this may of been because of the absence of tools, and publication oppurtunities.

In terms of blogging, many of the postings are vanity publishing with no "discernable literary or intellectual merit"

The oppurtunity has now been grabbed and the blogging phenomenon is no longer a one way street - digital photography is an example of the remarkable "creativity" we are expressing nowadays.

Bebo opens music store

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2044180,00.html

This story combines aspects of the "EPIC" video (the element about the creation of social networking websites such as Bebo, Myspace etc.) and music on the internet.

Websites like Bebo and Myspace are continuing to expand and membership is becoming a lot more popular, and so music downloads are being introduced in order to promote bands and their music.

Bebo are only allowing certain organisations to supply their services, and they are using music firm 7 didgital for this along with "indiestore".

The service is available for consumers in the UK, USA, Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Bebo's UK audience has apparently increased by 10% in just a month (January 2007 to February).

Key Concepts of NMT

Technology
What the technology allows audiences and institutions to do that they couldn't do before. How is it marketed? Who provides it? Cost? Hot/Cold media? Is it an old media undergoing radical transformation?

Convergence - a term to describe the process of multiple technologies being brought together to form a new product. For example, gaming consoles such as Playstations can be used for DVD playing as well as audio CD's.

Linear/Non Linear - Linear experiences are experiences that go in a straight line without stopping such as a film at the cinema. Non Linear is when the audience has more flexibility to choose their experience such as certain DVD features which allow the audience to choose specific endings of events (Final Destination 3)

Digitisation - Basically, the form of all digital material, picture, plain text or just a movie (which is made up of a long series of 1s and 0s) is reproduced perfectly by a computer (e.g. Sky+ box) and then moved in an efficient manner across the internet even.

Institutions
Establish how media institutions are converging media interests to increase profit, launching new products, and reacting to audience demands.

Interactivity - it is a two-way communication and with NMT, it is basically content that is reactive to the audience's choices. For example, the red button which activates Interactive TV.

Audience
What are audiences doing with their new media technologies? How are traditional experiences of the media changing? What are audiences neglecting in order to work the product? Research can be done with audience research, asking opinions, and investigating consumption patterns.

Personalisation - a term to describe the characteristic of a NMT at offering it's audience a personalised experience. For example, Sky+ allows its viewers to pause live TV and automatically record their favourite programmes.

Linear/Non Linear - Linear experiences are experiences that go in a straight line without stopping such as a film at the cinema. Non Linear is when the audience has more flexibility to choose their experience such as certain DVD features which allow the audience to choose specific endings of events (Final Destination 3)

Issues
Illegal issues raised by such products as limewire. Does increased spending harm children? Is this new way of consuming information/ entertainment generating any "moral panics"?

The Future
If the technology is extended, what could happen? How could NMT be different in future, if compared to current technology?

Democratisation - It is the ability to communicate opinions and ideas and share your "creative output" with others. The creation of blogging has put forth the road of creating your very own TV schedule and being able to plan what you watch, and when you watch it.

Future of news presenting online in terms of "personalisation" and "user generated content"

In 2014, the media will be made up of a wide range of breadth and depth. The road to this phenomenon began in 1989 with the creation of the world wide web. Then in 1994, the creation of "amazon.com" and 1998, the creation of "google". After this, the net continued to expand in many different and intriguing ways, which included the creation of many other services such as Tivo, a popular brand of digitital video recorder which made it possible to capture television presentations to a hard disk storage for later viewing when the cosumer so wishes. In 1999, Blogger was created which was a blog publishing service. Since 2002, a social network of youth has also appeared on the web scene with websites such as "Friendster", "Myspace" and "Bebo" appearing which allow youths to form new social networks with new or existing friends.

2006 saw Google take a gigantic leap in the world of media by combining all it's services into a "grid". People now had the choice of whether to store, or publish, and had the ability to create or consume. In 2008, two media web tycoons, google, and amazon, combine to form "Googlezon". A total customerisation of content allows people to have the world at their fingertips with a bigger search engine available and all the market abilities of amazon. It caters to the interests of each individual and stores personal information meaning that they are able to use this to their advantage to create a personalised media.

The war between Microsoft and Googlezon continues in 2010, but the vast expansions and levels of Googlezon is too much for Microsoft and Googlezon wins the "news war". No actual news organisations are involved however. The New York Times proceeds to sue Googlezon for copyright infringement, but the Supreme Court take the side of Googlezon.

In 2014, Epic is released by Googlezon. EPIC (Evolving personalised info construct), which means that everyone contributes. It is a summary of the world which is deeper and broader than anything ever has been, but at the same time, it is merely "a collection of trivia". It is shallow and most of it untrue, but it is so popular that the New York Times is forced to go offline and become a print newsletter for the elderly.