'Distrust causes illegal downloads'

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2065254,00.html

More than a quarter of young people in the UK are prepared to illegally download music and films because they distrust the entertainment industry, according to research.
41% of 18- to 34-year-olds do not trust the entertainment industry to provide value for money, and 34% do not trust companies to respect the rights of those who do pay for digital content.
Research found that 27% of young people have already downloaded content illegally or would do so.
This distrust has been caused by the imcompatibility for music from iTunes being played on anything but an iPod.
49% of younger consumers are more likely to criticise an entertainment company to their friends, 37% are more likely to share their negative opinions online and 43% said they would be more likely to boycott products or services.

In the US, CD sales dropped by 20% from 2006 to 2007, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
70% said that "word of mouth" from friends was a key influence.
Earlier research into consumer trust, published in January, found that 57% of people in the UK said they trusted the entertainment industry, compared with 67% for the technology industry.
The media industry was the least trusted at just 21%.

Testing The Case Study

1. General NMT terms

• technology
• institutions
• audience
• issues
• the future
• innovation
• technophile/technophobe
• push technology/pull technology
• hot media/cold media
• global village
• convergence
• personalisation
• interactivity
• democratisation
• exploitation
• consumption

2.

• production
• content
• performance
• reception
• developments
• music distribution
• "digital auteur"
• revenue/software
• multimedia
• stereo/soundtrack
• anti-social technology
• piracy revolution

3.

• In 2005, Nielsen SoundScan reported that the "big four" record companies accounted for 81.87% of the U.S. music market.
• DRM protected tracks are available for 79p, but for higher quality music, customers are expected to pay another 20p. Entire albums can cost as little as £7.99.
• Apples iTunes Store is said to be the most popular online music store having sold more than 2.5bn tracks around the world.
• The RIAA is a group which makes it it's personal aim to fight against online piracy. Their latest scheme includes a website which allows American college students to settle costs upfront from peer to peer sharing files they have been involved in.
• The first of these cases, in January last year, resulted in a landmark legal ruling, with two men ordered to pay £5,000 and £1,500 respectively for copyright infringement. Additional costs and damages were estimated at up to £20,000.
• The Chief Executive of Big Champagne, a media analysis company that specialises in monitoring P2P sharing says that around 1 billion tracks are traded illegally each month - This is occuring despite the closure of P2P sharing systems such as the first illegal Napster, Grokster, and Kazaa.
• More than 50% of the downloading music market is in the UK, where over a million tracks are downloaded "legally" each week.
• Bebo's UK audience has apparently increased by 10% in just a month (January 2007 to February).
• Apple sold more than 10.5 million iPods in the first three months of 2007, helping the US technology firm to record an 88% increase in profits.
• The global success of its digital music player and strong demand for its MacBook computers helped Apple's sales to soar from $4.3bn to $5.2bn.
• UK record labels have forced 23 internet users to pay fines worth a total of more than £50,000 after they admitted to illegally downloading music.

Exam Questions

1.
(a) According to the passage, which three companies are soon to invest in encouraging online console gaming?
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo

(b) Give three pieces of evidence from the passage which suggest that there will be a market for online console gaming.
"Hardcore PC gamers have been taking part in online contests over local networks and the Internet for years"
"Sony's EverQuest and Electronic Art's Ultima Online attract around 450,000 and 275,000 users respectively, paying between £6-8 per month"
"Final Fantasy 11 attracted 120,000 online subscribers paying £7 a month in three months"

(c)Outline the significance of broadband to the success of this project
Sony and Microsoft are talking to continental broadband suppliers. They are also using it to gain dominance of a market. It makes it faster, adds an "international" element. There is always access to broadband, and it is a very reliable program. There is also a "multi-player" potential in which people can play with mates and such.

2.
(a)Explain what is meant by "gain dominance of a market"
"Gain dominance of a market" means that they want to be the only company that online gamers use to play online games over the Internet and effectively gaining a competitive advantage. E.g. Microsoft or Apple.

(b)"The online gaming initiative by these companies is an attempt to maintain their profits" To what extent has online technology increased audiences for other media products?
As technology changes, so does audience demand, with all this new media coming online, it provides many different possibilities for a wide range of people. For example, the ability to play online games with your friends without even having to leave your own house has been possible for years now.
As the "seventh generation" of gaming has now been entered, consoles such as Wii, and Playstation3 are the latest creations to be released. As such consoles are created for public use, new games are being developed in order to attract a wider range of audience. A recent article on BBC News has stated that a Virtual Big Brother game is in developing along with others such as Deal Or No Deal, and The X-Factor. This idea of promoting every one's favourite TV programmes into games is a good way of attracting larger audiences. The "second life" where players can create their own desirable versions of themselves, walk around in a virtual world, and meet new people, is a huge development and people like to take full advantage of such things. However, it is criticised as it seems to put a stop on peoples social lives and the online social community is something "outside" of reality and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Film Technology Research

1. What are the advantages of digital projection for the consumers?
There is a special quality which is "unrivalled by any other media", and it uses "35mm film". It is very simple to upload and just involves a one-button push from being digitally uploaded. The main advantage is the picture quality, every imperfection gets shown as the 35 mm print passes through the projector, including scratches, fluff, blotches etc. With a digital projector linked to a server there are no more stray hairs, scratches or dust - just a crystal clear picture.

2. Why has there been a slow take-up?
It's been a question of agreeing in advance, industries have had to build a consensus, and agree business models and technology to be used, and it took longer than most people expected.

3. Why is 'Hollywood' driving this technological change?
They stand to make enormous savings, which they are able to pass on to cinemas themselves. The most obvious saving is in distibution costs. Distributing movies digitally means they can be encrypted before they even leave the studios, and then unlocked by software at the cinemas themselves, which will prevent piracy, which Hollywood claims has cost it $6bn (£3.2bn).

4. What does digital projection offer in the way of the "future" for cinemas?
In the future, the possibility of delivering the movie by satellite or over the net has got the "bean counters salivating". 3D could be able to return to our screens as well. With a digital projector you can input virtually anything into it - they can screen a DVD, a clip downloaded from YouTube, gaming from a digital projector with multiple players on the screen at the same time, a live feed from satellite, cable etc. Digital movies can be streamed from the server to different screens at the same time; or alternatively a variety of movies can be shown on the same screen throughout the course of a day.

5. Extended question: how is digital distribution changing the way we consume other media?
With technology available to recreate old classics, as well as show sporting events, in 3D there is a real feeling that 3D is finally coming of age.

iPod – why so popular?

Brought the MP3 player from a niche market to mass market:

• Easy to use technology and website
• Must-have accessory (marketing, great PR campaign)
• signed deals with all five major labels to make sure the vast majority of artists are represented
• Continuation of trendy Apple brand
• Excellent functionality
• Simple transaction and relatively cheap: 99 cents

LimeWire Readying Digital Music Store

http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/04/limewire_readyi.html

• P2P programme installed on 18.71% of all computers globally is in talks with various "indie" labels and label distributors about creating a digital music store.
• Even though LimeWire has faced a bit of legal issues in the past, it is still up and running because of strong behind-the-scenes activity.

World Music Market

The world music market consists of record companies and labels and publishers that send out recorded music products around the world and they control the rights to those music products.

The "big four" record groups that currently dominate the market are:

• Sony BMG


• EMI


• Universal


• Warner

They each consist of many smaller record companies

Record labels sign, market, publicize, develop and promote as well as provide sales support to the larger distribution companies for their releases and artists.

In 2005, Nielsen SoundScan reported that the "big four" record companies accounted for 81.87% of the U.S. music market.