Music Video in a Convergent Media Environment

         "Old media never die... What dies are simply the tools we use to access media content."
                                                                                                                                -Jenkins, 2006.


When looking at the history of Music Video as a medium, it would be easy to fall under the assumption that it is a dying art form. The sparse showings of music video on today's television are stark in contrast to the glory days of MTV, Madonna and MJ, but the limitations set by looking at Music Video purely as a television medium are many. In an environment of digital and cultural convergence, analysing the life of any medium on one platform would be a futile and inaccurate exercise.  I don't propose to argue that television as a 'tool' is dying (Jenkins, 2006), rather that the way we use this tool is rapidly changing, specifically in relation to Music Video and online consumption. With sites such as YouTube and Video accounting for the vast majority of music video consumption, I will also be arguing that online access is going beyond continuing the life of the classic video clip. Access to live streaming and user generated content online is enhancing and expanding the experience of Music Video as a medium.

Firstly, I would like to clarify my definition of 'Music Video' for the purposes of this essay. Prior to the emergence of YouTube in 2005, a Music Video would have been simple to define. A video produced for and set to music for the purposes of being shown on a music television program; frequently featuring artists contracted to record labels. These still exist today and amidst the myriad of music video forms are known as "Official Videos" (Holt, 2011). In a current convergent media sphere, there are several other splinters that I would like to include under the Music Video clarification:

• user generated content; both live recordings and home produced clips.
• live commercial content; produced and distributed by record companies, touring companies and online radio stations.

The Kooks take the coveted role of
Guest Programmers on rage.

With the decline of music video content on MTV, the cancellation of host run video programs such as Video Hits and the reduction of Australia's longest running music program, Rage, leaving only the iconic Saturday evening/Sunday morning guest programmer slot: it is easy to see the waning presence of music video on television. Jenkins' view that the tools or hardware that we use to access media are things that draw parallels when looking at Music Video. It is not Music Video as a form that is dying, but the use of television as a means of access is being surpassed by online access. Holt (2011) argues that contemporary society is undergoing a broad transformation of our media environment, referencing Manovich (2008), who says that with the inception of YouTube, we have entered "a new media universe". This 'new media universe' is the culturally prosperous home to Music Video. Jenkins also talk about the control of the consumer, which I believe is the driving factor behind the shift to online consumption of Music Video. As consumers are becoming more savvy and being given more choice; the likelihood of them sitting down to a video playlist created for them by a TV Producer diminishes; using YouTube to pick and choose or create their own is much more suited to the modern consumer. One outlandish statistic is that of the most watched music video on YouTube, Justin Beiber's Baby, with an astonishing 774 million views, (YouTube.com, 2012).  

        "Consumers are learning how to bring the flow of media more fully under their 
                                                       control and to interact with other consumers." Jenkins, 2006.

Lingel and Maanam (2011) conducted a case study on the user generated production of live concert footage for the purposes of online distribution via YouTube. They view the study of these practises "as an entry point into still-unfolding theoretical discussions on significant changes in content production, and related debates as to the socio-cultural impacts of these alterations." As a form that has only flourished since the inception of online video, user generated live content now makes up a integral part of the music industry. Record companies and bands are less resistant to these forms of media and their ambiguous ownership, at times even contacting the concert goers making to recordings and developing a cooperative relationship with them- choosing clips they would prefer not to have circulated (Lingel, Maanam, 2001).

American Band Lemolo performing
 live at KEXP Studios.

Fabian Holt (2011) goes further, to talk about the almost mandatory inclusion of video content by radio stations, magazines and record companies across their multiple platforms; mandatory in the sense that without them, readership would diminish considerably. KEXP, an alternatively geared radio station based out of Seattle, is at the forefront of online content, with masses of beautifully shot live studio performances available freely on their website.








Another outstanding case of online music video content was the enormous online presence of Coachella, one of the worlds largest music festivals, held in the Californian Spring of 2012. The production and online distribution of content from the festival was on a scale unlike anything before it. With multiple live streaming channels both on YouTube and on the Coachella website, as well as sustained clips of sets, interviews and crowd activity available for viewing at a click- the coverage was interactive and colossally comprehensive. Fans the world round sat at their computers, getting an experience as close to being there as ever before, over ten million of them on YouTube. I personally sat watching a bands set in my living room, simultaneously receiving a picture text from a friend of mine who was at the show... It was an incredible feeling of connectedness brought about by this expanded use of technology.

Coachella Live Streaming Trailer, 2012: Released on the 29th of March, 2012.

User Generated Content: Beirut live from Coachella, 2012, 

as shot by YouTube user, MrPeyote.

Connectedness: A photo sent from a friend in California,
as I streamed Beirut's Coachella set online.

Music video as it stood in the eighties and nineties has moved on. In the past five years we have seen expansions in online production, distribution and consumption that, in the glory days of MTV and RAGE, we could not have dreamed of. With encouraged interactivity, connectivity between bands and fans, increased choice, freedom and access for consumers- it is hard not to the see that music video in it's many forms is a flourishing medium, no matter on what platform it takes precedence.







"The explosion of video content on the Web (2005-) has unleashed a new media universe . . . What is important, however, is that this new universe was not simply a scaled up version of 20th century media culture. Instead, we moved from media to social media. Accordingly, we can also say that we are graduated from 20th century video/film to early 20th century social video." (Holt, 2011, Manovich 2008, 33)



References:

Academic


Holt, F.(2011) 'Is music becoming more visual? Online video content in the music industry, VisualStudies' 26:1, 50-61, accessed Aug, 2012.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2011.548489


Jenkins, H. (2006) Convergence Culture, New York, New York University Press, pp 1-24. 

Lingel, J. Naaman, M. (2012) 'You should have been there, man: Live music, DIY content and online communities' New Media Society 2012 14: 332, accessed Aug, 2012.
http://nms.sagepub.com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/content/14/2/332.full.pdf+html


Orgad, Shani (2009) 'Mobile TV : Old and new in the construction of an emergent technology' Convergence, vol 15 no 2 pp 197 - 214, accessed Aug, 2012.
http://con.sagepub.com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/content/15/2/197.full.pdf+html


Other

Coachella Live Streaming Trailer, 2012, accessed Aug, 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgZuUTRvzso

Beirut, Santa Fe, Live- Coachella, 2012, accessed Aug, 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIKy9WgF3go&feature=plcp

Lemolo, KEXP live, picture, accessed Aug, 2012.
http://www.fromgotowhoa.com/lemolo-full-performance-live-on-kexp/

KEXP.org, Lemolo recordings, KEXP website, accessed Aug, 2012.
http://kexp.org/live/liveperformance.aspx?rId=33170

Rage, The Kook Guest Progam, Picture, accessed Aug, 2012.
http://www.abc.net.au/rage/archive/s2385227.htm