There's no denying that the internet has become an indispensable realm of access to anything and everything one could possibly want.
According to The Digital Future Project, created and organised by The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenburg School for Communication, "In 1994, fewer than two of every ten Americans used the Internet; in 2009, more than eight in ten Americans go online."
Inspired by Kathryn's "Illegal versus legal" post at Stirling PR Student, I thought it would be interesting to delve deeper into what the internet has now become, an all-in-one, one-stop shop for all your entertainment needs.
In her post, Kathryn talked about how illegal music sharing has taken over the music industry and that musicians and labels haven't really gotten a grasp on how to tackle this problem that results in loss of album sales and decline in popularity.
Not all hope is lost if you want to make it big in the music "biz" because there are some artists who are definitely taking the gamble of releasing free album downloads and it looks like it's paying off.
Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead both released free versions of their latest albums on Bit Torrent sites and their websites for a limited time. People were so receptive to this gesture of good faith, they reciprocated by actually purchasing the albums. In 2008, NIN and Radiohead were among the best selling albums on that year on Amazon. See the full article on ReadWriteWeb here.
The same "give a little, take a little" approach has been applied to television as well. Live streaming and video sharing in the form of torrents and files has become the new way to catch up on your favorite shows or to see why everybody and their mother is obsessed with LOST. All you need is a computer and a fast internet connection and the world of bad reality TV is at your finger tips.
TV networks haven't missed out on this opportunity. All major networks have archives of full high-quality episodes of popular shows so you don't have to resort to sketchy foreign sites anymore or clog up your hard drive with huge torrent files. BUT every time you click on that link to watch last week's Grey's Anatomy, you are still watching through ABC.
So it's a win-win situation right?
What will be the evolution of entertainment (TV, music, films, books etc.)?
Photo courtesy of Bond Girly
4 comments:
Something that I indulge in on a weekly basis is live streaming of my favourite TV shows. With my hectic and often unpredictable schedule, the convenience of having access to the most recent episodes of Gossip Girl and Being Erica at my disposal is invaluable. With more and more people accessing the Internet on a daily basis, networks like ABC are likely obtaining larger audience numbers than in previous years.
According to the Broadcast Engineering blog, a record number of more than 17.7 million users accessed streamed video of the Olympic Games last month. Additionally, the traditional primetime television coverage increased in the amount of viewers. It is speculated that the increase in Internet access had a positive correlation to the increase in primetime viewers.
We can see this trend with other forms of entertainment as well. For instance, customers can now purchase books on-line to read at their leisure. Additionally, the sales of eBooks continue to be on the rise and I believe that the Internet will continue to promote the use of these modes of entertainment, and perhaps increase the usership.
@Katie: Thanks for your comment.
Good call on the live streaming and archives of the Olympic Games last month. I was among the 17.7 million users with my wonky time difference. I was so happy to be able to watch my favorite winter sporting events in full high quality (i.e. figure skating) despite being sound asleep during the time the event actually went on. :)
Amazon's Kindle is certainly making it easier for people to read on the go or at their convenience. It's exciting times we live in, but I can't help but think somewhat wistfully upon the good ol days of lugging around a 90¢ dog-eared copy of Vanity Fair on the TTC. :)
I'm not sure if it is a win-win situation.
I watch full episodes (and a whole series) of my favourite TV shows on 'questionable' websites. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I also watch the latest movies online without paying a single penny.
The fact is, the free world that is the Internet has created a dent in the pockets of music recording companies, movie producing companies and TV networks. The photography industry is also being affected.
Copyright laws are hardly adhered to.
Because of this we'll probably see less and less celebrity millionaires as time goes by.
@Toivo - Thanks for your comment. You're right about how access to shows, movies, music etc is more or less free for the masses due to "questionable" websites. But those websites are using full of malware/spyware and are often of shoddy quality.
I think the majority of people still like to enjoy their entertainment with a certain standard so big TV networks (for example) who are jumping on streaming/online archiving their most popular shows is a really smart move in terms of trying to gain back some control over pirated material.
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