The Cops

In TV drama The Cops it uses the Stedicam/Handheld camera shots as it makes the audience feel as if they are part of the drama themselves - as if they are there with the cops following along with them what they do. However it can seem a bit jumpy or some of the shots are shaky though you could argue that it adds to the effect the audience gets from this i.e. more lifelike.

In what ways does your chosen industry fail to cater for its audience? - Shelby and Matt

The music industry can be seen to fail its audience in multiple ways, in this essay we will discuss how.

Music stores both physical and digital put up the prices of the Cd's by twice the amount it actually cost to make. Production wise when a CD would cost £0.50 to make shops would sell it for around £10 - this is to gain the music industry money. Along with this compared to the 80's, there aren't many shops left that sell physical copies of CD's also its harder to be able to buy singles in stores instead it tends to be the top albums and a few others. To buy a single you'd have to go online which would cost around 99p on Itunes and due to this shops such as zavvi have shut down because they aren't getting the sales anymore. 

The industry tells artists to make music the industry want them to make instead of the music that the audience wants to hear - this way they get money. This can be seen with One Direction with Simon Cowell telling them to produce pop as it sells to teens where as when the Beatles were around they were making and writing the music that they sold as it was the music they loved and wanted to distribute and perform. Similarly industries get the artists to make too many songs which actually fit on the album which then leads to cramming 12/13 songs onto the album when really only 3 or 4 are actually any good. 

Industries manufacture bands with people look the part to 'sell music' when really all they want out of them is the money and use them as a marketing technique for the company - reception wise boybands rack up a massive fan base because of the teenage girls who fall in love with the members. This leads to the fanbase consuming their music in as many ways as they can. This fails this audience as it means that they don't get the music that maybe the want to listen to because the industries will only sign artists who they know will make money instead of artists that are talented - not as many genres are given the time of day. 

You can apply the hypodermic needle theory to this as shows like the x factor producers injects the audience with the music that they want to sell to get into the charts, it brainwashes them into buying only this type of music compared to the music they want. They get shown the same music over and over so they only know one type of music. 

* Included theories that were linked in carefully

* Includes Statistics

UMG Case Study

Universal Music Group from shelbert96

This is my case study on Universal Music Group - one of the big 4 music companies.

Copyright

• Copyright allows authors, musicians, artists, etc...to make money off of their work, it means that other people cant take their work for free or alter the work without their permission  
• 1706: Statute of Anne :first copyright act, establishes the right of authors to control what happens to their works
• Works published before 1978 and after 1923 are protected for 95 years
• Anything made after 1978 lasts for life plus 70 years
• A copyright lasts for  95 years (120 if not published) for corporate authors after publication for anything after 1978
• Music and sound recordings last 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which it was published 

Things that could be copyrighted

• Books
• films
• songs
• albums
• slogans
• logos
• company names
• CD's
• games
• art
• product names
• catchphrases
• fictional names
• Drama
• architectural works
• choreographic work

Music Piracy

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Prosecution of Pirate Bay in April 2009:
The Pirate Bay is a website that provides torrent files and peer to peer file sharing founded in Sweden in 2003. On 31st May 2006 the police raided The Pirate Bay in 12 premises and confiscated 186 servers which cause the site to go down for 3 days. When it re opened the consumers doubled due to the media coverage. The founders were put on trial and were charged with facilitating illegal downloading of copyrighted material and were found guilty. They were sentenced to a year in Prison and a fine of 30 million SEk (€2.7m). In some countries the ISP's have been ordered to block access to the site. 

New bundles developed with sky etc to include music downloads in a subscription to include broadband, tv etc:
Virgin were the first to create bundles with everything i.e. broadband, TV, Landlines etc. Other providers followed including Sky who wanted to include music downloads or Virgin when they have Music on demand. However record companies say that it benefits the providers rather than the company. Theres a debate on when teens grow up will they pay for a package deal or will they just have broadband and illegally download everything else? Its a controversial matter. 

Ad-sponsored legal free streaming sites (spotify):
Sites have been set up which enable legal music streaming  and are sponsored by adverts which is free to use. Although sites like spotify have unlimited plays it enables consumers to listen to free music proceeded by an advert. Another site is Spiral Frog which provided free and legal downloads which were supported by advertising until it was taken down due to outstanding loans. 

Earlier release dates:

Record companies used to release new music 6 weeks in advance on radio before a format in which people could buy. Now many songs/ albums are released on the same day in which it is played on the radio (i.e. Beyonce releasing her album with no marketing which was played on the radio and could be downloaded on the same day) this is to limit illegal downloads because its the hope that it stops people wanting the album so bad they don't want to wait for the release date and so illegally download it when they can get it quickly by paying. 

DRM (Digital Rights Management) - is a class of technologies that are used by  hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders, and individuals with the intent to control the use of digital content and devices after sale With First-generation DRM software, the intent is to control copying; With Second-generation DRM, the intent is to control viewing, copying, printing and altering of works or devices.

Creative Commons - is a company that allows you to share your creativity with the rest of the world, it helps develop, support and stewards legal technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing and innovation. Allowing users to use their own copyright licences known as creative commons licences. 

Agreement between BPI and six major UK internet providers to caution illegal downloads - In 2008 BPI stuck a deal with six major UK internet providers to try and stop people from illegally downloading files. You would receive a warning then 3 strikes and you're out. However not all internet providers agreed, for example TalkTalk decided to opt out because 80% of young users said they would still do it regardless. Furthermore you only have to be accused and not found guilty to get a strike.

The Digital Economy Bill - This bill allows the courts to demand that ISP's cut off broadband service from alleged downloaders. This is controversial because you only have to be accused 3 times and not proven guilty in a court for copyright infringement. 

How useful are the UK record sales charts and do you believe they have a future?

The official charts are on radio 1 on sundays between 4-7pm and don't release the number 1 until it is played at the last spot just before 7. The charts date back to 1967 when it was hosted by Alan Freeman - bringing the latest chart hits from the top 40 songs.
   
The charts are based on a survey across a panel of retailers, accounting for 99% of all singles sold, 98% of all albums and over 90% of all video. In 2007 Fearne Cotton became the first regular presenter of the top 40 and On 26 February 2012, a new look within the show meant that it started with the music videos of the top 10 singles also it aired live online from 6pm.There is also the UK Singles Chart based on the the Official Charts Company. The full chart contains the weekly top-selling 200 single recordings in the UK, based on combined record sales and download numbers. The charts consist of different genres (pop, rock, jazz, country) , formats (vinyl, CD Digital) and film/TV downloads (top 10 DVD's). For the past 5 years the x factor winners have been fighting for the number one christmas song, a place which is dreamed of by many artists. Likewise the number one spot is popular at certain times of year - the christmas number on, the summer number one. Which means the charts become very popular as people want to check back to see what song has made it or what song hasn't for example when Joe McEldery's christmas number was beaten by rage against the machine - it gains the industry more money each year.

The charts are available on many types of platforms. Thee typical way is to listen on BBC Radio 1/BBC Radio 2 you can also hear them on MTV and read what songs are in the top 40 in the Music Week magazine. They appear in 80% of the national newspapers and are working to make it accessible on platforms like mobile apps and social media. You can check the latest 100 on the official website or on other sites including the sun, 7digital etc. 

From reception statistics you can work out what the consumers like and which is selling well in comparison to what they don't like.The data is available for music and video industries to find out about the progress of their release and so this enables them to analyse how well their advertising campaigns work and the best way to promote their songs or videos. 

The charts have decreased in popularity since they started in the 60's to now, this is due to it being made available on many platforms so people can check it when they want so they don't have to tune in every Sunday. I think that they don't have much of a future as its made easier for people to see what songs are popular whenever they want. Top chart shows like top of the pops were axed because of the accessibility of music from online sources i.e. youtube or spotify. This could be said that it was a reflection of the audience changing habits and the increasing online audience compared to those buying physical cd's. 

The charts are still a way which shows audience consumption habits both digital and physically and shows an accurate record of what music is brought in every week - what albums are popular with the people. I think that its still provides a good feeling when your favourite band or artist gets into the top 20 or 10 even the number one spot. Therefore from this I don't think the charts will disappear as audience still want to know what is the number one song which they can download or how them buying songs contribute towards the top charts.