The Long Tail and Wikinomics

1. What is Chris Anderson’s theory of ‘the long tail’?

The long tail theory refers to the idea that more profit can now be made from more fragmented audiences consuming different, smaller 'niche' products, rather than a mass audience all buying into a few extremely popular products.

2. What does the theory of ‘the long tail’ mean for the music industry and to other areas of the media such as online television?

In regards to the music industry, the long tail theory means that labels can now make just as much money, if not more money, from signing a collection of distinct artists with small fanbases, rather than simply holding a few artists with bigger audiences. The variety and choice of music available now means that there is a very fragmented audience all buying into different artists and genres, whereas in the older days when there was less choice and variety, pretty much everyone would buy the same few genres of music from a few artists who hold mass audiences.

3. What is Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams’ theory of Wikinomics? 

The theory of wikinomics describes how people can come together and collaborate in order to create products or in the case of Wikipedia; a website. This user participation is revolutionary as there is no one person or company pulling all the strings, it is simply everyone coming together and doing their part which means it is less effort for everyone and the profits and benefits of the creations do not all go to one or a small selected number of people.

4. What are the four big ideas of Wikinomics and how might these ideas be applied to the music industry?

The four big ideas of Wikinomics are peering, sharing, thinking globally and openness. Peering is the idea that content can now be shared between peers easily through websites such as Facebook; in the case of music one can easily upload a link to Facebook which leads to a YouTube video of a song. This song being uploaded to YouTube is the sharing.

Arab Spring

The Arab Spring refers to the Tunisian and Syrian revolutions. We looked at how social media and web 2.0 influenced and effected these events.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoRspCp5Xn0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Are The Media Becoming More Democratic?

The last two decades has seen remarkable technological advancements in the world, including the introduction of web 2.0. This refers to the new social networking, sharing and publishing websites which have turned the internet into a database which anyone can contribute to, and a community that anyone can be a part of.

David Gauntlett argued that the traditional media were not democratic because they had all the power over censorship and could decide what news and content the general population were exposed to. The traditional media Gods (newspapers, broadcasters) now share this power with the general population. Citizen journalism can now be carried out and published in seconds via web 2.0, meaning that no longer does one have to work for a newspaper or broadcaster to find out and spread news to millions of people. This citizen power was portrayed perfectly in Tunisia in 2010 when the government censored protests due to fear that they would be seen and spread and copycat behaviour could take place. However the footage of protests, and the reasons behind it were exposed via video sharing online. Facebook was uncontrolled by the government and many Tunisians used their mobile phones to record the protests and share the recordings and information they had online. This shows another of David Gauntlett's points; that special broadcasting equipment is not needed as it would have been 30 years ago, instead anyone with camera phone and internet connection can share these vital pieces of information of footage. This would suggest that the media is becoming more democratic as there is no longer an elite force of traditional media holding all the cards, it is now just as easy for regular people to share information. It could be argued however that people still do not trust citizen journalists as much as more established sources as they are less reliable; as easy as it is for people to post a story quickly, it is just as easy for them to make one up quickly.

Mozorov agrees that the web can be used as a democratic tool, especially through social networking websites such as Twitter. An example of this is when an injunction taken out by Ryan Giggs was broken by around 70,000 Twitter users, however the law could not punish all these people, therefore they all got away with their 'crime' and the information was let out from the clasp of the courts and higher forces. However one negative point which Mozorov draws from this is that the internet can make it easier for the government to track people and monitor them. An example of this is when police in the UK discovered messages sent via Blackberry Messenger which aimed to instigate riots. Although in this case it was for the greater good, it does not hide the fact that the government can still track our personal messaging and calls (an issue recently brought to light during the News of the World phone hacking scandal).

The idea of censorship can also be applied to the music industry with there being many legal situations surrounding music on YouTube now. Sony are one of a number of companies who often withdraw audio tracks from YouTube videos for fear that people will just use the website to listen to the aforementioned music for free. David Gauntlett's ideas over the democracy of media can be related positively to the modern music industry. As he said in regards to journalism, expensive equipment is no longer needed to create or publish a story; everyday common equipment works just as well. In the modern day, it is easy to rent out a studio to record a song, promote it via YouTube or Myspace, and distribute it online via iTunes and similar websites or companies. This of course improves the democracy of the media as it gives power and control to the people to compete with big label artists, or even get signed by a big label, as stars such as Soulja Boy and Justin Bieber were after their big breaks on Myspace and YouTube respectively.

Overall it does seem that as technology advances and becomes more available to the general public, the opportunity for citizens to contribute to the online database and discussion increases, which would suggest that the media is indeed becoming more democratic, although it is also becoming more controversial and it should be remembered that these technologies can be used in negative ways as well as positive or democratic ways.

According to Gauntlett, what was "the media" like in the past and what changes have now occurred?


David Gauntlett suggests that in the past the media was headed by big corporations (he referred to them as media Gods) e.g broadcasting corporations and newspapers. These media Gods fed news, information and entertainment down to the people, and therefore these corporations had all the input and could decide what to expose us to and what to censor effectively.


How far do you agree with Gauntlett?


I would say that I agree with Gauntlett on this issue, as the people had no input in media therefore the population had to completely trust the higher media powers and their stories. However this issue may not be solved by citizen journalism and input of the general population as Gauntlett suggests, because the problem with these citizen sources is they have no credibility unless they have hard evidence e.g recordings.


How might Gauntlett's ideas be applied to the music industry?


David Gauntlett's ideas suggest that the general population can contribute to the news now as they have the equipment, and this revolution can be applied to the music industry as music can also be made by anyone now. No longer is it difficult or expensive to get hold of recording equipment to produce and record music. It is also easy now for anyone to distribute their music. The big labels no longer control what music is put out, as anyone can upload whatever kind of music they want on the internet, which can earn them fans and even a recording contract. Websites such as Myspace and YouTube have been instrumental in helping young musicians find fame in recent years, thanks to the technological advancements brought to us by the internet and web 2.0.

Citizen Journalism - My Tram Experience

In this video David and I discuss the citizen journalism aspect of the controversial viral video; 'My Tram Experience', whether it has had a positive or negative impact, and how much this citizen journalism is a tool of democracy in the new age. Citizen journalism refers to the idea that in the 'We media' age, anyone can record and upload footage of anything, whereas in the past the traditional media powers (e.g newspapers, broadcasters) were in control of what we were exposed to and what was censored from the population's viewing.