Industry and Audience Power Essay

 Essay question: “The internet has given audiences much more power than ever before.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? 

I believe that the internet has given audiences much more power than ever before. This is because, with the rise of digital media and the internet, consumers are becoming prosumers who interact with the media. This means that audiences are more active and bring their own experiences and ideas to bear when they consume media. So I believe that the internet makes the audience more powerful because it makes the audience to become active than a passive audience. This is because they can comment on what they believe is true or false.

One of the most notable changes that the internet has caused is the new ways of distributing music. One of the examples of how audiences have benefited from the rise of digital media in the way that they access and consume music is instead of buying music from a music store, consumers may now buy their music online. This is good because it saves time and it is accessible wherever you go. They also have a variety of online streaming platforms to choose from such as Spotify, Google Play, YouTube Music, Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, Deezer and many more. Some honourable mention could go to SoundCloud, Qobuz and Pandora. Because of the internet, there is a rise in ‘bedroom bands’ due to the internet and acts now can be able to produce their own work without high costs and with the backing of the industry, it can reach large audiences quickly through word of mouth. A prime example of this is Justin Bieber. This is because he became famous due to the large amount of ‘hits’ generated by YouTube. This can be called self publicised. The benefits of word of mouth advertising are that it gives the opportunity of people who can not afford the greatest music equipment to have a chance for people to hear your music and can be able to have a chance to reach to the top of the music ladder. This could be bad because it gives a lot of power to the audience and the audience may refuse to follow people who use professional equipment that can be expensive. Also, the internet makes it easier for people to download music illegally. This is bad for the producer because they don't make full profit of their work.

Since the rise of the internet, the Film and TV Industry have become big because people use to be able to watch TV /Films on television only but now because of technology people can watch films on their computer, smartphones and tablet. One example of how the audience has benefited from the rise of digital media in the way that they access television and film is by the rise of Netflix. This is because Netflix began as a DVD rental company sending DVDs in envelopes (like Blockbuster). Then in 1999 Netflix introduced a monthly subscription model. As it reached the 21st century Netflix went completely online. But internet prices were high and download speeds were slow so they considered making a Netflix Box (hardware). When it reaches 2005 YouTube became popular and it made Netflix to scrap the box and to launch an online streaming platform. When It lanched on the internet it then expanded into South America than Europe then globally. Therefore before Netflix, there was  Television which used to be watched when it was shown. This is called appointment to view because you had to be there to watch it when it aired. The rise of internet streaming and catch up services have offered consumers the chance to ‘catch up’ on television they have missed or binge-watch episodes. This is called on-demand. Recently there has been an issue with binge-watching TV series. One example of an issue is an enormous time of Physical Inactivity. This means that you are not getting the amount of daily exercise that is required. Also, it leads to Snacking and Poor Dietary Intake which adds on weight if you don't to sufficient time do exercise.

Another noticeable change that the internet has caused is the new ways of getting the news. One example of this is having newspapers on digital media such as a phone, computer and tablet. Some online articles can be from BBC News, The Guardian, Dailymail, Telegraph, Independent, Mirror Express, The Sun and Metro. Now Print sales for newspapers and magazine have declined as people increasingly access news content online. Therefore some newspapers charge a subscription for online articles. This is called a Paywall. This means a method of restricting access to content, especially news, via purchase or a paid subscription. Because of the rise in technology, there has been a rise of Citizen Journalism which is where citizens write their own news stories. This is also called Pro-sumerism when the lines between producers and consumers are blurred. Some disadvantages of having Citizen Journalism is that they can be telling their audience something called fake news. This bad for the audience because someone might think that the news is true when it is not. Also because of the rise of with Citizen Journalism, there has been a decrease in News Photographs which is bad because the Newspapers don't know if the footage is truthful or if it is fake.

Therefore I believe that because of the internet the audience becomes a lot more powerful than ever before. This is because I  believe that the audience has a wide variety of choice of media to watch or read and it is accessible wherever they are. They also have the choice of whether to comment on what they have seen or read.