Monday, September 20, 2004
Hilarious... kind of forgotten to keep this updated and involved.
Found time in the hectic spiral I have created for myself to check in and actually make a further post.
Will try and document the process I have embarked upon and nearing completion on the initial phase of regarding Regurgitator and the Band in a Bubble project. Such an interesting exercise delving into the world of TV having existed in a mixture of independent and corporate music. So much to discuss and explore regarding music, media, risk, clarity, celebrity...
But I have also been thinking of posting the paper I put together on downloads so here it is. Will also post the papers I wrote on Electroclash for Music and Subcultures in future visits.
3 June 2004 (submitted)
Lowdown on the Downloads: Digital music consumption and the Australian music industry.
“Once the Internet is a reality, the music business is finished.” (Prince 1995)
The explosion of new media has opened a variety of opportunities for media industries. As Hugh Mackay notes, “the moment of the arrival of a new technology is a crucial and exciting one, a time for contest” (272). The anarchic qualities of the Internet, in its decentralised and unregulated state, present the potential for reinventing media from the ‘bottom up’. Music is one of the areas in new media that has as much contributed to the cutting edge drive for development as it has developed its own life. From the traditional music industries’ attempts to harness this new media, to consumer-fuelled aspects such as downloads and filesharing, the situation is still in a state of flux. Recent history and applicable issues of control, security, territorial rights, and consumption, along with developments relative to Australia, will reveal how this affects the Australian music industry and how this media has, in a sense, implemented its own position relative to such issues.
The ability to transfer music via the Internet was accomplished by three significant developments in the nineties: the development of the MP3 format of music compression without a noticeable loss of quality; the introduction of portable MP3 players (the first being the 1998 Rio) whereby music in the form of MP3 could be stored and played outside of computers; and Napster established in the late 1990s by university student Shawn Fanning. Downloadable music on the Internet is either legitimate (paid or promotional) or illegitimate (piracy or filesharing). Napster allowed the ability for the user to locate MP3 files online, download multiple copies rapidly and then exchange files – all at no actual cost. It combined shareware, filesharing, free downloads, online communities and chat groups into one package. In this initial period the rhetoric around the Internet segued between its progressive potential as a “technology of freedom” (Flew 32) defying censorship and centralised control; and paranoia about security, copyright control, and the difficulty of exploiting such an intangible medium. On one level Napster functioned as a “distribution aggregation model” (Maguire 35) and on the other provoked condemnation from the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) who represented the corporate music industry and the big five U.S. labels (EMI, BMG, Sony, Universal and Warner). With a high media profile amid massive public access - 1.39 billion files downloaded in 2000 (Flew 31) - the inventor of Napster was successfully charged with “contributory copyright infringement due to its role as a conduit between users” (Maguire 31) and shut down (and co-opted by BMG).
Following this, a second wave of fileswapping services emerged (Gnutella, Audio Galaxy, Freenet, Kazaa) that tended to be more problematic as they lacked a “centralized, corporate-funded backbone” (Maguire 36). In the case of Napster, there was a centralised server that could be liable for copyright infringements and thus held accountable. These new services are peer-to-peer filesharing networks where “users trade files through thousands of anonymous ‘supernodes’” (Woody) without a definable ‘company’ to sue. Kazaa, founded in 2001 by Niklas Zennström from Sweden, was served a lawsuit by the RIAA in an attempt to shut them down, and has since come under scrutiny by Australian authorities, as its elaborate global structure was revealed. Once the company received a legal threat it went underground in a mirror of the decentralised nature of its existence on the Internet. The company moved its software control to tax haven islands off the coast of Britain and Estonia, relocated the interface ownership to a newly formed Australian company Sharman Networks based in Vanuatu (another tax haven), and shifted the domain to LEF Interactive based in Sydney. What has emerged is a globally spread company that defies national regulation and continues to have approx 60 million users around the world. ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association), as a representative body of the six Australian major record labels (Universal, EMI, Sony, BMG, Warner and Festival Records), was requested by RIAA to take legal action against the Australian based operation of Kazaa but so far has failed to make any significant ground. In 2003, ARIA released a statement claiming Internet filesharing was having a definite negative impact on CD sales; 3.4 million Australians had downloaded music files and that illegitimate channels account for 10.7% of acquired music (“Aria”). ARIA announced that they would attempt to deal with this trend by introducing key initiatives supporting the development of legitimate online business models, educating consumers, developing technology based controls and litigation. In a similar manner to the U.S., ARIA commenced cases against individual consumers of illegal downloads, suing them for copyright infringement.
One of the problems limiting the introduction of the Internet as a legitimate music acquisition point has been the issue of loss of control in the face of new technology and the subsequent lack of understanding. There has been significant debate on how to handle their integration into the industry, concerning secure formats, consumer confidence, territory considerations, and charging standards. As ARIA, record labels and music publishers deliberated various options and approaches being assessed overseas a combination of legitimate grass roots download operations (Chaosmusic) and illegitimate download operations emerged. Chaos Music was initially faced with hostility from retailers when a contract with John Farnham was met with a threat to withdraw his stock from music stores. It was not until the success of Apple iTunes in the U.S. that the confidence encouraged options to develop in Australia. In 2004, after one year of operation, Itunes has managed to make available 700,000 songs online with approx 2.5 million downloads per week capturing 70% of the market (Frith). Their campaign has possibly been so effective due to the combination of the parallel hardware release of the iPod. The delay in providing the service for Australia (due late 2004) has allowed an opportunity for Australian based services to grow in line with this new consumer confidence. In 2004, the following have been established with varying degrees of success: Telstra Bigpond music download service running in conjunction with their broadband service; DelstraMusic, working in conjunction with the major Australian music retailers; and the Microsoft and PBL collaboration NineMSN. Australian major record labels and retailers have not taken up the opportunity to set-up download services themselves, tending to work in conjunction with other companies, but this is not the case in regard to independently minded artists looking at ways to develop new models of music distribution. Artists such as Prince have managed to extract themselves from major record label contracts and embraced the concept of the Internet, taking pragmatic steps in setting up their own online music store.
“One of the things needed for the market, and perhaps missing from it, is a system geared towards the bottom end – those who self-distribute or are not commercially successful” (Mackenzie), noted by Brett Cottle from APRA (Australian Performing Rights Association) in regard to Sydney composer Charlie Chan. After selling 65,000 CDs from her website she has invested in developing an independent online music platform, ‘Martian Method’, which “ allows musicians to publish and sell their songs, and collect payments, either on their own website or from a central website” (Mackenzie). This approach exemplifies disintermediation whereby the “intermediaries between the creative artists and their audiences” (Flew 106), traditionally part of the production, distribution and circulation process, are dismantled. At present the process involves multiple layers, from content creation to content reception, but what the potential of the Internet offers is a more direct relationship between artist and consumer mediated only by the download service. A particular facet of the rhetoric surrounding the more radical potentials of the Internet regards the prospect of bypassing corporate record labels and taking independence to its purest form. This transitional period is causing labels to consider their gatekeeper role in the mediation of consumer awareness through marketing, as music choices exponentially proliferate throughout the Internet.
Lack of regulation has been a factor in the confusion surrounding downloads in the music industry. There have been ongoing issues regarding format standards: the Mac based Apple iTunes utilises a ACC format; Microsoft uses a WMA format; and even labels such as Sony have attempted to develop their own preferred format (SDMI). Due to concerns regarding control and security, this fragmentation has contributed to consumer confusion and hesitation in acceptance of this form of music acquisition. To complicate the matter, the Internet exists in a global format and protection of copyright is thus difficult to regulate on a territorial basis. Artists either subdivide their copyrights by contracting to different labels in various parts of the world, or sign world deals where the labels assign those copyrights to either franchise arrangements or subsidiary labels in different territories. Apple iTunes has manoeuvred around this by confining its initial operation to the U.S. and only allowing the sale of downloads to credit cards with U.S. addresses.
The Internet is predicated on offering universal access, and although there is a high concentration of computer use and access in developed countries such as Australia, the USA, Britain, and Japan, it still depends on who has access to this means of consumption. Generally, it is very much limited to who has the money and the knowledge to utilise the technology. Active participation by those with access to the technology has a performative role in the shaping of that technology, although somewhere between technological determinism and the sociological shaping of technology (Mackay 268). The technology has been made available on a relatively accessible level that provides opportunities to shape culture, yet it is how the public takes to the technology that eventually shapes it continued use or development. “Aberrant or oppositional decodings are possibilities for the progressive appropriation of new technologies”(Mackay 271), so illegitimate downloading and filesharing generates directions for implementing and adapting legitimate download services. The practice of downloading free copies has perpetuated a market acceptance for music delivered in this fashion, and this has driven the success of legitimate services like iTunes, which in turn is driving the industry towards disintermediation and independent, artist-driven ventures.
The debate on digital downloads is unavoidable as Internet accessibility for music consumers has dramatically expanded. The home recording cassette tape issue of the 1970s, saw the gatekeepers panic in the face of what they thought was a potential loss of income. This issue has escalated dramatically with the advent of computers, digital technology and the Internet. Here is a vastly superior system whereby quality reproductions can be made with much greater ease, exchanged in a globally accessible set-up to anyone who has a computer – a threatening proposition to record labels who’s existence is premised on the commercial exploitation of the copyrights they license from artists. Questions about secure and controllable formats in a format confused market taint commercial enterprises’ comprehension on how to deal with an emerging and fluid technology that affords an anarchic quality. ARIA has blamed declining record sales on the impact of Internet piracy, although this claim is complicated by the overload of entertainment and cultural media choices available today, including significant growth in DVD, video games and the impact of CD burning/ripping. The concept of independence in relation to disintermediation affords the opportunity for artists to release and distribute their music direct from their websites. What transpires will ultimately be determined by what consumers are prepared to support.
Works Consulted
ARIA. 16 April 2004. 15 May 2004 http://www.aria.com.au/news.htm.
“Beyond Kazaa, A Grand Plan.” Washington Post. 19 June 2003. 31 May 2004 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10959-2003Jun18.html.
Bolter, Jay David and Richard Grusin. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Massachusetts: MIT, 2000.
Flew, Terry. New Media: An Introduction. New York: Oxford, 2002.
Frith, David. “Music Store Stays Away.” Australian. 4 May 2004: IT4.
Hollands, Mark. “Downloads Slow to Take Off.” Australian. 6 Apr. 2004: IT6.
Homan, Shane. “Popular Music.” The Media & Communications in Australia. Cunningham, Stuart and Graeme Turner, eds. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2002. 226 – 243.
Johnson, Dave and Rick Broida. How to do Everything with MP3 and Digital Music. Berkeley: McGraw-Hill/Osbourne, 2002.
Lawson, Terry. “Billboard’s Chart of Digital Downloads Reflects Changes in Industry.” Detroit Free Press. 27 July 2003. 4 May 2004 http://www.freep.com/entertainment/movies/lawcol27_20030727.htm.
Lutzker, Arnold P. Content Rights for Creative Professionals: Copyrights and Trademarks in a Digital Age. 2nd ed. Oxford: Focal press, 2003.
Mackay, Hugh. Consumption and Everyday Life. London: Sage, 1997.
Mackenzie, Kate. “Charlie’s Martian is Music to Local Artists.” Australian. 25 May 2004: IT30.
Maguire, James, et al. Teach Yourself Today e-Music: Finding, Playing, Recording and Organizing Digital Music. Indianapolis: Sams, 2000.
“Maybe the Music’s Just Lousy.” Wired. 30 March 2004. 13 April 2004 http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0.1412.62871.00.html.
“Prince Sells His Music for a Song.” Australian. 6 Apr 2004: IT2.
Summers, Jodi. Interactive Music Handbook: The Definitive Guide to Internet Music Strategies, Enhanced CD Production and Business Development. New York: Allworth Press, 1998.
Woody, Todd. “The Race to Kill Kazaa.” Wired. Feb. 2003. 4 May 2004 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/kazaa.html.
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Found time in the hectic spiral I have created for myself to check in and actually make a further post.
Will try and document the process I have embarked upon and nearing completion on the initial phase of regarding Regurgitator and the Band in a Bubble project. Such an interesting exercise delving into the world of TV having existed in a mixture of independent and corporate music. So much to discuss and explore regarding music, media, risk, clarity, celebrity...
But I have also been thinking of posting the paper I put together on downloads so here it is. Will also post the papers I wrote on Electroclash for Music and Subcultures in future visits.
3 June 2004 (submitted)
Lowdown on the Downloads: Digital music consumption and the Australian music industry.
“Once the Internet is a reality, the music business is finished.” (Prince 1995)
The explosion of new media has opened a variety of opportunities for media industries. As Hugh Mackay notes, “the moment of the arrival of a new technology is a crucial and exciting one, a time for contest” (272). The anarchic qualities of the Internet, in its decentralised and unregulated state, present the potential for reinventing media from the ‘bottom up’. Music is one of the areas in new media that has as much contributed to the cutting edge drive for development as it has developed its own life. From the traditional music industries’ attempts to harness this new media, to consumer-fuelled aspects such as downloads and filesharing, the situation is still in a state of flux. Recent history and applicable issues of control, security, territorial rights, and consumption, along with developments relative to Australia, will reveal how this affects the Australian music industry and how this media has, in a sense, implemented its own position relative to such issues.
The ability to transfer music via the Internet was accomplished by three significant developments in the nineties: the development of the MP3 format of music compression without a noticeable loss of quality; the introduction of portable MP3 players (the first being the 1998 Rio) whereby music in the form of MP3 could be stored and played outside of computers; and Napster established in the late 1990s by university student Shawn Fanning. Downloadable music on the Internet is either legitimate (paid or promotional) or illegitimate (piracy or filesharing). Napster allowed the ability for the user to locate MP3 files online, download multiple copies rapidly and then exchange files – all at no actual cost. It combined shareware, filesharing, free downloads, online communities and chat groups into one package. In this initial period the rhetoric around the Internet segued between its progressive potential as a “technology of freedom” (Flew 32) defying censorship and centralised control; and paranoia about security, copyright control, and the difficulty of exploiting such an intangible medium. On one level Napster functioned as a “distribution aggregation model” (Maguire 35) and on the other provoked condemnation from the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) who represented the corporate music industry and the big five U.S. labels (EMI, BMG, Sony, Universal and Warner). With a high media profile amid massive public access - 1.39 billion files downloaded in 2000 (Flew 31) - the inventor of Napster was successfully charged with “contributory copyright infringement due to its role as a conduit between users” (Maguire 31) and shut down (and co-opted by BMG).
Following this, a second wave of fileswapping services emerged (Gnutella, Audio Galaxy, Freenet, Kazaa) that tended to be more problematic as they lacked a “centralized, corporate-funded backbone” (Maguire 36). In the case of Napster, there was a centralised server that could be liable for copyright infringements and thus held accountable. These new services are peer-to-peer filesharing networks where “users trade files through thousands of anonymous ‘supernodes’” (Woody) without a definable ‘company’ to sue. Kazaa, founded in 2001 by Niklas Zennström from Sweden, was served a lawsuit by the RIAA in an attempt to shut them down, and has since come under scrutiny by Australian authorities, as its elaborate global structure was revealed. Once the company received a legal threat it went underground in a mirror of the decentralised nature of its existence on the Internet. The company moved its software control to tax haven islands off the coast of Britain and Estonia, relocated the interface ownership to a newly formed Australian company Sharman Networks based in Vanuatu (another tax haven), and shifted the domain to LEF Interactive based in Sydney. What has emerged is a globally spread company that defies national regulation and continues to have approx 60 million users around the world. ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association), as a representative body of the six Australian major record labels (Universal, EMI, Sony, BMG, Warner and Festival Records), was requested by RIAA to take legal action against the Australian based operation of Kazaa but so far has failed to make any significant ground. In 2003, ARIA released a statement claiming Internet filesharing was having a definite negative impact on CD sales; 3.4 million Australians had downloaded music files and that illegitimate channels account for 10.7% of acquired music (“Aria”). ARIA announced that they would attempt to deal with this trend by introducing key initiatives supporting the development of legitimate online business models, educating consumers, developing technology based controls and litigation. In a similar manner to the U.S., ARIA commenced cases against individual consumers of illegal downloads, suing them for copyright infringement.
One of the problems limiting the introduction of the Internet as a legitimate music acquisition point has been the issue of loss of control in the face of new technology and the subsequent lack of understanding. There has been significant debate on how to handle their integration into the industry, concerning secure formats, consumer confidence, territory considerations, and charging standards. As ARIA, record labels and music publishers deliberated various options and approaches being assessed overseas a combination of legitimate grass roots download operations (Chaosmusic) and illegitimate download operations emerged. Chaos Music was initially faced with hostility from retailers when a contract with John Farnham was met with a threat to withdraw his stock from music stores. It was not until the success of Apple iTunes in the U.S. that the confidence encouraged options to develop in Australia. In 2004, after one year of operation, Itunes has managed to make available 700,000 songs online with approx 2.5 million downloads per week capturing 70% of the market (Frith). Their campaign has possibly been so effective due to the combination of the parallel hardware release of the iPod. The delay in providing the service for Australia (due late 2004) has allowed an opportunity for Australian based services to grow in line with this new consumer confidence. In 2004, the following have been established with varying degrees of success: Telstra Bigpond music download service running in conjunction with their broadband service; DelstraMusic, working in conjunction with the major Australian music retailers; and the Microsoft and PBL collaboration NineMSN. Australian major record labels and retailers have not taken up the opportunity to set-up download services themselves, tending to work in conjunction with other companies, but this is not the case in regard to independently minded artists looking at ways to develop new models of music distribution. Artists such as Prince have managed to extract themselves from major record label contracts and embraced the concept of the Internet, taking pragmatic steps in setting up their own online music store.
“One of the things needed for the market, and perhaps missing from it, is a system geared towards the bottom end – those who self-distribute or are not commercially successful” (Mackenzie), noted by Brett Cottle from APRA (Australian Performing Rights Association) in regard to Sydney composer Charlie Chan. After selling 65,000 CDs from her website she has invested in developing an independent online music platform, ‘Martian Method’, which “ allows musicians to publish and sell their songs, and collect payments, either on their own website or from a central website” (Mackenzie). This approach exemplifies disintermediation whereby the “intermediaries between the creative artists and their audiences” (Flew 106), traditionally part of the production, distribution and circulation process, are dismantled. At present the process involves multiple layers, from content creation to content reception, but what the potential of the Internet offers is a more direct relationship between artist and consumer mediated only by the download service. A particular facet of the rhetoric surrounding the more radical potentials of the Internet regards the prospect of bypassing corporate record labels and taking independence to its purest form. This transitional period is causing labels to consider their gatekeeper role in the mediation of consumer awareness through marketing, as music choices exponentially proliferate throughout the Internet.
Lack of regulation has been a factor in the confusion surrounding downloads in the music industry. There have been ongoing issues regarding format standards: the Mac based Apple iTunes utilises a ACC format; Microsoft uses a WMA format; and even labels such as Sony have attempted to develop their own preferred format (SDMI). Due to concerns regarding control and security, this fragmentation has contributed to consumer confusion and hesitation in acceptance of this form of music acquisition. To complicate the matter, the Internet exists in a global format and protection of copyright is thus difficult to regulate on a territorial basis. Artists either subdivide their copyrights by contracting to different labels in various parts of the world, or sign world deals where the labels assign those copyrights to either franchise arrangements or subsidiary labels in different territories. Apple iTunes has manoeuvred around this by confining its initial operation to the U.S. and only allowing the sale of downloads to credit cards with U.S. addresses.
The Internet is predicated on offering universal access, and although there is a high concentration of computer use and access in developed countries such as Australia, the USA, Britain, and Japan, it still depends on who has access to this means of consumption. Generally, it is very much limited to who has the money and the knowledge to utilise the technology. Active participation by those with access to the technology has a performative role in the shaping of that technology, although somewhere between technological determinism and the sociological shaping of technology (Mackay 268). The technology has been made available on a relatively accessible level that provides opportunities to shape culture, yet it is how the public takes to the technology that eventually shapes it continued use or development. “Aberrant or oppositional decodings are possibilities for the progressive appropriation of new technologies”(Mackay 271), so illegitimate downloading and filesharing generates directions for implementing and adapting legitimate download services. The practice of downloading free copies has perpetuated a market acceptance for music delivered in this fashion, and this has driven the success of legitimate services like iTunes, which in turn is driving the industry towards disintermediation and independent, artist-driven ventures.
The debate on digital downloads is unavoidable as Internet accessibility for music consumers has dramatically expanded. The home recording cassette tape issue of the 1970s, saw the gatekeepers panic in the face of what they thought was a potential loss of income. This issue has escalated dramatically with the advent of computers, digital technology and the Internet. Here is a vastly superior system whereby quality reproductions can be made with much greater ease, exchanged in a globally accessible set-up to anyone who has a computer – a threatening proposition to record labels who’s existence is premised on the commercial exploitation of the copyrights they license from artists. Questions about secure and controllable formats in a format confused market taint commercial enterprises’ comprehension on how to deal with an emerging and fluid technology that affords an anarchic quality. ARIA has blamed declining record sales on the impact of Internet piracy, although this claim is complicated by the overload of entertainment and cultural media choices available today, including significant growth in DVD, video games and the impact of CD burning/ripping. The concept of independence in relation to disintermediation affords the opportunity for artists to release and distribute their music direct from their websites. What transpires will ultimately be determined by what consumers are prepared to support.
Works Consulted
ARIA. 16 April 2004. 15 May 2004 http://www.aria.com.au/news.htm.
“Beyond Kazaa, A Grand Plan.” Washington Post. 19 June 2003. 31 May 2004 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10959-2003Jun18.html.
Bolter, Jay David and Richard Grusin. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Massachusetts: MIT, 2000.
Flew, Terry. New Media: An Introduction. New York: Oxford, 2002.
Frith, David. “Music Store Stays Away.” Australian. 4 May 2004: IT4.
Hollands, Mark. “Downloads Slow to Take Off.” Australian. 6 Apr. 2004: IT6.
Homan, Shane. “Popular Music.” The Media & Communications in Australia. Cunningham, Stuart and Graeme Turner, eds. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2002. 226 – 243.
Johnson, Dave and Rick Broida. How to do Everything with MP3 and Digital Music. Berkeley: McGraw-Hill/Osbourne, 2002.
Lawson, Terry. “Billboard’s Chart of Digital Downloads Reflects Changes in Industry.” Detroit Free Press. 27 July 2003. 4 May 2004 http://www.freep.com/entertainment/movies/lawcol27_20030727.htm.
Lutzker, Arnold P. Content Rights for Creative Professionals: Copyrights and Trademarks in a Digital Age. 2nd ed. Oxford: Focal press, 2003.
Mackay, Hugh. Consumption and Everyday Life. London: Sage, 1997.
Mackenzie, Kate. “Charlie’s Martian is Music to Local Artists.” Australian. 25 May 2004: IT30.
Maguire, James, et al. Teach Yourself Today e-Music: Finding, Playing, Recording and Organizing Digital Music. Indianapolis: Sams, 2000.
“Maybe the Music’s Just Lousy.” Wired. 30 March 2004. 13 April 2004 http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0.1412.62871.00.html.
“Prince Sells His Music for a Song.” Australian. 6 Apr 2004: IT2.
Summers, Jodi. Interactive Music Handbook: The Definitive Guide to Internet Music Strategies, Enhanced CD Production and Business Development. New York: Allworth Press, 1998.
Woody, Todd. “The Race to Kill Kazaa.” Wired. Feb. 2003. 4 May 2004 http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/kazaa.html.
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