Online Age Questions:

Online Age Questions:

1. According to this video, what was the music industry like in the 90s and how has it changed more recently? 

The music industry in the 90's consisted of big mass drivers such as MTV and radio stations which was incredibly helpful for artists as you had a huge collection of record labels where more and more artists found themselves being signed. Whilst it was very competitive during this time, it was also an era where you could discover something before anyone else. Whereas, if you look at what's currently happening right now in the music industry there is a huge flux where there's more artists out there, which creates a lot of opportunity for them and has opened the door for so many acts but at the same time it makes it harder and harder to have really big mainstream stars because in today's climate the whole economic scale has changed dramatically and has enabled smaller businesses and smaller record labels to become more successful because of the way they can compete with some of the bigger labels as it has recently equalized allowing more acts to take control of their own destiny. So perhaps now the consumer relies more upon the creator providing the artists with a bigger connection to their own music. 

2. What are curators (such as Pitchfork and Hypemachine)? What is their role? Why are they important?

Curators are often known as music guides for the consumers, providing them with information that tells them about what is good and what is not as well as keeping them up to date with what it is currently happening in the music industry and what is currently happening with the artist. Pitchfork media is an online company who write reviews on the artist themselves, the music there producing. Pitchfork often produce 5 reviews a day, which is, 25 a week and in the long run adds up to about 1200 reviews a year. Hypermachine is another website which produces and collects a variety of information on the music industry which is often taken from other blogs and posts which discusses some of the most recent and up to date music news. By collecting information from a variety of sites and mixing it together to create an overall post which is then placed on the website it allows consumers to access one site where they have access to all the most recent news that is taking place in the music industry today. It also allows consumers to get involved with the site as it provides them with instructions with how they can keep up to date with the news on the website as well. The curators are extremely important as they are the primary source which often filters out either the music produced by the artists or news related to the music industry out to the consumers. 

3. How can you link what this video says about creativity, video making in particular, to David Gauntlett's ideas and to the theory of the long tail?

In music videos made today, they are constantly changing all the time and in a way their changing the game as artists are creating it in their own way and taking control of what they want to achieve in their video. When artists start to experiment you begin to see an interesting end product. With software's such as Photoshop, After Effects and Cinema 4D you can fuse a lot of these 'arty' ideas together to create something  entirely new very easily. Furthermore, because these 'new' artists work together in smaller groups they don't need to rely upon directors/producers as they have the means to work together to create, film and edit their own videos which often makes the video more personal to them as they've used there own ideas to create the end product and at the end of the day it's less mainstream. This relates to the Long Tail theory as in today's climate there are more individual artists who are working there way up the ladder showing off what they can do which is essentially drawing more of an audience in, which particularly appeals to a niche audience. This contrasts with many mainstream artists who release their music out into the music world but simply attracts a mass audience. Because of today's music industry there are more opportunities and space on the shelf for new forms of distribution, production and creation which results in more of a choice for both the artist and the audience.