Online Music Video

Digital Media Convergence and Online Music Video

Digital Media Convergence is a concept that is garnering more popularity as it becomes more entrenched in our day to day lives. This is demonstrated by the contemporary example of the Online Music Video (OMV). This essay will look at the key components contributing the success of OMV sites like Youtube and Vimeo, and highlight the role that digital media convergence has played in their success. Subsequently, this essay will highlight the advantages of successful media convergence through OMV with the contemporary example of American band OK Go.

Convergence can be broken down into three significant parts; technological, industrial and cultural. Technological convergence is outlined by Jenkins (2006, 2) as the 'flow of content across multiple platforms,' whereby technological advancements have allowed news content to be accessed simultaneously in a myriad of ways. Examples of these platforms include newspapers (both physical print and online), TV and social media sites. These online platforms allow for current updates on news content in real time, meaning if a story is breaking news the whole online community would become aware mere minutes after the story broke. In terms of OMV, there are now multiple platforms through which the audience can view these videos. These consist of various online sites including social media sites, personal blogs and hand-held devices such as smartphones. In addition, if the clip turns into an online sensation it can be shown on TV.

Industrial convergence is outlined by Jenkins (2006, 2) as 'cooperation between multiple media industries'. This can also be explained by cross media ownership, that is a company or person owning multiple platforms of the media market. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is a multi-faceted media corporation, which has large stakes in the newspaper, magazine, TV, film and radio markets. In terms of OMV, this form of convergence is perhaps less prevalent. However, it is not uncommon to find media corporations that own stakes in both the entertainment and journalistic fields, subsequently influencing the realm in which OMV exists.

Online Music Video giants Youtube and Vimeo

Cultural convergence is outlined by Jenkins (2006, 2) as 'the migratory behaviour of media audiences who will go anywhere in search of an entertainment experience'. This facet of convergence helps give shape to the participatory culture of new media, as opposed to the one way communication of the old media model. This is shown through the growing trend of the audience being granted the opportunity of being heard in the media, otherwise known as participatory media. An example of this is TV shows incorporating two-way communication through social media between the producers and viewers. Within OMV, we see the audience participating via the comment function on streaming sites such as Youtube and Vimeo, allowing for users to share their opinions on the video with both the producers and the community of users. Patently, OMV exemplies the notion of cultural digital convergence.

In the land of the OMV, Youtube reigns king. The site was launched in December 2005 and within months was amassing tens of millions of hits daily (Hilderbrand 2007, 48). The meteoric success of Youtube can be attributed largely to its highly participatory nature, with the site's motto “Broadcast Yourself” mirroring this. Also a factor in Youtube's dominance as outlined by Hilderbrand (2007, 49), is its user-friendliness. Hilderbrand attributes this to the fact that users do not need to be members in order to take advantage of the sites extensive database. Additionally, the videos load instantaneously, with the option of higher or lesser quality catering to certain users bandwidths; it is easy to navigate the site, with sidebars for quick access; and users comments and ratings feature allow Youtube to 'create a community around the videos' (Hilderbrand 2007, 54). Consequently, this evinces the participatory nature of digital media convergence.

A screen shot from the clip for 'Here it Goes Again'

Participatory culture is often used to talk about the link between more accessible digital technologies, user-created content, and a shift in the power relations between media industries and consumers (Burgess and Green, 2009). One band who has seen this significant shift in the audience's demand for more engaging, original and interactive material is American rock group OK Go. The group shot to fame following their 'treadmill song' going viral on Youtube. The clip for the song, “Here it Goes Again” depicts the four band members performing a well choreographed dance incorporating four treadmills and has over 14.5 million views on Youtube and went on to receive the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. 

As Holt (2011, 52) points out, through utilising new mediums available to artists through digital media convergence, artists can more effectively distribute and communicate with consumers more directly, and somewhat negate the use for a record label. He states that using modern media outlets, like Youtube, artists can engage in mass self-communication. OK Go followed up their ground breaking treadmill choreography video with a giant Rube Goldberg machine for their single 'This Too Shall Pass' in early 2010. Furthermore OK Go's more recent endeavours are a testament to the potential power convergent media possesses.

For their 2011 single All Is Not Lost, OK Go collaborated with the Pilobous dance troupe and Google to create an interactive music video. Through a HTML5 site, viewers are able to see their custom messages 'danced out' (Ehrlich, 2011) by the band and the dance troupe. This collaboration highlights the cross platform potential that convergence can provide, the HTML5 version serves as an interactive extension of the music, as well as succinct marketing device for the Google Chrome browser.

In 2012 OK Go released their single Needing/Getting coupled with yet again another digital media convergence masterstroke. The video sees the band performing a version of the song by driving a Chevy Sonic through a rally course devised by the band. Littered throughout the course were over 1000 instruments, each being played by the custom-made car as it weaves through the course. Here we see evidence of convergence between media and marketing to create something highly creative and entertaining.

The shift from old to new media, coupled with the need to keep up with the continuously evolving media landscape has seen radical changes in area of music video since its rise to fame in the 1980s. The shift of platforms from TV to online has created virtually unlimited potential for both producers and viewers. With its roots firmly planted in the highly participatory nature of cultural convergence, OMV has become the premier platform for artists and users to share and interact video content.

References:

Burgess, J, and Green, J, 2009, Youtube: Online Video and Participatory Culture Polity Press, Cambridge.

Ehrlich, B, 2011, OK Go & Google Team Up for Interactive HTML5 Music Video, Mashable Entertainment, New York, viewed 30 August 2012, <http://mashable.com/2011/07/27/ok-go-html5/>.

Hilderbrand, L, 2007, 'Youtube: Where Cultural Memory and Copyright Converge', Film Quarterly, Vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 48-57.

Holt, F, 2011, 'Is music becoming more visual? Online video content in the music industry', Visual Studies, Vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 50-61.

Jenkins, H, 2006, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York, New York University Press.