Industry and Audience power essay

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

As a result of the internet, I think that the audience has a rated amount of power. However, companies still have a grasp of power in the Industry. This essay will show why the audience's power has increased throughout the years in media whilst the power of companies has decreased by looking at the music, newspaper, film and television industry.

In the music industry changes that have happened due to the internet are that audiences may stream music by artists eg Spotify, Apple, Music, Youtube, and Soundcloud whilst back in the olden time's artists would have to either perform live or you'd have to listen to it on the radio. Plus audiences may download music and the artists don't need to rely on record labels because they have their own fame as before artists would have to rely on big companies to make them famous and those companies could ruin their career at the same time. Also, music is now global whilst before you would need to go to a specific country to hear their style of music.

One advantage due to the changes in the music industry that happened because of the internet are that audiences may listen to music on demand and there is a lot of free content that the audience may enjoy. Another change is that anyone can become the next music star by just posting a video of themselves (on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and  etc..)  Moreover, audiences may listen to music from different countries making the music industry global, therefore, everyone can listen to different things they may have never listened to before which leads to there being a lot of different variety of music styles and songs e.g. K-Pop, J-Pop, Bollywood music, Rusian music, and etc. 

On the other hand, a disadvantage due to the changes of the music industry is that artists struggle to make money as not many people many of the consumers buy music anymore they normally they do illegal downloading or file-sharing which is a huge loss for the artist. And it is harder for companies to make money as artists have fame and can post it on YouTube or Social Media. Another disadvantage is artists tend to use a lot of auto-tune which makes them seem like an "artificial star" as well as making the music have an unrealistic feel to it. Also if an artist doesn't have much talent they may as well use autotune and get a lot of views and money whilst artists who have beautiful voices and don't use autotune are underrated so they don't make as much profit or gain a lot of views. 

In the film & television industry changes that have happened due to the internet are that audiences may stream shows or movies on whatever device they have e. g.TV,  phone, iPad, and etc. Another change is audiences may stream shows and movies on different companies e. g. Netflix, BBC, Disney, ITV, and Amazon.

One advantage due to the changes in the film & television industry that happened because of the internet is consumers may stream shows and movies at home as they can use different devices to watch it on which leads the audience to just stay at home instead of going to the cinema whilst before audiences would have to go personally to the cinemas to see movies. Another advantage due to the changes in the film & television industry that happened because of the internet is consumers may download movies offline so they can watch it anywhere if they have their phone which benefits the producers as this will most likely lead the consumers to buy a monthly subscription for e.g. Crunchy Roll, Funimation, Netflix and Amazon.

However, a disadvantage due to the changes in the film & television industry is illegal downloading and websites which allow audiences to watch the movie for free because if many consumers use illegal downloading it will have a loss not only for the movie but for the company that lets audiences stream the certain product e.g. Netflix or Amazon however before illegal downloading was no such thing so companies wouldn't have a loss of profit for reasons like this (illegal downloading and file sharing). Lastly, another disadvantage due to the changes in the film & television industry is that audience may not like sequels and movie or shows that have the same plot which is expected to happen by the audience.

In the printing industry changes that have happened due to the internet are consumers can access news on the internet with their devices and audiences can receive news on demand. Also, the news is now free and anyone can become a "citizen journalist" by just by taking out their phone and record what's happening as before consumers would have to pay for the news and you'd have to be qualified to become a journalist.

One advantage due to the changes in the printing industry that happened because of the internet is that there is anyone with a phone can become a "citizen journalist" and make people aware of important matters and events by recording it which can lead to a lot of revenue-whilst in the past you would only need to rely on journalists but now anyone can become one if they record it as an eye witness. Another advantage due to the print industry that happened because of the internet is that news is on-demand so consumers can see what is happening or important news on the way but before consumers would have to grab it on the way or make time to spare to get a newspaper which has changed dramatically now. Furthermore, another advantage is the news is global so audiences may find out news about stuff they never knew was going on and what is happening around the world e.g. the elections, coronavirus and the situation in North Korea as before news wouldn't be global and if there was a pandemic before the news would only be made if it has reached the news companies country/city. Lastly, another advantage due to the changes in the printing industry that happened because of the internet is that audiences have their own opinions and can talk about them and don't believe everything they see compared to before (hypodermic needle theory).

One disadvantage due to the changes in the printing industry that happened because of the internet is some of the consumers believe everything they see even if it may be fake news which is known as hypodermic theory (which is a linear communication theory which suggests that media messages are injected directly into the brains of a passive audience and It suggests that we're all the same and we all respond to media messages in the same way). Which leads me to the next disadvantage which is it is hard to trust the news as most of the times news is fake on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and etc. In addition, another disadvantage due to the changes in the printing industry that happened because of the internet is that for newspaper companies who sell and make newspapers traditionally are going out of business because most consumers read their news online and there are some news companies that have shifted online but make consumers pay for them to access it but audiences will not pay for that subscription if thy can access free news. 

Overall the statement "the internet has given audiences much more power than ever before" I agree with this statement because the audiences have so much power that they can start a viral chain which can affect the company's either positively or negatively. However, that does not mean that companies have lost power they are on equal footing with the audience's power because they can decide to release something which will appeal to the audience with their own choice or release a more and make the audience wait as much as they want.