Intro to Media and Society 4 11 Distribution on the Internet Sound Recording Continued Film Industry Youtube is a free distribution vehicle Distribution online allows artists to get discovered without a label Sites emphasize high profile artists Exhibitors Digital Downloads Record Stores Retailers WalMart Target etc Internet stores Amazon com Direct sales from artist website Exhibition iTunes No longer have to buy album finally able to buy single songs Rise of portable music Downfall of physical record stores Piracy unauthorized duplication of copyrighted music Counterfeiting looks authentic looks like actual CD but is pirated and cheaper Bootlegging unauthorized recording of performances Peer to Peer friends share resources computers in order to share music with others Recording Industry Association of America RIAA to stop piracy Do so through lawsuits Who are the stakeholders in this debate Retailers artists consumers record companies the government managers Consumers gain record companies and stores lose Piracy Discouraging Piracy Piracy Discussion songwriters Who gains who loses What can be done Movie History film projector Technology leading to film lightbulb photography flexible film motion picture camera Persistence of Vision The human eye continues to see and image after removed from sight Muybridge s Horse in Motion 1870s Set to answer the question Is there a point when a horse is running that all four of its legs are off the ground Answered the question by setting up a series of cameras and taking multiple pictures while a horse ran Final result was similar to flip picture books Yes there is a point where all four legs are off the ground Early Industry The Studio System Nickelodeons early movie theaters 5 cent silent films Silent movies had music and subtitles no sound from actual movie Projection and length films become mass medium First production with sound The Jazz Singer 1927 Vertical Integration Studio System approach used by American film companies from 1920s 1950s A B units Block booking movie stars A Films expensively made productions featuring glamorous high paid B Films lower budget films that were made quickly Block Booking studio system where distribution executives ensured that theaters showed both their A films and their B films if theater owners refused to carry a certain number of B films they wouldn t have access to certain A films Star System creating promoting Star System Star System an operation designed to find and cultivate actors under long term contracts with the intention of developing those actors into famous stars who would enhance the profitability of the studio films Initially stars names were unknown to the public MPPC Motion Picture Patents Company Didn t have to pay much Later they were cultivated by major production studios Film in the Postwar Years 1950s threat of TV Movies became a way to play more controversial content that TV couldn t show because of the rating system Movies and Technology VHS Beta DVD Bluray 3D These major developments started in the 1960s
View Full Document