Media Industry

What / who is the Media Industry?

‘How and why media texts are produced, distributed and consumed.’ (Definition from Cambridge International Specification.)

Media industry can be defined as an individual, group, organisation or company involved in one or more of the following activities:

  • Making or producing media texts for an audience.
  • Distributing and/or publishing media texts to an audience.
  • Marketing and promoting a media text to an audience.
  • Screening, exhibiting or showing a media text to an audience.

Some Important Ideas about “Media Industry.”

Globalisation, conglomerates and tech giants

Traditional media (TV, Film, Magazines, Newspapers, Music, Radio and Video Games) are dominated and controlled by huge multimedia companies called, ‘conglomerates.’

Conglomerates are global institutions who are seeking to sell their media products to audiences from around the world.

Conglomerates seek to dominate a market place by buying out smaller competitors and diversifying the media the produce into other areas.

Since the rise of the internet and social media new companies have become major players in the media environment, these include Google, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, Amazon and Apple.

This is an important idea for Music Industry & Media Ecology…see below.

Mass media (traditional media)

In the past, the media was made by large companies who were limited to one or two types of media; think of The BBC who specialised in television and radio production. Or newspapers publishers who owned national titles like The Times or The Sun. Film companies like Universal Studios who made and distributed films…

Since the rise of the conglomerate and the democratising power of the internet, most of these organisations or titles are now owned by multimedia (video, radio, film, print, music, voice…) companies called conglomerates. Here are some of the biggest conglomerates in The West (America, Europe and Australasia).

  • Disney
  • Comcast
  • News Corp
  • Paramount
  • Amazon
  • Sony

Traditional media was also mostly limited to one way communication. The publisher printed and published their newspapers. TV and radio stations broadcast their shows and programmes. Film studios made and sold their films to cinemas and then a few months later distributed them on DVD to be bought by the audience.

This is an important idea for Music Industry & Media Ecology…see below.

Disruptive technology and democratisation

The old model of production, distribution, marketing and exhibition changed forever when the internet was invented and as data speeds became faster and faster. The ways in which the audience consumed the media also changed radically as media forms converged on mobile phones, computers and games consoles and production & distribution technology proliferated (spread).

Technology changed everything for the audience and gave them new powers to make, download, stream, share and interact with media texts and producers.

Technology that gives the power to produce and distribute media to the audience is called, ‘democratisation.’

Media industries had to keep up with changing demands and changing audience behaviour or die and some of them did! Just think of music and the evolution from vinyl to CDs, then MP3 files and the introduction of  the internet which lead to Napster (piracy), which was followed by the introduction of  iPod and iTunes, which has now led to Spotify and TikTok. Audience are now consuming virtual concerts and participating with music and star images like never before.

This is an important idea for Coursework Units (Social Media Page & Critical Reflections), Music Industry & Media Ecology…see below.

Ownership, power and control

  • Q. What is power?
  • A. The ability to control the behaviour and attitudes of other people.

Many people are concerned with the concentration of power and control into the hands of the people who own and control media conglomerates and tech giants.

If you own a social media platform, some newspapers, radio stations, film studios and TV shows, which people around the world go to to find out what is happening and how to think about things, then you have a lot of power! If your motivation is entirely about making the most profit for the shareholders, then what?

In the past the government tried to put ownership and control of the media in the hands of the citizens. The BBC is a good example of a public service broadcaster, which is paid for with a licence fee and which is subject to rules of impartiality, accuracy, fairness, privacy and serving all sections of society.

This is an important idea for Music Industry & Media Ecology…see below.

The economics of the media

How do you pay for the media you consume? In broad terms, in 2 ways.

  1. With money: you buy games, buy print media like books, magazines and newspapers, subscribe to streaming service or to access paywall protected websites, you buy a ticket to watch a movie, or pay a license fee to a public service broadcaster like the BBC
  2. With your attention: you agree that if you use a product for free you will occasionally have to watch an advert. This advert might appear as a pop up, an commercial before the video you want to watch, a message from the sponsors in your podcast, a promotional email…
    • You might pay both ways – a character in a film you paid to watch is obviously using an Apple laptop or driving a named model of car, or eating a particular breakfast cereal… This is called product placement.

With each method of payment there are issues which arise, such as competition, level playing fields, genres and franchises which dominate, underrepresented groups or voices, media addiction, clickbait, extremism, censorship, bias and balance, news or opinion, trusted media sources…

Also, you must remember that media institutions does not think of its audience as people, but rather as a resource. The media industry is trying to harvest the attention of the audience and sell it to the highest bidder – typically an advertiser. They also seek to influence public opinion and if they can shift that just a little bit in one direction or another, that is worth a lot to someone, so to that extent, they are selling influence and control.

This is an important idea for Media Regulation & Media Ecology…see below.

Building and maintaining an audience

Q: How do new media texts get recognition and build awareness and a loyal audience?

A: With a lot of money!

Google and Meta are among the most profitable companies in the world, because they control the gateway to the audience and will charge advertisers in order to have access to an audience.

Media is also expensive to make. It’s skilled, time consuming and employs a lot of people. This means that making media can be a risky business. Media producers need to convince investors that any money they invest in a media product they will get back and also make a profit.

A feature film will cost tens, if not hundreds of millions of pounds or dollars to make! Who in their right mind is going to take a risk on a new idea or story that has never been tested before? It’s safer to invest in a genre or franchise which has already got an audience and which is more likely to make a profit! Of course this means that money is put ahead of art and innovation; inevitable perhaps, but depressing nevertheless.

This is an important idea for Media Ecology…see below.

Regulation

Who controls the media the audience have access to? The publishers? The government? The distributors? No one?

  • Should the audience be permitted to watch literally anything they want?
  • Should prosumers be able to publish literally anything they want?

Most people would say there are limits on what should be permitted. No one wants to watch someone being abused or acts of terrorism, animals being treated cruelly, executions also we shouldn’t reward people by allowing them to profit from criminal activity… So, if there are limits the following two questions follow:

  1. What should be the specific rules about what can and cannot be shown?
  2. Who decides?

This is an important idea for Media Regulation & Media Ecology…see below.

Exam questions that focus on Audience?

COMPONENT 2 (Paper 1):

MUSIC INDUSTRY:

  1. ‘A very small number of institutions dominate the media.’ Evaluate the arguments against media ownership by fewer and fewer companies.
  2. ‘In the world of media ownership, bigger is always better.’ To what extent is this true in the media area you have studied?
  3. Explain how audiences are targeted, built and maintained by media organisations

COMPONENT 4 (Paper 2):

MEDIA REGULATION:

  1. ‘It is impossible to regulate the media effectively.’ Discuss this view
  2. ‘Media regulation is getting more and more liberal.’ How far do you agree with this statement?
  3. Analyse the challenges of regulating the media in the digital age.

MEDIA ECOLOGY:

  1. ‘How has globalisation affected the media you consume?
  2. Analyse the significance of a particular technological development in the media.
  3. Explain why people’s personal data is so valuable to media companies.