RSSMedia's NMT Blog

The Guardian has a useful article on how the internet can be used to promote bands. It appears that whilst websites themselves don't break new bands, they do help to build a fan base. In the case of the Arctic Monkeys, P2P networks may have been more significant in making them the fasting selling debut band - in terms of albums - ever. Perhaps P2P isn't killing music.

The article also has some useful statistics.

Warner Bros is to start using P2P network software to distribute movies and TV programmes over the internet. Despite the huge popularity of iTunes, the distribution of mainstream films has yet to take a decisive step into online distribution, so could this be it? Well, perhaps not. Initially the service will only be available in the German language.

New films will be made available to registered users of the service from the day they are released on DVD in the German language.

"Our initial efforts will focus on the German market, but in the months ahead we will leverage this technology to better serve markets around the world," Mr Tsujihara added.

The above is from an article on the BBC news site. For 'leverage this technology' read 'make sure once English language versions of films are released the copy-protection mechanisms work'. That said, it does mark a devlopment which could render the arguments over the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD formats pointless; if films are offered on a similar model to Napster To Go, on-demand distribution may become the future.

The past exam questions page has been updated with the essay questions from January's paper.

You should aim to be researching steadily for the New Media Technologies unit; a grasp of longer term devlopments will serve you better than a night-before snapshot. To this end you should make regular visits to the following:

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/technology
  
• www.guardian.co.uk/media
• www.guardian.co.uk/technology
• www.wired.com/wired
• www.wired.com

You should be following developments, collecting statistics and finding examples of how new media technologies are changing the habits of users and producers.

Of course, there are lots more, so use the link on the right to let us know what you think.

10 million Freeview boxes and 8 million Sky subscriptions: the UK is voting to go digital. You may refer to channels 1-5 as proper or normal TV, but that's not going to be the case for long. As with the cultural shift occuring with digital music, the same is true of TV.

First they say it's not going away - the illegal downloading of music - then they say the prosecutions are working. If you're basing your research on music and the internet you should be prepared to read no end of this type of to-ing and fro-ing.

Regardless of the statistics on illegal downloading, the more important issue longer term is that a cultural shift is occuring. Users are embracing the intangible nature of digital music; legal and illegal routes to digital music are undoubtedly the future, helped by the mainstream acceptance of Apple's iPod.

I've written before about the democratic nature of new media: blogs, user comments, personalised content, on-demand media, bedroom producers etc. Wiki (as most famously seen at Wikipedia) is perhaps the ultimate in this. Put simply, anyone can edit a wiki site. This can lead to high levels of collaboration and accuracy, but it can also lead to grumbles about the potential for shifts in existing practices and a usurping of traditional roles (can the man on the street really be as good a journalist as the professionals?) Too much freedom can also have more damaging repercussions.

In the past I've used blogs to help my students record the development of their new media case studies but I'm now considering using wikis. At the moment I'm favouring the free seedwiki, but if you know of a better option I'd like to hear about it. Alternatively, if you're using wiki let me know.

Apparently the marketing of new music is more likely to be done using ringtones rather than advanced radio play. Presumeably artists will also adjust to the digital age: the first eight seconds will be far more important than a chorus for a start.

According to researchers, the trend in modern life to make a commodity of music (portable MP3s, often downloaded for free, music as ringtones, here-today-gone-tomorrow culture) is creating apathy amongst listeners; people don't get excited about music anymore, they say.

Whilst this may have some validity, the number of listener passionately sharing their views in blogs, in customer reviews at online stores, and on dedicated fansites (to name just a few) suggests music is still held in high regard. Some people even need special clothes these days to accommodate their lust for music.

The download culture is having an impact on the buying of albums (many prefer to get just the songs they like via download), however. Those that moan about this may like to reflect on the healthiness of the singles culture of the 50s and 60s. Also, downloads don't necessarily equal the demise of the album: long unavailable material is becoming available again thanks to the low overheads and wide potential audience of digital distribution.