16 Ways to Watch

Some thoughts on the new turns music has taken.

A few years back music artists started using new media outlets when releasing new material. R&B singer Omarion joined forces with entertainment network BET in 2006 to release his new single Entourage. Later the single would be shown on the BET hit show 106 and Park. This was first time a song had been released exclusively as a ringtone. And in a landscape where artists and bands change in and out too frequently to put down any turf or make a name for themselves, releasing a new single in such a way was bound to turn some heads.

In 2005 The Decemberists decided to release their new music video, 16 Military Wives, using BitTorrent, a client program for a massive Internet filesharing community (much like peer-to-peer programs such as Napster and KaZaA.) Within the first few days 16 Military Wives had logged more than 1,700 downloads.

MTV and VH1, channels that traditionally played mostly music videos, are now cluttered with reality and celebrity shows. There’s hardly space for music – especially not from independent artists. And if a band hasn’t sold a massive amount of records, forget it. Rotation on one of these shows is impossible. That’s where BitTorrent came in. BitTorrent provided a way for The Decemberists to efficiently get out their video without paying a lot of money for bandwidth. BitTorrent is also more reliable than a corporately owned TV channel.

And for those asking so what?

1 . Media is giving artists more options for distributing their work. The Decemberists didn’t have to go through a major record label to get their video out. This means that independent artists and small time labels that haven’t been bought out by bigger companies do stand a chance and can get heard, difficult as it may be.

2 . Easier access. Why wait for a song to come on the radio or the TV? Just download it. Order the ringtone. In our fast-paced society this is highly appealing. No waiting, just instant results.

3 . There is no middle person—power and access are in the hands of the people. The theory of an active audience suggests that people seek out media in a way that appears and feels unique and independently-minded, and thus comfortable (not just a face in the crowd, so to speak). However, with six major conglomerates essentially dominating the channels through which media can be found, these choices are probably less unique and independently-minded than we believe them to be. BitTorrent was created by people who use filesharing programs. It is sustained as much by the creators and distributors as it is by the consumers, as opposed to companies whose spokespeople will never even use the products they endorse.

What this means is people do have agency, they do have power and say over the type of media they consume. The channels may be different and people may have to do some more searching, but this means that an audience who is actively searching out independent or non-mainstream music can get it.




And Omarion’s Entourage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V7XX8Qjcdk