Extra Thimian

Die gute Tat der Piraten (German) is an article talking about how the relationship artist – record label is changing. The Big 4 labels are moving away from finding and publishing new artists (and risking their investments if an artist isn’t as good as hoped, and doesn’t produce a steady revenue stream), while new artists are using the internet to generate publicity for themselves and their music. And that this approach isn’t a guarantee to stardom for artists, either.

The services a record label traditionally provide aren’t needed anymore: recording, promotion, booking,

In short, the music industry is changing.

 

Something similar can be seen in print (and a bit in TV news). More and more, especially younger, people are using the internet as their (primary) source of information.

 

Both industries, news and entertainment, are gatekeepers. And their role is diminishing. This isn’t bad or good. It is a result that formerly expensive activities (like producing a song, or publishing news) has become

cheap. Nowadays, you can get blogging in a minute, can buy music online (iTunes, Amazon MP3, and that’s just the big ones!), or can use Twitter to get news. Two examples: The Iranian election, or the Chengdu earthquake.

And the gatekeeper of the gatekeepers, the wire services, will fall victim to this, too. AP is already feeling the pain.

On the other hand, this shifts a burden that the gatekeeper had onto our, the consumer’s, shoulder: filtering the good from the bad.

After all, Britney Spears isn’t dead.

 

Filed under: Culture, English Language Posts, Media, Society & Culture, Twitter by Phill