Unit 1 - Media Products and Audiences

Napster What: A peer-to-peer file-sharing service that allows people to share MP3s When: 1999-2001 Why: The sharing of music was illegal under copyright.  Many musicians and companies took legal action Metallica: Was the most famous/vocal of those rallying against it.  They had an unreleased, demo version of a song leaked onto it and then played on radio stations. Spotify: This music sharing took it thoroughly out of the physical realm and into the digital.  Clearly, people wanted to have access to music on a large scale.  It inspired Spotify, which is well known for paying artists next to nothing for streams.

Livingstone and Lunt They say: the needs of a citizen are in conflict with the needs of the consumer because protection can limit freedom. They noticed that regulating media to protect citizens from harmful content can limit freedom of expression. Consumers have wanted, are individuals, seek private benefits from the media, use the language of choice, and require regulation to protect against detriment; citizens have needs, are social, seek public or social benefits from the media , use the language of rights, and require regulation to promote the public interest. How we’ll use it: The social benefit of piracy and infringing upon copyright law allow citizens to maintain their place within their social group by ensuring they can engage with their social group when discussing particular media. (You could also use them in the audience and sensitive/harmful content section by discussing the idea that simply banning harmful media limits freedom of expression). Seaton and Curran They...

Copyright The exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material. Fair Use States that brief excerpts of copyright material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, research, etc. without the need for permission from or payment to the copyright holder.

Cuties Release: 2020 (9th September on Netflix) Rating: BBFC 15 Controversy: The hyper-sexualisation of young girls. Concern: Netflix released a promotional poster that seemed to glorify the hyper-sexualisation of young girls.  This led to an online outcry to ‘cancel Netflix’ because the assumption was this was what the film was about. Alternative: The film is actually condemning this.  The poster was a poor choice on Netflix’s part and people shouldn’t make assumptions about a movie based on one sign. Without ever actually presenting sexual content, Cuties presents sexuality and adulthood as looming, largely inescapable threats for its female characters . So while we do see young girls twerking, the film frames dance as an insidious corrupting tool that could rob the dancers of their innocence. The movie went under fire before it was even released on Netflix after the streamer released a highly controversial poster featuring young girls performing as a part of their twer...

Adapted from Denis McQuail’s Audience Pleasures, this active audience theory states we consume media for the following uses and gratifications: •Information and Education – the viewer wants to acquire information, knowledge and understanding by watching programmes like The News or Documentaries. •Entertainment – Viewers watch programmes for enjoyment. •Personal Identity - Viewers can recognise a person or product, or role model that reflects similar values to themselves and mimic or copy some of their characteristics. •Integration and social interaction – the ability of media products to produce a topic of conversation between people. For example who is the best contestant on The X-factor who was the best goal shown on Match of the day. •Escapism – Computer games and action films let viewers escape their real lives and imagine themselves in those situations.

 An active audience theory, this is how the audience deal with the messages they are given by the media: •Production – Encoding (construction) of a message begins. The message's creator is feeding off of society's beliefs, and values.  They are hoping to put across a certain message. •Circulation – How individuals perceive things: visual vs. written. How items are circulated influences how audience members will receive and put the message to use.  •Use (distribution or consumption) – The message has to be adopted as a meaningful discourse and it has to be meaningfully decoded. However, the decoding/interpreting of a message requires active recipients. •Reproduction – This stage is directly after audience members have interpreted a message in their own way based on their experiences and beliefs. The decoded meanings are the ones with "an effect. At this point, you will see whether individuals take action after they have been exposed to a specific message.