24/04/17 - Spotify will allow indie labels to hold new music behind paywall (66)

24/04/17 - Spotify will allow indie labels to hold new music behind paywall (66)

In the near future, users of the free tier of Spotify may have to wait 2 weeks before they can listen to music from independent labels. This could come after a new agreement between them and digital rights agency Merlin will see a 'windowing' option come about which as said before, is where new albums are available only to Spotify's paid subscribers for the first 2 weeks after release. This is planned to be done as a way to encourage more users to pay for their subscriptions and also provide a more 'enticing offer' to artists out there attempting to keep their music from the service. A similar agreement has also been reached with Universal, allowing the label to hold back certain albums from the free users although this has never actually been utilised for a project. This is particularly major with the label group's roster boasting artists like Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift and Kanye West.

• Merlin’s membership consists of more than 20,000 indie labels from 51 countries
  

I feel that this agreement will actually come to pass in that paywalls will start to be introduced for particular projects. This can be thought simply for the fact that Spotify will want to increase its population of paying subscribers as a profit-driven company as oppose to just having a majority of people on the free tier.

24/04/17 - Google 'may build an adblocker into Chrome' (65)

24/04/17 - Google 'may build an adblocker into Chrome' (65)

Versions of Google Chrome in the future could see the browser make the inclusion of a built-in adblocker, working to prevent intrusive online adverts from being shown on users' computers and smartphones. The announcement of this feature could possibly be coming within weeks but at the same, it could be scrapped entirely. The definition of unacceptable adverts that the company would adhere to would be outsourced to the Coalition for Better Ads which is an independent group established by a consortium of major advertisers and agencies.On desktop, the coalition bans 'pop-up ads, auto-play video ads with sound, prestitial ads with countdown and large sticky ads.' On the mobile front though, they ban 'pop-up ads, prestitial ads, ads with density greater than 30% flashing animated ads, auto-play video ads with sound, postitial ads with countdown, full-screen scrollover ads, and large sticky ads.' It remains unknown though, whether or not the company will choose to block all advertising on sites with 'offending ads' or just block the offending ads themselves, with the former of course making publishers ensure their ads comply with the Coalition's standards. And while adblocking may seem like a silly move for Google to take considering the lionshare of its revenue comes from advertising, the feature could help avoid users using more aggressive (third-party) adblockers. Eyeo would be an example of this which charges large companies such as Google and Amazon a portion of their revenue to be on the Acceptable Ads list. Google unlike its largest competitor, Facebook, have the majority of their ad revenue come from users on the open web where adblockers go essentially 'unhindered' in the content they can filter out from a user. The addition of this feature could have ramifications for Google's current struggles with EU regulators, evident with how the European Commissioner for Competition, Marrethe Vestager stated: 'We will follow this new feature and its effects closely.'

• Blocking ads may seem like a counterintuitive move for Google, which makes 86% of its revenue from advertising

This article displays Google's possible newfound inclination to develop an adblocking capability to its site. Through working with the Coalition for Better Ads, the company could potentially eliminate what's been a huge problem for it for years. As they could make the move to do this though, they could be destroying what is the purpose of the third-party adblockers today. We see this as being quite a worry as shown with Margrethe Vestager's comment regarding how the feature will be followed to ensure competition is still present within the market.

Independent case study presentation

17/04/17 - Investigative reporting is alive and well – and the prizes prove it (64)

17/04/17 - Investigative reporting is alive and well – and the prizes prove it (64)

With its prioritisation of 'traditional, complex investigation  [...] leaving stories that sell in bi g numbers far behind,' Rupert Murdoch is said to be an individual who would not take that kindly to Pulitzer prizes. A small-town Iowa newspaper won one of these after having taken on powerful agricultural companies over farm pollution. There are a variety of stories of investigative journalism just like this but a takeaway how you don't necessarily 'have to be big and heavily staffed to do great work that serves your readers.' However at the same time you do still of course have stories like the 'mighty' Panama Papers conducted by publications like The Guardian themselves. These stories also range quite widely in their nature too. For example, stories about what happened to some of the millions of migrants who streamed across Europe are there while on the other hand you'll get something that shows problems within institutions such as with the FA. This all said though it's said by correspondents that 'investigations, like journalism itself, are on some deathbed.' However some of the findings that come from stories of this type are too significant for them to just be abandoned and this can be seen with each one that comes out.

This story acts as a signifier that investigative journalism is still alive and kicking. Regardless of things like cuts and redundancies in the journalism industry, investigative still come out regularly, exposing truths that would've gone unheard of. I believe it'll still be the case that even with new and digital media's developments, that investigative journalism is something that'll remain intact because there is a need for accountability for things such as institutions and people in power.

17/04/17 - Shelly Palmer: TV May Actually Die Soon (63)

17/04/17 - Shelly Palmer: TV May Actually Die Soon (63)

Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google/YouTube (FANG) is set to cause a hit to traditional network TV like ABC, CBS and Fox as well as the whole media business in general. What these traditional networks aim to do is 'package a specific, targeted audience and sell it to the highest bidder. The more precise the targeting, the higher the fee; the bigger the targeted audience, the bigger the fee.' This becomes problematic for them though firstly because TV is so data-poor. Only offering metrics about itself, the process to gain knowledge and insights into TV is only becoming more difficult as content is now distributed across a variety of non-TV platforms. FANG is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to this though. Facebook for example knows what you pay attention to through what you post and share. Amazon knows what you purchase and what you're thinking about purchasing. Netflix knows about your passions through what you choose to watch and Google/YouTube knows your intentions in general through your searches. Unlike traditional TV networks, this data is actually actionable in that these services can actually act upon what they know about you. The broadcasters just don't have this ability so if say something like YouTube TV started to gain some popularity, more likely than not we'll see a general shift towards that service, leaving TV behind.

This article shows that traditional media, even in the form of TV is still threatened by new and digital media. This is all to do with the data that can be derived from the NDM platforms. With TV it's particularly difficult to obtain data that can be translated into knowledge and insights that can be linked to key performance indicators (KPIs). Not only is this not the case with FANG, but it has to be mentioned that this is costly for broadcasters. With this said, seeing how long the traditional TV platform will last will be quite interesting as it truly depends on whether they can adapt or not.

10/04/17 - Netflix says opportunity 'gigantic' despite slowing growth (62)

10/04/17 - Netflix says opportunity 'gigantic' despite slowing growth (62)

Despite slower growth than it had initially anticipated during the the first quarter of the year, Netflix added 4.95m subscribers. The streaming firm blame the slowdown/drop partly on how it shifted some of its popular shows to the second quarter of the year, with the House of Cards series being one representative of this having been pushed into Q2 of 2017. Regardless though, Netflix is still expected to add 8.15 million new members in total for the first half of 2017 which is slightly under what they managed to rack up in the same period last year.  With this the chief executive Reed Hastings has said that the opportunity that the firm has still remains as 'gigantic' and that it'll 'continue investing in films and shows aimed at increasing its membership.' Original programing is what seems to be the focus here since Netflix's own shows such as House of Cards and Stranger Things are their true 'big hits.'

• The streaming firm added 4.95 million new subscribers in the quarter, fewer than the 5.2 million it had forecast
• In the US, the firm added a third fewer new members than the same period a year ago, while overseas members fell 22%
• The firm increased revenues by over a third to $2.64bn for the quarter compared to the first three months of last year, while net income rose to $178m from $28m

Netflix's growth as represented in this article regardless of a slowdown or not, just serves as testament for how even the traditional media platform of TV is being placed under threat by new and digital media. Internet TV is on the rise through streaming platforms and since you can watch shows offered on TV on them in conjunction with for example Netflix-own content, they become a lot more of a desirable platform to turn to.

10/04/17 - Gunman's video prompts Facebook rethink (61)

10/04/17 - Gunman's video prompts Facebook rethink (61)

With what has taken place in Cleveland with Steve Stephens taking to Facebook Live to broadcast his murder of 74-year old Robert Godwin, Facebook has launched a review into how it currently deals with violent content on its network. A company executive stated that 'we know we need to do better,' coming after the video stayed on the social network on Sunday for over two hours. This has led to the company garnering some considerable criticism all around, really jogging them into conducting reviews into things such as their 'reporting flows' which let users themselves report videos and just content in general that violates standards. The vice-president of Facebook's global operations, Justin Osofsky, highlighted the fact that the video which displayed Robert Godwin being killed was on Facebook for 1 hour and 45 minutes before it was flagged by a user, resulting in it being taken down 23 minutes later. As well as using human moderation to combat against the sharing of violent material of this nature, the company also proposes that artificial intelligence would also be a useful tool in preventing the dissemination of this content.

This article shows the concern that livestreaming has among the general public of today. It can be used to broadcast things of a quite gruesome nature and this appears to be quite difficult to prevent by companies. Facebook has caught a good amount of flack in terms of the content that it has shown but not only this, it has also been controversial in how it moderates this content. The use of AI has been something that heavily criticised with its obvious failure in recognising enough content that is breaking guidelines. The fact that Facebook intend to use it again then is particularly surprising. 

03/04/17 - News Corp Australia sacks most of its photographers and subeditors to cut costs (60)

03/04/17 - News Corp Australia sacks most of its photographers and subeditors to cut costs (60)

News Corp Australia is sacking the majority of their photgraphers and subeditors in an effort to cut costs and ensure that the newspaper business stays afloat. The attitude here as stated by Campbell Reid, the director of editorial management, is 'preserve in print and excel in digital.' Among some of the publications losing staff are the Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun and Courier-Mail. This comes after a move to cut costs in December with 42 journalists, artists and photographers losing their jobs to cut $40m from the costs of News Corp. The corporation has said that the old model of staff that once existed would be replaced by a 'hybrid model, consisting of a core tram of photographic specialists, complemented by freelance and agency talent.' Even with such a radical move though, during a company meeting no mention was made whatsoever of the financial losses actually driving the new model. Something that News Corp plans to implement with all this said is a $60m content management system called Methode. This allows journalists to 'edit, lay out and publish their own stories,' removing the need for staff like subeditors and production journalists.

• The announcement follows a cost-cutting drive in December which saw 42 journalists, artists and photographers made redundant in a bid to slash $40m from News Corp
• In February News Corp posted a second-quarter loss of $287m and cited impairments in the Australian newspaper business as a key factor

The death of the print platform is just something that we'll continue and continue to see in the future. Just last week, Fairfax Media too announced cuts that'll cause dozens of journalists and photographers to lose their jobs to help shave off $30m from the annual editorial budget. While these moves will help the corporations that undertake them to stay afloat, something we can expect at least to some level is reductions in the quality of the media we're getting. 'Editorial talent' is something that'll be a lot more difficult to display which could potentially detract from a key pillar of news itself.

03/04/17 - UK internet ad spend passes £10bn as Google faces YouTube row (59)

03/04/17 - UK internet ad spend passes £10bn as Google faces YouTube row (59)

With companies doubling the amount of money spent on mobile video adverts in 2016, the total amount spent on internet ads has risen above £10bn. This increase comes about as a large number of advertisers have removed their ad campaigns from Google and YouTube after it became known that some ads circulating contained inappropriate content. With this, hundreds of advertisers have temporarily paused their spending on YouTube. Regardless though, the overall trend has been one of growth. James Chandler, the chief marketing officer at the Internet Advertising Bureau UK has said that 'people are increasingly using their smartphones to watch more clips, programmes and films.' With this 'companies have to [...] allocate more budget to mobile and online video as that's where people are spending more time.' There's also been the finding that the majority of digital display advertising is traded programmatically, meaning that machines are responsible for choosing where adverts get placed by advertisers and appear on the internet. This has caused controversy in the sense that ads can end up being placed next to inappropriate content. To this it's said that the industry is 'evolving quickly to find new solutions to address brands' needs in this dynamic environment.'

• Internet advertising spend surged above £10bn in the UK last year
• Year-on-year increase of 17% on 2015
• 400 hours of videos uploaded every minute on YouTube
• Last year’s increase, the biggest since 2007, was fuelled by a boom in mobile ad spend, which rose by 51% to £3.9bn
• Nearly three-quarters of the £3.8bn digital display advertising market is traded programmatically

This article just serves as proof for what we've now come to know - the internet/e-media is the platform today. With internet ad spending surpassing £10bn, continuing the trend of growth seen in recent years, it's evident that the internet is where the 'eyeballs' are. It'll be interesting to see if this continues over the next few years and also what developments will be made to make sure things like inappropriate content can't be spread by advertisers.