The Medium is the Message

There are hundreds of media outlets that I could have chosen in order to convey McLuhan's idea of the "Medium is the Message," but I chose to comment on something that I understand the most. Music has been a passion of mine since I was old enough to turn on a stereo, yet I know that the music industry and music itself is rapidly and dramatically changing. Like most things, music has been a product of movements and fads. Its format has changed from records, to tapes, to CD's, and now, to digital formatting. I've chosen to depict what I believe is the biggest media change in the way we currently listen to music: file sharing programs. The first picture in my sequence is a screen shot of Rapidshare, a popular file sharing program used to allow Internet users to upload files onto their computer so that anyone else in the world can access them and then download them to their own computer.

This not only applies to music but also to programming, television, movies, and more.
These file sharing programs like Rapidshare, MegaUpload, and Bit Torrents are putting the world of music at our fingertips. It is just as easy to find the latest Britney Spears album through filesharing as it is to find some obscure Minor Threat B-side from the late eighties that only fifteen people in the world have ever even heard of. My second photo depicts file sharing and all of the programs which allow it to be a reality. It all started with Napster, but with Napster having recently been bought out by Best Buy and other programs charging a fee for their services, Internet users are finding their music elsewhere through Filesharing services.

My last picture is more symbolic than literal. It is a portrayal for a smashed CD and stands for the shambles that the music industry is currently in. There is a large oversatuation of bands and artists being signed to record labels and pinned as "the next big thing," but unfortunately, most of these artists are forgotten within a year. Bands, artists, and labels are all losing money and something must be done to stop it before the music industry collapses in on itself. Programs paid by advertising, 360 deals allowing bands more control over their music, and other steps have to be taken or else there is no hope of keeping the music industry as we know it alive. The industry must embrace filesharing and the interactivity that is taking place within the industry and remember that customers and consumers of music are incredibly intelligent: they will always find a way to get the music they want.