Hello and Welcome to Medi8tor,
Medi8tor is a blog dedicated to
understanding all aspects of the entertainment industry. Our goal is to help up and coming
entertainment business professionals, and lovers of the entertainment industry,
further comprehend the business. Today
we will be discussing a recent example of self-distribution vs. traditional
distribution.
Since 1999, technology has revolutionized
the way that we all experience and enjoy entertainment. These technological changes have also shaped the
way that entertainment is disseminated to the masses. Prior to 2000, media and entertainment
channels of distribution were fairly simple:
· TV: Cable Providers.
· Music: Radio Stations, Music Television
Programing Stations, CDs & Cassettes purchased from Music Stores.
· Film: Movie Theatres & VHS Tapes.
·
Visual
Art: Museums & Art Galleries (privately and publicly owned).
These distribution channels, though simple
and straightforward, were in the hands of the corporations that ran them. These conglomerates determined when, where,
how, and how often patrons could experience and enjoy their entertainment
choices. Nowadays everything has
changed, and the power of entertainment choice and distribution has switched
over to the consumer. Now the
distribution channels look like this:
· TV: Cable Providers, Video on Demand, Hulu,
Netflix, and cable services online.
· Music: Radio Stations, Online Radio
Stations (Pandora, Spotify, Slacker Radio, etc.), Music Television Programing
Stations and their online counterparts (Vevo), Online Digital Music Stores
(iTunes, Amazon.com, etc.).
· Film: Movie Theatres, DVDs, Blu-Ray Discs, Netflix,
etc.
·
Visual
Art: Instagram, Artsy, etc.
As you can see there are more distribution
choices than ever before, and all give consumers the flexibility to dictate
when, where, how, and how often they can enjoy their entertainment selections. In addition to the plethora of choices offered
through online distribution channels, sites that allow consumers to create and
distribute their own artistic content have emerged as well such as: YouTube and
Vimeo.
These platforms have opened up avenues and doors
for all kinds of artistic expression, and allow artist and lay people to have
their work displayed around the world, without interference from corporate
conglomerates. The power of consumer choice
and various distribution channels have empowered artists and consumers to join
forces and create a detailed landscape of creativity that reflects the world at
large. These distribution channels also provide
opportunities to use that creativity, to create bonding experiences for artist
and consumers alike. Recently, an artist who used these elements to distribute
and promote his work is Kanye West.
Kanye is no stranger to controversy,
leaving an audience in shock, or pushing the proverbial artistic envelope. In 2013 Kanye’s name has appeared in headlines
due to the fact that he and his reality star girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, are expecting
the arrival of their first child. But
last week Kanye made headlines with this tweet:
Mr. West then proceeded to show the
following video in select cities around the world:
This clever form of distribution creativity,
executed by dedicated production teams worldwide, and driven by Kanye’s star
power created a media firestorm. This
was a unique introduction to Kayne’s new music, and may begin a new trend in
independent media distribution. More
than likely, up and coming artists, like our audience here at Medi8tor, will
not have showings of their work in cities across the world (Well not yet
anyway); but perhaps multiple artists can pull together their artistic works,
financial resources, and city officials to produce similar screenings within
their city, to promote and support local artists. These screenings can foster community and
artist camaraderie in real life and on online live streams platforms. In addition these works can also be shared
through YouTube videos, and perhaps through traditional distribution stations. After all, Mr. West is reaping the benefits
of self-distribution from his adoring fans, as well as utilizing traditional
distribution on programs such as SNL.
Hopefully as technology and our creativity
continues to evolve, we will all begin to think of even more inventive self-distribution
channels that may yield traditional distribution channels for independent/up
and coming artist as well. Lastly, be
sure to check out Kanye West’s new album entitled “Yeezus” slated for a June 18th
release date, it should be interesting.
See you next time!
Sources:
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