Audience power essay

“The internet has given audiences much more power than ever before.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Introduction

The media over the years has grown. Before the internet started people received there information from television, now people can just go on their phones and find things out. In this essay I will be answering how the internet has changed the media industry for the better, and for the worst.

Music Industry


Advantages for audiences:

 As the media has evolved the music industry has changed for the better and the worse. Before the internet it was harder for artists to make a break in the music industry. Now all they have to do is make a song and upload it to youtube or soundcloud. Furthermore they can gain more fame as people can retweet and share their music rather than just gaining popularity by word of mouth.

Disadvantages for audiences:

However now people can illegally download music from the internet, this makes it much harder for people to receive profit/sell cds from the music they make. Also it may be hard to gain a fanbase as the audience now has many bands/artists to choose from.


Film and TV Industry

Advantages for audiences:

Audiences now has a much wider range of entertainment due to the internet. Now people can rewatch there favourite shows online rather than having to wait for it to come back on tv. This means they can stream there favourite shows with services such as Netflix and amazon prime. Also they can illegally stream shows and watch tv for free, furthermore if they are on the go they can download shows with apps such as showbox.


Disadvantages for audiences:

However as audiences have easy access to there favourite tv shows and films, they sometimes tend to overwatch shows A.K.A “binge watching”  this can have a negative affect on the mind. Also if they download shows to
watch on their phone whilst on a journey it can strain their eyes and be really harmful to the mind.

Newspaper Industry

Advantages for audiences:

Audiences now don’t have to watch the news on the tv anymore to find out what’s going on in the world, now they can go on their phone and google the news/weather. Also they can just go on apps such as snapchat and find out what’s been going on by other people. Furthermore they can do their own journalism, this is known as “citizen journalism” this is the
the collection and analysis of news and information by the general public, mainly used on the Internet.


Disadvantages for audiences:

However it is not all great, as the internet has grown a new term has come out known as “fake news” this is when a rumour that is false is spread around the internet and people perceive it to be true. This is very dangerous nowadays as the internet allows “fake news” to spread quicker, this is because of different social media sources such as snapchat, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Conclusion

Overall I believe that the internet has made the audience much more powerful as they now do not have to pay for tv shows, films or music. Also they can find out news that hasn’t been released yet or they can spread fake news to try and slander someone or something. Therefore the internet has made the audience much more powerful.