The Internet is an amazing invention as it allows millions
of computers to connect near and far. However, the Internet is also heavily affecting the
media industry.
The Internet is heavily affecting the media industry from a
production perspective due to the high amount of online piracy. Today, nearly
every film is a few clicks away on Google for free usually uploaded on websites like Putlocker (a website where you can watch films for free, illegally). Due to piracy, the
production companies within media are heavily loosing out on a lot of money,
and if it carries on at this rate, production companies will not have enough
funding to be able to produce content. So in a way, it can be said that the online piracy is killing the media industry.
But it can also be said that the Internet helps the media industry massively from a production perspective as well. Today, the Internet is responsible for creating some of the worlds most iconic people. Internet personalities like YouTubers have mostly the Internet to thank for their success as no where near as many people would watch their videos if it wasn't for YouTube. So overall, the Internet can be a brilliant marketing tool if used properly as you can market your media production to millions online from the comfort of your own home.
It isn't just the production of media that the Internet is changing, media is also being changed from an audience perspective as well. Before the Internet, the stereotypical person who watches films would go to cinemas on Friday and Saturday nights or perhaps pop down to their local Blockbuster and rent out a film for a few days. The Internet has changed this, as now the audience have access to films on streaming websites like Netflix and Love Film, and can also watch it on YouTube too. And in some cases, result to online piracy. This can be seen as a good thing because if the audience want to watch a film, it is a few clicks away and can be accessed easily, it also saves time instead of renting a movie or going to the cinema.
The Internet can also be a bad thing for the audience of media productions. It can be said that the internet is taking away the traditional experience of going to the cinema, and the traditional experience of going to your local film store. Blockbuster, a former movie store, very popular in the 1980's and 1990's, just recently went bankrupt because of less people using film stores. So overall, it can be said that the Internet has taken away the tradition of cinema and film. A tradition that sadly at this rate looks like it is lost forever.In my personal opinion though I do think the internet can be a very good thing for the media industry, as it has made it a lot easier for new independent producers to break through. If you are an independent producer today all you need to do to promote your film online is just upload the trailer (or maybe upload it into a short film) to YouTube. Then from there you could set up a Twitter and Facebook page, and you'll gradually gain a following. All this can be done in one morning from the comfort of your own home, and if done right you could gain quite a huge following in such a short time. The best part about this is you are promoting your film 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The trailer and Twitter/Facebook profiles remain there at all times, promoting your film. Whereas 20 years ago before the Internet, to even have a slight chance of making something as an independent producer, you'd have to take months out of your life to go to loads of events to hope that people will watch your film and like it at the same time, which could be very risky and tedious. So in my opinion, it does allow new talent break through a lot easier, so with a lot more opportunities for independent producers and with a lot more film makers today, it can only make the industry and the quality of films better.
However, although we have discussed how piracy is affecting the media industry, in my opinion, the police are definitely getting a lot better with online piracy. For example, the City of London Police's specialist piracy unit were just very recently given more fundings from the government to combat online digital piracy, which will keep them running until at least 2016. The department was also set up in 2013, and in that time has suspended 2,359 internet domain names and seized more than £1.29m worth of suspected fake goods. So as long as piracy is being dealt with by law enforcement (which at this rate it certainly is being dealt with), there should be nothing stopping the media industry when it comes to the internet.
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