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New Media in Music

Since the rise of the Internet era, the music industry has drastically changed in terms of how music gets distributed, promoted and exploited. A vast array of music services have started emerging such as music streaming sites, online radio, music libraries, and music blogs. These services provide users with the option of listening to their favorite artists, bands, and composers through different music platforms.

A key example of music lovers and Internet users alike think of when referring to music online, is the creation of Napster. This company which was originally founded by Sean Parker, as well as Shawn and John Fanning, is essentially extinct. It was created as one of the original P2P filing sharing services, focusing on audio files in the MP3 format. However, Napster's demise started with legal troubles related to copyright infringement, a continuous problem faced by most online P2P filing sharing websites. Nevertheless, Napster was succeeded by companies who were able to accomplish what they were doing but more efficiently. Companies still around today doing the same thing Napster used to do are Limewire, eMusic, Sonos, and Grokster.

Technology and the internet have changed the way we listen, copy, and produce music. New Media has made it easier for a song to go viral because people post and share videos. The music industry now has a much larger reach through the implementation of new media which allows music artists to become more popular and known in society than ever before. This use of media and updated technology gives both the listener and artist more choice and power as to what they prefer.

Music Streaming Services

Music streaming sites such as Spotify, Grooveshark, and Ubuntu One, and Melon provide users with on-demand songs that can be played instantaneously, without having to download an audio file. This is made possible through packets of data derived from audio files that are compressed and small enough to be streamed. [1] As long as there is a steady stream of small packets being delivered to the device, music streaming becomes possible. Users can create playlists from the millions of songs available on the site and even share their playlists with others through social media websites. Music streaming services can be accessed through devices such as computers, tablets, and smartphones. The advantage of streaming music as opposed to downloading music is that streamed music does not take up any hard drive space on devices since music is not downloaded.


SoundCloud

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SoundCloud is another music streaming site that has gained popularity since its creation in 2007. Soundcloud allows the user to upload 120 minutes of their tracks for anyone to stream. The uploader has the option to make their content downloadable or strictly only available for streaming. Soundcloud has a unique commenting system where listeners can pinpoint exact parts of the song to comment on. As the song plays up to the part where the user commented it is displayed for other users to see. Users can also compile playlists by choosing from the vast amount of uploaded songs, and they can also favorite the songs. Songs that are favorites become part of your favorites list and can be revisited whenever. The favorites list much like the playlist can be shuffled and replayed anytime. Soundcloud also has apps that support smartphones. When streaming on a smartphone, Soundcloud automatically saves the stream in its temporary cache so that it can be listened to even when there is no data coverage.

Signing up for SoundCloud is an easy task and allows the user to access all of SoundCloud's features that may not be possible otherwise if surfed anonymously. Much like the popular webs today, it can be easily signed up through your Facebook or Google account, or even through the traditional e-mail. Once signed up, users can upload up to 120 minutes worth of sounds and music for free. Buy links may be purchased with the uploaded sound to adjust license and accessibility. Another advantage that can be taken is by creating your playlists. When there is a track that you wish to listen to again, simply select the "Add to playlist" button to create a new playlist that automatically stores the track you just chose. This can be done for other tracks that you wish to be stored in the desired playlist. The playlist allows the user to freely reorder the tracks and shuffle for a more surprising experience. Playlists are also free of commercials and can be re-winded as many times the users' desires. If you enjoy the tracks that you have been listening to, it can be shared with anyone and anywhere via Facebook, Twiter, Tumblr, Google+, Pinterest or E-mail by selecting the "Share" button. Soundcloud also provides a great browsing function that allows users to stream their songs in the background while they are browsing through the various contents that the website has to offer. Soundcloud is also the ultimate platform for more new musicians and artists that want to share their talent through the website. There is a "Follow" button on everyone's profile which notifies the follower whenever a new track has been released. Lastly, Soundcloud also has the "Groups" option where users can join any organizations created by friends or artists as a fan. This allows users to stay updated and in touch with their preferred group. [2]


Tidal

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Tidal is a subscription-based music streaming service with audio and high-definition music videos. The platform also has exclusive content and special features. The service is maintained by the Norwegian company Aspiro AB. The service has over 48.5 million tracks and 175,000 music videos. Tidal claims to pay the highest percentage of royalties to music artists and songwriters within the music streaming market, while offering two levels of digital music streaming service: Tidal Premium (lossy quality) and Tidal HiFi. Tidal was launched in 2014 by Norwegian public company Aspiro. It has distribution agreements with all of the three major labels.




Shazam

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Shazam is another popular app these days used by hundreds of millions of people each month to instantly identify music that's playing around you and discover other user's activities. It will come up with a list of trending songs and categorize music by genre. You can make an account on this app which lets you save the list of music you browsed. Using this app is very simple, just press the button where music is playing out loud and clear and it would tell you what song is it. It was founded in 1999 by Chris Barton, Phillip Inghelbrecht, Avery Wang, and Dhiraj Mukherjee. [3]




Spotify

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Spotify is a music streaming platform that has been growing tremendously in the past years. What makes Spotify unique is the accessibility on various platforms. It is available on Android, IOS and Windows products. This provides Spotify with a diverse user base. Spotify has a saying that they standby which is "Soundtrack your life with Spotify" which appeals to many users because of the customization ability given to users. We live in a day and age where people want to customize things to their desired preferences. Spotify has provided this option to many.

Users can listen to Spotify for free with limited benefits such as ads and no offline features. Spotify has a Premium feature that starts at $9.99 which includes access to millions of songs, an ad-free experience and ability to download songs and use offline features. Spotify Premium now comes with Hulu included for the same price of $9.99.

Another subscription plan exists for students at a discounted price. The student plan has all the features of Spotify Premium, including Hulu and SHOWTIME for the low, discounted cost of $4.99. Student status is verified through a third-party service called SheerID. Students must re-verify their eligibility for a student account every 12 months.

There is also a family plan. It costs $14.99. It includes all the features of Spotify Premium with additional features such as individuals accounts. The family plan covers you and up to 5 people who reside at the same address. [4]


Apple Music

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Apple Music is a music and video streaming services offered by Apple Inc. The service was announced on June 8, 2015, and launched on June 30th, 2015. Apple unveiled its own streaming service to compete with other music streaming providers such as Soundcloud, Spotify, Pandora, etc. Apple Music is integrated with Apple's iOS, its operating system. It sources all of the users' music into one. Not only does it stream music, but it also saves them offline, for users' pleasure. Also, they integrated their Itunes Radio, another apple service by Apple, into the new service. Their premium service subscription price starts at $9.99 and is available on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC [5] For a greater deal, Apple Music offers monthly family plans and student deals at $14.99 and $4.99 respectively. To be eligible, students must verify with their university email address and have up to 6 people for the family plan [6]



Pandora

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Pandora is an on-demand music and radio streaming service that offers a personalized experience for each user. Users can access Pandora’s services on mobile devices, web, and any externally connected devices. Unlike traditional radio, Pandora allows users to create personalized stations and playlists to fit each person’s taste. Pandora currently has 71.4 million active users and 6 million subscribers as of 2018. Pandora currently offers an Ad-supported radio for free, Pandora Plus with personalized radio with no ads for 4.99/month, and Pandora premium with radio and on-demand music streaming for 9.99/month.



Spotify Vs Apple Music

In terms of pricing, both Apple Music and Spotify have similar pricing features. They cost $9.99 per month and $4.99 for student membership. Although these two popular music streaming platforms are similar in many ways they do have key differences that make them unique. Apple has about 45 million songs in its library. Spotify has only about 35 million. If you are a person that constantly searches for new music daily, Apple music will provide a larger search library. Apple Music caters specifically to users of Apple products. For example, if you have Apple TV, HomePod, and Apple Watch, then apple music has a leg up on Spotify.

On the other hand, if you use Amazon's Echo device, Spotify is well integrated with that. Unlike Apple Music, Spotify provides free service integrated with ads. The paid subscription allows ad-free listening, access on mobile devices, and offline listening. For students, add-ons such as Hulu and Showtime are provided with no extra cost. The service has 207 million active monthly listeners and 96 million paid users worldwide. The service also curates weekly playlists referred to as "Discover Weekly" based on the user's listening history. [7] In short, Apple Music is on everything Apple and Spotify is on everything non-apple. These are the main differences between these music streaming platforms. [8]


Datpiff

Before Apple Music people used to go on Datpiff listen to the newest music. Datpiff.com is an online mixtape distribution platform owned by Idle Media Inc. It was launched in 2005 and is headquartered in Pennsylvania. It specializes in hip-hop, rap, and urban music. They have also received major sponsorship deals from companies such as Nike and VH1.


Hotnewhiphop

HotNewHipHop (HNHH) is an online website featuring hip-hop and R&B music, sports, and fashion news. It also allows artists with an account to post music for fans. It also features new singles, mixtapes of artists, and videos. HotNewHipHop was co-founded by Saro D and DJ Rockstar. According to Complex's Alex Ciccimarro and Insanul Ahmed, "HotNewHipHop produces the hottest new rappers in the game as far as sites go. If you want a tastemaker of who's gonna be hot, it's HotNewHipHop." Also, HotNewHipHop creates quizzes based on the day's trends in music to increase interaction with its users. In 2015, 36.38% of its traffic came from Facebook and 34.54% came from Twitter.


Online Radio

Pandora
iHeartRadio

Online radio companies such as Pandora, iHeartRadio, and iTunes Radio, Spotifystreams music from a specific genre based on the user’s preferences. Users can add genre-based stations to their playlist and discover new music through the songs that their station plays. Users can even mix stations together. Songs are chosen for the user based on similar songs that are classified under that specific genre. If the user skips the track, songs that are similar to the skipped track will not play on their station. Pandora currently has two subscription services. One is the premium version without advertisement, and the other is a free subscription. The limitation in the subscription service is the number of skips a user can make within a certain time period. The service will cut the number of skips once the quota has been reached. Only one song may be played from an album at a given time. Pandora is available both as a desktop app, browser and via their mobile app. New automobiles have the Pandora app installed, the radio service option available is similar to SiriusXM.


Recently there has been the birth of paid streaming of these online radio sites with Spotify and to a lesser extent Tidal. Spotify and Tidal both allow you to access content through the same module as Pandora on your mobile device but on the computer users are able to create their own unique playlist, and pick which songs they want to hear or not. The paid services portion of these programs allows users to listen to any music of their choice, whenever they want, without it being interrupted by ads or any set limitations. They also feature content only available for their respective platforms. This update has caused an influx of paid streaming services. [9]



Changes In Online Music Services

IHeart Radio
iHeart Radio Plus

Just as the online libraries expand, so does the offering from these online services. Online services are now catering to the user who wants to take advantage of "unlimited" services. Pandora and iHeartRadio are the first companies to launch services to this extent. Although Pandora's has not launched yet, iHeart has recently launched iHeartRadio Plus and iHeartRadio All Access. These plans give the user the option to play songs on-demand, skip as many songs as they want, and the all Access version, powered by Napster allows the user to skip as many songs as they would like. This is a huge improvement to the online service, as one of the biggest complaints from online streaming service users is the abundance of songs that don't necessarily match the genre or artist that the user would like to hear, so unlimited skips is a huge improvement.

The reason that there are so many changes in online music services is that these companies are listening to customer feedback. The user experience is paramount, especially when there is a tremendous amount of competition in this business. Companies will seek to provide the best user experience they can. Yes, they have to make room for their advertisers and marketers, but now more than ever, it cannot disrupt the user experience. Music services are no longer commodities; they are choices we can have and not have. I can choose to use one service over another, and this is based on how willing the company is to provide me with the most content, the best experience, at the best price. No longer does the music industry solely control all the content and distribution, the power is in the hands of the player.

Music Libraries

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iTunes

Music libraries such as iTunes and Amazon MP3 and Google Play are music stores where users can purchase music and upload songs, videos and podcasts to their devices. iTunes and Amazon MP3 also Google Play are compatible with both OS X and Windows systems. iTunes and Amazon MP3 also Google Play feature a media player available to its users to listen to their purchased audio and visual content. Purchased songs and videos that are stored as playlists can be shared and viewed by others with permission from the user. iTunes and Amazon MP3 also Google Play contain millions of different updated content available for purchasing and downloading. Recently, Apple, seeing the value of the music streaming business, has established its own streaming service, Apple Music, in hopes of competing with the likes of Spotify.

Music Blogs

Music blogs have been gaining increased popularity in terms of how people are discovering new music. Through music blogs such as Hype Machine, Hype Bot, and Stereo Gum, users can comment, share and discuss new and upcoming artists, read up on music industry news, discover new singles, albums, and projects. There is a music blog for every genre of music, some more popular than others. Blogs dedicated to Hip-Hop, Pop, Rock, and Country music are the most viewed. Blogs give Indie artists and aspiring artists the opportunity to display their talent and gain feedback on their music pieces. This is especially helpful since they do not have the resources to promote their music and music blogs can act as their main source of free distribution to the public. Popular artists such as Justin Bieber, Sean Kingston, and Colbie Caillat were discovered through the Internet.



Music Production Collaboration Sites

A new form of social interaction on the web has surfaced recently with collaborative platforms allowing digital music artists to actively share, edit, and create music in real-time. Some of these platforms even allow producers to create music via their web browsers but providing them cloud-based tools to shape and record music. That music can then instantly, and in some cases, in real-time while the artist is creating the music, be shared with other members of the site. These platforms become learning tools when artists gain the ability to watch others create music. By digitally "looking over an artist's shoulder" people are able to pick up on techniques much faster than before. This was something that you could only do with your friends who produced, in their studio or bedroom. Now you can watch the biggest names in music create their beats in real-time. On top of this amazing feature, the simple fact that you can immediately download the samples/stems/midi programming enables artists to create remixes faster than ever before. Before platforms such as this, an artist had to email another artist, ask for the components of the original song, wait for that artist to either upload them to a site like Dropbox or send them on some form of physical media, and then and only then could they begin work on a rework or remix of the song. Now that entire process is instantaneous and fluid. Do you have an idea for a remix of a song you listened to for the first time today? Download the files right now and get to work. One final advantage to a system like this is that bands are no longer limited by their member locations. If a member of your band has to move to a different state, this is no longer an issue. The band can work out a song in their favorite DAW (digital audio workstation) and upload the song so the member who moved can make changes and contribute. Once the song is complete, the finished tune can be uploaded to the platform once more for others to listen to. Total, legal, music creation and distribution...in one place.

New Media in Cartoon

Webtoon Logo

As digital comics have become a popular medium, graphic print publications in South Korea have declined. Webtoons is a type of digital comics that originated in South Korea. Although Webtoon is unknown abroad when they were first created, with the global rise of k-pop, Korean webtoon is also expanding their global reach, as well as Korean cinemas and television stations. [10] Webtoon is a synthetic language of web and cartoon, which is made from various network multimedia tools. Instead of simply providing comic book browsing on the web page, it is an imaging animation made by using video, dubbing, background music and flash animation, which synchronizes with the dialogue of the characters in the comics to achieve the effect of watching video cartoon or video cartoon.

New Media in Videos

Before New Media, movies and music videos were to be watched on either TV, DVD's, or at cinemas. With the rising popularity of personal computers, DVD's came along, and with the rise of the internet, the video has transformed into a type of media that can be created and easily distributed by anyone. The "flea market" DIY atmosphere that came along with New Media has had an encompassing effect on video.


TV apps
TV apps

In addition and so as not to say that the conventional media like TVs had gone completely obsolete and irrelevant in today's technology, modern televisions are now being equipped with the latest technologies, making them "Smart TV". Today, the so-called smart TVs have internet built-in capability which allows consumers/end-users to do almost everything they do on PC on their Smart TVs; in other words, the smart TVs have taken the home viewing experience to another level.. TVs are now designed to be user-generated and content-driven; with internet and other technology such as HD, UHD, 4K, etc. TV experience is coming back to life. For instance, there are several tv apps such as Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Spotify, Opera browser, VUDU, Showtime, DirectTV, Playstation VUE, etc. offers movies, music, sport, social media activities, games and news streaming directly from Smart TVs. Also, another cool thing is that they are all embedded in one platform.


New Media in Television and Movies

Black Mirror introduces new versions of new media and applies it to a dramatic real-life world.

New media is being entered into our favorite shows and movies. We see references to new media all the time in today's films. Whether it be texting someone important information to carry on a movie plot or even something irrelevant like a character scrolling through his news feed on his or her phone as a conversation is going on, new media elements have cracked their way into the film.

In one episode of Modern Family called "Connection Lost"[1], it all revolved around FaceTime and iMessage. In this episode, two parents are trying to find out where their daughter is in fear that she got married drunk while in Las Vegas. They do this by using FaceTime and iMessage to contact their family and their daughter's friends to find out more about where she is. The episode was filmed entirely from the perspective of FaceTime. The writers, Steven Levitan, and Megan Ganz utilized and took advantage of our evolving media outlets to create an episode of a television show. This episode won an Emmy award for their original plot idea.

In a movie called Unfriended, the entire story is shown through the view of Skype, a video-calling program. In this movie, a couple of friends are up late at night talking when all of a sudden, one friend receives an anonymous threat from a random source. The friends try to get to the bottom of this and communicate with each other through online messaging and Skype. The ability to use new media in a way that allows writers to create movie plots is something that really shows how compelling and relatable it is to us in today's world.

In a television show called Black Mirror, there is an episode called "Nosedive"[2] which explains the negative aspects of social media. In this episode, a woman tries to boost up her social media status to get a promotion. Everyone's lives are rated by their social media profile, and if they are too lowly rated, they become isolated from the rest of the people and put in prison. It creates a world where everyone must always remain happy no matter their circumstances. It also creates a world where there is only one mind, and anyone who has a minority opinion gets shunned. The episode shows how new media is not always as great as it can seem. In another episode of Black Mirror called "Shut Up and Dance," a teenage boy is blackmailed into doing extreme actions by an anonymous person with a private and damaging video of him. If the boy does not do what the anonymous person says, he has threatened to post this video online for everyone to see. In this episode, Black Mirror does a great job of showing how new media can affect how much privacy you have and how easily it can be shattered through the internet.

These were just examples of new media that already exist today. However, one common theme throughout film history is the invention of new media to show a futuristic setting. Most of us have seen movies with phones that can display holograms like in Ironman. This common theme is something that people love to watch because it is interesting to see how these new media are implemented into the film and we imagine a world living with those inventions as if they were real.

Video Streaming Websites

Hulu
Netflix
Vimeo

Video Streaming sites such as Vimeo and Youtube provide users with free on-demand videos in various lengths and character (from whole films to popular music videos or amateur videos) without having to download a large video file. In addition, Youtube users can create personal profiles and upload their own videos to their channels, and choose whether to make those videos available to all other Youtube users. This has led to easy accessibility of music but also a decrease in business for the music industry since much of the music available on these sites is free. Youtube also encourages creativity in music and other areas of entertainment. Youtube users can upload their own remixes or versions of original songs to express their own creativity. They can also upload spoofs of movies, television shows, and other Youtube clips from other users. There streaming websites encourage creativity because of the ease at which users can upload and modify content to the website. Also, interactive and free aspects of these sites draw millions of users around the world. Some TV channels, such as Channel 4 offer feature show related video clips on their website including episode previews and video interviews with cast members. Hulu is a website and over-the-top (OTT) subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, TBS, and many other networks and studios. Netflix offers Internet video streaming ("Watch Instantly") of selected titles to computers running Windows or Mac OS X and to compatible devices for a monthly subscription fee. According to a 2013 report by Sandvine, Netflix is the biggest source of North American downstream web traffic, at 32.3%, and registered 28.8% of aggregate traffic.[11] In addition, there's a variety of pirate websites offering free streaming of a large variety of popular as well as "indie" films and shows.

YouTube TV

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YouTube, in February of 2017, had announced its TV subscription service, which allows members to pay a $35 fee every month to view live television channels on their devices (phones, tablets, computers, and almost any other internet-enabled technology). Its initial launch was designed to be aimed towards only a select amount of U.S. cities, with them being New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

Two years after its launch, Youtube TV is finally available everywhere within the U.S. Additionally, Youtube has added 10 new channels since its launch and is planning to add Food Network, HGTV, Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, EPIX, and MotorTrend. As of 2019, Google has announced it will be increasing its monthly price of $39.99 a month to $49.99 a month. The price hike is attributed to the difficulty in competing with traditional cable networks. The new price applies to both new and old subscribers and goes into effect beginning May 13, 2019.[12]

Disney+

Disney Plus logo

Disney+ is an upcoming subscription video-on-demand service operated and owned by Disney. It's set to launch in the U.S. on November 12, 2019, and will cost $6.99 a month or $69.99 annually. This monthly cost is about half the price to other streaming services such as Netflix and HBO Now. The streaming service will offer a variety of content from Disney which ranges from the 1937 movie of Cinderella to the 2019 movie of Frozen 2. Current and future Star Wars films and all of the Pixar movies will be available on the platform as well as select movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, such as Iron Man and Captain Marvel.[13] Disney+ plans to pull off its movies from Netflix in 2019, which may possibly impact Netflix as its top watched movies from 2018 were Disney content. However, the upcoming streaming service won't have the same diverse content as Netflix. The upcoming platform will be an addition to Disney's other streaming services, Hulu and ESPN+. [14]

Hulu Plus

Hulu Plus

Hulu is an American online company and partially ad-supported streaming service offering a selection of TV shows, clips, movies, and other streaming media on Hulu.com. Hulu subscribers can access episodes in HD (when available) from ABC, the CW, Fox, and NBC the day after they air, via Internet-connected devices. Hulu offers both a free service (only available on PCs and laptops) and, for a monthly subscription fee, a more extensive Hulu-Plus service available not only on computers and laptops, but as well on Internet-connected game consoles, set-top boxes, smartphones, tablets, TVs, and other devices. [15]

As of 2015 Hulu is offered only to users in Japan, and the United States and its overseas territories. Other regions are blocked by IP address location. Hulu provides video in Flash Video format, including many films and shows that are available in 288p, 360p, 480p, and in some cases, 720p. Hulu also provides web syndication services for other websites including AOL, Facebook, MSN, Myspace, XfinityTV, and Yahoo!.

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Instant Video Logo

[16]

Amazon Prime Video or Amazon Instant Video (formerly Amazon Unbox and Amazon Video on Demand in the US, and LoveFilm Instant in Europe), is an Internet video on demand (VOD) service by Amazon in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Austria, Germany, and India. At first, the service was only provided to the United States. Around the end of 2016, it started to serve worldwide services by providing Mainland, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria. Amazon Prime Video is the cheapest in India as they are paying 137% less among 28 countries. It is obvious to watch near 17000 movies and above 1300 TV shows which are more than other countries like the United States paying extra[17]. It offers television shows and films for rental or purchase. Selected titles are offered for free to customers with an Amazon Prime subscription, a move that angered some UK consumers when it was bundled with a non-negotiable 61% increase in the subscription fee. Like competitors, Amazon has pursued a number of exclusive content deals to differentiate its service. The unique deal was in 2018 when Amazon went to a deal by showing 20 live Premier league which was the first time for any domestic live streaming services. The deal is for 3 years from 2019 to 2022 as that includes 8individual games will be shown.[18]Most recently, Amazon reached a multi-year licensing deal with content provider HBO. In December of 2019, Amazon brought up some new window with its website. In the, My Stuff section in every content it will come up with a single place. Which made things easier for the people as whenever they want they can enjoy their favorites shows and movies. Downloads, movies, shows can be purchased and saved on the app like other entertainment apps [19]. Mobile devices which are with android and Fire Tablets are able to have the prime video. The users who are with Fire Tablet can not access the OS. So when they will go to the Fire Tablets, they will not be able to access the downloads but they will find a prime video on the top right corner and can enjoy all the downloads of their shows and videos. The main specialty of the new updated version is people can enjoy it by using one-click version, where they do not have to download every episode one by one instead they will click on the series and it will download automatically.

Netflix

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Netflix Inc. is an international provider of on-demand Internet streaming media available to viewers in all of North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and parts of Europe,[20] and of flat-rate DVD-by-mail in the United States, where mailed DVDs and Blu-ray are sent via Permit Reply Mail. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California. It started its subscription-based service in 1999. By 2009, Netflix was offering a collection of 100,000 titles on DVD and had surpassed 10 million subscribers[21]. When Netflix first began, users were able to sign up for different plans that have the limitations of movies that could be rented out. For example, a $9.99monthyl plan allowed users to create a list of all the movies they want and each month; a DVD would be sent. As soon as the DVD was returned by the user, the next one on the list was sent. Netflix did not charge shipping or handling fees. As more users began to stream movies and videos online, Netflix updated their movies online and began to put out newer movies. The movies that were being streamed online before the update were not blockbuster movies. Netflix now updates its movie selection several times a year and takes certain shows and films down. Netflix also came out with its own original Netflix series such as Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards. Every year, around the same time, Netflix puts out the entire season of a show that users are able to watch all at ones or spread out (all commercial-free). In 2015, the term "Netflix and Chill" came about. Meaning you watch Netflix with someone and just relax with them. The term has been made into many memes and has been used plenty of times by people who are a "Netflix & Chilling." One of the best forms of marketing is "word of mouth", which means the consumer is talking highly about the product or company. Word of mouth is seen as free advertising due to the quality of the product. Many companies strive to get positive word of mouth from their consumers to increase their popularity positively. With the term Netflix and chill becoming extremely popular Netflix is benefiting from free advertising with many individuals using the term on social media sites. You can have your own Netflix account for $8.99 per month on any internet-connected device; however, If you had been a subscriber to this plan before a $1 per month price increase in May of 2014, you were grandfathered into a $7.99 per month fee[22].

Exclusive Content Netflix's success stems from having no advertisements but also from their incredible selection of exclusive content. These shows have over 100 million dollars of investment from Netflix annually. Netflix's incredible shows include Stranger Things, House of Cards, The Ranch, Orange is the New Black and more. For other companies to catch up, they need to start producing content like Netflix. Netflix shows are being awarded many awards and are starting to get more views than regular prime-time shows.

Response to the changing social environment The #MeToo movement took social media by storm when it first emerged in 2017. Among the many famous men to be exposed by this movement, House of Cards' actor Kevin Spacey found himself accused of sexually assaulting a former male co-star when he was 14 years old. In response to these allegations, Netflix decided to drop Spacey, an act which cost them approximately $39 million dollars. The House of Card's production team were three episodes into the season already before they found out about Spacey. Their decision to drop Spacey was met with a positive response for being a big company and supporting the movement. However, Netflix has still not fully made clear their policies surrounding these types of actions considering that Danny Masterson, another high profile actor starring in a Netflix original accused of sexual assault, just got another season for his show renewed. It is clear that some type of policy has to be formed. [23]

Teleparty Teleparty, formerly known as Netflix Party, enables users to simultaneously watch a movie or show from Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu or HBO with their friends and/or family. Teleparty is a free Google Chrome browser extension that is used by over 10 million people as a tool to host movie nights or binge watch (defined as watching several episodes of a particular show in one sitting) TV shows with friends. [24] In order to use Teleparty, a user can visit the Netflix Teleparty websiteto download and install the extension. Once that is complete, the “NP” button should be visible on the toolbar and if it is not, it can be adjusted in the settings function of Chrome. Afterwards whenever the user wants to start a Teleparty, they simply have to open a video on any of the compatible streaming sites and click on the “NP” to start the party. The unique URL link can then be shared with friends and family. When creating the Teleparty, the creator is given the option to retain control on functions such as starting, pausing or stopping the video. While streaming the content, each user will have the video playing on the left side of their screens and a chat function on the right with the other users on the party. Each user has the ability to customize their Teleparty by choosing their own user icon and display name. They even have the ability to upload screenshots, emojis and GIFs.[25] Teleparty is a tool that enables friends and family members to be able to connect with one another regardless of time and locational differences to watch and comment on movies/TV shows together.

HBO GO

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HBO is an American cable and satellite television network that is owned by home box office inc. You gain unlimited access to all HBO shows including all HBO original programs like Game of Thrones, Entourage, and Boardwalk Empire.[26] It also features behind the scenes specials, documentaries, sports, and late-night specials. Users can stream on the computer, iPad iPhone, Android, Xbox One, PS4, Samsung Smart TV, and many more devices. This is a very convenient way of catching up with past episodes. With all these video streams the new trend is "binge-watching", where people watch an entire TV series in a very short and continuous period of time. Binge-watching has become the preferred way of watching shows now and oftentimes users will skip watching a show live in order to accumulate enough episodes to binge-watch, without having to be left at cliff-hanger scenes.

HBO Now

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HBO Now is a video streaming service that was created due to popular demand by HBO. Like HBO GO, it allows users to stream all available HBO content using internet-connected devices such as gaming consoles, Smart TVs, iPads, etc. However, the defining feature of the service was that it is a standalone service that does not require a television provider or HBO TV subscription, but instead requires a $15 monthly fee (the same as the fee for HBO on cable) to access it. This enabled people who wanted to watch HBO programming but did not have cable TV to watch HBO legally.

Sling TV

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Sling TV is a live TV package with 16 channels, including ESPN, AMC, TNT, CNN, History, HDTV and the Disney Channel. Sling TV gives you the ability to watch live TV channels on your TV, computer and mobile devices. Sling TV you can have more than one registered device, however, Sling TV only allows one stream at a time from each account. Sling TV is a subsidiary of Dish Network, the satellite provider, it's operated as an entirely separate service. You do not need a Dish subscription to get Sling TV. [27]



DIRECTV Now

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DIRECTV Now is another streaming service that allows users to stream content onto their mobile devices. It is an internet TV streaming service launched by mobile company AT&T. It allows users to stream live channels as well as watch movies on the go. A user can log in to multiple smart devices to enjoy the content of the application. The application is also available on streaming devices such as Amazon Fire Stick, Roku, and Apple TV. One of these streaming devices can be plugged into a television and the user is all set to enjoy the high-definition content of DIRECTV Now. Four Tiers of subscriptions are available for a user to choose, with prices starting as low as $35/month. For an HBO fan, it can be added for only $5/month. Even without the HBO subscription, the cheapest plan can still allow a user to access shows like The Walking Dead, Empire, The Voice, Grey’s Anatomy, and many more. It has revolutionized the traditional Cable TV subscriptions that require a dish and hefty wiring to be installed, which are easily disrupted by a storm or heavy rain. With wireless streaming of live shows and other content DIRECTV Now is the new streaming service that gives users the flexibility that cable cannot provide. However one of the drawbacks it has is the lack of DVR functionality for recording shows. DIRECTV Now has now reached 1 million subscribers and is on a growing trend. [28]


NBA League Pass

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NBA league pass is a streaming site that lets you watch all the NBA teams in one bundled package. This is convenient for fans of other teams that can not watch their games because of where they live. The channels that are included are all the basketball hosts of the city, so for New York, it will be MSG if you are watching the Knicks or YES if you are watching the Nets. The one drawback of NBA League Pass is that you can not watch NBA games of your own city. So if you live in New York, you won't be able to watch Knicks basketball because of the right of the cable companies. You can stream NBA League Pass on your computer, iPhone, Android, Apple Tv, Xbox One or PS4.

You can also purchase a subscription for one team and watch all their specific games. It is a cheaper alternative if you don't like to watch other teams or you generally only watch one team play anyway. Although the service may be cheap, there are severe blackouts due to licensing and pre-arranged services with internet providers as well as television providers. A way to bypass the blackouts is actually to purchase a virtual private internet to change your location depending on the regional blackouts.

Crunchyroll

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The popularity of East Asian media, specifically anime, has been growing in the Western Hemisphere at a high rate for many years and there wasn't really a practical way to watch them until Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll [29] is an online streaming service that was founded in San Fransisco on May 10, 2006. Over the last ten years, Crunchyroll has grown more and more popular, expanding its library. Today it features over 1000 anime shows in both Japanese and English dub to stream on a variety of devices such as computers, smartphones, Playstation, Xbox, and Wii, and has many shows dubbed in different languages such as English, Japanese, Spanish (Latin American and Spain), Portugese (Brazil and Portugal), French, Dutch, German, Italian, and many more. Its content includes both classics such as Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Naruto Shippuden, Attack on Titan, Bleach, and more, as well as many new popular titles including The Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Black Clover, Jujutsu Kaisen, Haikyuu!!, and Fire Force. The site has an online forum, and many podcasts and articles talking about the most popular animes each season within its' Eastern and Western audiences.


The streaming service features free content, but also has multiple paid Premium subscription plans starting at $7.95 per month for the 'Fan' membership, allowing access to Crunchyroll's full library of over 1,000 titles and 30,0000 episodes with simulcast series releasing the same day they do in Japan, and access to Crunchyroll's digital manga library. The 'Mega Fan' premium subscription which costs $9.99 per month includes everything within the Fan subscription, but also allows offline viewing and access to four concurrent streams, along with a special discount of $15 off for every $100 spent every three months in the Crunchyroll Store. The 'Ultimate Fan' subscription plan is the highest tier at $14.99 per month, including everything in the 'Fan' plan, as well as offline viewing, and six concurrent streams. Each member also receives an Ultimate Fan member swag bag, members-only access to exclusive merchandise, and a special discount of $25 off for every $100 spent every three months in the Crunchyroll Store. [30]

DramaFever

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DramaFever is a video streaming website owned by Warner Bros and headquartered in New York City. The website offers a large selection of Asian documentaries, movies and TV shows with both English and Spanish subtitles. The video streaming service is available ad-supported viewing for regular users or in HD for premium subscribers. DramaFever is accessible on iOS, Android and Roku. As the popularity of international programming increases, the streaming website has increased its licensing of content from over twelve countries. DramaFever reports that over 80% of its monthly viewers are non-Asian showing its significance in the market of Asian movies and TV shows. After nine years, WarnerMedia announced on October 16, 2018, that DramaFever has shut down.[31]

VRV

VRV

VRV is a U.S based, multi-channel video streaming website in which you can view a variety of videos and movies. This gives viewers the chance to watch all of their favorite shows and movies from multiple channels under the same roof. Some channels found on VRV are Crunchyroll, MONDO, DramaFever, Funimation, Nerdist, Nicksplat, and much more. Aside from computers, VRV can be accessed through Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Chrome-cast, IOS and Android phones, Roku devices, Fire TV, Apple TV, etc. VRV offers free accounts where users are allowed to stream and watch, with ads included. Users with subscriptions, however, don't have to deal with ads and get unlimited access to all channels. The benefit of VRV is that you can subscribe to eight channels for just $10 a month, versus having to subscribe to each channel separately which will be much more expensive. As of now, VRV is only available to viewers in the U.S. Anyone living in another country won't be able to access VRV. [32] [33]

Viki

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Viki is a video streaming website headquartered in San Francisco. It is owned by Rakuten, a Japanese eCommerce company. Viki streams premium licensed content in which the subtitles may be incorporated by a variety of community members. Communities exist to provide closed captions for a specific drama. The captions need to be approved by other members. To join a community, a member needs to pass a series of tests. Thus, there is a wide selection of shows and movies in more than 200 languages allowing members to collaborate collectively. Viki is also accessible on mobile devices such as IOS and Android. The company has also signed distribution deals for its original content with Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo!, MSN, NBC, and A&E, as well as TVB in Hong Kong, SBS in South Korea, Fuji TV in Japan and Amedia in Russia. The versions of the site differ from country to country. [34].

Vine

Vine is a form of video streaming [35]. Vine is primarily an app created for Android and IOS, that allows users to upload six-second videos. It was founded in 2012, and has grown enormously since, and has created a website as well. It is a form of a social network as well as a web sharing service. Due to its predicted popularity, the social networking service, Twitter, acquired Vine five months after it was created.

Vine

Vine allows users to create short clips of six seconds, and share it on their app. Similar to the app Instagram and Twitter [36], Vine allows users to follow, favorite and "Irvine" other users videos. The videos normally consist of humor and satire as well as a method of microblogging.

Jerome Jarre

Vine has grown enormously in the past years reaching a total of 40 million users (last recorded in 2013). Many celebrities are registered users as well such as Tyra Banks, Jimmy Fallon, Justin Beiber Kate Upton and more.[37] Vine has also become a gateway for a source of revenue for many. Due to its popularity, many notable Vine users have had their videos go viral and seen by many which have in return landed them deals and sponsorships with many. These Vine users have also gained enough recognition landing them chances on shows and movies. Notable Vine users are KingBach, Nash Grier, Jerome Jarre and much more. [38]

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Many people have made vine compilations on Youtube. So Vine is being used by Youtube users to create long videos of vines that are specified for a particular type of video. There are many types of compilations, dance, funny, fail, funny, school and tons of other categories. This makes it easier for viewers to watch all their favorite types of vines continuously, 6 seconds after 6 seconds. Also, Facebook and Instagram feature vine videos on their newsfeed. For Instagram, people create pages that are dedicated to vines, and like Youtube, certain types of vines. Facebook does the same thing, pages are created that dedicated to certain types of vines, and people like the page to see the vines on their newsfeed.

Vine is now currently down for good. Many of the vine video makers moved over to youtube to create videos.

BE-AT.TV

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BE-AT.A TV is a video streaming service that primarily provides users with access to live broadcasts from the biggest Electronic Dance Music Events. BE-AT.TV also allows users to watch recorded shows after they have finished streaming live, allowing users the ability to access these videos at any time of the day. BE-AT.TV provides on-demand and DVR functionality for users to immediately playback or rewinds live content as it is streamed.

BE-AT.TV claims to have the most extensive and diverse collection of full-length DJ sets from International events and festivals anywhere on the Internet. Some of the organizers of these international events and festivals that BE-AT-TV collaborates with are Sensation, Tomorrowland, Space, Exit, BPM, Miami Music Week, and Winter Music Conference (WMC) to name a few [39].

BE-AT. TV allows viewers from all over the globe to tune in and view live events as they occur with the ability to chat with all participating viewers. This allows viewers from all over the world to engage in a discussion even though they may not speak the same language, they are able to connect through this website and music.

Video Downloading on the Web

uTorrent

Anything from small to huge sized video files can be shared (downloaded and uploaded) on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks such as eMule and Torrent.

A P2P network is a type of decentralized and distributed network architecture in which individual nodes in the network (called "peers") act as both suppliers and consumers of resources, in contrast to the centralized client-server model where the client nodes request access to resources provided by central servers. In a peer-to-peer network, tasks (such as searching for files or streaming audio/video) are shared amongst multiple interconnected peers who each make a portion of their resources (such as processing power, disk storage or network bandwidth) directly available to other network participants, without the need for centralized coordination by servers.

BitTorrent lets users quickly upload and download enormous amounts of data, files that are hundreds or thousands of times bigger than a single MP3. Bram Cohen, the creator of BitTorrent, showed his code to the world at a hacker conference in 2002, as a free, open-source project aimed at geeks who need a cheap way to swap Linux software online. But the real audience turned out to be TV and movie fanatics. It takes hours to download a ripped episode of Alias or Monk off Kazaa, but BitTorrent can do it in minutes.[40]

Legal Issues

In November, the Motion Picture Association of America began suing downloaders of movies, in order to, as the MPAA's antipiracy chief John Malcolm put it, "avoid the fate of the music industry."[41]

Grooveshark's legal status remains controversial. It won a major lawsuit filed by Universal concerning its pre-1972 recordings, but other lawsuits are still in progress. As of January 2012, Grooveshark has been sued for copyright violations by all four of the major music companies: EMI Music Publishing, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group.[3] For one suit complaining about copyright infringement, the liabilities have been estimated at US $17 billion.[4][5] Concerns about copyrights led Google, Apple, and Facebook to remove Grooveshark's applications from Google Play, the App Store (iOS) and Facebook platform respectively. However, Grooveshark was brought back on saurik's Cydia app for jailbroken Apple devices.[42]

TikTok logo

TikTok

TikTok is a social media application for creating and sharing short videos as well as live broadcasting. It becomes one of the most famous and popular apps in China in 2018. This app has been extended to other countries, such as Malaysia, India, the United States, and Canada. It is becoming one of the fastest-growing apps across countries for short music videos. [43] The maximum length time for videos in TikTok is 60 seconds. In those 60 seconds, users can use their creativity to create something new and unique videos. They can use the music library and features that are available in TikTok to create incredible, short, meaningful videos. Their features are similar to Snapchat and Snow where they can display videos for friends or their followers to see. TikTok’s mission is to capture and present the world’s creativity, knowledge, and precious life moments, directly from the mobile phone. In addition, TikTok enables everyone to be a creator and encourages users to share their passion and creative expression through their videos. [44]


WWE Network

WWE Network is an online streaming service for professional wrestling fans that was announced back in 2011 and launched on February 24th, 2014. It was started as a way for the WWE, an integrated media and entertainment company, to adapt to the rise of services like Hulu and Netflix. The service was set up in such a way that viewers would pay $9.99/month to gain access to monthly pay-per-view shows. This was a steal for any fan because of the default price of a pay-per-view being $60. Although the deal was valid, the network ultimately did not find success in its first year. The WWE needed 1,000,000 subscribers to break even but in 2014 was only able to accumulate around 700,000 subscribers. The WWE stock price showed this defeat by falling down 50% and the WWE knew that something had to change.

WWE Network Logo

The following year, the WWE set out on expanding the WWE network in various ways.[45] They introduced new programming content, new partnerships in markets they previously had not explored and intensified their marketing efforts. WWE realized that although the subscription model they had in place was great, it could be even better. They introduced thousands of hours of content that was hidden in WWE warehouses known as the "WWE Library" all for the same price of $9.99/month. This made the streaming service much more reputable and attractive. The company had realized that fans of wrestling did not only enjoy WWE content. There were fans all over the world who would pay money to see local shows or even old school shows that they grew up watching as kids. Thus, the transition was very easy to make for the company. Adding new content into the WWE Network library from 2014 to 2015 revamped both the look and feel of the service and it was only a matter of time before things blew up. This was primarily in response to the way that the company saw Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu competing with one another. Fans on social media platforms would always talk about how they were attracted to watching old school wrestling or shows from various promotions that were now owned by WWE. This was similar to how fans of shows like "Friends" petitioned for Netflix to add the series to its subscription service.

WWE also capitalized on its new model by proper advertising and market expansion. It began airing ads on live television events and on social media like Twitter, Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube. The WWE Network became synonymous with the WWE after a while and when the network expanded to Canada in 2015, they had stepped on a gold mine. By the end of 2015, the company reached its ultimate goal of acquiring over 1,000,000 subscribers and broke even. In only 2 years the project had been completed and the company had not nearly expanded in the way it would continue to do.

This was a very interesting point in history for wrestling and new media because it shows how wrestling began to evolve. WWE, the biggest wrestling promotion in the world, introduced a streaming service for fans to watch their content and the service had boomed. Tons of other promotions began to do the same and started their own streaming services. However, the WWE saw this coming and ultimately began picking off numerous promotions and acquiring the rights to their respective libraries.[46] The way that a service like Netflix/Hulu would buy content from different producers, the WWE would buy content from its competitors. In terms of new media, most of this happened through the likes of Twitter. Fans on Twitter would rave about the new streaming services they would find and how the libraries of certain companies compared to the likes of WWE. That was how WWE would find out about all of these competitors and then go in and offer a bid for the libraries.

Flash forward to today, 5 years after launching and the network has over 1,600,000 subscribers in over 180 countries worldwide.[47] None of this would have been possible if it wasn't for social media platforms like Twitter and streaming services like Netflix that started this trend. The digital age is very strong and very relevant and continues to influence various companies that operate in the entertainment industry, much like the WWE.

Facebook Watch

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Facebook Watch is a video-on-demand streaming service by Facebook. Facebook launched their video streaming service on August 10, 2017. As of June 2019, Facebook Watch has more than 720 million visitors monthly and 140 million who spend at least one minute on the service per day.[48] Facebook Watch has popular shows like "Sorry for Your Loss" and "Ball in the Family."

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