Over the past two decades the domain of the music video has seen major developments in hardware and in format. The transition from television to the web has given more power in the hands of the audience, and the trend of consumption of cultural products, produced fast and processed even faster, has been a blooming field for two kinds of phenomena: convergence and transmedia narrative. Convergence is described as ‘the dissolving distinctions between media systems, media content and the resulting trade between systems’ (Cunningham and Turner). It has proven to be an extremely successful phenomenon in the consumer society, enabling creative businesses to make money and gain popularity. A great example can be found within the success of the Harry Potter series. With eight highly popular movie adaptations, countless items of merchandise, and the well-visited Harry Potter Studios and US based theme parks, Harry Potter can be seen as an extremely successful product of media convergence. Interestingly enough, the Harry Potter phenomenon uses another popular framework that came from the increased use of Internet and active audience consumption, namely transmedia storytelling. We believe, while media convergence has proven its success, transmedia storytelling provides fascinating potential and plays with active audience participation in an interesting way. This essay will therefore look at the concept of digital convergence in the music industry, and subsequently analyse transmedia storytelling. First by analyzing its potential through the framework of music and then by looking at the Harry Potter fan platform Pottermore.
The main platform for music videos changed from television to Internet, causing record companies to review the music video as a phenomenon (Edmond, 308). Before, music videos were a fully integrated part of music production, costing record companies “tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands, and eventually multimillions” (Edmond, 307). Naturally it became impossible for the independent artists who did not have a small fortune to spend to compete with the large record companies. The Internet enabled those artist to produce videos that were not extremely costly and required a very interesting new way of thinking. Maura Edmond described these changes as “major shifts in the way artists, audiences, and media industries think about how music videos are being used, how they are being made, and how money is being made from them” (Edmond, 306). The introduction of publishing music videos on the internet made a bottom-up model of distribution possible (Edmond, 311). The role of the audience became a lot more important, because they were the ones that looked up the videos on the internet and were the hereby decided what the marketing value of a song would be. This process is still managed by the record companies though with, for example, the list of suggested videos on the side of the video that is being watched at that moment.
Secondly, and arguably the more interesting phenomenon, can be found in the way how the Internet and the popularity of music (videos) on the Internet enabled musicians to create new ways of narration and audience engagement. One example of trying to stimulate audience engagement is the interactive music video, such as Bob Dylan’s video for “Like a Rolling Stone” which lets the viewer decide what they will see happen in the video, and, even more importantly, music videos have started to use techniques we are used to see within the domain of movies, games, and television. There is a growing popularity of movie-like narration within music videos such as Lady Gaga’s Alejandro or Sia’s Titanium, but we also see how, next to movies, games, and television, music can now use transmedia storytelling as a marketing technique. Transmedia storytelling is the overarching term when discussing the extension of a narrative beyond the main platform of the story. (Mittel) Being able to apply a complex platform like transmedia storytelling to music shows us how the Internet enabled the music industry to reinvent itself. Although we have to understand that transmedia storytelling in music is not very common, it is interesting nevertheless to see how transmedia storytelling can cater to the audience needs and satisfy what Edmond sees as “highly idiosyncratic media interests” (Edmond, 313). By positioning the band or artists as the narrative one creates the possibility of audience engagement through transmedia storytelling. By launching the artist-as-narrative through documentaries, videogames, websites, music videos, signature dance moves and even trademark performances, music, or rather the specific artist, becomes a highly consumable product. (Dries) This allows for “liking, sharing, making, and remaking” by audiences, which is the key to a successful product in the era of Internet (Edmond, 313).
When looking at transmedia storytelling, it is audience participation that allows for a certain narrative to be successful. A great example is the Harry Potter series. The novels and the movie adaptations were incredible successes, but audiences wanted more. The need for more information on the wizarding world was satisfied with the launch of the website Pottermore. This website created digital content, was a platform for fans to interact, but most importantly it explores the the unknown of the franchise in a uniquely interactive way. Moreover it is used as a platform for J. K. Rowling to publish new relevant insights about the series.
The main platform for music videos changed from television to Internet, causing record companies to review the music video as a phenomenon (Edmond, 308). Before, music videos were a fully integrated part of music production, costing record companies “tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands, and eventually multimillions” (Edmond, 307). Naturally it became impossible for the independent artists who did not have a small fortune to spend to compete with the large record companies. The Internet enabled those artist to produce videos that were not extremely costly and required a very interesting new way of thinking. Maura Edmond described these changes as “major shifts in the way artists, audiences, and media industries think about how music videos are being used, how they are being made, and how money is being made from them” (Edmond, 306). The introduction of publishing music videos on the internet made a bottom-up model of distribution possible (Edmond, 311). The role of the audience became a lot more important, because they were the ones that looked up the videos on the internet and were the hereby decided what the marketing value of a song would be. This process is still managed by the record companies though with, for example, the list of suggested videos on the side of the video that is being watched at that moment.
Secondly, and arguably the more interesting phenomenon, can be found in the way how the Internet and the popularity of music (videos) on the Internet enabled musicians to create new ways of narration and audience engagement. One example of trying to stimulate audience engagement is the interactive music video, such as Bob Dylan’s video for “Like a Rolling Stone” which lets the viewer decide what they will see happen in the video, and, even more importantly, music videos have started to use techniques we are used to see within the domain of movies, games, and television. There is a growing popularity of movie-like narration within music videos such as Lady Gaga’s Alejandro or Sia’s Titanium, but we also see how, next to movies, games, and television, music can now use transmedia storytelling as a marketing technique. Transmedia storytelling is the overarching term when discussing the extension of a narrative beyond the main platform of the story. (Mittel) Being able to apply a complex platform like transmedia storytelling to music shows us how the Internet enabled the music industry to reinvent itself. Although we have to understand that transmedia storytelling in music is not very common, it is interesting nevertheless to see how transmedia storytelling can cater to the audience needs and satisfy what Edmond sees as “highly idiosyncratic media interests” (Edmond, 313). By positioning the band or artists as the narrative one creates the possibility of audience engagement through transmedia storytelling. By launching the artist-as-narrative through documentaries, videogames, websites, music videos, signature dance moves and even trademark performances, music, or rather the specific artist, becomes a highly consumable product. (Dries) This allows for “liking, sharing, making, and remaking” by audiences, which is the key to a successful product in the era of Internet (Edmond, 313).
When looking at transmedia storytelling, it is audience participation that allows for a certain narrative to be successful. A great example is the Harry Potter series. The novels and the movie adaptations were incredible successes, but audiences wanted more. The need for more information on the wizarding world was satisfied with the launch of the website Pottermore. This website created digital content, was a platform for fans to interact, but most importantly it explores the the unknown of the franchise in a uniquely interactive way. Moreover it is used as a platform for J. K. Rowling to publish new relevant insights about the series.
A screenshot from the Pottermore Website: Users can register and take part in activities that allow them to experience the world of Harry Potter and to gain additional knowledge not directly expressed in the books or movies.
If the site’s producers are clever—and I think they are—what they’ve done is created a communal storytelling engine, a battery that will continue to grow and nurture the Harry Potter brand for many years to come. They’ll be doing what most movie studios have yet failed to do, which is to officialise and galvanise a massive fan base into a single location, and then service their wildest dreams.
And they did. In fact, the author of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, launched the website to extend the Harry Potter convergence by selling digital versions of the existing books, but more so to create a platform to extend the storylines. In the so called online reading experience it reveals background details on settings and characters that are not yet mentioned in the books or movies and can excellently be explained by Jason Mittels’ article To Spread or to Drill as the viewers go beyond the main narrative: “[it] encourages viewers to dig deeper, probing beneath the surface to understand the complexity of a story and its telling.” Pottermore is a great example of the so called ‘forensic fandom’. Rowling encourages viewers to dig deeper in the story and therefore creates engagement for the readers, who are urged to explore unknown territory within the realm of the books.
But there is also space for readers to post their own interpretations of the story, and to interact directly with the world by using the game-like features of the portal, that enable them to get sorted into houses and attend classes. Of course, this kind of content requires a certain amount of time to be developed, and new material has been added periodically. According to Charlie Redmayne, Pottermore’s CEO in 2013, already two years after the launch Pottermore was suffering from oscillating user base: every new update brought fans back, who didn’t “spend enough time coming back to the site until we have a new content release”. The portal will be revamped during Fall 2015, with a focus on new original content about the Harry Potter world and a limit on interactivity. Says Susan Jurevics, the new website CEO, that only “a small audience [was] very devoted to the gaming elements within the current site.”
Concluding, the introduction of the Internet changed a lot in the media field. In this blog, we gave the examples of both convergence in the music industry and the way transmedia storytelling is used with the story of Harry Potter. Both examples show that the system became somewhat more bottom-up: the role of the audience gained more importance. In the music industry smaller record labels and independent artist gained more possibilities to reach their audience. New ways of narration and audience engagement were made possible as well, as seen with the Bob Dylan example we gave earlier. Not just the music videos themselves were thus reinvented, but the role of their audience as well. For the larger companies, it stays difficult to manage the phenomenon of the transmedia narrative, as is shown with the Pottermore example. Even though the story of the wizard scholar has a fanbase of millions, the platform Pottermore appeared to serve a niche market, and it is therefore difficult to make a profit of such a fan-dependant phenomenon. Convergence appears to be a better way to do reach as many people as possible, as is shown with the example of the Harry Potter theme park, movies etcetera. The Internet gave the cultural industries the possibility to reinvent itself, but in the future their audience will probably have a greater influence in shaping the media landscape than ever before.
Tweet Thesis: Is there something as too much narrative within transmedia storytelling?
DL, EH, NS, LD, KH
DL, EH, NS, LD, KH
Bibliography
Cunningham, S. and Turner, G. (eds.) (2010). The Media and Communications in Australia, 3rd edn. Sydney: Allan & Unwin.
Edmond, M. (2014). Here We Go Again Music Videos after YouTube. Television & New Media, 15(4), pp. 305-320.
Heerkens, Dries, “Transmedia Storytelling in which Music is the Biggest Component”, https://musicfindsmedia.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/transmedia-in-which-music-is-the-biggest-component.pdf> (20 September 2015).
Mittel, Jason, “The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling”, 2011 < http://mcpress.media-commons.org/complextelevision/transmedia-storytelling/ > (20 September 2015).
Website of the Rolling Stone Magazine < http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-goes-interactive-in-like-a-rolling-stone-clip-20131119 > (20 September 2015).
In my opinion, the answer is no. There is no too much narrative within trans media storytelling. It is ultimately up to each individual how far he wants to engage in a trans media storytelling. It's good to have the opportunity for other sources and to have background information. In the case that you do not need these, you can let your own individual fantasy free rein.
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