producing and consuming

Online social media like YouTube is becoming more popular with more people trying to get engaged in it.  I have found myself being interested in watching more YoTube videos everyday than normal TV, even using it as a great source for catching up on shows that I missed on TV.  More people are becoming interested in reality viewing than fiction and users seem to use YouTube as a channel to broadcast their lives to the world.  It is almost as if it is the next generation of television. But do we viewers really consume reality?  It is like nothing is real anymore and every form of identity people display is fake in one or another.  Many people including myself have found a way to produce themselves to the world in different forms of identities based on how we want to be perceived.  This has proven to be easier with the 'series of recent social changes, especially those associated with the internet and web 2.0' (Ritzer & Jurgenson 2010 p.14)

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The use of social network allows us to act as prosumers through the various information that we choose to share and get involved with.  For example, social media has let us act as producers through the information we share online and in-turn act as consumers through the options we are given to like and comment on.  For instance, I have chosen to subscribe to some YouTube channels and also liked some facebook pictures and statuses put up other producers, therefore, that makes me a prosumer.  As much as the digital age has given us the opportunity to share our lives with the world, it is imperative that we choose wisely what information we share.  This is because we are constantly under surveillance (Marshall, 2010) which is done through the circle of presumption as we all act as producers and consumers.  

References:

Marshall, P D 2010, ‘The promotion and presentation of the self: celebrity as marker of presentational media’,Celebrity Studies, vol. 1, no. 1.

Ritzer, George and Jurgenson, Nathan 2010, ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’’, Journal of Consumer Culture, vol. 10 no. 1, pp 14. 

plagiarism within the celebrity world.

As the topic of plagiarism, copyright and piracy is brought up, the first people that come to mind are the poor venders in countries such a India, China including some African countries that make a living out of selling pirated music or movies including designer items like clothing and accessories.  I recently had a conversation with a friend on the wrongful download of movies and music and we both shamefully admitted that we didn't think we would waste $5 buying a song off iTunes when we could download it for free.  Both my friend and I admitted to have at one point been culprits of buying pirated movies or music DVDs because we thought it was too expensive to purchase the original copies.  Martin, Moore and Salter state that 'The development of the internet and MP3 - digitally compressed music files - opened up an alternative mode of distribution' (2010).  This statement clearly explains how the use of the internet and MP3 is used to wrongfully download music or movie files which are then sometimes sold cheaply and is unfair to the actual producer of the movie or song as they don't make the money they deserve to make.  Even though I think sometimes I'd rather watch a movie for free because it is not worth paying $$$ for.  I find this topic very interesting because the complexity of piracy is not only seen to the consumer but also within the celebrity world.  This is evident in some celebrities such as Lady Gaga who was recently sued for plagiarising her hit 2011 song, Judas and her recent song Applause.

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Rebecca Francescatti accused Gaga for plagiarising her song she did in 1999 titled Juda of which Jennifer Lopez was dragged in when it was noticed that her song Invading my mind co-produced by Gaga unlawfully used lines from Francscatti's song.  Gaga was also accused for plagiarising Madonna's song Girl gone world.  People that have heard Gaga's song Applause say it sounds a lot like Girl gone world.  Also when I listen to Born this way by Gaga and Express yourself by Madonna, I think they sound exactly the same of which it would be clearly stated as plagiarism if no credit was taken

It is very fascinating that such unlawful acts exist even within the celebrities themselves.  It leaves me with the question as to whether they do this for money or because they are in desperate need of maintaing their statuses.  I would say it is difficult to do anything without plagiarising as almost everything someone says can be regarded as someone else's idea.

Reference:

Martin, B, Moore, C & Salter, C, 2010, 'Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry', First Monday, vol. 15, no. 12.

The realm of heavy metal in Australia

Heavy metal seems to be a popular music genre in Australia.  Before coming to Australia, I almost never knew what heavy metal really was.  This is only because it is not a common music genre mostly listened to in Africa.  It was amusing to me that the first time I thought of attending a Rihanna concert in Australia, non of my Australian friends seemed interested in going.  I found this really shocking because I thought her type of music was popular everywhere around the world.  It sometimes leaves me wondering as to whether Australia is in its own world. 

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Nederveen argues that 'globalisation invites more controversy than consensus' (2004, p.8)  This heavy metal sub-culture in Australia does bring up more controversy in other cultures.  For example, when I first came to Australia, I didn't think I would experience the culture shock until I noticed how much people here love to listen to heavy metal.  I was intrigued after listening to one heavy metal song and realised that this kind of music would be regarded as evil or demonic in other cultures such as some African cultures.  Interestingly, even though it may be regarded as evil in the African culture, you still find some people that try to dress up goth, but I still find that it isn't the same as the people in Australia. Despite the culture shock and being ignorant about the specific genre of music, I still find it interesting that due to globalisation, other cultures still seem to want to adapt the kind of culture they are not familiar with.

Reference:

Nederveen Pieterse, J 2004, ‘Globalisation: Consensus and controversies’, Globalisation and culture: global mélange, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., p8