“Media convergence is more than simply a technological shift. Convergence alters the relationship between existing technologies, industries, markets, genres, and audiences. Convergence refers to a process, but not an endpoint.” (Henry Jenkins 2004 p.34)
Why do we use The Pirate Bay? Hollywood suggests we use it just to piss off the creators and give the finger to the law, essentially being pirates. But that’s not true. The real rather sad reason for our use is simply that we can’t afford to buy every movie, game and tv show that we want to watch. Plus, we want to watch things as soon as they come out, not two months later.
The ideology behind The Pirate Bay is based around the idea of sharing free information and ideas. And because of this, they have become actively involved as a symbol of democracy and online freedom. They stand as a symbol to say “You can’t control us” to the film industry, and they help many little voices appear as one large, threatening voice.
“By Convergence I mean the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behaviour of media audiences.” (Henry Jenkins 2004)
Since The Pirate Bay was introduced in 2003, it has had a very strong impact on media audiences, and their migratory behaviour. It’s caused us to have an instant demand for media, and has shortened our patience for them to be released locally. It’s made us re-think “Is this really worth buying?”, where now audiences will only buy media if they really want it. Simple curiosity is no longer an instinct.
It’s also completely destroyed the renting business. The Pirate Bay, and illegal torrenting itself, can be seen as the reason why companies such as ‘Blockbuster’ and my person favourite, ‘Video-Ezy’, have almost completely disappeared. No want wants to rent a movie anymore. Not when you can easily download a high quality version of the movie for free. It doesn’t make economical sense for the customer.
An idea that does make sense, is Netflix. You pay a monthly subscription, and you have access to SO many movies and Tv shows online. The idea of paying for access, not per movies, I personally think is the way of the future. Spotify Premium have this ideology, as does Flattr. This makes is cheaper for everyone to access what they want, and the content creators are receiving the compensation they deserve. It’s pretty amazing that such a small amount of hardware can create such a shift in society.
References:
1. Jenkins, H. 2004, The cultural logic of media convergence, International Journal of Cultural Studies, Volume 7(1): 33- 43
2. Holmes David 2013, ‘The ride and fall of Blockbuster, told through movies I rented in the 90’s, Pando Daily, Viewed 3rd April 2014,< http://pando.com/2013/11/07/the-rise-and-fall-of-blockbuster-told-through-movies-i-rented-in-the-90s/ >
3. Brian, 2011, How Flattr Works, a simple way to reward people who create content you like, How Stuff Works, weblog post, 24th January, Viewed 3rd April 2014 < http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/brainstuff/how-flattr-works-a-simple-way-to-reward-people-who-creat-content-you-like/ >
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