http://www.buzzmachine.com/

This blog has lots of discussions around the whole phenomenon of blogging. It includes discussions around the issue of citizenmedia.

Why Sky and My Space are new family members

ITV bought the Friends Reunited website and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (owner of Sky, Fox, 20th Century Fox, The Sun, The Times, the list goes on) bought My Space, among countless other popular websites. If you want to know why, this article gives just one reason - advertising revenue. It's expected that the amount of money spent on Internet advertising will exceed that spent on news press advertising during this year. So you can see why traditional media companies want to get in on the internet act.

You Make The News

This is a real crossover story - relevant to New Media Technologies in Year 12 and Broadcast News in Year 13. You may remember all those great pictures from inside the tube tunnels after the London bombings last July. Obviously they weren't taken by the BBC, Sky or ITN's news crews. They were taken on the video enabled mobile phones of the survivors of the crash. The idea of an ordinary member of the public (citizens) generating such pictures (content) for news programmes is what has become known as the growth of citizen reporters or journalists. They make the experience of watching the news all the more powerful and immediate for the audience and could have a significant impact on the financial resources of broadcasters (who needs to employ all those journalists and camera crews when the public can do their job?). There are, though, signifcant issues to resolve -the two As - accuracy and access. The 3 mobile phone network is trying to resolve the access issue (read the article for more on this) and claim that broadcasters have to do their bit to ensure that the citizen generated content is truthful and accurate (a cornerstone of news reporting).

How to get a record deal in the new media age

Tooting resident Sandi Thom just signed with major record company RCA/SonyBMG. She didn't play dive bars for years on end, waiting for an A&R man to stumble in and be blown away by her. She didn't send a demo to hundreds of record companies in the hope that one might get listened to. She didn't audition for Louis Walsh type managers in dance studios around the country. Nor did she go on Pop Idol or X-Factor. To be honest I don't know if she did any of these things or not, however I do know that none of them led to her getting a record contract. What did get her signed was the massive popularity of concerts held in her living room and seen by people all over the world through her webcasts. Yet another way that the internet is changing the workings of the media - see also Arctic Monkey's fastest selling album. Do you think this makes getting signed easier? Is the consumer truly becoming the producer? Check out Sandi's site (link in title of post) to find out more.

Leo's beady eye on media

If you want even more musings on the media, especially games, check out Leo Goldsmith's blog. See what he has to say about the new Godfather game - EA games cashing in on a classic film that's been expolited in every conceivable film format. It makes perfect sense to get a very loyal audience to spend again on a game.

Music Downloads - the end of CDs?

I presume you all know that Gnarls Bakley made music history yesterday by going to No.1 on the basis of downloads alone. This is a real sign that the CD single could become a thing of the past. It's worth considering, though, that one of the major reasons behind the song's popularity is the widespread exposure it received from traditional broadcast media - it featured as part of a BBC promo for the Zane Lowe show on Radio 1. Read more about it by clicking on the title above.