Deadlines/Brief

Music videos are so 80s/90s, right? They belong with the era when MTV screened wall-to-wall vids instead of 'reality' TV? Try telling that to the millions who bought Gangnam Style; were they really simply loving the music? 1.6bn (and still climbing) have viewed the video on YT, not to mention the many re-makes (school eg, eg2), viral ads + celeb link-ups (even political protest in Seoul) - and it doesn't matter how legit it is, this nightmare for daydream Beliebers is making a lot of money, even from the parodies + dislikes. All this for a simple dance track that wouldn't have sounded out of place in 1990 ... but had a fun vid. This meme itself was soon displaced by the Harlem Shake. Music vids even cause diseases it seems!
This blog explores every aspect of this most postmodern of media formats, including other print-based promo tools used by the industry, its fast-changing nature, + how fans/audiences create/interact. Posts are primarily written with Media students/educators in mind. Please acknowledge the blog author if using any resources from this blog - Mr Dave Burrowes

Wednesday 18 September 2019

BIG 3 CHINA giant with Spotify link buys chunk of Universal

UPDATE, 31/12/19 - DEAL CONFIRMED

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/31/universal-music-sells-stake-to-chinese-giant-tencent


I've seen this story pop up on a couple of sources - the R Stone feature is a fantastic overview of the complex impact of China on the global market, and specific detail on share deals.

Share deals isn't a phrase likely to get many hell yeah, but this is a picture of how the mega-conglomerate pantheons render our diverse world a simple space and place for their capitalistic ventures. I'd no idea some $430bn Chinese megacorp did a 10% ownership swap with Spotify (so Spotify doesn't challenge their 85% share of China's streaming market). If that bewilderingly colossal conglomerate, TenCent, buys 10% of Universal that makes the big 3 combined worth $85bn. A sixth of this Chinese conglomerate. Simply wow.

It could give Universal a Disney-sized lead in the global market too - their artist Taylor Swift just became the 1st non-Chinese act to gain 1m equivalent album sales (in a week if I remember right).

Lets hope it boosts ed Sheeran sales too, as more people listening to his awesome blandness is just what this world needs

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/tencent-entertainment-music-business-universal-spotify-885297/

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