9/7 Course Introduction
9/11 Introduction: What is “Media Industry Studies”?
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 1: Understanding Media Industries.”
9/14 Introduction: The Industrialization of Culture
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 2: The Industrialization of Culture Framework and Key Economic Concepts.”
DISCUSS: Writing Assignment #1 & Media Companies
9/18 Introduction: Industrial Identity & Corporate Image
READ: Brookey, “The Digital Auteur: Branding Identity on the Monsters, Inc. DVD.”
9/21 Discussion: Industrial Identity & Corporate Image
DUE: Writing Assignment #1
9/25 Media Industry Mandates
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 3: Media Industry Mandates.”
9/28 Economic Conditions in Media Industries
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 5: Economic Conditions in Media Production.”
10/2 What are “New Media Industries?”
READ: Smith & Hendricks, “New Media: New Technology, New Ideas or New Headaches” in Hendricks, The Twenty-First-Century Media Industry: Economic and Managerial Implications in the Age of New Media (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2010), 3-22.
10/5 Technological Conditions in (New) Media Industries
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 6: Technological Conditions of the Media Industries.”
10/9 Digitization in (New) Media Industries
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 9: “Digitization.”
DUE: Writing Assignment #2
10/12 Print Media Industry: Are eBooks Just Kindle for the Fire?
READ:
- Erickson, “Help or Hindrance? The History of the Book and Electronic Media,” in Thorburn & Jenkins, Rethinking Media Change.
- Stone, “The E-Reader Industry: Replacing the Book or Enhancing the Reader Experience?”
- (background) Coover, “The End of Books,” in Wardrip-Fruin & Montfort, The New Media Reader.
- (background) Murphy, “Books are Dead, Long Live Books,” in Rethinking Media Change.
10/16 Regulatory Conditions in Media Industries
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 4: Regulation of the Media Industries.”
- (background) Coll, “Reboot: An Open Letter to the FCC About a Media Policy for the Digital Age,” Columbia Journalism Review 49.4 (2010): 26.
10/19 Radio & Recorded Music Industries
READ: Blacc, Manta, & Olson, “A Sustainable Music Industry for the 21st Century,” Cornell Law Review Online 101: 39-50.
- (background) Bellamy & Gross, “The First Domino: The Recorded Music Industry and New Technology,” in Hendricks, The Twenty-First-Century Media Industry.
- (background) DeMars, “Local Market Radio: Programming and Operations in a New Media World,” in Hendricks, The Twenty-First-Century Media Industry.
DUE: Reading Reflection 1 on (Digital) Music Industries: Read one blog post or trade journal article on contemporary conditions/practices in music/radio industries (e.g. reflections on streaming/subscription services; analysis on the “Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act”; etc). Write a 150-200 word critical summary to connect the post/article with course readings, and be sure to include a citation for the post-article you read within your reflection. Upload a copy of your reflection to Blackboard and bring a copy to class for our discussion.
10/23 Perceptions of Industrial Impacts from Piracy
READ: Patrick Vonderau, “Beyond Piracy: Understanding Digital Media Markets.”
- (background) Gayer & Shy, “Copyright Enforcement in the Digital Era,” in Illing & Peitz, Industrial Organization and the Digital Economy.
- (background) Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture.
10/26 Film & Television Industries: Distribution & Aggregation
READ: Havens & Lotz, “Chapter 8: Media Distribution and Aggregation Practices.”
- (background) Owen, “The tragedy of broadcast regulation,” in The Internet Challenge to Television. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), reprinted in Hassan, The New Media Theory Reader.
DUE: Writing Assignment #3
10/30 Technological Change: Film, TV, & Digital Streaming
READ:
- Perren, “Business as Unusual: Conglomerate-Sized Challenges for Film and Television in the Digital Arena,” Journal of Popular Film and Television 38.2 (2010): 72-78.
- Lotz, “Channel Bundles Persist—for Now—Despite Digital Disruption.”
11/2 Technological Change: Digital Streaming & Consumption Patterns
READ: Chuck Tryon, “TV Got Better: Netflix’s Original Programming Strategies and Binge Viewing,” Media Industries Journal, 2.2: 104-116.
- (background) Tryon, “Pushing the (Red) Envelope: Portable Video, Platform Mobility, and Pay-Per-View Culture,” in Snickars & Vonderau, Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media.
- (background) Walker & Bellamy, “DVRs and the Empowered Audience: A Transformative New Media Technology Takes Off,” in Hendricks, The Twenty-First-Century Media Industry.
DUE: Reading Reflection 2 on Digital TV/Video Services: Read one blog post or trade journal article on industry conditions/practices that pertain to television or video streaming services (e.g. licensing conditions and content availability; perceptions of “quality” or “prestige”; forms of user consumption, like bingeing; video platforms and accessibility; etc). Write a 150-200 word critical summary to connect the post/article with course readings, and be sure to include a citation for the post/article you read within your reflection. Upload a copy of your reflection to Blackboard and bring a copy to class for our discussion.
11/6 Computers, Interactivity, & Interfaces: Digital Consumption
READ: Janet Wasko and Mary Erickson, “The Political Economy of YouTube,” in Snickers & Vonderau (Eds.) The YouTube Reader.
11/9 Spreadable/Sticky Media
READ: Jenkins, Ford, and Green, “Introduction: Why Media Spreads,” from Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2013)
DUE: Writing Assignment #4
11/13 Spreadable/Sticky Media: Social Industries & Algorithmic Power
READ: Qualman, “Chapter 1: Word of Mouth Goes World of Mouth,” from Socialnomics.
- (background) Benkler, “Sharing Nicely: On Shareable Goods and the Emergence of Sharing as a Modality of Economic Production,” in Mandiberg (Ed.) The Social Media Reader.
11/16 Spreadable/Sticky Media: Social Industries & Algorithmic Power
READ: Taina Bucher, “Want to be on the Top? Algorithmic Power and the Threat of Invisibility on Facebook.”
DUE: Reading Reflection 3 on Algorithms/Social Media: Read one blog post or trade journal article that addresses contemporary uses of algorithms (e.g. how algorithms are used to determine networks of relation on social media; how algorithms are used to predict media preferences on streaming sites; how algorithms are used to determine shopping preferences on e-commerce sites; etc). Write a brief 150-200 word critical summary to connect the post/article with course readings, and be sure to include a citation for the post/article you read within your reflection. Upload a copy of your reflection to Blackboard and bring a copy to class for our discussion.
11/20 Spreadable/Sticky Media
Class will not be held today. Instead, you can e-mail me to schedule a time to meet and discuss any questions you may have about your research paper proposal (Writing Assignment 5).
DUE 11/21 (by 11:59pm): Writing Assignment #5
11/23 THANKSGIVING RECESS, no classes
11/27 Video Games Industries
READ:
- Straubhaar et al., “The Game Industry,” from Media Now.
- Dring, “How Can We Solve Nintendo Switch’s Cartridge Cost Quandry?,” GamesIndustry.Biz March 27, 2017.
- Entertainment Software Association, “Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry: 2018 Sales, Demographic, and Usage Data,” 4-14.
- (background) Yee, “Labor of Fun.”
- (background) Dymek, “Video Games: A Subcultural Industry” and O’donnell, “The North American Game Industry,” in Zackariasson & Wilson, The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future.
- (background) de Peuter & Dyer-Witheford, “A Playful Multitude? Mobilising and Counter-Mobilising Immaterial Game Labour,” in fibre culture 5.
11/30 Mobile Technologies: Personalized & Portable Digital Economies
READ:
- Fishman, “Where Do Media Companies Fit in the World of Mobile Apps?” Acquia, March 04, 2015.
- Dediu, “(Much) Bigger than Hollywood,” Asymco, August 26, 2015.
- Dediu, “The iOS Economy, Updated,” Asymco, January 08, 2018.
- (background) Bolin, “Personal Media in the Digital Economy,” in Snickars & Vonderau, Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media.
DUE: Reading Reflection 4 on Mobile Economies: Read one blog post or trade journal article that addresses how the media industry you are writing about in your research paper has been affected by mobile/app economies. This reflection aims to aid you in the continuation of research for your final paper by allowing you to
- read additional source material about a product or company that primarily operates within an app economy (e.g. this pertains people writing about streaming services or video games);
- examine economic and technological conditions you may still need to address in your research (e.g. the influence of pricing structures on consumer app purchases/engagement or how companies determine (min/max) technological requirements for applications they develop); or
- consider if/how traditional industries are acclimating to changing industrial practices and consumer demands that emerge in conjunction with digital/mobile economies (e.g. if/when companies agree to offer/license digital content, or how companies aim to secure intellectual property they make available online or in apps.
Write a brief 150-200 word critical summary to connect the post/article with course readings, and be sure to include a citation (Chicago Manual of Style) for the post/article you read for your reflection. Upload a copy of your reflection to Blackboard and bring a copy to class for our discussion.
12/4 Mobile Technologies: Spreadable & Sticky Digital Technologies
READ: Cannon & Barker, “Hard Candy,” in Snickars & Vonderau, Moving Data: The iPhone and the Future of Media.