24 MediaMagazineOnline | December 2010 | english and media centre

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Illegal Audiences: Pay or
Piracy?
How have changes in media
technologies affected audience
consumption and behaviour patterns
and how do these in turn impact
on the economics of the media
industries? Michael Parkes investigates
the murky world of illegal downloads
and piracy, and argues that there may
be some longer-term benefits for
media institutions.
By now you will have probably come across
all manner of audience theories in your study
of the media. Each approach attempts to
understand how audiences consume media
texts and address the possible effects of the
content on people. From the Hypodermic
Needle model to Stuart Halls encoding/
decoding model; uses and gratifications to two-
step flow, all are the by-product of research into
audiences behaviour, consumption and reading
of the media.
However, all of these approaches are
problematic. All media theories take for granted
one important factor that, when questioned,
destabilises their ability to analyse the
audience.
They all take for granted that the audience
is consuming the media legally that they are
paying for it and investing in the experience.
Audiences have given something up (usually
money) to take part in the process; or they
are part of a secondary or tertiary audience
consuming content in a process in which they
and the media institution are complicit.
However in todays media landscape,
personal investment and paying for the media
doesnt always happen; the internet has
radically changed the way we consume to the
point that audiences are regularly downloading
content illegally, not paying for it, and more
importantly, not investing in this experience.
If this is the case, should we be reconsidering
our approach to audience consumption? If
the audience is consuming the media without
investing in it, is this a different experience?
Does watching a film or listening to a piece of
music change when we get it for free?
10 Years of Change
Illegal downloading started to create a stir
in the news and in media studies over a decade
ago with the threat of Napster. Media analysts
reacted quite quickly, addressing the fear that
this was a major threat to both the industry
and individual artists and that it would change
the way in which audiences consumed the
media. Institutions reacted and attempted
legal proceedings on a number of example
cases to send the message that illegal pirating
would not be tolerated. Media technology and
formats have had to change to control content
and release dates, making it harder to copy
media texts, although at the same time making
institutional distribution and manufacture
easier. The internet has given audiences an
almost unlimited choice of content and in
the case of individual artists; there are now
excellent opportunities for unsigned bands, as
you can get your music to a global audience via
social networking marketing; whilst at the same
time making it easier for institutions to find
artists that are already popular with the public.
Fears that illegal downloads would lead to
financial ruin for the music industry have also
seemed to be unfounded. We are starting to see
growth in both CD album sales and tickets for
live events after 10 years of decline, almost as
if the young downloaders of the last 10 years
have matured and now have the disposable
income to spend on music. If this is the case,
then the future looks optimistic. Teenagers
who have comparatively little money are
given access to downloadable music during
their youth, and when they have their first job
and earn more money, they can then start to
contribute to the legal media industry. They are
also likely to spend more than any generation
before them, as they are used to a certain
amount of musical intake which they will
attempt to maintain in their 20s and 30s.
Co-opting the Texts We
Consume
We have also started to see some changes
whereby audiences appear to be consuming
the media in new ways, negotiating mainstream
media and fragmenting the media text. The
music album has become more and more
open to interpretation as fans download and
re-sequence favourite tracks that reflect their
own personality.
More recently audiences have started to do
the same with films, re-editing their favourite
clips, adding different music or even totally
recreating and uploading to YouTube to reflect
their own identity. In her opening speech
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at Cannes last year Danah Boyd, a respected
academic researcher at Microsoft and Harvard,
referred to this process as co-option, which
recognised the way in which new audiences
are co-opting media texts restructuring them
to construct an external manifestation of their
identity in the same way in which we would
traditionally use fashion.
So things have changed dramatically over the
last 10 years. Despite this, the theories we use
to understand audience consumption have not.
They still take for granted that audiences are
investing in the initial experience, despite the
evidence that they are not. Therefore we need
to address these changes and come up with new
approaches to understand new audiences.
What Drives Illegal Download
Choice?
The mainstream media are full of choice and
guidance as to what to consume and how to
consume it. Advertisements, trailers for films,
iTunes recommendations and poster campaigns
all of which attempt to get you to give up your
money to buy and invest in a specific media
experience. Thanks to this process we can pretty
much predict which media texts are going to
be the most popular; whichever has the biggest
advertising campaign or most media coverage
is likely to be the most successful.
in terms of film, the link between
advertising budget and film success is
especially noticeable during the summer
blockbuster period, when cinema trailers,
TV spots, merchandising, McDonalds tie ins,
toys and even social networking and online
advertisements can guarantee a films success. If
you analyse 2009s list of Top 10 films at the box
office, it closely matches the top 10 advertising
spend. Awards are also an indicator of possible
success and large sections of the audience rely
on Oscars and BAFTAs to inform their decisions
before handing over cold hard cash at the box
office.
However, the top 10 illegal film download
list doesnt always match the advertising
spend, award lists or mainstream box office
success. Online illegal downloading audiences
are still exposed to the advertising campaigns
of the big blockbusters, but this success does
not translate into downloads. Last years Top
3 illegally downloaded films according to
Torrent Freak are Star Trek with over 10 million
downloads (more than The Dark Knight the year
before), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at
number 2, and more surprisingly, Rock n Rolla
at number three, with over 9 million downloads;
however, the same film ranked at 168th at the
Box office in 2008 when the film was released.
So what dictates the success of these films
in illegal downloading? Well in Rock n Rollas
case its the aXXo uploader, which, due to
the success and ease of use of the software,
guaranteed over a million downloads. The
success here seems to be primarily due
to technological reasons. Technological
capability and age plays an important part
in understanding the success of these films;
both Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of
the Fallen are targeted at a teenage audience
already savvy with download culture and with
access to the necessary hardware to consume
in this way. Traditionally money has been the
barrier to how many films you can consume, in
todays media landscape this is no different, but
the focus is on what the money is spent on i.e.
the technology that allows you to download.
Targeting Illegal Audiences
Although age is a clear indicator of a films
online success, there is, however, an anomaly:
namely Harry Potter and the Half Blood
Prince. The Number One film at the official
box office in 2009 appears in the top 10
illegally downloaded films at Number 7. This
is a film that is clearly marketed at a young
technologically savvy market, reflected in the
number of official online advertisements for
the film prior to its release. So why wasnt it at
number 1 in the download list?
If we look carefully at the top illegal
downloaded films there appears to be a pattern
forming. In 2007 the top illegal downloaded
film was Transformers; in 2008 it was Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
and in 2009 Star Trek. All of these films fit into
the science fiction/fantasy genre; but more
importantly, all carry with them an existing
audience from their previous incarnations. Star
Trek has a legacy audience dating back to the
1960s; Transformers from the 1980s with its
back story and toy merchandise; and Indiana
Jones from the previous Spielberg films, also
from the 1980s. The intended target audiences
for these films are both young teenage males,
but also older teenage males from the 1980s
who are now well into their 30s, with the
disposable income necessary to spend on
watching these films at the cinema. So why
download?
When daunted by the prospect of sitting
amongst teenage boys with no appreciation
of the legacy and back stories of these films or
the importance of their previous incarnations
in constructing their identity as children and
teenagers, the older male audience chose to
download. When put in this position, were
the older members of the audience more
likely to illegally download rather than admit
consuming their childhood favourites at the
cinema?
Both Star Trek and Transformers are
excellent examples of Ien Angs Ideology of
Popularism. Ang is an Australian Professor of
Cultural Studies. In Watching Dallas (1985,) her
influential study of audiences for the US soap
opera, Ang argues that a media texts status as
an imported expensive cultural product is a key
part of its success. In this case, both films reflect
Angs ideas both films have big budgets,
special effects and major marketing campaigns.
However, both also carry an un-fashionable
geeky heritage. You dont have to look very
far in the media to see stereotypical images
of the sci-fi geek see, for example, the cast
of The Big Bang Theory. Was this in turn part
of the reason for the films online success?
Did mainstream audiences want to go and
see these films at the box office but not to be
tainted with the geek stereotypes, so opted
to consume them in the safety of the home? It
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is also worth noting that the
top illegal downloaded films
(possibly with the exception
of Indiana Jones) have a key
theme of technology running
throughout the narrative. We
have already addressed the
importance of technology and
the role that it plays in the
success of illegal downloads,
but is it possible that the theme
of technology in a film feeds into
the way in which it is consumed?
Institutions are quick to
address the financial problems
associated with illegal
downloading. Anti-downloading
advertisements draw attention
to the poor picture and sound
quality, the low social status of
the film downloader (the Knock-
off Nigel campaign), and the
consequences of breaking the law
with downloading. However, the
idea that stealing a handbag from
an old lady in the street is on a
par with downloading an invisible
media text from media monopolies
is met with humour by audiences.
There are possibly some
positives that come out of illegal
media consumption; sales are
starting to rise, there is more
choice, audiences are more
engaged and interactive and we
spend more time consuming and spending
on the media than any generation before us.
However, the cost of this consumption is not
going to go away. Institutions are developing
newer technologies and methods to curb illegal
distribution and consumption of the media,
3D cinema being just one example. The costs
of these developments will be passed onto the
consumer, through more expensive cinema
tickets or merchandising. In Hollywood there
really is no such thing as a free film.
Michel Parkes teaches Film and Media Studies at Bilborough
College, Nottingham. He is studying for a PhD on Audience
Theory and Illegal Audiences.