Film Problems

The film industry is in no large state of decline.  In a country that is in a heavy state of economic decline, hollywood has managed to do more than just stay afloat, but rather, to thrive.  There is no doubt that hollywood has created it's own area, both in the United states, but seeming to exist in it's own world.  But my question is, what effect does the movie industry have on the kids involved in it?

For the sake of this I'll mash television and movie industries together to have a broader pool of examples to pull from.  The times today give us a wide variety of names to pull from, for hollywood potential, gone terribly awry.  While adult starts have had their fair share of extravagant behavior perhaps to be blamed on hollywood, child stars have had an incredibly unique experience of growing up in this world.  Does this effect their behavior in the future?

Take for instance Amanda Bynes.  She was a breakout actor and comedian by the time she attended a comedy camp and started acting at the age of 7.  By the age of thirteen she had an incredibly popular kid show The Amanda show.  After nickelodeon had fostered her talent by giving her a self titled show, she started a big movie career beyond the small screen.  In 2011 Bynes announced that she would be taking time off.  A surprise to many people who thought her movie stardom was just reaching it's peak.  However, the young starlet spiraled out of control within the next few years.  Currently Bynes has been in a mental facility for a matter of months after a slew of inexplicable odd behavior, often illegal and obviously attention seeking.  The question becomes, is this latent behavior present beforehand?  Or is the hollywood lifestyle affecting stars, and effectually changing what their behavior would have been.

Remember the nineties show Full House?  Who could forget the lovable child character played by Mary Kate, and Ashley Olsen, as well as Jodie Sweetin and Candice Cameron.  This show provides the perfect side by side analysis of how Hollywood MAY have an effect on how children grow up.  Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen got their start on Full House form the time they were babies to their early years.  Spring boarding from Full House, they had individual movie lines, complete clothing lines, toy lines, a full merchandising suite.  These two stars were massively successful, and while they had their times dealing with personal issues, there was never any illegal or illicit activity.  Jody Sweetin on the other hand was nowhere near as successful, but still had the problem of growing up in the spotlight.  She had her fair share of success, but like Candice Cameron at a certain point distanced herself from the Hollywood industry.  While there has been no scandal for Candice, Jody has had repeated bouts of drug use and supposedly underage illicit activity.

While others might have a clear case of behavior turned extremely exhibitionist and unstable, some stars use their crazy behavior as nothing more than a publicity stunt.  Take for instance, Miley Cyrus.  It is currently being argued by many that hollywood or even disney in particular have effectually "ruined" her.  While these statements may or may not have any validity, unlike many other child stars, Miley Cyrus is not doing anything certifiably insane, nor illegal.  Stars such as Amanda Bynes, Lindsey Lohan, and Britney Spears, have exhibited behavior that puts both themselves, and others in danger, Miley Cyrus has only asked for attention.  The argument that people are making, is that hollywood MADE her do this, it made her who she is.  While very little research one can find out that Miley was a bit the rebel before Disney ever got it's claws into her.  As a child Miley Cyrus was repeatedly kicked out of private schools, and remember those provocative and inappropriate pics when she was underage?  That was all her decisions, outside of the hollywood limelight.  I think that at times Hollywood gives a stage and a voice to people, whether or not those people are extravagant is due to the person, not the industry in which they work in.

The end all question that is being asked is age old, is it nature or nurture?  Are these people who have been highlighted and spotlighted from a very young age being affected by the film industry?  Or are these children being  spotlighted, already having a predisposition to  rebellious and or mentally unsound decisions?  Perhaps we will never know, but the number of stars that have turned out unhealthy, makes one question if perhaps, the film industry may be to blame.

Music: And Why Would Should Listen to the Problems it Faces

Music is something that cultures all around the world can relate to.  While the type of music may vary and the importance may differentiate, it is almost always present in some way shape or form.  The music industry in the United States is something quickly facing vast crisis for a number of reasons, not the least of which being, the rise of technology.

Music has had a long standing history of allowing artists to support themselves by doing what they love.  With the rise of technology, however, while new music is being produced and published, the profit which the musician receives has been significantly reduced.  In the past the consumer was limited to purchasing the entire album to hear any particular song, now, the consumer can pay a fraction of the cost for a single hit downloaded straight to their device of choice.  Beyond the invention of instant downloading, there is also the increasing issue of piracy.

In a this country where the economy is on increasingly less stable ground, the music industry has taken a turn for the worse.  Technological literacy is on the rise, people are consistently learning more and more about how to take advantage of the technology they have on hand.  The increase of pirating on a worldwide scale has become a real issue for the survival of individual artists in particular.

A particularly relevant story comes from the mid 2000's there was the invention of a music downloading and sharing site called Napster.  While this site and company has since been shut down, it set the first precedence for sharing music freely, essentially cutting out the necessity of actually supporting the artists and unavoidably the producing companies which these artists 'belong' to.

Courtesy of secretofthefed.com

Another large issue the industry is facing is control.  As of 1996 when the Telecommunications Act passed, there is virtually no limit to the number of radio stations and production companies that corporations can own.  A highly unfortunate situation arises when this happens, conglomerate market control.  Inevitably when the act was passed a few leading companies made moves to dominate the market place by slowly swallowing smaller companies.  In the music industry today while the names of production companies and radio stations may vary, three main companies have the majority of the control, meaning the music industry is dominated by an oligopoly.  These three companies according to Media & Culture (Campbell 2012) are Time Warner Music group, Sony Entertainment Music Group, and Universal Music group, with independent companies only making up 12% of the total market.

The real question is now, why should we care? There are a few choice companies deciding what prepackaged pre-approved music you're going to hear.  Unless you go out of your way to find the independent artists who don't fit the company mold for the highest profit margin, you won't hear them.  Most everyone tries to follow a formula that will yield the highest profit margins the fastest, which  edges out individuality that many of these independent artists boast.

Ultimately, the music industry is in crisis for a number of reasons.  Pirating takes away money from the artists and companies, while the companies are slowly edging out many individual artists themselves.  The people in the end who are losing are the consumers, and the artists themselves.  If you are an artists and you do not fit the typical formula, it will be a hard time trying to find a company to take you on.  If you are a part of a label, especially if it's smaller, pirating will be incredibly damaging to your income.  We should all be demanding better piracy laws, a crackdown on the theft of peoples livelihoods.  Also, why should an oligopoly be acceptable in the music industry when it isn't elsewhere? We should all be demanding our diversity.