Summary for Week 5: 6/18/07- 6/21/07

This past week I spent most of my time finishing up my power point presentation and tweaking it here and there. The presentation is about 23 slides long with color photos, and I plan on presenting it for about an hour in August to various MTV representatives. Of course, I will continue to add on as I continue to read about events that effect the landscape of the digital media.

As I am mainly finished with the presentation, I briefly started to write my research paper on the subject. This will be my main work in progress for a decent amount of time, along with the research. My focus now will shift to product testing various music stores themselves, as the only two that I have had significant exposure to thus far have been the iTunes Music Store and recently MTV’s Urge music store. I will incorporate this with all of the research I’ve already conducted to form my research paper.

As I continue to research relevant news stories in the online world, my supervisor and I agreed that I should print out several stories per day and write a brief summary with analysis of each one. I will compile all of these summaries at the end of the summer as part of all of my research.

Specific topics that I read about this past week included what Yahoo plans to do now that it has a new CEO, Sony’s cutting back drastically in its own digital music store, and Apple’s announcement that it would provide YouTube on its upcoming iPhone, which is slightly less than a week away. There will also be a competitor to YouTube run by Newscorps that will include videos of NBC shows. YouTube also unveiled a video editing program very similar to the one I used to edit the Kelly Clarkson video on MTV’s website, called Adobe Premiere Express. I also read more about the future of DVD sales and how there has been some concern over the best way to offer movies online.

It was also interesting to come upon several articles on CNN that were archived written in 2001 that called the future of digital music “extremely bleak”, while it used to cost the phone companies an average of around $11 just to transfer 1 song to one’s cell phone. Other miscellaneous subjects I read about were several ongoing cases between Viacom and Google for its YouTube videos, as well as the very touchy debate regarding online radio, which is being forced to pay royalties that many of the stations say will put them out of business.

Finally, on the side I have been looking into various careers in the Web 2.0 world and what is required of them. There are an abundance of companies that are making things run much smoother than they were run even just a year ago, and this seems to be my most passionate area of interest in regards to my future plans.

One other task I was assigned was to start research on many of the different Facebook utilities that were just recently introduced. This included an in depth analysis of the different applications now available on Facebook and will continue to be an ongoing project.

Summary—Week 4: June 11-14

This week at MTV Digital I conducted a vast amount of research and furthered the development of my Power Point presentation. I also arrived at a date for this presentation, that being Monday, August 13^th.

Among the day to day operations I conducted, I organized many different files neatly into different folders and ordered necessary office supplies. I also continued the ongoing project of importing my supervisor’s real music library into the digital iTunes music player. Also, it was necessary to call different clients to receive a receipt of all bills in the past several weeks.

Over the course of my work, I have learned not only about the business side of things at MTV, but also a great deal in regards to the music industry. My supervisor has emphasized the power of networking on several occasions, and through my research I have learned about the importance of partnership, as well as a little bit about how the industry is run.

More specifically, I read about some cool new features that help to conveniently converge different technologies, among them the online music store. I read about such services as the Hype Machine, a buzz and blog compiler, that may eventually prove useful to online music stores, which have not fully integrated music news yet. I also came across Songbird, a music player where one can browse the Internet and easily play online media in their player like any other MP3 file. Other subjects I explored was the new relationship between a UK social networking site, Bebo, and iTunes. Users on Bebo can now download iTunes music directly off of Bebo. Another place of interest was 7digital & Muse.ie, which has created a free online storage “locker” for all of the songs bought online while also offering one minute track previews.

Another very important current news event took place in Europe where an online music service called MusicStation has launched, and it allows users to download as many songs as they would like for around $4 a month to their mobile phones. The service is now compatible with more than 75 percent of all phones in Europe.

Finally, I found some very useful statistics regarding how people listen to music and other media, what they own to do so, and how many people in total do this. It seems clear now that there is a battle between the phone companies and external third parties, as cell phones are bridging the gap on computers at an extremely high paced speed. Also, the music industry is at a crossroads where it faces declining hard record sales, so it has moved towards an all new advertising platform, seeking to make more money around aspects of an artist or musician other than the music itself.

Other areas that I glossed over were open source technology, the growing movement for on demand radio sponsored by ads, and the ever growing online movie rentals services (which Apple is rumored to enter into very soon).

Specifically, next week I would like to test many of the existing online music stores out first hand to get a better feel for things they have already adopted and things that haven’t been developed yet.

Week 3 Summary—June 4- 7

Overall, I continued to do many of the things I have been doing over the past couple of weeks. I discussed with my supervisor many of the guidelines and asked a few questions to get on the same page with everything overall. We discussed the type of atmosphere at this department and things to improve upon now that I have been here for a more extended amount of time. My supervisor and I also decided to put aside some time at the end of each week to discuss not only my tasks at hand for the previous week and the upcoming week, but also to discuss many of the issues I have been reading about as part of my research of online music stores. This in turn will help keep us both educated about the direction that I am headed and allow for greater input on his part as well as the opportunity to point me in various directions for my research. It will also allow me to take part in various opportunities that might overlap with my research.

I did several things to help organize financial aspects of the business over the past week, ranging from tasks that need to be done like ordering more office supplies to photo copying financial records and faxing them.

As far as the progression of my research, I finished reading the basics on each of the various music services that are now offered. I have begun to create a Powerpoint presentation that will serve as the basis for my 15-20 minute presentation and also paper at the end of the summer. The presentation is in its very early stages, with just a title page, brief points to cover (I will be doing most of the talking while the presentation is more an outline of my talking points), and several pictures to help make the presentation aesthetically pleasing.

One of the most promising things I came across during my research was a site by the name of LaLa. LaLa is like iTunes in that it can play various songs from different users across a network, yet this network can be accessed from anywhere, from any computer, and songs are streamable for free and can also be bought from the iTunes music store. Any user can upload their entire iTunes music library into the LaLa player and share it with anyone else from any computer around the world, all legally. The program has flaws, of course, but it seems very promising as it allows a complete backup of one’s own music library and access to a plethora of music that can be listened to in full, and if liked, bought. Warner Group has just recently licensed their music to LaLa, which has paid a boat load for these rights.

Also, in a bit of continuation of my research of the DRM- free songs that iTunes unveiled last week, it has become known that information such as name and email address is now attached to each song file, so therefore in theory the original downloader of a DRM-free song can be tracked down by Apple or the RIAA, among others. This has been met with a decent amount of scrutiny.

I also briefly read an article about how MTV could possibly be sleeping with the enemy in releasing much of its television catalog onto iTunes rather than placing it exclusively into its own service, Urge. Yet experts also say that MTV is making huge profits from this move, though they are directly giving their largest competitors rights to their products (kind of like what happened with Microsoft Windows programs on Apple computers).

My supervisor also showed me a project just unleashed by MTV, based around a Kelly Clarkson music video that anyone can remix, called “MTV Video Remixer”, and then enter into a competition. The feature was pretty nifty in that it allowed users to fully customize the music video with quotes, fade-in/out’s, slow motion effects and other options. Allowing user customization is growing increasingly important in this day in age.

Next week I hope to fine tool my Powerpoint presentation, continue to keep the most up to date as possible with news and events of the industry, and help this department in its day to day operations as I’ve done in the past.

Summary for the week of 5/26/07- 5/31/07

During my second full week at MTV Digital Music, I began by organizing various receipts that required processing by date. This was done in order to make my supervisor Dan Russo’s tasks of submitting a report much easier to conduct. Other tasks that I helped with included starting a more long term project of creating a large music library that will be available through the network here at MTV Digital. This included research on finding the correct external hard drive, and ripping the CD’s at the right bit rate. I will be ripping these CD’s as I work on other projects throughout the internship.

Secondly, I continued to tweak my ideas for my ongoing project regarding online music stores. I began to thoroughly read about such products as iTunes, Napster, along with an early history of file sharing, and Urge. Also, I have tried to keep as up to date as possible with the events that are occurring even in the news today that have an impact on this department, in particular the recent discussion between CEO’s Steve Jobs of Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft. Apple currently provides the iPod and iTunes music services and makes up a majority of the increasing market, while Microsoft and MTV have worked together with Windows Media Player to initiate the Urge music store project. The two recently met to much publicity and discussed the future of their products, relationships with one another, and specifics in the digital music industry.

I also read an article in Thursday, May 31’s New York Times that discusses the growing trend for consumers to emphasize the bit rate and quality of the music they are downloading, which has prompted iTunes to just come out with DRM (another quite controversial topic I’ve been reading about) free music of higher quality at 256 kbps as opposed to the standard 128 kbps, which will be offered for $1.29.

Finally in terms of very recent trends, I looked at several of the new services that Facebook, the extremely popular social networking site, has used to promote music that has been launched in the past week. The site has created a “files” section, where users can upload whatever files they so choose (which might come to include music, legal or illegal). I also took a look at the iLike feature, which allows users to type in their favorite songs (which are then advertised to other users who can then purchase and preview them), as well as music quiz’s, upcoming concerts, and the ability to sync up with other popular music browsers like Last.fm.

Other subjects that I had time to start to gloss over a bit included the expansion into video downloading in music stores, as well as the pros and cons of subscription based services.

Finally, I conducted a brief errand into the Urge offices here at MTV and had the idea of talking to one of their representatives at a later date to discuss the research I am doing. This would give me further background on the product they are developing and ideas they are throwing around, as well as allow me to possibly grant my own input from an outsider’s perspective on what might be beneficial for the service. I discussed this idea briefly with my supervisor who thought that having Urge attend my final presentation was a good idea overall.

Next week, I will continue the music library project, conduct day to day activities, and continue my research on online music stores.

Summary for the week of 5/20/07 through 5/24/07

Upon arriving at MTV Networks in Times Square, New York, the first thing I did was attend an orientation for all summer interns. The orientation was relatively straightforward and just gave me details regarding what was to be expected in the “Business Conduct Statement” packet, and introduced me firsthand to the company itself. Other interns and I the conducted a short workshop to help as an ice breaker, and the supervisors and intern coordinators talked briefly to each of us in order to answer any questions.

Following the orientation, I went up to the office, MTV Digital Music Group & Logo, where I met with my supervisor, Dan Russo, who showed me around and told me what to expect over the next couple of months. Overall, the office is casual and I have my own computer and desk. Many of the responsibilities with MTV Digital Music are day to day activities that are necessary for this department to be as efficient as possible, such as organizing financial information, running errands to pickup products and researching various necessary items. I also discussed with Dan my schedule over the summer and other useful tips and techniques to help best do my duties.

Over the first week, I also started to formulate my idea for my “Digital Research Project” that I will eventually present before the Executive Vice President of Digital for MTVN Music Group & Logo. I decided on researching “online music stores”, as I felt that it combined aspects of the department I am working in and the Internet studies program, as well as being a topic that I have great interest in. I started this ongoing research project when I was in between other tasks by searching through and compiling information from various types of music stores (aka iTunes, MTV’s own “URGE”, among others). This led me to start comparing the differences between these services, file sharing, and other unique ways of providing music to a listener. This project will also attempt to bring new ideas of how to improve MTV’s own presence in this area.

Other tasks included ordering office supplies and creating an organized work area for Dan and myself, organizing items for various partners of MTV Networks, as well as verifying expenses in the “Travel and Expense Reports”.

Next week I will be working further on the Travel and Expense Reports along with my Research Project, among other duties.

Yeah! New York

Here is a quite brief summary/ list of things I'm planning on doing, have done in the past couple of weeks, or hope to accomplish over the course of the summer here in New York. More in depth details to come.

CONCERT SCHEDULE:
Wolfmother- 4/29- Boston
LCD Soundsystem- 5/11- Boston
Arctic Monkeys?- 5/13- Boston
Thurston Moore- 5-20- New York
Animal Collective (free)- 6/1- New York
The Horrors?- 6/5- New York
Kings of Leon (free)- 6/9- New York
The Long Blondes and We Are Scientists, apparently- 6-6- New York
Prince (free)- 6/16- New York
Television, Apples in Stereo, Dragons of Zynth (free)- 6/16- Central Park, New York
6/29- Snowden, Ra Ra Riot (free)- New York
Man Man (free)- 7/1- New York
New Pornographers, Midlake (free)- 7/4- New York
Spoon (free)- New York
Fujiya & Miyagi (free)- 7/6- New York
Beach Boys (free)- 7/7- New York
Decemberists, Grizzly Bear?- 7/16- Central Park, New York
Bishop Allen (free)- 7/20- New York
Siren Fest (free)- 7/21- Coney Island
Junior Boys (free)- 7/27- New York
7/28- SONIC YOUTH!!!! PERFORMING DAYDREAM NATION!!! IN FULL!!!!!- New York
TV on the Radio (free)- 7/29- New York
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, WU TANG, PUBLIC ENEMY, MORE?- Rock the Bells- 7-28, Randall's Island, New York
Blonde Redhead, I'm from Barcelona (free)- 8/5- New York
The Hold Steady, The Big Sleep, The Teenage Prayers (free)- 8/9- New York
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists- 8/12- New York
The National (free)- 8/17- New York
Camera Obscura (free)- 8/24- New York


THINGS TO DO:
Pass the White Castle 30 rack challenge with Dustin Smith.
Go to 3 Yankees games, 1 Mets game
See 4 shows on Broadway
Meet some random celebrities
Go to Staten Island
Eat a giant Reuben at Carnegie Deli
Top of the Rock
See many, many museums
Go to the above concerts
Do some heavy reading
Plan for future!

THINGS DONE:
Free public viewing of Woody Allen movie with John Farr and wine
Walk the Brooklyn bridge and run into a Brandeis student
Find a park to hangout in
Introduce Boston residents to White Castle
Live with random International students in a hostel
Almost meet 50 Cent
WTC Ground Zero
Find a local bar
Visit Museum of Natural History
Visit Metropolitan Art Museum

Boring, optimistic rhetoric

Well I've succumbed and created yet another blog/journal/diary/whatever. I got sick of the whole LJ thing and I guess I'm crawling back in a different form. But this is more or less to document my general thoughts, ruminations, meanderings, whatever. Mostly I just want to chronicle all the cool stuff I hope to accomplish this summer in New York City.

I've been given an incredible opportunity by many different sources, my parents, people that have trusted and/or allowed me to have opportunities I could have only dreamed about 3 years ago, and even MTV, where I'll be working. I have my reservations of course about this, since it is the MTV that everyone rags on --self included-- for their lack of anything mildly good these days. The job looks promising, however it is unpaid. I'm to work in the Digital Music department at the corporate Headquarters in f'ing Times Square. Never before have I anticipated the possibilities of something like this. Well, maybe upon being accepted to Brandeis. At the same time, I'm going to take a concurrent course with a COSI professor, Tim Hickey, who seems really friendly, to document what goes on, so I'll probably repost a lot of what I write on here onto a completely different blog so that he can read it, sans whatever private stuff goes in here. Screw friends only entries, not many people will read this anyway and to be exclusive would be ridiculous.

Junior year is all but over. 3 more finals, one of which is in an hour and 25 minutes and that I think I'm prepared for. But the small details don't really matter. What matters is that this has been the most gruesome semester I've ever had, and perhaps the most drama filled. But in the end, I'm glad it's happened the way it has, I've learned, and I've endured. I've continued some amazing friendships close and far, ended some, and experienced ups and downs in others. It's all a piece of cake after this semester. Ok, that's not true at all, but I definitely feel like a huge load will be lifted off my back when I'm on that sketchy Fung Wah bus to Chinatown, New York. And I'm talking about extra curriculars, personal relations, family, and figuring out what I'm going to study. Then again, finding a REAL job isn't exactly a piece of cake. But this is a huge step, nonetheless.

My friends have commented that I've been more "cultured" according to one, "edgy" according to another, and perhaps even just "aloof". This leads me to the conclusion that it is my pretentious, self-proclaimed stage where I question why I am even here to begin with. I am searching for true independence (and what better place to do so than New York). I guess I just want to grow as a person, to experience as much as I can, and to work on things that have plagued me in the past.

Next year promises to be full of great surprises. Peaceful housing has never been so assured, and strong, but not overbearing commitments (as was this semester) in clubs lay ahead. Spending my final year at a fine university (that is anything but perfect) is something that I am truly thankful for and I feel that I have kind of woken up from a lot of the strange stuff that I've been through in the past couple of years. I hope that I can read this in a year and say I was right.

So that's my first post back to the online world. No drama here. Just boring, optimistic rhetoric. I'll probably have less general stuff from now on, more of just my thoughts and what's of interest.

Music: Rock Music- The Pixies