Week 3
Political Economy

The political element of the term ‘political economy’ correlates  to the way in which thinkers were interested  with nation states, of the way that economic markets were managed whether they were maintain or blocked by the policies and attentions of elected politicians and non-elected rules .

Vincent Mosco the sociologist of communication had characterize political economy as the ‘study of the social relations particularly the power relations that mutually constitute the production distribution and consumption of resources’.

Consequently political economy access when brought to bear upon media, have sought to research the conditions under which media institutions and organisations are formed and work like the motives and restrictions under which they operate.

However a great arena for sound broadcasting has the new Technologies of the World Wide Web become and also for those with access there is a total world of radio to listen online.  The technology makes the opportunity of free access and diverse radio and also is the small cost of making music radio programmes for online distribution that led to this conclusion.

Conversations of ideas of the public good have inclined to focalize upon the provision of information political debate and access rather than music, those conversations are given when emphasizes to media content.

According to Hendy’s Rothenbunhler, McCourt’s and Berland’s studies music radio essentially understood to growth the public good when the music relates to locality and community or when radio forwards music variety. What is more they believe that this can be achieved better straight away freedom from corporate domination on the influence of the record industry and innovation in music programming.

The new technologies of the internet offer a space where music radio can offer free of corporate interests where innovation can take place and most important where variety can flourish for public good.

A lower advantage to radio stations with big listenerships and allows for new forms of funding and consumption is given when the economics of radio using the internet allows more new entrants.

Nevertheless there are two important threats to this idealist view.

First of all there is the opportunity just for anyone to start an internet radio station its financial vitality is most likely to be secured by some sort of portal system , and all this despite the new economic and political imperatives emerging or existing corporate interests that already dominating internet sound broadcasting.

This is happening because portals like those can order access to listen more convenient and also providing the main scale for the sorts of revenue-producing systems that will leader to a profitable proposition.

Secondly the technological shifts on which music was used in over the air radio, have also undermined the economic and cultural basis.Such a rudely legal framework for rewarding copyright will not add to the public good, as it will limit cultural diversity and innovation.

But music industry needs to understand how popular music culture will be transformed, and those seeking to improve the greater good need to grasp how this can be done in new era where nation-state regulation can no longer operate, just like the organizers of radio stations will need to appreciate the new opportunities and economics of radio through new technologies of distribution.

References:

·         Long, P. and Wall, T. 2012. Media studies. Harlow, England: Pearson.

·         The political economy of Internet music radio Wall Tim. 2004. Radio journal, 2 (1), pp. 27-44. Available from: doi: 10.1386/rajo.2.1.27/0.