This is the age of the internet, and we are millennials. Therefore the entertainment industry is flailing.
This both is and isn’t our fault.
In an economy where many college graduates have to live at home with their parents due to a lack of funds, it isn’t exactly on the top of many people's list to spend a lot of money on a movie ticket or buying an album.
You may say, “Well, I just bought something last month” or “I went to go see 'Suicide Squad' in theaters,” but compared with our predecessors, our generation is spending less money on entertainment than before.
This shift in thinking has hit the entertainment industry hard. In the past, the majority of the film industry’s revenue came from domestic sales. Nowadays, films have to market themselves to be more palatable to an international market in order to break even. International sales make up an average of 57 percent of revenue.
The music industry was hit with just as much force. It used to be that the sale of the music itself was by and far the main money maker for an artist. Now, with things like piracy and streaming, they rely more on the touring aspect of their job.
That means it’s now more important than ever for artists and stars to cater and market themselves to their audience. Musicians like Taylor Swift have a strong social media output, which makes fans feel more connected to artists. They then feel obligated to buy the artist's music. When new movies come out, the stars of that movie tend to shift their focus to marketing that movie by talking to fans through mediums such as Twitter.
Comic Con is an example of marketing at its finest. With an audience of superfans, any trailer premiered there is guaranteed to make some sort of splash. A trailer released at some random time of the year will probably get some traction. A trailer released at Comic Con gets articles written about it.
Personally, I believe that the challenge being presented to these industries is a great thing. While it has resulted in some lack of originality (really, another Spiderman franchise?), it also forces the industry to listen to what the fans want. More diversity on screen? Sure. A female lead superhero? Of course.
In the music industry it’s also encouraged discussions on how powerful should a music label really be? Is Taylor Swift right or wrong for protesting streaming services? Is Jay Z a visionary for basically being creating his own?
A lack of money may have made our entertainment industry desperate, but after years of companies like Universal and Sony having total and absolute control over what we consume, it may not be such a bad thing.
Nalani Rogers is a sophomore studying media arts and studies at Ohio University. How much do you roughly spend on entertainment every month? Let Nalani know by emailing her at nr827714@ohio.edu
