Getting in to TV

As like a lot of other industries Media has been affected by the recession. Less people are advertising jobs in the Media Guardian and there is less new TV written and produced by new talent. The TV industry not only has the recession to contend with but the ever changing marketplace with the internet now playing a key role in its development so much so that the degree that I graduated from Broadcasting studies is now called Digital Media.

The question I want to pose this week is with audiences now watching TV more and more online has it opened up a greater opportunity for young people to get established and noticed so that they can move on to regular TV or has the recession stopped any chance of this?

I think with technological advances it is easier and cheaper today to produce a TV programme or film than it was ten years ago. This has been highlighted by the British film “Colin” which was made for £45 and got a limited cinema release. With more and more people using the internet and watching TV on the internet it is also easier to market your work and get people watching.

This development has given young talented people the chance to shine in TV which they wouldn’t have normally had but it is the next step which is the hardest and most important which is making your talent in to a career or securing a job off the back of it. With sites like YouTube, BBC iPlayer and illegal file sharing viewers online are reluctant to pay to view and securing an advertising deal which pays you any kind of real money is near on impossible to find so making money out of your work can be hard.

So the only way really to use the online world is for publicity to help you get paid work in industry however this is where we hit another snag. Because of the recession TV companies don’t have big budgets or money to waste so many are reluctant to take risks or to employ unproven talent no matter how good you are. The big networks are looking for cheap to make programmes and programmes they can make money out of and know they are going to get high viewing figures for. This is why we have the X-Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and I’m a Celebrity on at the moment, which takes up a huge chunk of weekly TV.

I think in the future there will be a way to draw more money out of screening programmes on the internet but until that day comes I think it is going to be hard for someone to make a decent living if they aren’t employed or funded by a major company. From an artists point however I encourage any budding TV and film maker to go out and produce something and put it up on the web as I think in the future there will be more cases like “Colin” that go on to do big things and get recognition.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

TV, Internet and the 21st Century

This week I want to talk about an email I got this week from some of the guys working on the E4 series Skins telling me about competitions they are running for young people to get their music featured on the show and to secure speaking roles. This got me thinking for my blog this week.

I think its great how TV companies are integrating their services with an online arm and they are using their online side of the organisation to encourage members of the public to get involved and create media. The internet has made it so quick and easy for young people to create recordings of their music and videos of their acting or producing which is encouraging more young people to try their hand at these things and enter competitions like this. Back many years ago people would have to make a tape of themselves and then send it off to an address to enter competitions like this which would put many people off who had the talent and ability to do win competitions like these.

Many shows have asked for people to upload videos for competitions for acting roles but not many have offered the chance for young musicians to have their music featured on a show. This is ingenious because now young people will get the chance to have their music featured on a show which is popular with young people and a series which will be repeated, available online and possibly on DVD which is a great advert for their music.

The TV companies also get rewards for running competitions like this as they get free promotion and encourage their fanbase and potential audience members to interact with the show and feel more a part of the show. Not only this but music rights for TV programmes can be an expensive business so to get hold of music which isn’t from a major label or music company is a lot better for the producers financially as they have to pay through the nose to use music from established stars on their show.

I think we will see more competitions and opportunities like this in the near future as it is a win / win situation for all involved.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Giving away music for free

This month will see McFly trying to expand their fanbase by giving away their latest album for free through The Mail on Sunday through which they expect their album to reach three million homes in the UK. We have already seen the likes of Prince giving away his album through the Mail as well as Radiohead offering their album in exchange for a donation on the internet but it now looks like pop acts are getting in on the act.

As the way in which we consume music changes the industry needs to change with it so I am always interested to see what new and innovative ways companies and music acts are using to distribute music. However I feel that when a handful of acts start giving their music away for free and doing it in a mainstream way it affects the whole music industry. If one act can afford to give away their music for free then the general public start to think they should be able to get music from other acts for free and not paying for music becomes an acceptable activity.

Another problem which occurs when music is given away for free is that music becomes worthless. Music instead of being a saleable product it just becomes a form of advertising and promotion for a band to sell merchandise and tickets to live events. By making music worthless it becomes harder for the smaller acts to make money. The bigger acts benefit from doing it as they run live events at big indoor venues and make a lot of money from merchandise but small acts who only tour small venues need the income that record sales provide.

There needs to be systems and services put in place which can give people access to music at a reasonable price without having a negative affect on smaller acts. With the credit crunch how it is it is right for the music industry to react in a way that makes music more affordable but it is just a shame that crunch will probably affect how much money is invested in to new acts. I think new unsigned acts have to capitalise on their ability to produce music and promote it on the cheap thanks to new tools on the internet as record companies no longer have big budgets to establish artists with. That’s the one advantage for unsigned acts is that their music is cheaper to produce than a signed artist so they can afford to give away heir music more cheaply.

The internet has revolutionised the way in which we buy, watch and listen to music, TV and films we just need to make sure that the way in which we are consuming media is fair to the artists and the production companies. For some time I feel the industries have been to kind to the artists and not kind enough to the consumer in the way things have been priced and profits made but we need to make sure we don’t go in completely the other direction where it becomes unfair to the people creating media. As for us to have good quality entertainment we have to have people making it who are fairly paid.

What do you think about bands offering their music for free with newspapers or online? Does it make you less likely to pay for other music? And you think it is a positive thing for the music industry? Let us know by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=494

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Facebook Fatigue

The last two years has seen an explosion of social networking activity on the Internet. With websites like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook attracting millions of users who log on each day to check their profiles, upload photos and talk with their friends.

Over recent weeks Facebook has reported in a downturn in activity on their website and it is lead to people claiming “Facebook Fatigue.” With so much hype about Facebook and so much to do on their websites with millions of applications that you can download or get invited to take part in people are now starting to get bored of their product or are starting to use it in a less active way.

I think social networking has its good points and its bad points. I think social networking websites are great for developing confidence and networking skills as well as sharing information and getting back in touch with old friends. However instead of using social networking as a tool and part of your life people over the last couple of years have let social networking become their life with a high percentage of their daily interaction with other people happening through social networking and not real life. Some users have not been able to go five minutes without checking their profile to see who has commented or left them a message it has become like an addiction and a way for people to waste time.

The biggest concern I have with social networking is the security implications of using them. if used sensibly and run sensibly these sites can be safe places but with so much information being posted and made freely available to the general public it is now becoming too easy for people who you wouldn’t want getting your information getting hold of it. Also on the security side it is now all to easy to set up an account in which the user can pretend to be someone they are not in order to engage in criminal activity.

I think social networking can help make your social life more efficient but this is if only used correctly and as a tool. I think that social networking needs to be made a lot safer before I would encourage children to use it as at the moment there are too many dangers. Regardless of how many good points there are if there is one small danger to young people I would not recommend it.

Social Networking is now big business with Facebook, Bebo and MySpace all making millions of pounds each year so there are always going to be new companies trying to break the market so like Facebook has grown over the last year I’m sure next year there could be a new major player.

As well as the companies that provide social networking not getting complacent companies that market through social networking or have social networking pages also have to guard against compliancy. Social networking pages are a great publicity tool but you have to make sure you are getting the most out of your page and providing a service that your viewers want. Also social networking is great for young bands as they can now have their own page for free which can easily be updated and that they can drive viewers to which is another way it can be used for good reasons.

So overall I say yes there is a place for social networking but don’t let it rule your life. Customize the experience to suit your needs.

To share your thoughts on social networking come and check out our topic of the week on our forums by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=375

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Talented Young People is one year old!

This week marks the first birthday of Talented Young People. We started with a bang last year on fireworks night and haven’t looked back since. With no government, grant or corporate funding Talented Young people has grown like wildfire thanks to the support of you guys our viewers and our users.

We started off only attracting one hundred people a week to the site but now thanks to support from organisations like the BBC we now receive 2,000 unique viewers a week and in one year have helped close to 50,000 young people get that step closer to their dream.

In a world where the internet has been used for so many unlawful or just unpleasant acts like spreading viruses, spamming your inbox or committing identity fraud I think it is important that we get more websites online that want to help people. At the end of the day you aren’t going to stop people from using the Internet we are never going to win that battle but if we can create more websites that are there to help people we are going to make going on the Internet a safer and more helpful experience. The Internet needs to be used as a tool to educate, motivate and inspire young people.

A vast majority of young people now use the Internet and big corporate companies know this so they are using the Internet to target this important audience. This is another reason why it is so important that there are websites on the Internet, which aren’t driven by corporate greed, and that put young people first and whose sole purpose is to help young people.

The one thing that any website or online entity that is designed to help young people has to remember is that although many young people use and have access to the internet there is a large population of young people that don’t have the internet at home and it is often these that need help and need to be reached the most. Just because the Internet is popular with young people it doesn’t mean always that it is the only way or the right way to help young people.

The one thing though with the Internet that amazes me is the amount of people that have visited www.talentedyoungpeople.com who have been helped, inspired or motivated by what they have read. With any website the amount of people hat get in touch with the people who run the website is a very small percentage of the total number of people who visit the site this is why sometimes you never know how many people you have truly helped. I just think that it’s great that at any time of the day and in any part of the globe somebody could be logging on to the website and without me ever knowing could be using the information and the motivational words to achieve their dreams. Whenever I get up in the morning I could have already helped 100 people whilst I was asleep which I think is an amazing thing and the true power of the Internet. Some people are afraid to wont ask people for help and this is why I think the internet is such a great tool as it provides a degree of anonymity for the user to seek help and advice without having to go and ask someone or for those that live in rural areas where it may be a long drive to find an expert to speak to.

I have big hopes for Talented Young People in the next year which have been helped by the change in command at the top with new Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In many of his speeches he has talked about wanting to create a country with young people who have aspirations and that are encouraged to follow their dreams and find their talents. He has also talked about bringing back the old school mottos which I think is a good thing and one day I would love to see our motto “envisage it, believe it, achieve it!” used in schools across the country. It is good to have a prime minister who has the same visions as we do as an organisation. Never has there been a more important or better time for the Talented Young People organisation to exist in.

So here’s to a brilliant first year at www.talentedyoungpeople.com and I for one can’t wait to see some of the exciting things we have planned for the new year.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com