Nielsen Nightmare

I think Nielsen's expansion is a much needed update. My fear is that, when the new data start rolling in, we will see a big skew towards non-cable based viewing. What will that mean for TV advertising and by extension television in general? I find myself also wondering about what exactly Nielsen will be measuring. A lot of people watch stuff on their computers, so how many of the services they use will be included? The article mentions Netflix and admits that Netflix data will really only be useful if the company decides to play ball with Nielsen, but, at least in my limited experience, Netflix doesn't tend to have new programming like something like Hulu would. Traditionally, advertisers and TV companies have only cared about the current season of a show. There are rare revivals, but generally, TV is always moving forward. For current shows, I think the networks get the data within a month of the airdate or something, but the further back the viewing data are pushed to accommodate the majority of the world that no longer watches live TV (including myself. I almost exclusively watch TV On Demand), the longer it takes to get the data and thus the less useful it is. Regardless, I have a feeling that these changes will amount to a hot mess as TV networks struggle to adapt to the new and puzzling numbers they get, so I will be watching the TV news this fall waiting for the inevitable catastrophe.

Music Streaming

While I suppose it's good that the recording industry is posting revenue growths after more than a decade of losses, the second article makes clear that artists are still getting screwed over no matter how the purchasing models change. I can certainly see the benefits of streaming services. They function like an entire library of music with no space usage on the computer. My main problem with both streaming and downloading services is the focus on big name artists. I have a large number of songs by popular artists in my iTunes library, but I am not a Hot 100 whore. I think streaming is great for those kinds of people who revel in listening to all of the pop music out there, but I like some obscurity mixed in. I don't, of course, expect any catalog to be comprehensive, but that doesn't mean I have to lower my standards because of it. I've always found it problematic that a universal iTunes catalog doesn't exist. I know there are all kinds of legal issues in sharing songs internationally, but many a time I have gone to the iTunes store looking for a foreign artist, been disappointed, and had to seek alternative means of acquisition. If iTunes UK, Germany, or Japan have access to this artist, why can't I? I think something like this would also help reduce the Anglo-centrism of American listening habits. Would it kill people to listen to a foreign language song every once in a while? Things are similarly difficult for English indie artists, who, even if they are on services like Spotify, don't have the fanbase needed to turn any sort of profit. And what about DJs who remix songs, do they make it onto such services? I can't imagine they make much money if so, especially if they have to share profits with the original artists. Full disclosure, I've only used streaming services sparingly, so I'm not entirely sure about the state of their catalogs, although I have strong suspicions. Until they develop broader catalogs, I'll be sticking to my old-fashioned (at this point) iTunes library.