A certeza da incerteza

«Whilst their childhoods were sheltered worlds in which their desires were eagerly met by parents and grandparents, they have emerged into an adult world where only one rule exists - the certainty of uncertainty. Hugh Mackay says this is a generation 'born into the age of uncertainty'. (...) Insecurity and uncertainty are now part of life for all age groups. But Generation ¥, with its unfailing optimism, has incorporated 'uncertainty' and 'insecurity' into its worldview and has refashioned these negatives into 'freedom' as a positive. Freedom and uncertainty are the yin and yang of the Y world. Choice, options, flexibility are the buzzwords for this generation, something marketers and the manufacturers of mobile phones have long understood.» (Huntley, 2006: 15-16)   

Mais descrições

«What is Generation Y? The term is clumsy, and suggests that it picks up where X left off, which is not the case. It has been given many names - the Net Generation, the Millennials, the Dotcoms and the Thumb Generation (referring to their dexterity with remote controls, computer keyboards and mobile phones) and Echo-Boomers (as the product) both biologically and socially, of their Baby Boomer parents). Yers have been described as the Paradoxical Generation, due to their seemingly contradictory approach to life (they drink and take drugs but eat organic food, they are obsessed with technology  but fear it is depriving them of deeper personal relationships, they want to get married but resist settling dowll with a partner)» (huntley, 2006: 10) 

A geração e a tecnologia

«They were born and raised in a global society where consumerism and capitalism are natural conditions and go largely unchallenged. To them, technology is their natural ally, a necessity rather than a luxury, the solution to all imaginable problems.» (Huntley, 2006:2)

«The interaction between technology and Generation Y has been the subject of much research and public commentary. It is clearly the most technologically savvy generation yet, a group that has never known a world without remote controls, CDs, cable TV and computers. Of course this has ramifications for the workplace and the marketplace. The future of communications companies and electronic manufacturers is certainly secure. But Gen y's understanding and early adoption of new technologies goes beyond its seemingly unique capacity to program the household DVD. Generation Y's mastery of and reliance on technology has altered the way it views time and space. » (Huntley, 2006: 17)

«They are the most media savvy, educated, and wired population to have ever walked the earth. They are also the largest trend-setting population since the Baby Boomers.»

«each generation is a new people»

"Among democratic nations each generation is a new people." -- Alexis de Tocqueville

(todas as gerações são diferentes)

HUNTLEY, Rebecca (2006) The world according to Y: inside the new adult generation. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin

Não ignorar: por trás das tendências, está o negócio!

«Jango's approach reflects one vision for the future of the music business. It's not about selling recordings; it's about monetizing the time people spend listening to music. (...) In light of those rates, webcasters have a choice, Kaufman said. They can insert commercials into their playlists, which is fine as long as their competitors do the same. Or they can try to keep listeners glued to their websites, where they can be shown targeted ads that might seem less intrusive and tiresome than commercials.  (...) That's why Jango surrounds its webcast with social features, such as the ability to find people with similar musical tastes and listen to the stations they designed. It has many of the usual elements, such as the ability to send instant messages to friends and e-mail to other users. But it also has some nifty little touches -- for example, prompting users to send thank-you notes electronically when they stop listening to someone else's station. It also tries to keep people interacting with the site's musical content by rating songs, reading about artists, creating new stations and recommending their creations to friends.»
fonte: By Jon Healey Los ANgeles Times March 21, 2008

O número de estações nos EUA continua a aumentar (13,977)

«(...) the number of licensed radio stations has continued to creep up. It grew to 13,977 as of Dec. 31, 2007; that compares to 13,837 stations at the end of the year before. Breaking it down, there are 4,776 AMs, 6,309 FMs and 2,892 educational FMs, which the FCC lists separately. (...) there are 22 more AMs in the United States than one year ago, 43 more FMs and 75 more FM educationals.

More interestingly, how do these latest figures compare to 10 years ago? The numbers tell a 10-year story: no growth in AM signals, but boom times for FM educationals, translators and boosters. Total stations in 1997 would have been described as “above 12,000.” As of December of that year, according to FCC statistics we compared, there were 4,762 AMs — virtually no net change in AM station count from today (and down from 4,804 at the end of 2002; AMs were just shy of 5,000 in 1990). There were about 5,540 FMs 10 years ago, so that category is up about 14% in the decade since; and there were only about 1,900 FM educationals, a number that grew 50% in the subsequent decade.»

fonte: «Number of Licensed Radio Stations Grows Radioworldnewsbites 21,03,08

O negócio das webradio ou dos serviços on demand (custos)

De acordo com o Digital Millenium Copyright Act, que define os royalties que os serviços musicais pagam aos artistas,as verbas em causa são mais pequenas se um serviço for considerado «web radio», em vez, por exemplo «on-demand»,o que faz com que muitos dos serviços streaming cumpram os critérios para serem considerados web radio.

Eis os varios tipos de serviços digitais previstos:

1. Unrestricted download (The basic and well-known delivery of an encoded, compressed copy of a sound recording,)  These are typically sold in pay-per-download stores that do not carry major-label music (such as EMusic or Audio Lunchbox). 

2. CD burn – this type of delivery enables the user to make a copy of a downloaded file to a recordable CD, enabling users to take the music anywhere (or even rip the music back off the CD into another portable format).  Rhapsody offers CD burning options as part of their service.  

3. Restricted download –; These downloads include DRM (Digital Rights Management) Technologies that place restrictions on copying the file. Apple iTunes, Napster, Real and most download stores with major label content put this DRM on their files.

4. Tethered download – A type of delivery similar to renting, with users having access to the file for a limited amount of time. The limits are enabled by various DRM technologies that track information such as where files are moved to and how many times they are used.  Services such as Napster and MusicNet offer this type of download. Microsoft is currently toying with this idea as well.

5. On-demand interactive streaming – streaming delivery of music over the network "on-demand," or when the user requests it. (...) the music begins playing immediately after the user clicks. On-demand streams are available from services such as Rhapsody, MusicMatch, and Napster.

6. Interactive radio – streaming delivery of music over the network like traditional radio, but allowing the user the ability to skip songs or rate tracks and artists to influence the experience. . Can be subscription or non-subscription offerings, and separate licenses that address the specific features and value provided by each product are required.

fonte: «3. Getting Paid For Your Music Online – Digital Music Rights»

On-Demand and Downloadable Music Services — By our count there are close to 150 music subscription and download services offering a wide range of digital delivery methods including on-demand streaming, CD burning, time and/or location limited (tethered) downloads, unrestricted downloads, and a variety of interactive radio options.

Interactive radio is generally a premium service that allows the listener to skip songs, rate songs to affect your playlist, build custom stations based on your artist preferences and otherwise influence the listening experience. MusicMatch, Yahoo! Launch, Rhapsody, and Napster all offer such services.

 

Non-interactive radio is most like the normal radio experience, just a constant stream of music that the user cannot influence, usually programmed to a specific style of your choosing. It may come with or without commercial advertising, often depending on a subscription. Most of the services mentioned above offer a non-interactive radio option, often for free, as do products such as Realplayer, Windows Media Player, Live365, and countless other independent and small webcasters. And, of course, many traditional radio stations broadcast across the Internet.

Sobre o serviço Napster (EUA, GB, Canada, Alemanha e Japão)

«O Napster criado em 1999 foi um serviço pioneiro de troca de arquivos que permitia aos usuários o download gratuito de músicas digitais, igual ao Kazaa ou Emule. A companhia foi processada pelas maiores gravadoras do mundo, incluindo Universal Music Group, Sony Music, BMG Entertainment, EMI Group e Warner Music. A Napster acabou sendo fechada por tribunais dos Estados Unidos em 2002 por causa de violações de direitos autorais. Os ativos da marca foram comprados pela Roxio em 2002 para criar a atual Napster Inc., um serviço legal de música online. Porém os usuários do Napster acabaram migrando para outros sites, comprovando que as grandes gravadoras além de não conseguirem deter a baixa gratuita de músicas pela internet, também perderam uma grande oportunidade de dar um salto no tempo aproveitando essa tecnologia para obter ganhos financeiros»

«Napster, the pioneer of digital music, offers the ultimate in interactive music experiences, creating better ways to discover, share, acquire and enjoy music – anytime, anywhere. The company's offerings include "Napster" (www.napster.com) – the most popular on demand music subscription service in the world; "Freenapster" (www.freenapster.com) – a unique Web experience offering free on demand music legally; and "Napster Mobile" – one of the industry's fastest growing mobile music platforms. Napster is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in New York, Luxembourg, Frankfurt and Tokyo.» (oficial); Napster is currently available in the US, Canada, the UK, Germany and Japan.

«Can I Really Listen to Napster Music for Free? Yes. Here's how it works. You can search our catalog of 3 million songs and stream songs up to 3 times each for FREE. After the 3rd free play of any single track, you can either purchase the track or become a Napster subscriber. As a subscriber, you can download an unlimited number of full-length songs to your PC. As a Napster To Go subscriber you can transfer those tracks to your compatible portable player without paying per track.

Is Napster's Free Service Available Outside of the United States? The Napster free service is currently only available in the United States. We are working hard at expanding the free service to all Napster service territories. Until then, all users outside of the U.S. can preview 30-second clips of any song in our extensive music catalog.
If you are in the United Kingdom, Canada or Germany, the Napster subscription service is available in your country.»

Mais um jornal que aposta numa rádio online

«The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, WA will start its own online radio stations this Spring. The family-owned Cowles Publishing plans to offer some of its content to other media outlets. The SR has already ventured into radio. Last month the paper struck a two-year deal allowing Mapleton Communications to use its content
on-air» (InsideRadio 22/03/08)

Características da geração (Millennials)

«As a group, Millennials are unlike any other youth generation in living memory. They are more numerous, more affluent, better educated, and ethnically diverse. More important, they are beginning to manifest a wide array of positive social habits that older Americans no longer associate with youth, including a new focus on teamwork, achievement, modesty and good conduct. Only a few years from now, this can-do youth revolution will overwhelm the cynics and pessimists. Over the next decade, the Millennial Generation will entirely recast the image of youth from downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged-with potentially seismic consequences for America» (HOwe, 2000: 4) 

A tecnologia no mundo

«For most American children, satellites, cable tv, cell phones, and the internet are a given. For most children elsewhere, those devices remain dreams - but dreams they expect will soon become a shared reality. Even if the kids in some European town or remote Asian village don't yet have cable, the internet, and cell phones, they can assume they probably will by the time they reach adulthood.» (VISAO NORTEAMERICANA) (Howe, 2000: 297)

Há uma geração iPod global?

«Abroad, the leading edge of a new Millennial generation, in most countries, probably has not yet reached its teens. (...) So even if the Millennial child era is arriving later in many countries, it has recently gained real force. (...) The only significant exception appears to be in the Islamic world, where World War II did not create similar generations, and whose cultural defenses are stronger. (...) In summary, global Millennials seem to be most concentrated in societies that share a fairly similar generational constellation: East Asia, China, all of Europe, Russia, and the more prosperous nations of Latin America. Their birth-year boundaries vary. American and Canadian teens are at the leading edge. In Britain and Australia, the Post-X generation seem s to be two or three years younger) and in the non-Englishspeaking developed world, several years younger still. (...) But today's global "tweeners" (born in the late '80s) and younger kids (born in the '90s) share tighter links - from their postCold War location in history to their more protective parental nurturing style to their elevated status in the national media» (Howe, 2000: 293-294)  

Computador mais importante do que televisão

«Millennials are growing up as familiar with computers as Boomers vere with television. In fact, more of today's teens say they can live without a television (28 percent) than without a computer (23 percent). With computer ownership becoming more essential, gender and income gaps are narrowing. Slightly more boys than girls have their own computers, and three of four affluent teens have access to one, versus roughly half of those below the poverty line. Through the late' 90s, the percentage of online kids continued to grow rapidly. Among those aged 8 to 17, the share rose from 25 percent in 1996 to 35 percent in 1997 to 42 percent in 1998, to somewhere around 50 percent in 2000. Of those who are on-line, 60 percent log on once or more a week» (Howe, 2000: 273) 

Uma perspectiva diferente da tecnologia

«Technological progress - which served as a liberating purpose to Boomers, and a diversifying purpose to Gen Xers - is serving a new unifying purpose for today's teens. Ownership of tech tools and toys has become a badge of generational membership. While the percentage of kids with their own rooms keeps rising (76 percent in 1997), those rooms keep filling up with gadgets» (Howe, 2000: 272)

«Technology always means something new to each generation. The young Silent regarded computers as necessary adjuncts to American technocracy, with mainframes at the apex of vast institutional pyramids. Young Boomers shattered the telscreen and invented the new personal computer, which allowed each person to be his own creative island. GenX hackers and IPO dealmakers have taken this new high-tech individualism and exploited its bottom line. Now Millennial teens are using computers to do group projects and communicate among networks of friends. For this generation, computers are definitely fun - but not necessarily liberating. In software ads, adults are shown solo near the monitor, but the kids are shown in groups. As more of them spend a growing share of the day at on-line computers equipped with Instant Messaging and "buddy lists", Millennials can stay in almost uninterrupted contact with each other - at home, on vacation, wherever. On-line or off, Millennials usually maneuver in teams and under adult supervision, far beyond anything Boomers or Gen Xers ever encountered with the technologies of their own child or teen years.» (Howe, 2000: 275) 

A percepção de pertencer a uma geração

«Generational self-perception begins to dawn during adolescence and typically takes full shape during and immediately after collegiate, military, marriage, or initial work experience» (Howe, 2000: 41)

Como lhes chamar (Millennials)

«Today's teens want a name that is a founding word, a word that respects their newness, a word that resets the clock of secular history around their timetable. "Millennial" acknowledges their technological superiority without defining them too explicitly in those terms. It's a name that hints at what their rising generation could grow up to become - not a lame variation on old Boomer/Xer themes, but a new force of history, a generational colossus far more consequential than most of today's parents and teachers (and, indeed, most kids) dare imagine» (Howe, 2000: 12)

«"Several thousand people sent suggestions to abcnews.com. Some thought that gen.com would be a good idea. Others said Generation Y, Generation Whatever. Gen-D was one. The Boomlets. The Prozac Generation. When everyone got talking about it online, the second-largest number thought there should be no label at all, and the greatest interest was in the Millennium Generation, or the Millennials." -Peter Jennings, ABC World News Tonight, 12/19/97.

 TOP TEN SUGGESTED NAMES (abc.com poll):

1. Millennialls

2. "Don't label Us"

3. Generation Y (or Why?)

4. Generation Tech

5. Generation Next

6. Generation .com

7. Generation 2000

8. Echo Boom

9. Boomer Babies

10. Generation XX»

(Howe, 2000: 6)

«By a margin of over four to one, the teens in our survey preferred "Millennial" over "Y".(Howe, 2000: 12)  

HOWE, Neil e STRAUSS, William (2000). Millennials rising: the next generation, Nova Iorque: Vintage

De consumidores a criadores

«Most of those in our respondent pool said that in their early days on the internet they acted largely as individuals and consumers. That is, they used search engines; got news; played games; conducted research; downloaded software and emailed friends, family and colleagues. Many of these activities consisted of serial connections -- people querying systems, communicating privately with other individuals or with highly-defined communities. It would take a couple of years (and the addition of new tools) before people in this group engaged in creative and community processes. Once they had easier-to-use online tools, faster connections, and more familiarity with the online environment, they say they began to create and share photos, pieces of writing, videos and audio files. They also began rating products and tagging content. (...) The responses of these early internet adopters suggest they saw themselves more as co-creators of the online environment than, say, car owners felt about the auto environment. There is a relationship between the internet and its user base that didn't exist with the previously mentioned technologies. Clearly, the technology itself exerted influence on users: they wrote email the way the technology allowed them to and they browsed web pages in the format that the technology afforded. (...) These early adopters are quite proud of these contributions. They see themselves as doing more than manipulating the exterior of the internet. (...) What feels old and "traditional" about the internet to our respondents is that it's a voluntary social sphere where people can give and can take. What's new about the internet to these enthusiastic users is the rate at which it is influenced by people who use it for new kinds of social purposes. People aren't waiting to figure out its proper use, or for clear "rules of the road" to be articulated, they're simply taking it for a spin.»

fonte: A Portrait of Early Internet Adopters: Why People First Went Online --and Why They Stayed by Amy Tracy Wells, Research Fellow, Pew Internet & American Life Project February 20, 2008

Customização (produção)

«(...)ferramentas da Web 2.0: Escrita colaborativa (Wiki, Google Docs,..); Redes sociais (Hi5, Orkut, MySpace, Facebook, Elgg, Linkedin,…); Social bookmarking (Del.icio.us, Ma.gnolia, Looksmart Fuel, Digg, Alce, Technorati, Imera, Connotea); Software social (Blogue, YouTube, Podcast, Flickr, Multiply,...); Ambientes virtuais (Second Life,…)»