Full Description
The explosion of services such as Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, Apple Music, Amazon Prime and YouTube, which allow us to access content at the click of a button, has turned the norms surrounding cultural consumption upside down. How has this shift to an apparently unending supply of content affected the way we consume our favourite binge-worthy show, blockbuster movie or hot new album release?
Positioning streaming alongside a major shift to contemporary capitalism, David Arditi demonstrates that streaming platforms have created an economy where consumers pay more for the same amount of consumptive time. Encouraging us to look beyond the seemingly limitless supply of multimedia content, Arditi calls attention to the underlying dynamics of instant viewing - in which our access to content depends on any given service's willingness, and ability, to license it.
Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction: Caught in the Stream Chapter 2. Digital Retail: Disruption, Distribution, and Disintermediation
Chapter 3. Streaming Music: Unending Consumption Begins
Chapter 4. Streaming Film: Simultaneous Release, Circumventing Censorship, and Indies
Chapter 5. Streaming TV: The Golden Age of TV and Flow Interrupted
Chapter 6. Streaming Video Games: Never Own a Game Again
Chapter 7. New Cultural Forms: Dominant, Residual, and Emergent
Chapter 8. Conclusion
