Music industry terminology series; (part 3) digital trends

AAC file: An Advanced Audio Coding file used by Apple for its iTunes andiPod technologies. AAC is an audio compression technology that is part of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 standards. AAC, especially MPEG-4 AAC, provides greater compression and better sound quality than MP3, which also came out of the MPEG standard. Aggregator: A Digital Music Aggregator (DMA) is a person or business licensing and receiving income from a number of digital music retailers on behalf of an artist or a phonogram producer. Alpha Testing: The initial testing of a newly developed software product, wherein employees and friends of the developing company test the product for bugs, glitches and functionality. (See Beta Testing.) API: Abbreviation of ‘Application Platform Interface’. API is a set of tools, protocols and routines for building software applications. An API makes it easier to develop programs by providing the building blocks for a programmer/developer. (See Open API below.) App: Abbreviation of ‘Application’. An application is computer software designed to help the user perform specific tasks. Beta Testing: The final stage of testing for a newly developed software product, before it is available to be sold to the public. Beta testing involves allowing a limited number of public users the chance to test the software and provide feedback on any problems or ideas for improvement. Blog: A website on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information etc. on a regular basis. A blog is an open Internet-based diary: a contraction of the word ‘weblog’. Broadband: A high-speed Internet connection capable of supporting a wide range of electromagnetic frequencies, typically from audio up to video frequencies. It can carry multiple signals by dividing the total capacity of the medium into multiple, independent bandwidth channels, where each channel operates only on a specific range of frequencies. CD: An optical digital audio compact disc capable of storing up to 700 Mb of information or 74 minutes of high fidelity stereo music. A CD is 120mm in diameter, recorded on one side, with individual tracks playable in any sequence. Cloud computing: The practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage and process data, rather than a local server. Cloud computing allows businesses to reduce the cost of information management, as they do not need to own their own servers, but can use capacity leased from third parties via the internet. Cloud storage: Networked online storage where data is stored on remote servers, generally hosted by third parties. Businesses and individuals who require data to be hosted can buy or lease storage capacity from them. (See Cyberlockers). Cyberlocker: A cyberlocker is a third-party online service that provides file-storing and filesharing services for media files and other data. Cyberlockers can be accessed globally over the Internet and are online data hosting services that provide secure remote storage. Dial-up: A low-speed Internet connection accessed by a telephone connection via a modem operating on Internet connection speeds below 100 Kbps. A 56 Kbps modem and basic rate ISDN are examples. Domain name: A string of letters, numbers and hyphens that are used to define the location of a website. Domain names are used as pointers to IP addresses, e.g. http://www.wipo.int or http://www.bobmarley.com. Download: Any digital file such as an mP3 file or an app which can be transferred from an online server to a local computer and stored on the local computer. DRM: Digital Rights Management. Any digital technology used to protect the interests of copyright owners and service providers. DRM includes TPM and identification technologies that can be used for marketing and operating purposes. Embed: The process of the incorporation of a media player or video into a website or blog. Encryption: The conversion of data into cipher text that cannot be understood by unauthorized people. Decryption is the process of converting encrypted data back into its original form, so that it can be understood. Encryption service: A business that provides encryption, usually in the context of financial transactions in order to avoid fraud. EPK: An electronic press kit. This usually includes a biography, still photographs and a video interview with the artist. Sometimes called a DPK (Digital Press Kit). Facebook: A free social networking website available in 37 languages that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues. In the case of music, it is a key tool for digital marketing and communication with fans. Fixation: When a performance is recorded or fixed on to a magnetic tape or digital disc or any recording medium. (The definition in the WPPT is ‘the embodiment of sounds or of the representations thereof, from which they can be perceived, reproduced or communicated through a device’.) Also known as a fixed performance. Fulfillment: The process of managing financial transactions, handling and shipping customers’ orders. Geolocation: The detection of the physical location of an internet connected computing device. Google Play: A digital application distribution platform for Android developed and maintained by Google. (Formerly known as the Android Market.) Gracenote: A commercial internet-accessible database containing information about audio recordings. It provides software and metadata to businesses such as iTunes that enables their customers to manage and search digital media. Hashtag: The # symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet or Facebook post. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages. Home Copying Levies: a levy or tax that is placed by national governments on recordable media (such as recordable CDRs, DVDs and tape) and/or recordable hardware (such as computer hard drives/analogue and digital recording devices) to compensate rights holders for music copied by consumers within the domestic environment. The income is usually distributed to the rights holders (authors, performers, publishers and phonogram producers) via CMOs. ICT: Information & Communications Technology Intellectual property (IP): A non-tangible product of the intellect that has commercial value, including copyrighted property such as literary, musical or artistic works, and ideational property, such as patents, business methods, and industrial processes. In perpetuity: Something that lasts for life or forever. In copyright terms, it refers to the full length of copyright protection permitted by law, i.e. life of copyright Instagram: An online photo-sharing and social networking service owned by Facebook that enables users to apply digital filters to their pictures and share them on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. A distinctive feature is that it confines photos to a square shape similar to how Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid used to, rather than the 16:9 ratio used by most mobile device cameras. Initially a purely photo-sharing service, Instagram incorporated video sharing in June 2013, allowing its users to record and share videos lasting for up to 15 seconds. Interactive streaming: Streaming wherein a member of the public can access a specific recording/work at a time and a place of their own choosing, sometimes referred to as ‘non-linear streaming’. (See also ‘webcasting’, ‘simulcasting’, ‘linear streaming’ and ‘making available’.) Internet: An interconnected system of networks that connects computers worldwide via the TCP/IP protocol. ISP: Internet service provider. An ISP is a business that provides individuals and businesses with access to the Internet and other related services such as website building. An ISP has the equipment and the telecommunication line access required to have a point-ofpresence on the Internet for the geographic area served. The larger ISPs have their own high-speed leased lines so that they are less dependent on the telecommunication providers and can provide better service to their customers. iTunes: A digital music service owned, operated and developed by Apple that incorporates a media player and a media library application. It is used to play, download, and organize digital audio and video on personal computers running the OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Karaoke: A musical sound system providing pre-recorded accompaniment to popular songs that a performer (usually a member of the public in a bar or club) sings live by following the words on a video screen. Linear streaming: Streaming wherein a member of the public has no control as to which recording/work is being streamed. (See ‘interactive streaming’, ‘webcasting’ and ‘simulcasting’.) Mailing list: A list of e-mail addresses with one title that is used to send out information to multiple recipients. With one click all the recipients on the list will receive the information Mastering: The final stage of the recording process, in which a mixed recording is processed by a mastering engineer using equalization and dynamic enhancement so as to make the recording sound as good as possible prior to manufacture, downloading, streaming and broadcasting. Metadata: Data about data. The title, format and other information embedded into a digital music file such as an MP3. Modem: Abbreviation of modulator/demodulator. A communications device that converts digital signals to analogue and then from analogue to digital for transmission of data via telephone or cable lines. MP3 file: A computer file created with compression technology commonly used to make digital audio computer files relatively small while maintaining high audio quality. MP3 means MPEG-1, Audio Layer 3 and is an audio-specific format. The compression takes off certain sounds that cannot be heard by the listener, i.e. outside the normal human hearing range. It provides a representation of pulse-code modulation-encoded audio in much less space, by using psychoacoustic models to discard components less audible to human hearing, and recording the remaining information in an efficient manner. MPEG: Moving Picture Experts Group. An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced ‘em-peg’, it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). musicFIRST Coalition: A pressure group which includes the AFofM, Sound Exchange, the US Music Managers Forum, the Grammy Foundation and the RIAA etc. who campaign for the introduction of a public performance right in sound recordings for free-to-air radio in the US. MySpace: A social networking service with a strong emphasis on music. In June 2006 it was the most visited website in the US but then fell into decline. Purchased in June 2011 by Specific Media and Justin Timberlake for relaunch in 2013. Non-Linear streaming: Interactive streaming wherein a member of the public can access a specific recording/work at a time and a place of their own choosing. (see ‘linear streaming’) Online: Via the Internet. Open API: An open application platform interface is one where a service provider makes their API openly available to third-party developers so that new apps can be created using their service. PA system: A public address sound system, consisting of amplifiers and speakers used to amplify an artist’s performance so that an audience can hear it clearly. Peer-to-peer (P2P): A network computing system in which all computers are treated as equals on the network and have the capability to share files with each other. Napster was the first mainstream P2P software that enabled large-scale file sharing. Pinterest: A pinboard-style photo-sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests and hobbies. Users can browse other users’ pinboards for images, re-pin images to their own pinboards, or ‘like’ photos. Piracy: When related right protected recordings, possibly containing copyright protected works, are manufactured and sold or made available for download and sold illegally with no license and no payment being made to the legitimate copyright or related right holders. The term ‘piracy’ is also sometimes used when illegal copyright protected merchandise is sold. Plug-in (or Plugin): An add-on software component that adds a specific feature to an existing software application which allows customization. Examples are the Adobe Flash Player, QuickTime Player, the Java plug-in and WordPress’s WPtouch plug-in. Plugger: Someone who is paid to try and persuade a radio or TV station to play a record. Podcast: An audio or video file that is attached to an RSS feed as an enclosure so that any user that wants to receive it can ‘subscribe’ via software known as a podcatcher. Podcatcher: A software computer program used to download various media via an RSS or XML feed. QR Code: A two-dimensional barcode readable my mobile phones with cameras, smartphones or QR scanners to access information such as contact details or website addresses. Real tones: Actual sound clips of recorded music and sounds which can be downloaded to a mobile phone and which will play when the mobile phone receives an incoming call Ring tones: The sound (usually polyphonic) made by a mobile phone to indicate an incoming call. Ringback tones: Music offered by a mobile network operator that becomes the audible sound heard on a telephone by the caller while the phone they are ringing is being rung. RSS feed: Short for ‘really simple syndication’ or ‘rich site summary’, an RSS feed is a digital delivery vehicle for news or other web content such as is contained in a podcast or a blog. Search engine: Software code designed to search for information on the internet using web-crawlers (sometimes known as ‘spiders’ or ‘bots’). SEO or search engine optimization: The process of increasing the visibility of a website or web page in a search engine’s search results. Serial number: A number in a series that is marked on a piece of equipment by the manufacturer to give that piece of equipment a unique identifying number. Shazam: One of the largest music identification services that allows mobile users to identify commercially released tracks from any device which is playing music via a loudspeaker (TV, radio, PA system etc.). By holding the phone to the music for several seconds, the audio sample is sent to the Shazam datacenter which compares it to a database of millions of song fingerprints and identifies it. Simulcast: A simultaneous webcast of a radio or television broadcast or cable broadcast (see ‘interactive streaming’, ‘linear streaming’ and ‘webcast’). Smartphone: A cellular mobile phone with built-in applications and which has the capability for internet access. Smart TV: Televisions that have built-in applications and which can be connected to the internet to provide a more interactive experience for users. Snapchat: A photo messaging application (“app”) wherein users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. These sent photographs and videos are known as “Snaps”. Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their Snaps (1 to 10 seconds), after which they will be hidden from the recipient’s device and deleted from Snapchat’s servers. SoundCloud: SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform based in Berlin, Germany that enables its users to upload, record, promote and share their originally-created sounds. Spotify: A commercial music streaming service, based in Sweden, providing streamed content from phonogram producers and artists, either on a free limited ad-supported subscription basis or on a premium ad-free subscription. Streaming: Data that can be accessed via a local computer from an on-line server, but which cannot be downloaded or stored on the local computer. (See ‘linear streaming’ and ‘interactive streaming’) Telecoms: Businesses in the field of telecommunications such as mobile phone companies. Tethered downloads: A digital music file downloaded from a music subscription service that has embedded TPM technology which only allows the file to be played on a computer registered to the account. TPM: Technical protection measures. A sub-set of DRM, TPM are digital technology applications designed to prevent or limit unauthorized copying. Twitter: A free social networking micro-blogging service that allows registered users to broadcast short posts known as ‘tweets’. Users can create tweets of no more than 140 characters and ‘follow’ other users tweets by using multiple platforms and devices. A key tool for digital music marketing. UGC: User-generated content. Content created by members of the public such as homemade videos which are then posted on sites such as YouTube for non-commercial social sharing. Vine: A social video app owned by Twitter. Videos can only be created within the app and are limited to six seconds which are then looped. Captions and hashtags can be included to make the videos easily searchable and shareable on Twitter and Facebook. Viral: The process whereby a track or a video becomes popular by fan-to-fan recommendation rather than marketing. There is no such thing as viral marketing. Webcast: The online equivalent of broadcasting, but only by streaming via the Internet. Webmaster: Someone who builds and/or supervises an artist’s website. Website: A collection of web pages, which are documents coded in HTML that are linked to each other and very often to pages on other websites. For musical artists it is usually their primary presence on the internet. Widget: Short for ‘window gadget’, a widget is a standardized on-screen representation of a control that may be manipulated by the user. Scroll bars, buttons and text boxes are all examples of widgets. YouTube: A social networking video sharing service that allows users to watch videos posted by other users and upload videos of their own. Owned by Google, it is the world’s number one music discovery website and is a key tool in digital music marketing. Cryptocurrency: a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank. "decentralized cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin now provide an outlet for personal wealth that is beyond restriction and confiscation" Blockchain: A blockchain is a decentralized, distributed and public digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many computers so that the record cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and the collusion of the network.