He was born on August 29 1958 in Chicago Indiana, this blog will be one of hundreds of thousands of attempts by end users to gracefully tribute his glistening glove and iconic moonwalk. His story has been echoed, copy pasted, forwarded and e-mailed across all media around the world. The titanic Google perceived a system failure, such was the brutal bombardment of information hungry mourners hoping Michael Jackson was not dead.
The question remains however for many musicians like Michael, Elvis, or more applicably Tupac Shakur, how can they be dead when their story still continues? Their music is still released and their memory still very much alive in the world. Like many artists before them and still to come, their story will be told and retold through digital media, across many mediums and their franchise legacy will continue to procure revenue. There are very simple and rational reasons for this, which stems from the creative minds of our world. One way to explain this may be transmedia story telling.
Traditionally transmedia story telling encompassed the reincarnation of marvel super hero’s or the flicks of sci-fi thrillers such as star wars, another take is to look at the lives of the creative’s among us, the transmedia stories of some of our great creative musical roots. This view must also be valid because the creative industries encompass far more than that. The creative industries encompass;
“Those activities which have their origins in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have the potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property”
It must then be clear that the music industry is of that calibre, evidence of this exists in;
”The Copyright industries accounted for 7.75% of US GDP” (2002)
Music is a part of this percentage. Its importance lies in its creation of jobs and creators and observers in the music industry which builds upon the transmedia story telling of artists and their worlds. Michael Jackson being the most current example of this phenomenon.
Michael Jackson’s death began what can only be foretold as the further continuation of one artist’s transmedia story. From the constant observations of the world via music, video, documentary and “Jackson wiki’s” , to the memorabilia in blogs and release of a new song mentioned in recent articles in Sydney Morning Herald and other publications globally. Additionally Michaels story continues now in a movie screening around the world showing his last dream, the trailer appearing on you tube and other mediums such his Michael Jackson website. What the camera misses others will add, building the story allowing the public an insight into the life and story of a legend.
Like other greats such as Elvis, there will be more media created about the life and times of Michael, allowing for further generated content, borrowing information from other authors, family and friends. Constantly there are examples of the knowledge community adding their own interpretations of Michaels story, his dance moves or just what they think of him, all part of the user generated media content. Other music artists still living also embrace the techno culture to build their empires and tell their stories. Musicians like Miley Cyrus or as younger generations would call her ”Hannah Montana” . Her interactive transmedia story is one where you can watch her cartoons, movies and television shows, you can play her games and be Hannah herself or dance to her DVD’s. This cross transmedia story adding to the convoluted double life of a young musician, comedian and actress, whose appeal has become increasingly intergenerational and whose story’s are retold across mediums through user generated content.
Another sector of the music industry closely related to that of music artists is the story of the events themselves. The shows and performances, what was once just pure marketing has now become a story for the consumer to observe and immerse themselves in. One example of this is the event Sensation White. Sensation not only releases information about the musical world that will be experienced by those who attend, but it does so with a story, that is told through advertisement, then retold through DVD, twitter, you tube, magazines and documentaries. Below is the most recent story of the Wicked Wonderland that enthralled the entertained in 2009.
This video is a great example of transmedia story telling as it shows the nature of the event through a story similar to what can be seen in movie trailers. The future can only hold exciting things for the growth of transmedia story telling!
References
1. Flew, Terry (2009) New Media an Introduction – 3rd Edition
2. Jenkins (2007) Transmedia Storytelling. Retrieved From:
http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html (20/10/2009)
3. Wikipedia. Retrieved From : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson
(22/10/2009)
4. Sydney Morning Herald, Retrieved from: www.smh.com.au (21/10/2009)
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