Streaming Violent Genres Online: Visual Images in Music Videos on BET.com, Country.com, MTV.com, and VH1.com

Digital audio and video are radically changing the entertainment experience (Zahn et al.). Recent technological advancements such as digital compression now allow music videos and other video programming to be transmitted via the Internet from one location to another for subsequent viewing. These digitized video files can be made accessible from a website either in their entirety as downloadable files or piece by piece as a continuous stream of information. The Internet thus offers users an ever-increasing number of content options, including an expanding array of audio and video programming via digital downloading and streaming (Atwood “Video” and “MTVN”; Crotty; Oppelaar). Television networks have moved swiftly to adopt the Internet during the past few years (“Internet TV Directory”; Krantz and Burgi; Pelline), as has the recorded music industry (Micallef; Sacharow). Music-video-based television networks are no exception to this trend (Atwood “VH1” and “Programmers”; Tedesco). Several of these networks have adopted the Internet as a supplemental outlet for music-video programming, including MTV, VH1, CMT, and BET.com (McConville), which was launched as the premier African-American portal and online urban music destination in February 2000. Although research on the impact of interactive media is still quite limited, some evidence suggests that media effects may be heightened when audiences are more involved with a particular medium (Kim and Rubin). The Internet provides a higher level of interactivity than does television (Alsop), and other interactive media such as computer-based video games and virtual reality heighten feelings of engagement (Filipczak), induce various physiological reactions (Dorman; Kist), and increase arousal and feelings of aggressiveness when the media content is violent (Calvert and Tan). Although some studies of interactive media effects have proven inconclusive (Cooper and Mackie; Scott), several scholars have suggested that interactivity may intensify the effects associated with exposure to media violence (Buchman and Funk; Dietz).

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