Definitions

Convergance
This occurs when when multiple items and products come together to form one product with the advantages of them all (e.g. no longer is multiple products required to play movies, it can all be done on a laptop). This is also the growing interactive use in film industry which enables people to share media easier. Basically any form of digital media can be accessed by one medium such as a phone.

Independant
When media is created, edited, produced, distributed and or marketed by a single individual or group without the use of big named labels or producers. These are Indie artists.

Download
The act of downloading (copying) a media file for ones own consumption whether legal or illegal through a computer and file service (utorrent or mediafire).

File Sharing
This is the public or private sharing of media often through peer to peer services, this is in respect to digital media and its consumption.

Copyright
This is basically an exclusive legal right given to an individual or organisation that allows only them to produce or distribute the product and if broken by another individual legal action can occur.

The Music Industry
Any company that produces, markets, exhibits or distributes music is part of this industry. Essentially the groups, companies and individuals that create and sell music to earn money. Composed of the various sectors of marketing and distribution.

Synergy
The interaction and co-operation between two agents to result in a greater effect than if they worked independently This is cost effective and beneficial for both agents.

Conventions
This is the traditions of society or how the social norm dictates how one should go about for example acquiring and consuming media (conventions show that purchasing of hard back physically media was eventually replaced with the less conventional digital media at the time).

Consumption
This is the purchasing and use of goods in relation to demand and global economics, the methods in which the media can be enjoyed and how they are used.

Production
The methods and actions involved in manipulating the raw inputs (in this case, the song, movie or music video) and through edits and eventually making a media text based on the public demand for it (i.e prodcing a single for press release).

Horizontal and Vertical Integration
Vertical Integration is the process by which a media companies acquires another in a different stage in the production and distribution process. Such as the methods and actions of apple, as the hardware is not typically manufactured by apple vertical integration occurred between Foxconn and Pegatron.. Horizontal integration is the acquisition of business activities in similar or different media industries, usually through partnership or such (merging). A basic example would be of a media company owning a radio station, newspaper, magazine company, book firm and television channel.

Hardware
The physical components contained within the piece of equipment in question such as a computer, these can be added or removed to upgrade various elements of the equipment. This is opposed to software contained on the Personal Computer or installed onto the equipment. This is the physical component used to create, market or produce media text.

Demographics and Physchographics
This is measurable characteristics of a subject audience such as age, gender, race, income, religion etc. As opposed to psycho-graphics which is a more sophisticated defined form of demographics relating to attitudes held by the audience, values and ideology views.

The Big 3
This is the term given to the three most prominent companies in any industry. In the music industry it is UMG, SONY and WMG.

Distribution and Marketing
The idea of initially marketing (the ways in which the media text is sold to the audience) the media (i.e posters, adverts, interviews, trailers etc.) and then making the media available for the consumers to view in a multitude of platforms (i.e cinema viewing, DVD release, digital release, samples etc.) Distributors (who go through the industrial process of creating the media) attempt to make the media as available to the audience as possible and tend to release the media at peak times (etc horror movies at Halloween). The marketers attempt to make the media known to the audience before hand. There is both viral (reproducing word of mouth via YouTube) and Guerilla marketing (low cost method aimed at creating a "buzz" around a film.

Subsidiary
A company owned by a parent company (essentially a secondary company, one that is controlled by another company).