<p>Abstract</p><p>Title: The New Type of Music Industry at AllEars.se (Den nya musikbranschen på AllEars.se)</p><p>Number of pages: 49 (53 including enclosures)</p><p>Author: Viktor Backemar</p><p>Tutor: Else Nygren</p><p>Course: Media och Communication Studies C</p><p>Period: Fall 2007</p><p>University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare AllEars´ own view of the website AllEars.se to an observed view of the same site. The comparison is based on theories regarding the Internet in today’s society, convergence, communities and collective intelligence, interactivity and participation, and business in today’s society.</p><p>Method: Since the paper has a purpose to compare two views of the same website there are two main methods in use. AllEars´ own view has been created via an interview with the company’s CEO, a press release that was released in connection with the launch of the website and texts found on the website. The other view is based on an observation of the website, preformed in November 2007.</p><p>Main results: The views are different from each other seeing that AllEars´ own view is more positive than the observed view. The biggest and most crucial difference between the two views where found in the relationship between the producers and the users, in terms of who has got the actual power on the website. The users aren’t the ones who has got the actual power, instead the producers has the power and controls the activity on the website with predesigned rules and limitations. However there are some similarities between the two views: The website has a strong connection to the offline world, a good possibility for the users to interact with each other, and the fact that AllEars.se represents something new in the music industry.</p><p>Keywords: AllEars.se, music industry, Internet, convergence, communities, collective intelligence, interactivity, participation, SonyBMG, TV4.</p>

Abstract Title: The New Type of Music Industry at AllEars.se (Den nya musikbranschen på AllEars.se) Number of pages: 49 (53 including enclosures) Author: Viktor Backemar Tutor: Else Nygren Course: Media och Communication Studies C Period: Fall 2007 University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare AllEars´ own view of the website AllEars.se to an observed view of the same site. The comparison is based on theories regarding the Internet in today’s society, convergence, communities and collective intelligence, interactivity and participation, and business in today’s society. Method: Since the paper has a purpose to compare two views of the same website there are two main methods in use. AllEars´ own view has been created via an interview with the company’s CEO, a press release that was released in connection with the launch of the website and texts found on the website. The other view is based on an observation of the website, preformed in November 2007. Main results: The views are different from each other seeing that AllEars´ own view is more positive than the observed view. The biggest and most crucial difference between the two views where found in the relationship between the producers and the users, in terms of who has got the actual power on the website. The users aren’t the ones who has got the actual power, instead the producers has the power and controls the activity on the website with predesigned rules and limitations. However there are some similarities between the two views: The website has a strong connection to the offline world, a good possibility for the users to interact with each other, and the fact that AllEars.se represents something new in the music industry. Keywords: AllEars.se, music industry, Internet, convergence, communities, collective intelligence, interactivity, participation, SonyBMG, TV4.