The Promise and Perils of Ultraviolet

NMEDIAC: The Journal of New Media & Culture, Vol. 10, No.1, 2015

Posted: 22 May 2015

See all articles by Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson

Washington State University - Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies

Date Written: May 6, 2015

Abstract

This research critically investigates the UltraViolet© technology and argues that this technology offers consumers a form of conspicuous consumption that endorses a culturally important type of commodity fetishism. Unlike P2P exchange of files, or locally streaming content, or even DVD ownership, UltraViolet™ technology attempts to emulate the successes of all three areas of media use without drawing attention to the socioeconomic consequences that adoption of its model endorses. It demands that consumers participate in an economic exchange of capital that requires (1) the purchase of legally “sanctioned media”; (2) pay for its licensure validation process to confirm one’s ownership rights and also (3) purchase access to the very content that consumers already own. UltraViolet™ accomplishes this under a marketing rhetoric of liberating users from the constraints of physical media like Blu-Ray discs by espousing the portability and utility of an all-digital, streaming model of viewer consumption. To evaluate these claims, this research pursues a political economic analysis of this technology that examines these exchanges of capital and the emerging consumption model with its attendant cultural costs for contemporary consumers of digital entertainment.

Keywords: Technology, Digital, Economics

JEL Classification: D10, O33

Suggested Citation

Johnson, Michael, The Promise and Perils of Ultraviolet (May 6, 2015). NMEDIAC: The Journal of New Media & Culture, Vol. 10, No.1, 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2608758

Michael Johnson (Contact Author)

Washington State University - Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies ( email )

111 Wilson Short Hall
Pullman, WA 99164
United States
509-335-2605 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://libarts.wsu.edu/ccgrs/index.html

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