Influential/ Inspirational Websites

In order to fit in with the current trends of social media and online shopping, I would like to design a simplistic, interactive website for my artist- reflecting their modern, fashionable image, and also giving fans the opportunity to buy the artists music and also view galleries of the artists recent concerts. The following website below is for New York Punk Hip-Hop Band Ratking- as a less famous act they  do not have their own website, simply a page off of their Label- XL Recordings's site (http://www.xlrecordings.com/ratking)- this simple site lists tour dates, videos, new releases and links to related sites- effectively fulfilling all of the viewer's needs.

A screenshot of Ratking's site- http://www.xlrecordings.com/ratking

However, in order to give the site a distinct, entertaining feature, which could cause viewers to share the site with their freinds and gain the artist more publicity, I have also considered using distirted images and pictures in order to produce a mock 'error' upon the page (such as that on the website (www.glitche.com), which uses the artistic style to advertise their application by appealing to fans of art and technology.

I also liked the style of the websites of the British dance music artists Duke dumont and Redlight- both of their sites followed the same rather simplistic format- the main content of both of them being an embedded youtube video of their latest single, surrunded by various hypelinks to other sections of the site such as 'Gig listings' and also links to merchandise sites and the official itnues page for the artists.

I feel that this would be more appropriate for my artist as it is their debut single, therefore should be the centre of attention on the website, especially if I opt for the dance/ electronic genre, as audiences will e more likely to want to hear the upbeat sounds whilst they browse the site and make them want to book gig tickets.

A link to Duke Dumont's official instagram account

I liked the idea of having a direct link to the artists instagram account in order to draw in fans to follow the artist and stay updated with their tours and new releases.

Influential Music Videos

Now that I have decided that my music video will either be of the indie rock or electronic genre- performed by a solo artist (gender undecided), with the band members/ dancers accompanying them in the video, i have been able to narrow down the style of the video.

During my studies, there is one particular director who I came across and wish to replicate both his style of camerawork and also the use of choreography lighting and editing: Daniel Wolfe. Wolfe is a critically acclaimed Director of both film and music videos, I would like take some of the styling such as the lighting and choreography from The Shoes- 'Time To dance' video below, which won the 2012 Music Video award for Best Editing.



 He recently produced the following short film for Folk musician Paolo Nutini's 'Iron Sky', which instantly recieved recognition for its intelligent and daring use of cinematography and cross cutting between archived footage to create a story which draws in the audience, I would like to use the element of swapping footage and montaging.

 

Wolfe has had a very very varied approach when directing- working with well known artists such as Chase and Status- he produced the video for their hit 'Blind Faith', using old VHS cameras and ensured that settings and props were all themed appropriately to successfully present the amateur footage of 90's partiers- this is a creative style, with elements of which I am considering including, as I feel that the contrasting between the old and the new- Video cassette and HD footage, could create an interesting and engaging visual effect.

Influential/ Inspirational Styles/ Movements/ Periods (Film/Music/Art/Fashion)

I would like to draw some of my inspiration from the well known film 'A Clockwork Orange' (1971) directed by Stanley Kubrick, the reason being for this is that the use of framing within the film successfully reflects a hyperreal, dystopian setting- although I am aiming to shoot my music video in a studio, i feel this style of framing could be incorporated to give the video an intimidating feel.

The use of blue lighting and heavy shadowing add suspense to the shot

The use of framing makes the audience feel inside the room

Another element that I would like to employ within my video would be some of the aesthetics and common elements of paintings from the neo-expressionism art movement of the 70's/ 80's, as i feel that the use of this wild, carefree style artwork either in the background of the shot or used in transitions, could reflect the aggressive, independent and young attitude of the artist- in particular with the works of George Baselitz and Jean Michel Basquiat.

The graffiti style of Basquiat's work could create an interesting and urban backdrop for certain scenes of the video.

 The use of Baselitz' art could create an image of confusion and disaster within the video as the artist carries on performing without care.

Styling the artist: normcore

Influential/ Inspirational Album Covers

After reviewing and comparing some of the album covers of artists currently in the top 10 with those of my favourite artists, I decided that in order to be successfully visually appealing, the image must be high definition, and either hyper colourful, or as many recent album covers have seemed to do, present an analog image of the artist in a white room or a recognisable setting.

Talking Heads/Remain in Light (1980)/New-wave/W.B. Records

I particularly like the Talking Heads-'Remain in light' Album cover as it is an iconic image with a story behind commonly unnoticed detail. The image was created by bassist Tina weymouth- she used red pixel to distort the faces of the portraits to create masks and 'obliterate their identity'- in contrast with the happy title of the album. I feel that the use of masking over a single portrait of the artist as a child could be an effective and unique album cover.

Ed Sheeran- X (2014)/Pop-Acoustic/Atlantic

I have noticed from viewing the charts that it is also currently quite popular to create a very minimalistic album cover- for examples, Ed Sheeran's chart topping album 'X' uses a simple, green canvas style background, with the letter 'X' written on top in a paint-style font. This theme is successful in reflecting the artist's own style,as his previous album was also short-titled'+', therefore there is no need to write his name on it.

Similarly, electronic artist the XX use a minimalistic X symbol on all of their artwork and have built up an identity around it. Both their self titled debut album and their most recent album bear the same symbol, however, their coexist album uses an oil-spill style effec, which i think I could incorporate onto my cover- for example, if the artist I envisage was named victor, their album cover could be a simple'V'.

Jesse James Solomon- JFSE E.P. /Unsigned/Rap

I like the JFSE E.P. cover as I think that the use of photgraphjy is very creative- although the retro, analog-style shot only reveals the back of the artist, the fact that he is graffitiing/ writing his name on a wall reveals who the artist is. Furthermore, the use of a low angle shot shows who the artist is, with the image of graffiti reflecting the urban image/ persona associated with the uk rap/ grime genre.

Sam Smith's 'In the lonely hour' is also a very good example of using a simple shot of the artist to reflect the genre, mood and style of the artist, with this album, we see the stylish solo artist looking down into his lap, with his hands in a prayer position and his eyes closed. This image of a vulnerable, sad and faithful artist works alongside the title of the album- reflecting the 'lonely hour' and revealing the theme of his music. If i were to use this style of photographic cover, I would certainly draw influence from the angle and lighting of the shot.

Influential/ Inspirational Artists

As I discovered earlier, rise of the internet in the last 10 years has had a significant effect in the way in which artists are discovered- with websites providing platforms for both social networking and online media to be consumed at the same time- with websites such as www.soundcloud.com enabling the listeners to both comment on their favourite moment of a track for others to see and also share it via sites such as facebook and twitter (www.facebook.com/www.twitter.com).

Spooky  Black

It has also helped smaller bedroom artists such as spooky black- a 16 year old experimental/ R&B artist from Minnesota, USA who was discovered after uploading a video for ne of his songs on Youtube. The combination of the aesthetics of the video and his whole image caused the video to go viral, and as a result, within half a year he has gained worldwide fame- with millins of views on yotube and over 67,000 followers on soundcloud. The thing which inspires me about Spooky Black is that he brought about his own success and acclaim at the age of 15, and that it wall all thanks to the internet- and this is how he continues, as an unsigned artist- giving me inspiration to create an unsigned solo artist for my music video. Below is the video which sparked his success:

Sharing options on soundcloud

Facebook and Twitter pages are a key free form of promotion

FKA Twigs

I feel that FKA Twigs is an inspiration for my music video, as not only is she a British Alternative/ Electronic artsist, but I also like how she uses her own dance in all of her videos so that the audience can identify her. Working as a bakcking dancer for artists before becoming successful, she uses her talent to provide visually enthralling videos. I was also inspired by the way she uses settiing in her videos- as shown in the vide for 'tw-ache' embedded below- the use of a foggy, ghtostly setting reflects the distorted, supernatural-style audio and the themes of distress and isolation.

Rejjie Snow

Rejjie Snow is an Irish born rapper who was recently signed to Elton John's Record label 'Rocket Music Entertainment'. Snow became known after posting amateur music videos on YouTube under his previous moniker 'Lecs Luther'- with his success owing to both the surreal narratives set around Dublin and the contrast with his unique soft rap voice- influenced by a childhood he spent growing up in the USA. I would like to take inspiration from Snow's use of post modernism and surrealism in his music videos in a way which evokes a comedic tone to entertain the audience as they listen to his songs consisting of a unique voice mixed with nonsensical and often comedic lyrics.

I think that the concept of this video- opening with a parody of old American popular music, TV and lifestyle, before cutting in to the actual song- this alternative approach to a video could also be effective, especially if creating and indie rock video- contrasting between the old and new to make it seem outrageous and funny.

 Not only is Rejjie known for his music, he is very well known n social networks such as twitter, instagram and Tumblr for his unique appearance and quirky fashionable dress. I think that in order to create a more appealing and current video, my artist should also be dressed in a deliberately uncool manner to create a unique sense of style.

Rejjie Snow, an independent Irish Rapper/ Songwriter with a unique style

Suitable tracks for the video

I envisage my music video being heavily focused on the artist themself- most probably a solo artist, and herefore shall follow them lipsynching, therefore for this reason, my suitable song choices are all quite light- nothing too electronic, with clear, rather simple lyrics, making it easy to use them as the basis of a video, however, I do not want to create a narrative based video, therefore these songs enable the lyrics to explain the stories behind the songs.


I chose sooky black - reason as a possible song as I like the unique tone and ace of the singer's voice, this would enable me to create a video related to the lyrical themes of  love, but also the electronic effects wuld enable me to insert archive footage of art and other effects as transition between verses to create the calm effect of the music.







I chose this song as I really like the idea of using FKA Twigs as the model for my own solo artist if I decided upon a female- as a young British artist with a unique voice, it would be easy to lip sync to the song, with the electronic structure of the song providing the twist necessary to work with my ideas of transition between shots and flashing lighting and the possibility of choreography.





Moving onto the indie genre, I believe this song - 'Friend'  by upcoming band Baby Strange would be great if I were to create a more upbeat, carefree music video- with the strong lead vocals and accompanying band meaning that the video would have to switch the focus between singer and band, through which I could possibly integrate the use of footage shot on my VHS camera to give the chaotic, disorderly effect that the song evokes.




Similar to 'Friend', Cocoon by Catfish and the Bottlemen has one lead singer accompanied by a band, however, in this song, the band are less prominent, therefore I feel that with the use of this song I could focus my video on the struggle of the lead singer. The lyrics of this song reflect the separation the lead from his love by society, and his determination to get her back, therefore this could work well with a completely studio-shot video focusing on the boy and girl- with transitions between them and dancers surrounding them symbolising their separation.

Semiotic Analysis

King Krule - A Lizard State Music video



- The video is a black and white presentation of the artist appearing in one of Alfred Hitchcock's short films, with the setting recognisable as the set of an old film. This video is about the artists trouble with love and a girl in particular, and how his love for her is unrequited- as presented through the lyrics ' well if i cant have her than no one can' this is further reflected through the visual aspect of the barrier between man and woman. Hovever he continues to state that he hasn't given up on her 'one day im gonna have you' showing this.


-Iconic introduction- black and white Alfred Hitchcock style opening- opening clip taken from his work

- Black and white - presents old fashioned style, alongside decor of room and old suit- post-modern view of creation of film

- Alternative camera angle- subjects presented as walking on walls- satirical of old film production- obvious trickery, yet grasps the viewer.

- Sound: Diegetic of the phone ringing in song presented through focus on phone- creates narrative within song, similarly the use of the strumming of guitar reflects the artist's image- not only a character but a musician.

-Presentation of false backdrop of city skyline once again mocks the old films and highlights that the video is not serious- this is furthered by the panning of the camera to reveal that the room is just a set

-Repeated image of lizard- referring to song title and lyrics and serves as an image of absurdity and creates surprise- just as Hitchcock's films did.

-Camera- switching between peep-hole shot and shot of girl creates the view that the performance is being watched from behind the stage, and he cannot see her, suggesting that the song contains the theme of love

R&P- Audience Survey

Before deciding on our own artist and genre, we needed to have an idea as to what styles of music and specific artists different age groups and gender listen to. 

By creating a music-based survey, I was able to ask family and friends various simple questions regarding their consumption of music in order to establish which sort of audience I would like to target my video at, and which genres appeal more to specific gender /age groups. 

Here are some of the results:

From analysing the results of the survey, I have noticed that its is generally the younger audience who consume pop music and follow the charts, however, older teenagers- such as the 17 year old male below begin to form a more unique and personal taste as they grow up.

 Regarding genre, it is evident that younger audiences are more interested in dance and electronic music- shown by the 26 year old male below, after all they are generally the age group who go to clubs and live music concerts.

Finally, when considering how people discover and consume music, their is a general pattern between younger audiences using the internet and older audiences using radio and purchasing CD's, however, this is also contradicted in the survey below of the 47 year old female, as she said that she used spotify and other means of downloading- torrenting (illegal peer to peer) to obtain her music.

Record Labels

A Record Label is a registered business which carries the responsibility of  representing clients ( the musicians signed to their label) and promoting them and managing them in order to help them gain music recording sales. This role covers the processes of achieving copyrights for recordings, and also producing, manufacturing and distributing the records to sellers and corporations. Generally, it is the record label who discovers the artist and signs them to their label to allow them to produce their music under them and gain sales.

This screenshot from wikipedia shows the recent change in the main record labels and how big corporations such as Sony and Warner are expanding- meaning that they can guarantee chart success for their artists- with large budgets for promotion and video production.

Indie VS Major Record Labels

 MAJOR: SONY Music Entertainment

Sony Music Entertainment is owned by the American Music subsidiary of the Japanese conglomorate SONY, The enterprise was first created in 1929, and after many sales of ownership, it was finally renamed to SME in 199, and is currently the worlds second largest music company- with Universal MG being the biggest- making a yearly revenue of $4.89bn. The enterprise consists of 21 separate record labels across many genres.

Current Featured SME Artists

Some of Young Turks current artists- all british

                                           Young Turks- Indie

The Young Turks is a small record label based in London, England which was created as an imprint of the larger XL recordings,to specifically work alongside small Electronic/Alternative artists in order to help them sell records. Among those signed to YT are world reccknowned artists such as Sampha, SBTRKT, The XX an FKA Twigs. The label was started in 2004 by Caius Pawson, a 19yr old DJ, and by 2009, he had managged to helpThe XX sell 1 million copies of their debut album. Unlike SME, XL doesnt cover complete production and distribution, although it does help artists host gigs and paries to help promote them.




















Unsigned Artist: Broken Hands

Bands and artists do not necessarily need to be signed to a record label to be successful, infact, no artist starts of with a label- they must play small gigs and release promotional music before they are noticed by music scouts, who refer them to an agent of a record company, and if all works out, the artist signs an album deal.

One band who are currently unsigned are 'Broken Hands'- a british indie rock band who have only recently (in the last 4 years) come together. As unsigned artists, they have no record deal and have to sell all music and get their own gigs indepedently, however, as they are becoming more popular- with thousands of followers on their facebook page, they are coming closer to being signed. Broken hands have already released many singles, and played at the BBC 1 Introducing stage at Reading festival 2014- further increasing their popularity. Being unsigned gives the artist much more freedom and control over their music and performances, however it makes it much harder to make money or get a show.

The Broken Hands facebook page- their main form of promotion

What is selling well

In recent years, the rise in popularity and power of the Internet has had a very large influence in the popularity and sale of music- with a multitude of online databases and website allowing access to all music ever created whenever the audience wishes to find it. Not only has this ease of access boosted record sales, but it has made it easier for upcoming artists to get noticed- with popular video hosting sites such as youtube.com being the starting point of artists careers.


The image above highlights another effect of accessibility of music on the internet- all of the top 6 songs in the UK on youtube are by well known American artists- this highlights the power of the music industry and how well known record labels use their money and power to project their signed artists worldwide- with stunning professional videos drawing in  the UK audience.

I

The image above highlights another aspect which is selling well in the music scene- the concept of music and fashion- many artists use their image to gain fans and sell their music. Sam Smith, a solo artist who has multiple Chart hits this year is known by his fans for his stylish manner, and has received multiple features in magazines such as I-D, further selling him.

As always, boy bands are among the most popular artists across the world, in particular are bands such as the 1975 and 5 Seconds of summer, both bands organise many fan events and promote tickets for their world tours in order to build their predominantly teenage girl fan-bases and help them sell their music.

Gaps in the market

I would say that currently, with the majority of the popular artists and those in the charts being either solo males, boy-bands and dance music producers, there are 2 key types of artist that would be considered different and interesting:

 A solo British Female    

Recently there have not been many individual females in the charts, however, historically, they have been extremely successful, and still can be- with the resurgence of British singer Kate Bush and her sold out UK tours with tickets selling for thousands of pounds. Similarly, I feel that British singer FKA Twigs is a good example of this type of artist- young, attractive and fashionable, guaranteeing success in the future

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Tickets costing over £1000

British singer FKA Twigs

-A British Indie band with female lead 

Recent successes in this Genre have been the likes of Florence and the Machine, whose Album 'Lungs' reached number 1 in the charts in 2010, as well as London Grammar, a younger band who had hits in the UK charts last year such as 'Strong', shown below

Florence and the machine

 Genres of Interest

After considering these gaps, I have been able to reconsider my potential genres for producing a music video, and when comparing the constant successes of the charts such as boy bands, I have decided on 2 specific Genres:

-Electronic Alternative- Most probably performed by an alternative British artist such as FKA Twigs  or Jai Paul, but more likely a female.

This is an example of the style of Electronic alternative music, produced by British artist Jai Paul:

Jai Paul- a young, stylish solo artist from London signed to XL Recordings

-Indie Rock- A British band which could contain a girl- using the previous example of London Grammar again, as their success showed that the female lead is still popular, or using a male lead, such as the band 'Baby Strange' or 'Catfish and the Bottlemen', this genre would be good as there is the idea of style that comes with it.

Catfish and the Bottlemen- An upcoming British indie band

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Current trends in popular music

By analysing the BBC top 10 album sales of this week, it is clear that there are 2 particular trends that are common in most of the top 10 artists: male singers are very popular at the moment- such as Sam Smith, ed Sheeran, Paolo Nutini and george Ezra, and also boy bands- such as maroon 5 and collabro.

The artists in the top 10 singles charts have a similar trend- with similar male artists dominating the chart, howvere the majority of the artists listed above are all within the dance genre- this suggests that there has recently been a resurgence in the popularity of Dance music.

When comparing the singles chart with the top 10 downloaded singles of the week listed on the official top 40, it becomes clear that most of the tracks on both charts are the same- reflecting how in today's society, where the internet plays a big part in most people' daily life, people much prefer to download music rather than buy a physical copy. Similarly, the majority of songs on both lists are of the dance/ electronic genre- suggesting that currently dance music is becoming increasingly popular.

What sort of music video would you like to make?

For my music video, I would like to employ the recent trend of going against the modern style full HD music video- the video below is an example of how modern computer technology such as adobe after effects can be used to create computer generated visuals and edit filmed content to create eye catching and surreal graphics.



However, i would also like to employ the recent technologies of full HD cameras and wide angle lenses in order to create a video which contains enthralling detail and identifiable costume and setting, such as in the Jungle- Time video, where it is used to create a comedic element, going against the ideal of old people being boring and unfashionable by employing the classic music video ideal of a dance routine.




 However, I would also like to use old 90's style VHS filming in my video in order to create a retro effect similar to that in the video above- where one singular shot is used to form the entire video, yet it is still visually appealing and draws the viewer in due to its abstract nature.



The video above is not a music video, but it contains visual elements created in an editing software similar to those which i would like to include or incorporate into my video.

Initial research- My music consumption

How/ where/ when do you consume music?

Consumption of music has always been a key part of my life. Generally, I listen to music whenever I get the chance, the majority of the time I listen to music through speakers in my room, when getting ready for school, or just relaxing or working in the evenings. However I also use music to pass the time when travelling such as walking to school or on train or car journeys- using my mp3 smart phone to store and play my music through- I prefer using this on long bus journeys and in my room at night time as a way of relaxing and zoning out from the world, as a way of escape. When at home i stream music through my spotify app on the computer- meaning I have access to a very large spectrum of music, I personally find excitement through discovering new music and artists, therefore I prefer using my computer and speakers as I have a wider range of choice. However, I also enjoy experiencing music performed live- at gigs and festivals, especially if I already know the artist as I feel that live music is more interesting and nicer to listen to, providing an emotional and memorable experience, especially if I attend with friends- proving a social stimulus which can also introduce me to new people of a similar taste. Similarly, music is played at parties to create an upbeat vibe to bring people together or provide something to dance to or engage with- you cant have a party without music.

What does music mean to you?

As a child my main music influence was  my parents, who had a wide taste in genres, in particular, I remember the British bands indie new wave artists my mum played around the house, alongside the more varied taste of my dad- ranging from dance music to reggae.

A song which I particularly remember from my childhood is Kanye West- 'Touch the Sky', I remember that this track interested me as it was when i was in primary school and me and my friends had just started to use youtube. I remember watching the video and enjoying the exciting story that the narrative presented, and being amazed when I realised that the lyrics related to the story, this was my first experience of both a Hollywood produced music video and also US rap music.


Teenage track

Being exposed to the internet from a young age, I quickly latched on to the youtube phenomenon, and using the almost endless database of music from all eras and genres, in particular I found American grunge such as Nirvana and really liked the use of electric guitars and the style of dress, with darker lyrics, I realised that music can be used to express emotions. However, when I discovered Jazz I realised that music is better when it makes you happy, and was amazed by the saxophone and in particular Gene Simmons.

More recent music

More recently I discovered soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com),an online community where users can upload their music, of any genre or lenght, which they have produced so that other users can listen to and leave comments to tell the creator what they think. This is ideal for bedroom musicians an people simply having fun, I like using soundcloud as I can share my own music whilst being inspired by others' -with no fixed style or meaning.