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.

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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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