Uses of Digital Technology:
Marketing: Adele - Only has music videos for major singles she has produced, all very similar due to being quite dark and minimal with her being the main focus. Done online interviews with various newspapers and magazines, such as, Vogue, Vanity Fair and Billboard as well as on chat shows such as 'Alan Carr Chatty Man' and Saturday Night Live which are then uploaded onto Youtube. Doesn't really use social media unless she's promoting her work or about issues like Grenfell, doesn't show her personal life very much despite having over 60M followers on Twitter and Instagram combined and doesn't follow anyone.
Stormzy - Has many music videos with them all being very different and individual to fit in with the song. Early on music videos mainly focus on him, however his recent videos feature various people from different walks of life to show equality and importance. Has done many interviews for magazines, such as NME, Vogue and Fader. He also does many online videos with MTV, Capital FM and Noisey. Heavily uses social media and shows his personal life often as well as the promotion of his work and particularly of political issues like Grenfell and often speaks about Theresa May and politicians. He has almost 2M on Instagram and heavily uses Snapchat to interact with his fans.
Ed Sheeran - Only has music videos for major singles he has produced, early on videos rarely featured himself but recently his videos have featured mainly him and one other person normally being a woman to fit in with the songs he makes which are predominantly about love, all have a high production value. Has done many interviews throughout his career with magazines and newspapers, such as, Rolling Stone, GQ and Billboard as well as being on chat shows like Celebrity juice and The Graham Norton Show which is on Youtube as well. He had a short break in between albums from social media but came back after the release of his album but doesn't use Twitter much despite having over 20M followers and only really posts about promoting his work and of pictures he posted on Instagram where he has almost 23M followers and posts quite actively on there with pictures from his tour.
All three artists have many online reviews from critics and fans as well as blogs and other social media accounts dedicated solely to them.
Live Events and Use of Non Digital Technology:
Adele - Will do a tour after the release of an album and doesn't to festivals due to the nature of her songs. She has occasionally played the acoustic guitar onstage and as well as producing CD's and digital versions of her work she also produced Vinyl's of her recent album 25.
Stormzy - Does a tour after album releases and lots of festivals and live gigs, including his own festival in Ibiza called 'Merky Festival'. He has done acoustic version of songs at award shows and chat shows, etc. He produced CD's and Vinyl records of his album Gang Signs and Prayer.
Ed Sheeran - Does a tour after every album release and started off doing Festivals at Glastonbury and still does now as well as establishing himself doing live gigs which he still occasionally does as well. Uses acoustic instruments constantly on stage, mainly acoustic guitar. Every album he has made has not only been in CD form but also in Vinyl as well.
Elements That Cause or Influence the Production of the Texts:
Adele - Signed to XL Recordings, Columbia Records and Universal Music Group and has a high production value and budget due to her success from early on. She is expected to make quite slow, sad music about heartbreak and when she branches out of that she gets positive feedback. Linked with the film industry due to making the soundtrack for Skyfall which in turn promoted her as well as promoting the film as well. Marketing techniques include TV adverts, posters and billboards, interviews and social media. Digital technology isn't really a big thing for her or her image. Audience is mainly older women and always have positive feedback with her work and her image in general.
Stormzy - Signed to independent label Merky Records and Atlantic Records UK. Has quite a high budget compared to his older work due to his recent success and becoming more mainstream. He is expected to stay within the genre of grime but has recently branched out in Gospel and R&B music on his album as well but did have a positive feedback to the new style and managed to reach a wider audience other than his original audience of a young mainly male audience. Went into the film industry by producing a song and appearing in the movie brotherhood which in turn gave him more attention. Marketing techniques include, TV adverts, Billboards and posters around the country and particularly social media. Digital technology is a big thing for him as thats how he interacts and gets his work out to the world.
Ed Sheeran - Signed to Asylum Records, Atlantic Records, Warner Music Group and now has a very high production value an budget due to his constant success. He is expected to make quite slow songs about heartbreak but recently moved into more upbeat songs that got very positive feedback. He has made songs for various movie soundtracks such as, The Fault in our Stars and The Hobbit and well as being featured on TV shows like Family Guy and commonly chat shows like The Graham Norton Show. Marketing techniques are featured everywhere from billboards to social media and TV adverts. His audience is a variety of different people now due to him making different music compared to his early stuff but would still have a predominantly young audience. Much like Adele, digital technology is as much of a big thing for him except for Instagram where he posts tour photos to promote the tour and his recent work more.
Marketing:
Adele - short clips of 'Hello' were put as ads on Youtube videos and TV adverts. Interviews on TV will be advertised all week, especially during the evening. The soundtrack to Skyfall also helped her image get bigger due to James Bond being a massive franchise for years. Social media used to promote the album, music videos and tours. Reviews normally always very positive for all her work.
Stormzy - Music videos are constantly featured as ads on Youtube and on frequently shown on MTV. Brotherhood helped his image as it was part of a big film collection and showed the audience he could do more than just rap. Heavily uses social media to promote his work and his image as well as upcoming events and often gets his friends from the music industry to tweet about his work or himself to get a wider audience. Now that he is fairly mainstream and makes various genres of music he gets positive feedback from his audience and the press.
Ed Sheeran - Music videos shown constantly on MTV and as ads on Youtube as well as ads on TV when they want to promote well known singles off the album. Interviews will be advertised on TV and on social media due to his fame and persona. Him having songs in movies brings more views to the movie due to his fame and likability. Social media is used to mainly promote his tour and songs that he's featured on or any upcoming work he has to excite his fanbase. Reviews have remained positive throughout his career.
Elements That Make up the Success of the Artists:
All three artists have financial success, with Adele earning the most then Ed Sheeran and then Stormzy.
They also all have creative success as they all come up with there own concepts, ideas and lyrics that have become extremely successful.
They have a certain level of independence, Stormzy would have the most due to being on his own independent label. They all have a massive influence on their audience and have managed to help many people, such as, Adele and Stormzy being big advocates to try and help the families from the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Stormzy has such a big influence he created a Twitter petition and so many people signed it that it got recognised by parliament to be taken seriously and make a change.
Regulation of the Music Industry Affecting the Artists:
Most self regulated. All artists music is copyrighted.
Stormzy has had the most censored and radio edited songs due to using strong language a lot because of the nature of grime. Ed Sheeran has also had a few radio edited songs due to some strong language.
Illegal downloads are still a big issue for all the artists, less so with Stormzy as he often uploads his music onto various platforms such as Soundcloud which is free.
Sunday, 3 June 2018
Tuesday, 29 May 2018
Music Industry Links: Adele
Examples of marketing techniques by Adele and her Label.
- Teased fans with a short into to 'Hello' - Adele had not released new music for three years since her second studio album, '21'. Fans were eagerly waiting for any news regarding her next big release. Adele very cleverly released a 30 second video of 'Hello' during The X Factor's ad break. It was simple and consisted of a black background with the lyrics to Hello's intro displayed in white. The video did not give away anything regarding Adele's comeback. As a result, social media was flooded with speculations on whether she was finally releasing her next album. The teaser built up a lot of anticipation and excitement among fans.
- Released 'Hello' as a free single - To create buzz for her new album, '25', Adele released 'Hello' as a free single. She also refused to offer her album via streaming services such as Spotify and Apple music. By releasing the best song on the album for free, she built anticipation for the album. 'Hello' created a social media pandemic and fans were left longing to more music. '25' became a commercial success due to this simple, yet very effective strategy. According to Billboard, over 8 million album copies were sold in the U.S alone.
- Partnered with prominent people to market her album - Adele won fans' hearts by participating in an impersonator contest soon after the album launch. She partnered with the BBC and Graham Norton to pull off the prank. The video ranked in over 40 million views on Youtube. She also partnered with Jimmy Fallon to perform 'Hello' with classroom instruments. The video became a huge success on Youtube with over 30 million views. Adele also appeared on popular TV shows such as 'Saturday Night Live' to promote her album. Tv appearances and partnerships with famous hosts, played a huge role in boosting Adele's album sales.
- A song that spoke to her fanbase - 'Hello' spoke directly to the legions of fans who fell for Adele's focus on heartbreak and misery on '21', quickly bringing them back to centre. Only this time, the singers focus is tweaked with Adele seemingly turning the blame on herself, not her departed lover. Reengaging her fan base is critical if Adele hopes to post album sales anywhere close to the 11 Million copies '21' sold. Unlike a performer like Taylor Swift, who has a concentration of enthusiasts that can easily be mobilised, Adele audience is more fragmented and widely distributed, which will require the marketing of the album to continue to be on point.
- Refuses to play the game - Beyond her voice and universal themes of her songs, she achieved notoriety by not playing by the typical rules. She doesn't headline big music festivals or giant arenas, preferring intimate venues. She refuses to associate her music with advertising. And, beyond what she reveals in her songs and what she cannot hide like the birth of her son, she keeps her life private, restricting interviews.
Friday, 4 May 2018
Media Theory
Representation
Laura Mulvey: Male Gaze Theory
The Male Gaze Theory describes how the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. Mulvey believes that women should enjoy the attention of attractive the gaze, and put themselves in positions to be looked at. The concept of the gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented. Mulvey states that in film women are typically the objects, rather than the possessors, of gaze because the control of the camera comes from factors such as the assumption of heterosexual men as the default target audience for most film genres.
The male gaze occurs when the camera puts the audience into the perspective of a heterosexual man. It may, for instance linger over the curves of a woman's body.
The woman is usually displayed on two different levels:
Genre
Laura Mulvey: Male Gaze Theory
The Male Gaze Theory describes how the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. Mulvey believes that women should enjoy the attention of attractive the gaze, and put themselves in positions to be looked at. The concept of the gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented. Mulvey states that in film women are typically the objects, rather than the possessors, of gaze because the control of the camera comes from factors such as the assumption of heterosexual men as the default target audience for most film genres.
The male gaze occurs when the camera puts the audience into the perspective of a heterosexual man. It may, for instance linger over the curves of a woman's body.
The woman is usually displayed on two different levels:
- As an erotic object for both the characters within the film
- The spectator who is watching the film
The man emerges as the dominant power within the created film fantasy. The woman is passive to the active gaze from the man. This adds an element of patriarchal order and it is often seen in illusionistic narrative film.
Mulvey argues that, in mainstream cinema, the male gaze typically takes precedence over the female gaze, reflecting an underlying power asymmetry.
Mulvey also states that the female gaze is the same as the male gaze as women look at themselves through the eyes of men. A feminist may see the male gaze as either a manifestation of unequal power between gazer and gazed, or as a conscious or subconscious attempt to develop that inequality. From this perspective, a woman who welcomes an objectifying gaze may be simply seeking to benefit men.
The Male Gaze typically focuses on:
- Emphasising curves of the female body
- Referring to women as objects rather than people
- The display of women is how men think they should be perceived
- Female viewers, view the content through the eyes of a man
Stuart Hall: Representation Theory
Hall emphasises the importance of visual representation - the image seems to be the prevalent sign of late modern culture.
Representation - to present/to depict.
The word suggests something was there already and has been represented by the media.
Representation as that which stands in for something else.
Representation is the way in which meaning is given to the things which are depicted that stand in for something.
Alvarado: Representation of Ethnicity
His theories related to ethnicity are based on the idea that people from different cultures tend to be defined by how different they are, by their 'otherness'. These representations can focus on racial characteristics and on preconceived audience perceptions. These are often drawn from other media texts rather than from reality and therefore reinforce the stereotype. Alvarado believed that the representation of ethnic groups can be divided into four categories:
- The Exotic: This stereotype links closely to what Stuart Hall called 'the secret fascination of 'otherness' - this is the way in which the media represents people who are different from us. This can be viewed both positively and negatively but is usually a construction by the text. The 'exotic' stereotype presents the individual in terms of how they look, what they wear, what they eat and their 'different' customs.
- The Pitied: In certain texts ethnic minorities are stereotyped as vulnerable and as victims. This is true of many newspaper and television news reports of developing countries; this is largely because the only time certain counties appear in the news is when they are linked to disasters, for example famine and earthquakes. Similar representations are used for charity campaigns in order to shock the audience into action.
- The Humorous: In the context of certain texts, for example situation comedies and film, the audience is encouraged to laugh at the ethnic stereotypes contained within the text. These stereotypes have often been built up over time and, as with all stereotypes, they exaggerate recognisable features and attributes. In the early days of sitcoms racist humour was seen as an acceptable way of making people laugh. This is no longer the case but texts like Citizen Khan have attracted a range of views about the programme which was written by British Muslim Adil Ray. It was one of the most complained about programmes to Ofcom with accusations that it stereotyped the Pakistani community in Britain.
- Dangerous: Alvarado states that some texts represent ethnic minorities as a threat to society and they are often blamed for social problems. Immigrants are stereotypically represented as benefit cheats and scroungers. The ghettoisation of some social groups reinforces the idea of differences as they become marooned communities who are seen as apart from the norm. Some newspapers manipulate the readers' fear of the unknown by grouping together individuals under the common title of 'immigrants'. This lack of personalisation makes it easier to blame them for a range of social problems.
- Daniel Chandler: Conventional definitions of genres tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and form (including structure and style) which are shared by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them. Every genre positions those who participate in a text of that kind: as interviewer or interviewee, as listener or storyteller, as a reader or a writer, as a person interested in political matters, as someone to be instructed or as someone who instructs; each of these positioning implies different possibilities for response and for action. Each written text provides a 'reading position' for readers, a position constructed by the writer for the 'ideal reader' of the text. Thus, embedded within texts are assumptions about the 'ideal reader', including their attitudes towards the subject matter and often their class, age, gender and ethnicity.
- Steve Neale: It is easy to underplay the differences within a genre. He declares that 'genres are instances of repetition and difference'. He adds that 'difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre': mere repetition would not attract an audience.
- John Hartley: Texts often exhibit the conventions of more than one genre. He notes that 'the same text can belong to different genres in different countries or times'.
- David Buckingham: Traditionally, genres tended to be regarded as fixed forms, but contemporary theory emphasises that both their forms and functions are dynamic. He argues that 'genre is not simply "given" by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change'.
'Uses and gratifications' research has identified many potential pleasures of genre, including the following:
- One pleasure may simply be the recognition of the features of a particular genre because of our familiarity with it. Recognition of what is likely to be important (and what is not) derived from our knowledge of the genre, is necessary in order to follow a plot.
- Genres may offer various emotional pleasures such as empathy and escapism - a feature which some theoretical commentaries seem to lose sight of. Aristotle acknowledged the special emotional responses which were linked to different genres. Deborah Knight notes that 'satisfaction is guaranteed with genre; the deferral of the inevitable provides the additional pleasure of prolonged anticipation'.
- Steve Neal argues that pleasure is derived from 'repetition and difference'; there would be no pleasure without difference. We may derive pleasure from observing how the conventions of the genre are manipulated. We may also enjoy the stretching of a genre in new directions and the consequent shifting of our expectations.
- Other pleasures can be derived from sharing our experience of a genre with others within an 'interpretive community' which can be characterised by its familiarity with certain genres (Daniel Chandler).
- Tom Ryall: Genre provides a framework of structuring rules, in the shape of patterns/forms/styles/structures, which act as a form of 'supervision' over the work of production of filmmakers and the work of reading by the audience.
- John Fiske: Defines genres as 'attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture for the convenience of both producers and audiences.'
- Steve Neale: Argues that Hollywood's generic regime performs two inter-related functions: to guarantee meanings and pleasures for audiences and to offset the considerable economic risks of industrial film production by providing cognitive collateral against innovation and difference. Much of the pleasure of popular cinema lies in the process of "difference in repetition" - i.e. recognition of familiar elements and in the way those elements might be orchestrated in an unfamiliar fashion or in the way that unfamiliar elements might be introduced.
- Rick Altman: Argues that genres are usually defined in terms of media language (semantic elements) and codes (in the Western, for example: guns, horses, landscape, characters or even stars, like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood) or certain ideologies and narratives (syntactic elements).
- Neale: Genre is constituted by "specific systems of expectations and hypothesis which spectators bring with them to the cinema and which interact with the films themselves during the course of the viewing process."
- Jonathan Culler: Generic conventions exist to established a contract between creator and reader so as to make certain expectations operative, allowing compliance and deviation from the accepted modes of intelligibility. Acts of communication are rendered intelligible only within the context of a shared conventional framework of expression.
- Ryall: Sees this framework provided by the generic system; therefore, genre becomes a cognitive repository of images, sounds, stories, characters and expectations.
To the distributor/promoter, genre provides assumptions about who the audience is and how to market the films for that specific audience.
To the audience, it is a label that identifies a liked or disliked formula and provides certain rules of engagement for the spectator in terms of anticipation of pleasure e.g. the anticipation of what will happen in the attic scene in of "The Exorcist".
When genres become classic, they can exert tremendous influence: production can become quicker and more confident because film makes are following tested formulae and have a ready shorthand to work with, and actors can be filtered into genres and can be seen to have assumed 'star quality' when their mannerisms, physical attributes, way of speaking and acting fit a certain style of genre.
In turn, viewers become 'generic spectators' and can be said to develop generic memory which helps in the anticipation of events, even though the films themselves might play on certain styles rather than follow a closely cliched formula. E.g. the attic scene from "The Exorcist" - we expect something to jump out on the woman because of all the generic conventions are in place, but in the end, the director deflates the tension. We do not consume films as individual entities, but in an intertextual way. Film is a post modern medium in this way, because movies make sense in relation to other films, not to reality.
It is the way genre films deviate from the cliched formulae that leads to a more interesting experience for the viewer, but for this to work properly, the audience must be familiar with generic conventions and style.
David Bordwell: Notes, 'any theme may appear in any genre' 'One could argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film goers would find acceptable'.
Audience
The Passive Audience Idea:
- Effects theory was developed in the 1920's and looks at how media texts influence those who consume them, particularly how negative messages, i.e. sexual and violent content, can affect the most vulnerable of audience groups.
- It reflected the dominant views in society about the media and the audience.
- Reflecting a middle class fear of the masses (working class).
- Fears of the potential effect this would have on public order and status quo in society.
- Many of these ideas come from The Frankfurt School from theorists - Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin and Herbert Marcuse.
- This theory states that the audience takes in and believes the ideologies in all media texts.
- Where the audience is seen as passive - who play no role in interacting with the media texts concerned.
- The theory states that these texts function in a one directional communication process - the audience does not think or disagree with the messages and values within the media text.
- Encoding - Decoding is an active audience theory developed by Stuart Hall which examines the relationship between a text and its audience.
- Encoding is the process by which a text is constructed by its producers.
- Decoding is the process by which the audience reads, understands and interprets a text.
- The media encode ideologies into the media texts. The audience decode the messages - and active process - they think.
- Hall states that texts are polysemic, meaning they may be read differently by different people, depending on their identity, cultural knowledge and opinions.
Hall's Reception Theory:
- Reception theory focuses on the role of the audience in the interpretation of a text, instead of on the text itself.
- In other words, the theory suggests that audience play an active role in reading texts, that each person has the ability to interpret the same text differently, and that a text by itself - i.e. without a reader - has no specific meaning.
- He termed these different 'readings' of the ideologies in media texts as; The preferred reading, The negotiated reading and The oppositional reading.
The Pick n Mix Approach to Audience - David Gauntlett:
- This is the idea that we pick and mix our media (an active choice)
- We select how we form our identities using media texts.
- He claims that we can not assume that people are simply influenced by media texts.
Thursday, 3 May 2018
Case Study 3 - Adele
Personal Background: Adele originates from Tottenham, London. She attended the BRIT school for Performing arts and technology and graduated in 2006.
Musical Industry Background and Context: Adele was given a recording contract by XL Recordings after a friend posted her demo on Myspace the same year. In 2007, she received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award and won the BBC Sound of 2008 poll. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 to commercial and critical success. It is certified seven times platinum in the UK, and three times platinum in the US. The album contains her first song, "Hometown Glory", written when she was 16, which is based on her home suburb of West Norwood in London. An appearance she made on Saturday Night Live in late 2008 boosted her career in the US. At the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Record Labels: XL Recordings, Columbia Records, Universal Music Group.
Her music genre has remained consistent throughout her entire career and sticks to the genre of Pop music mixed with Soul.
Industry Profile: She has won many awards throughout her career, including various 'Grammys' for things such as 'Album of the Year' and 'Song of the Year' as well as 'BRIT Awards', 'AMA's' and 'Billboard Awards'.
She has a huge social media following with over 29 million followers on Twitter and 32 Million followers on Instagram.
She has been featured in other media industries such as TV for promotion of her albums and songs that are upcoming, as well as having the main theme song for Skyfall in 2012.
Genre and Conventions: Adele's early music consisted of a lot of Soul sounds with some incorporation of Pop mixed in, however now she has ventured more into Pop Music but not the conventional upbeat type. Her songs normally feature lyrics about heartbreak and are therefore more slow and heartfelt sounding compared to conventional Pop Music. In recent dates she has made more upbeat songs that have featured the Soul sound once again so mixes her styles between both of these genres frequently.
Lyrical Themes and Narratives: Music Videos.
'Hello' - At the beginning of the video, it has a movie type feel to it as it has dialogue and some acting in it to set the scene, this continues throughout the video at some points where their will be dialogue and acting in the background whilst the song is playing.
The entire video has no colour in and has a dark filter over it to make the video seem gloomy and depressing to fit in with the lyrics that about love and heartbreak which is the conventional types of songs she makes.
The video is set in an old abandoned house in the middle of the woods, which is also shown as the video goes on and is also abandoned and features an old phone box to connote her feelings of loneliness from her heartbreak and the use of the phone box links in with the lyrics of her calling the person she's in love with and him not picking up, which is why it is covered in leaves, twigs, etc and is old and broken.
At the beginning the video it is quite chilled out with close ups of Adele making tea and walking around the house but gets more dramatic as time goes on, showing flashbacks of a man which seems to be who she is singing about which starts off with happy memories then converts to bad ones to show the journey in which her relationship went in. The video seems to get more dramatic as the chorus kicks in to fit in with the change in tempo.
She is the main person featured throughout but it also features a man who is represented as her boyfriend who she has issues with. The video doesn't really explore many different groups of people, it only really explores ethnicity and gender as the male in the video is black.
There are mainly close ups of Adele during the chorus and at the beginning and very end of the video where she often gives direct address with the camera.
Overall the entire video is very atmospheric as it is very dramatic and emotional.
'Someone Like You' - This video is set outside, in the same location throughout which is around Paris, which could be an oxymoron as Paris is associated as the city of love but this song is about heartbreak and moving on from love. The camera shots are mainly close ups of her face where she often gives direct address, particularly during the chorus, but also features shots of the city to show the setting clearly.
The video is nearly all of her just walking around whilst singing the song which connotes her reflecting on her thoughts and feelings, up until the very end she is the only person featured in the video but then there is a mystery man who's face is not shown which could represent the man she is trying to move on from.
Much like the other video, this video doesn't have any colour in it and is all in a black and white dark film filter to represent the nature of the song as being gloomy and sad once again.
'Send My Love (To Your New Lover) - The video starts off as a long shot of Adele on a plain black background and starts to slowly zoom in as she sings to end up in a close up of her face where there is then an overlap of her doing different movements from different angles and perspectives.
She is the only person featured throughout the entire video and unlike the previous videos this video features lots of colour through the use of her clothing as well as post production. Also unlike her other videos that focused heavily on facial expression, this video focuses a lot of movement to create a more interesting effect to fit in with the beat of the song as this is a lot more upbeat compared to what she has done before, even though it is still about love and moving on, she makes this song seem more like its a good thing whereas its seemed sad in other songs she's done.
At the end of the video the camera zooms out to be a long shot and just one version of her again to replicate what it was like at the beginning of the video.
Audience: Adele's target audience would mainly be older women from a similar background to her as they can relate to not only her music but also her well known persona.
Her album became the best selling album in 2016 selling over 1.7 Million copies in the U.S.
Audiences all respond very well with Adele as she is perceived as a very normal, relatable character and is genuinely very talented and different to a lot of artists today.
Marketing Techniques: Album Cover.
This is the album cover to Adele's 3rd album titled '25'. The image is very similar to how she looks in the 'Hello' music video with her make up and the filter thats on both the music video and on the front cover, so there is already a direct link for the audience to see. The image is very direct with her looking straight into the camera to engage with the audience more and to seem more striking at first glance.
The fact that her name is nowhere on the album cover denotes that she is that well known from her image and that people will know who made the album just by seeing her image and not by her name.
It is very minimalistic yet striking, due to the direct address, which could connote her as a person and her music.
The audience is targeted by the extreme direct close up image of her as they will be able to see who made album straight away.
Musical Industry Background and Context: Adele was given a recording contract by XL Recordings after a friend posted her demo on Myspace the same year. In 2007, she received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award and won the BBC Sound of 2008 poll. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 to commercial and critical success. It is certified seven times platinum in the UK, and three times platinum in the US. The album contains her first song, "Hometown Glory", written when she was 16, which is based on her home suburb of West Norwood in London. An appearance she made on Saturday Night Live in late 2008 boosted her career in the US. At the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Record Labels: XL Recordings, Columbia Records, Universal Music Group.
Her music genre has remained consistent throughout her entire career and sticks to the genre of Pop music mixed with Soul.
Industry Profile: She has won many awards throughout her career, including various 'Grammys' for things such as 'Album of the Year' and 'Song of the Year' as well as 'BRIT Awards', 'AMA's' and 'Billboard Awards'.
She has a huge social media following with over 29 million followers on Twitter and 32 Million followers on Instagram.
She has been featured in other media industries such as TV for promotion of her albums and songs that are upcoming, as well as having the main theme song for Skyfall in 2012.
Genre and Conventions: Adele's early music consisted of a lot of Soul sounds with some incorporation of Pop mixed in, however now she has ventured more into Pop Music but not the conventional upbeat type. Her songs normally feature lyrics about heartbreak and are therefore more slow and heartfelt sounding compared to conventional Pop Music. In recent dates she has made more upbeat songs that have featured the Soul sound once again so mixes her styles between both of these genres frequently.
Lyrical Themes and Narratives: Music Videos.
'Hello' - At the beginning of the video, it has a movie type feel to it as it has dialogue and some acting in it to set the scene, this continues throughout the video at some points where their will be dialogue and acting in the background whilst the song is playing.
The entire video has no colour in and has a dark filter over it to make the video seem gloomy and depressing to fit in with the lyrics that about love and heartbreak which is the conventional types of songs she makes.
The video is set in an old abandoned house in the middle of the woods, which is also shown as the video goes on and is also abandoned and features an old phone box to connote her feelings of loneliness from her heartbreak and the use of the phone box links in with the lyrics of her calling the person she's in love with and him not picking up, which is why it is covered in leaves, twigs, etc and is old and broken.
At the beginning the video it is quite chilled out with close ups of Adele making tea and walking around the house but gets more dramatic as time goes on, showing flashbacks of a man which seems to be who she is singing about which starts off with happy memories then converts to bad ones to show the journey in which her relationship went in. The video seems to get more dramatic as the chorus kicks in to fit in with the change in tempo.
She is the main person featured throughout but it also features a man who is represented as her boyfriend who she has issues with. The video doesn't really explore many different groups of people, it only really explores ethnicity and gender as the male in the video is black.
There are mainly close ups of Adele during the chorus and at the beginning and very end of the video where she often gives direct address with the camera.
Overall the entire video is very atmospheric as it is very dramatic and emotional.
'Someone Like You' - This video is set outside, in the same location throughout which is around Paris, which could be an oxymoron as Paris is associated as the city of love but this song is about heartbreak and moving on from love. The camera shots are mainly close ups of her face where she often gives direct address, particularly during the chorus, but also features shots of the city to show the setting clearly.
The video is nearly all of her just walking around whilst singing the song which connotes her reflecting on her thoughts and feelings, up until the very end she is the only person featured in the video but then there is a mystery man who's face is not shown which could represent the man she is trying to move on from.
Much like the other video, this video doesn't have any colour in it and is all in a black and white dark film filter to represent the nature of the song as being gloomy and sad once again.
'Send My Love (To Your New Lover) - The video starts off as a long shot of Adele on a plain black background and starts to slowly zoom in as she sings to end up in a close up of her face where there is then an overlap of her doing different movements from different angles and perspectives.
She is the only person featured throughout the entire video and unlike the previous videos this video features lots of colour through the use of her clothing as well as post production. Also unlike her other videos that focused heavily on facial expression, this video focuses a lot of movement to create a more interesting effect to fit in with the beat of the song as this is a lot more upbeat compared to what she has done before, even though it is still about love and moving on, she makes this song seem more like its a good thing whereas its seemed sad in other songs she's done.
At the end of the video the camera zooms out to be a long shot and just one version of her again to replicate what it was like at the beginning of the video.
Audience: Adele's target audience would mainly be older women from a similar background to her as they can relate to not only her music but also her well known persona.
Her album became the best selling album in 2016 selling over 1.7 Million copies in the U.S.
Audiences all respond very well with Adele as she is perceived as a very normal, relatable character and is genuinely very talented and different to a lot of artists today.
Marketing Techniques: Album Cover.
This is the album cover to Adele's 3rd album titled '25'. The image is very similar to how she looks in the 'Hello' music video with her make up and the filter thats on both the music video and on the front cover, so there is already a direct link for the audience to see. The image is very direct with her looking straight into the camera to engage with the audience more and to seem more striking at first glance.
The fact that her name is nowhere on the album cover denotes that she is that well known from her image and that people will know who made the album just by seeing her image and not by her name.
It is very minimalistic yet striking, due to the direct address, which could connote her as a person and her music.
The audience is targeted by the extreme direct close up image of her as they will be able to see who made album straight away.
Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Case Study 2 - Ed Sheeran
Personal Background: Ed Sheeran moved from Suffolk to London in 2008 playing small gigs in small venues.
Musical Industry Background and Context: In 2009, he played 300 gigs, produced 6 self released EP's. He was noticed by Elton John and then signed to Asylum Records. His debut single ' The A Team' was released as a digital download in 2011 and entered the UK Singles Chart at number three, selling over 58,00 copies in the first week. His debut album '+' was released in September 2011 and became the second best selling album in the UK, selling 791,000 copies.
He has recently changed from predominantly Indie music to more Pop music but still has hints of Indie music within it at times.
Industry Profile: His musical status and influence is highly respected as he is one of the best selling artists of this generation and has influenced many other peoples sounds through writing music for other famous artists such as, Justin Bieber, One Direction and worked with Taylor Swift.
His social media is massive with over 21 Million Followers on Instagram and 20 Million on Twitter.
His most viewed music video currently has 3.3 Billion views on Youtube being the fourth video ever to reach views that high.
He has made many songs that have featured on Soundtracks for movies such as, The fault in our stars and The Hobbit but has also starred in TV shows such as, The Simpsons and Game of Thrones.
Genre and Conventions: Ed Sheeran is generally accepted as being from the Indie genre. This genre evolved from the style of music produced and promoted by independent record labels and so became a music genre. Early on he fit into the genre of Indie due to writing his own lyrics and having something to say as well as having very urban gritty videos which fit into the codes and conventions of the Indie genre. More recently he has moved away from that image and genre of Indie music and has gone more into Pop music which is evident through the use of his music videos and overall image which isn't the same as what it used to be when he first started out.
Lyrical Themes and Narratives: Music Videos.
His music videos tend to use a narrative style and often feature him only in a cameo role, although there are also videos of him playing the song in concert as a separate promotional tool.
'LEGO HOUSE' - The actor Rupert Grint is the main protagonist. His similarity to Sheeran is central to the narrative which manipulates audiences expectations. Ironically, at the time he was more famous than Ed Sheeran. He is represented as Sheeran using visual codes, for example clothing, hair, iconography including an acoustic guitar and pieces of lego relating to the lyrics. The urban setting, iconography and muted colours reflect the Indie gene. They also serve to reinforce the characters isolation. Grint assumes the persona of Sheeran as the star, appearing on stage and waving to crowds. We see him in the act of song writing, emphasising the creativity of the Indie musician. The use of close ups of the character's face as he sings to us, a convention of the music video, establishes an intimacy with the audience. The song is a love song, but in this video the narrative presents a different kind of love, the one of a fan and a star. Towards the end, he is confronted by his idol, the only appearance of Ed Sheeran in the video. The narrative considers notions of stardom and of living in a celebrity culture and gives a new perspective on the love song that aims to challenge audience perceptions.
'SHAPE OF YOU' - Ed Sheeran does feature quite heavily in this video alongside a female character who brings female empowerment to the video through the use of her strength in the gym and boxing. This video is a fast paced video compared to many of his others due to this song being different to his conventional music, this song is much more upbeat and fast paced. The video sees the two characters get closer and fall in love as it goes on which also fits in with the lyrics. There is a feature of the name of the album shown in the video on a wristband which could be a marketing technique. Ethnicity and gender seem to be the main themes explored in this music video, there isn't really a variety in age due to there not being that many characters in the video for that area to be largely explored. There are a lot of close ups to show expression and feelings throughout as well as a lot of establishing shots of the city they were in to show setting and some long shots to show everything thats going on in the shot for a broader view.
'CASTLE ON THE HILL' - Establishing shots of the landscape to show where he grew up as the song is about his life when he was younger and him looking back, giving the entire music video a very nostalgic feel. There is an actor that plays a young version of Ed Sheeran to further show the intensity of nostalgia of the video. Sheeran is featured throughout the video in his car singing along to the song and walking through fields and then it will cut back to the scenes of how he was when he was younger to make it seem like he is reflecting back on his teenage years whenever he drives back to where he grew up. Both boys and girls are featured in the video and are all around the same age whilst all being white. The teenagers throughout the video are doing things like drinking and smoking which could be classed as stereotypical behaviour. There are mainly close ups of Ed Sheeran throughout the video but also with the boy who plays younger Ed Sheeran to further show them being linked together. At the end of the video there is a scene of younger Ed Sheeran sitting with his friends in a forest drinking and then quickly cuts to current Ed Sheeran with some of the same friends in the same location, this could connote that he is still the same person he was then even through his fame and success.
Audience: Early Ed Sheerans' audience would have been younger people who found his work through the internet. His appeal to younger people was the themes and ideas behind his music and that he attempted to relate to people. His image is very accessible to discerning young people who are looking for something different, authentic and away from the mainstream.
However, recently he has become a lot more mainstream meaning that his music appeals to a lot of different audiences despite age, ethnicity and gender.
A literal audience response is the amount of people who have brought his music across a range of platforms as well as fan pages dedicated to him.
Marketing Techniques:
This is a detailed, in depth interview with the artist which appeared in Q Magazine. Q audience is 15-24 years old, mainly affluent males from the ABC1 demographic. The headline for this article in Q Magazine is a direct quote and challenges the stereotype of what it means to be 'ginger'. It is an imperative and is assertive. It also remains the audience of his iconic, recognisable feature.
The sub heading represents him as a 'honey voiced songwriting phenomenon who's breaking hearts', reinforcing his talent and his appeal. This mediates his representation and anchors the image.
The code of clothing is again relaxed; this is part of his iconic image, as is the code of gesture. His mode of address is indirect, reinforcing the 'cool' image.
He is positioned against a London backdrop with his guitar as further iconography. The photograph is constructed to reinforce his image and to make links to his busking days on the London streets. This is reinforced by the cover line placed in the flag 'Ed Sheeran has given up on busking to look at skirt instead'. This will appeal to the Q reader and is not necessarily in keeping with his image.
His representation is further developed in the article: 'Polite, articulate and a little shy' and 'crucially though, he remains self conscious enough not to be entirely comfortable with the demands of modern publicity.' This reinforces his representation as a serious musician who is not a construction of the music industry and is therefore less at home with commercial success.
Musical Industry Background and Context: In 2009, he played 300 gigs, produced 6 self released EP's. He was noticed by Elton John and then signed to Asylum Records. His debut single ' The A Team' was released as a digital download in 2011 and entered the UK Singles Chart at number three, selling over 58,00 copies in the first week. His debut album '+' was released in September 2011 and became the second best selling album in the UK, selling 791,000 copies.
He has recently changed from predominantly Indie music to more Pop music but still has hints of Indie music within it at times.
Industry Profile: His musical status and influence is highly respected as he is one of the best selling artists of this generation and has influenced many other peoples sounds through writing music for other famous artists such as, Justin Bieber, One Direction and worked with Taylor Swift.
His social media is massive with over 21 Million Followers on Instagram and 20 Million on Twitter.
His most viewed music video currently has 3.3 Billion views on Youtube being the fourth video ever to reach views that high.
He has made many songs that have featured on Soundtracks for movies such as, The fault in our stars and The Hobbit but has also starred in TV shows such as, The Simpsons and Game of Thrones.
Genre and Conventions: Ed Sheeran is generally accepted as being from the Indie genre. This genre evolved from the style of music produced and promoted by independent record labels and so became a music genre. Early on he fit into the genre of Indie due to writing his own lyrics and having something to say as well as having very urban gritty videos which fit into the codes and conventions of the Indie genre. More recently he has moved away from that image and genre of Indie music and has gone more into Pop music which is evident through the use of his music videos and overall image which isn't the same as what it used to be when he first started out.
Lyrical Themes and Narratives: Music Videos.
His music videos tend to use a narrative style and often feature him only in a cameo role, although there are also videos of him playing the song in concert as a separate promotional tool.
'LEGO HOUSE' - The actor Rupert Grint is the main protagonist. His similarity to Sheeran is central to the narrative which manipulates audiences expectations. Ironically, at the time he was more famous than Ed Sheeran. He is represented as Sheeran using visual codes, for example clothing, hair, iconography including an acoustic guitar and pieces of lego relating to the lyrics. The urban setting, iconography and muted colours reflect the Indie gene. They also serve to reinforce the characters isolation. Grint assumes the persona of Sheeran as the star, appearing on stage and waving to crowds. We see him in the act of song writing, emphasising the creativity of the Indie musician. The use of close ups of the character's face as he sings to us, a convention of the music video, establishes an intimacy with the audience. The song is a love song, but in this video the narrative presents a different kind of love, the one of a fan and a star. Towards the end, he is confronted by his idol, the only appearance of Ed Sheeran in the video. The narrative considers notions of stardom and of living in a celebrity culture and gives a new perspective on the love song that aims to challenge audience perceptions.
'SHAPE OF YOU' - Ed Sheeran does feature quite heavily in this video alongside a female character who brings female empowerment to the video through the use of her strength in the gym and boxing. This video is a fast paced video compared to many of his others due to this song being different to his conventional music, this song is much more upbeat and fast paced. The video sees the two characters get closer and fall in love as it goes on which also fits in with the lyrics. There is a feature of the name of the album shown in the video on a wristband which could be a marketing technique. Ethnicity and gender seem to be the main themes explored in this music video, there isn't really a variety in age due to there not being that many characters in the video for that area to be largely explored. There are a lot of close ups to show expression and feelings throughout as well as a lot of establishing shots of the city they were in to show setting and some long shots to show everything thats going on in the shot for a broader view.
'CASTLE ON THE HILL' - Establishing shots of the landscape to show where he grew up as the song is about his life when he was younger and him looking back, giving the entire music video a very nostalgic feel. There is an actor that plays a young version of Ed Sheeran to further show the intensity of nostalgia of the video. Sheeran is featured throughout the video in his car singing along to the song and walking through fields and then it will cut back to the scenes of how he was when he was younger to make it seem like he is reflecting back on his teenage years whenever he drives back to where he grew up. Both boys and girls are featured in the video and are all around the same age whilst all being white. The teenagers throughout the video are doing things like drinking and smoking which could be classed as stereotypical behaviour. There are mainly close ups of Ed Sheeran throughout the video but also with the boy who plays younger Ed Sheeran to further show them being linked together. At the end of the video there is a scene of younger Ed Sheeran sitting with his friends in a forest drinking and then quickly cuts to current Ed Sheeran with some of the same friends in the same location, this could connote that he is still the same person he was then even through his fame and success.
Audience: Early Ed Sheerans' audience would have been younger people who found his work through the internet. His appeal to younger people was the themes and ideas behind his music and that he attempted to relate to people. His image is very accessible to discerning young people who are looking for something different, authentic and away from the mainstream.
However, recently he has become a lot more mainstream meaning that his music appeals to a lot of different audiences despite age, ethnicity and gender.
A literal audience response is the amount of people who have brought his music across a range of platforms as well as fan pages dedicated to him.
Marketing Techniques:
This is a detailed, in depth interview with the artist which appeared in Q Magazine. Q audience is 15-24 years old, mainly affluent males from the ABC1 demographic. The headline for this article in Q Magazine is a direct quote and challenges the stereotype of what it means to be 'ginger'. It is an imperative and is assertive. It also remains the audience of his iconic, recognisable feature.
The sub heading represents him as a 'honey voiced songwriting phenomenon who's breaking hearts', reinforcing his talent and his appeal. This mediates his representation and anchors the image.
The code of clothing is again relaxed; this is part of his iconic image, as is the code of gesture. His mode of address is indirect, reinforcing the 'cool' image.
He is positioned against a London backdrop with his guitar as further iconography. The photograph is constructed to reinforce his image and to make links to his busking days on the London streets. This is reinforced by the cover line placed in the flag 'Ed Sheeran has given up on busking to look at skirt instead'. This will appeal to the Q reader and is not necessarily in keeping with his image.
His representation is further developed in the article: 'Polite, articulate and a little shy' and 'crucially though, he remains self conscious enough not to be entirely comfortable with the demands of modern publicity.' This reinforces his representation as a serious musician who is not a construction of the music industry and is therefore less at home with commercial success.
Monday, 19 March 2018
Case Study 1 - Stormzy
Personal Background: Stormzy originates from Thornton Heath, London, and attended Harris Academy South Norwood. He is of Ghanaian descent. He began rapping at the age of 11.
Musical Industry Background and Context: Before focusing on his music full-time, he studied for an apprenticeship in Leamington Spa and worked in quality assurance for two years at an oil refinery in Southampton.
After garnering attention on the UK underground music scene via his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles over classic grime beats, Stormzy released his debut EP Dreamers Disease independently in July 2014. On 22 October 2014, Stormzy won Best Grime Act at the MOBO awards.
Record Labels: #Merky Records, Atlantic Records UK. Independent Label.
Stormzy describes himself as "a child of grime" influenced by the likes of Wiley and Skepta, but also cites R&B singers such as Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill as influences on his sound.
Industry Profile: Has won various awards including 3 BRIT Awards for 'British Male Solo Artist', 'British Breakthrough Act' and 'British Album of the Year' as well as two MOBO Awards for 'Best Grime Act'.
Has a strong social media presence with over 1 Million followers on twitter and Instagram.
He also has a strong political view in which he shares with his followers.
In May 2016, Stormzy endorsed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
"CIGARETTES AND CUSH' FT. KEHLANI & LILY ALLEN - This song is a lot slower and a more romantic song compared to a lot of his other work, this could show him branching out to different audiences. Production value on this video is evidently high compared to previous videos, this video is set out to be more like a short film and have a storyline to it which entices the audience. Within this video, it could be argued that the main female role in it is sexualised but not in a derogatory way. This video also touches on taboo subjects such as drugs which is quite a common theme within the genre of grime. Stormzy isn't shown as aggressive throughout this video like he has in previous videos due to the pace and lyrics of the song. The storyline to this music video is of him meeting a girl and her being a police officer with him being the main suspect in a case, making her have to decide between her job and him which ultimately she picks him. Throughout this video there are lots of close ups to show emotion and character.
Musical Industry Background and Context: Before focusing on his music full-time, he studied for an apprenticeship in Leamington Spa and worked in quality assurance for two years at an oil refinery in Southampton.
After garnering attention on the UK underground music scene via his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles over classic grime beats, Stormzy released his debut EP Dreamers Disease independently in July 2014. On 22 October 2014, Stormzy won Best Grime Act at the MOBO awards.
Record Labels: #Merky Records, Atlantic Records UK. Independent Label.
Stormzy describes himself as "a child of grime" influenced by the likes of Wiley and Skepta, but also cites R&B singers such as Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill as influences on his sound.
Industry Profile: Has won various awards including 3 BRIT Awards for 'British Male Solo Artist', 'British Breakthrough Act' and 'British Album of the Year' as well as two MOBO Awards for 'Best Grime Act'.
Has a strong social media presence with over 1 Million followers on twitter and Instagram.
He also has a strong political view in which he shares with his followers.
In May 2016, Stormzy endorsed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In September 2017, after being presented with the Solo Artist of the Year award by Corbyn at the GQ Men of the Year Awards, the conservative commentator Iain Dale placed Stormzy at Number 100 on his list of 'The 100 most influential people on the Left'.
On 21 February 2018, Stormzy performed a freestyle at the Brit Awards, calling out May for her perceived inaction in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire the previous year. The following day, 10 Downing Street issued a statement defending the Prime Minister.
Stormzy has also branched into the movie industry as well as the music industry. He played a character called 'Yardz' in the 2016 British drama film 'Brotherhood', directed by Noel Clarke.
Genre and Conventions: Follows the main conventions, themes and images found in grime as most of his music is very fast paced and lyrical links in with grime perfectly. However, he has recently branched out to various genres on his recent album 'Gang Signs and Prayer' with most songs fitting into the grime genre but also a few songs being predominantly R&B and some Gospel music as well making him seem more versatile than originally perceived to be.
Lyrical Themes and Narrative: Music videos.
'SHUT UP' - Lyrics and body language throughout the music video could be classed as aggressive which is often linked in with the grime genre so the music video definitely connotes the genre he was aiming to go into. Throughout the entire video there is mainly black males behind him which again connotes the genre of grime as there are hardly any women in grime that are successful compared to the males. The representation of the genre throughout this video shows that it is very fast paced and often talks on personal issues the artist has experienced, could also connote that grime is aggressive and violent at times too due to language, movement, etc. Could also show that grime is very independent due to the fact that the music video doesn't have high production value as it is just him and a group of people in a park.
'BIG FOR YOUR BOOTS' - Lyrics in this song and music video connote his perspective on people and possibly the music industry in general. Also at points shows how far he has come in his career and talks big of himself as well as putting other people in their place, 'You're never too big for the boot'. This music video represents a range of different ethnicities, ages and gender. In some shots there are only women with him in shot but not in a sexualised way, in a female empowerment way. Other shots he is with a group of males in a pub with represents a traditional view of the UK. The video is mainly set within urban areas around London but towards the end features shots of the traditional landmarks that are known around London in order to become recognisable to a global audience as well as a local audience. There are a lot of establishing shots at the beginning of the video of flats and houses around London which shows his upbringing and that he's grounded despite his success. There are also lots of close ups of people throughout the video to show the importance of the differences throughout society. The shot of him standing on a counter in a chicken shop shows that he has a jokey persona and doesn't take himself too seriously. This video has definitely shown a difference in how he wants to be shown to his audience compared to 'Shut Up' as he isn't as aggressive in this video as well as this song being slightly more pop music and having a much higher production value.
Audience: His traditional target audience would have been young males, in particular young black males but due to recent change in sound and image he has branched to many different audiences of all ages, genders, etc. Audience respond to his work fairly well, with getting lots of praise on his recent album and live appearances. In particular his performance at The BRITS 2018 when he mentioned issues such as Grenfell and Theresa May which sparked discussion within the public, praising him for speaking out of big important issues that aren't discussed as much as they should be, and even sparked discussion within politics.
Marketing Techniques: Album Cover.
At first sight this album cover looks fairly simple however, there are certain small details that stand out more when looked at in detail. Stormzy is the biggest person on the cover showing that it is his album and he is the only important one as his face is the only one that can be seen. He gives direct address with the audience in order to seem more intimidating due to the genre of music he makes. His name and the title of the album aren't particularly big maybe signalling that he wants to be the main focus on the cover rather than his name. The position of the main image looks a lot like the painting of 'The Last Supper' where Stormzy is the leader, being Jesus, and his group behind him could be classed as the disciples. None of the people in the main image show their faces but it seems as though everyone is male on the cover. The overall cover is very dark and doesn't have one bit of colour in it, maybe connoting that he is a simple character. The name of the album is a direct antithesis of each other and is actively shown through the main image as the 'gang signs' aspect is shown through the use of people, clothing and body language, whereas the 'prayer' part is shown through the religious connotation of 'The Last Supper' in the image.
Marketing Techniques: Album Cover.
At first sight this album cover looks fairly simple however, there are certain small details that stand out more when looked at in detail. Stormzy is the biggest person on the cover showing that it is his album and he is the only important one as his face is the only one that can be seen. He gives direct address with the audience in order to seem more intimidating due to the genre of music he makes. His name and the title of the album aren't particularly big maybe signalling that he wants to be the main focus on the cover rather than his name. The position of the main image looks a lot like the painting of 'The Last Supper' where Stormzy is the leader, being Jesus, and his group behind him could be classed as the disciples. None of the people in the main image show their faces but it seems as though everyone is male on the cover. The overall cover is very dark and doesn't have one bit of colour in it, maybe connoting that he is a simple character. The name of the album is a direct antithesis of each other and is actively shown through the main image as the 'gang signs' aspect is shown through the use of people, clothing and body language, whereas the 'prayer' part is shown through the religious connotation of 'The Last Supper' in the image.
Monday, 12 March 2018
Music Industry
- First vinyl record release - 1951.
- The creation of MTV - August 1st 1981.
- Invention of the CD - 1982.
- Invention of Sony Walkman - July 1st 1979.
- Invention of MP3 Player - March 1998.
- Youtube - February 14th 2005. Video uploads brought in on April 23rd 2005. First video uploaded - 'Me at the zoo' April 23rd 2005 by Jawed Karim.
- Spotify - 7th October 2008.
Impact of Digital Technology:
- Convergence with other media products and technologies
- Personalisation of content by the listener
- Change to the culture of ownership and storage of content
- Links to marketing campaigns on various media platforms, including social media
- Domination by big brands such as Apple
- Digital piracy and loss of income for musicians
Structure:
Sony BMG - Record Labels
- Arista Records.
- Colombia Records.
- Epic Records.
Artists on Colombia Records.
- Beyonce
- Harry Styles
- Adele
- David Bowie
Independent Record Labels:
- Boy Better Know - Grime. Founded in North London in 2005. Features artists such as;
- Skepta
- JME
- Wiley
- XL Recordings - Various genres of music. Founded in 1989 by Richard Russell. Features artists such as;
- Adele
- Giggs
- Radiohead
Regulation:
- Prs (Performing Rights Society) pays royalties to their members when their work is broadcast on TV or Radio.
- Napster shut down. A federal judge in San Francisco shut down the popular music swapping Web site — saying the online company encourages “wholesale infringement” against music industry copyrights. These issues still remain within the music industry today.
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