Music Website Analysis

Here is a powerpoint about the reasearch I have carried out about music websites such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I have also done a case study about a new band called Encore who deserve the recognition about their struggle to make it famous.

Social Networking

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Album Digipak Research

Album Digipack

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Star Image & Development

When creating my artist I will have to think about how I want to portray the artist I am creating, along with how I want to portray the music video.

The Star Theory by Stuart Hall makes me think carefully when I am creating a character to be my artist to be the star of my music video.

I want to create a star through the persons honest and truthful characteristics and I do not want to make up a fictional character.

Recently, I paid to have a meet & greet with Jessie J (The artist of the song I want to use for my music video) when she brought her Heartbeats Tour to Doncaster. When it was time to meet her, I got told I wasn't allowed to hug her until she approached me, not allowed to make eye contact until she looked at me first and I was only allowed 20 seconds with her. I asked her what the song was about- hoping for a quote- and she looked at me disgusted that I didn't know the answer. She simply replied with a sharp tone in her voice 'It it was I say it is about. Go read the interviews, I say it in every single one of them'. I was heartbroken.

I looked up to here as a positive role model and she went a threw it all away by saying one sentence. I walked away crying because she is just one example of an artist who fits in with criteria of Stuart Hall's Star Theory. She is moulded as a fictional character when she is on stage to make people like her as the person she is on stage, whereas when she is off stage where fame has got to her head and she is the completely opposite of when she is on stage.

I do not want my artist to be like this, because it wont be long until people see through the persona she is portraying to be on stage. I want fans to be proud that she is not something that can be sold and not just another way to sell loads of merchandise by using product placement.

Features I want to my artist to be like are as follows;

• Innocence- I want the artist to be shown as very innocent but has a streak of dominance when the chorus comes along where she can control the audience.
• Honesty- I want my artist to be honest when she performs, show all her insecurities and vulnerability so that fans know she is the same as them even though she is famous.
• Fashionable- I want the artist to be fashionable by wearing clothing that everyone can afford by wearing River Island, Topshop, New Look, Quiz and many more.
• Positive Role Model- I need to make sure that the artist will be a positive role model by making sure she doesn't have a wild social life; That she will not drink alcohol, smoke do drugs or have any extravagant tattoos/piercings. I will need to make sure that she is involved in charity work. I will also make sure that she does not have unusual hair colour.
• Clean Cut- I will also need to make sure that she does not have a criminal record or any parts in her past that can be brought up in the papers to use against her.

The features I have noted I would like my artist, are not something you can artificially use. There are plenty of females out there that fit the specification.

The image I am trying to make the artist portray is simple, clean, positive and truthful. There are not enough artists in the industry that are truthful to the audience without using pyrotechnics, effects and professional make-up artists to change their voice, outfit and the way they look to hide the fact they cant sing.

Target Audience

I have to think carefully when creating my target audience. I want to make the audience as wide as possible, within reason so that her music will get a good rating in the music charts. Below is a mind map of the target audience I feel would be most appealing and would sell most records.

Music Channels

Music Television

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Influential Music Videos; Case Study 1

Thriller Music Video Analysis

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Artist/Band Research Survey Continued...

Below you will find the link to the survey which I posted on social networking websites and also via email.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GGVN9JD As previously mentioned, I have made sure I have received at least 20 fully completed surveys.

Here you will find a powerpoint on the statistical results of my survey which I sent out;

Questionnaire Analysis

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Artist/Band Research Survey

There are many artists and bands I could go into detail with in this section, however I do not have the time to write about all of them.In this section, the first thing that I have to do is to produce a survey on http://ww.surveymonkey.com in which I will send out to people via email, Facebook and Twitter to find out about their interests in music.

Here is the link to the survey I sent out: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GGQSCTS

Below you can see the screenshots to prove that I have sent out the ink via my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts from my iPhone.

Facebook:

Twitter:

I have chosen to send the Survey link out via Facebook and Twitter because they are very popular social networking websites in which makes it easier to communicate with a wide range of different ages, location, interests, hobbies and ethnicities etc.

My survey has officially been sent out and so far and I have had many positive responses, however I have not yet had enough responses to be able to analyse and put in a graph to give me accurate and influential statistics.

Music Directors

Music directors are a key essential to making a successful music video and without having an experienced music director on board, the music video and career of the artist could go to flop.

There are lots of music directors that have directed music videos but only a handful of these are very successful and actually make a name for themselves such as the ones I have chosen to talk about because I think that they are very important and influential to the music industry;

Emil Nava;

Chris Cunningham

Emil Nava;

Famous music director who has directed music videos for;

Jessie J feat B.o.B- Price Tag ( Released 25th January 2011)

This music video was mainly created by using the famous 'green screen' to create the fantastic effects and used a lot of props which were inspired by 'Alice In Wonderland' as they are found to be larger than they actually should be such as plush teddies and a real life marionette which Jessie herself plays.

Emil has personally worked on all of Jessie J's music videos; 'Do It Like A Dude', 'Price Tag', 'Nobody's Perfect', 'Who's Laughing Now' and her latest video 'Who you Are'.

When it comes to creating music videos, it is important to have a good relationship with the music director. Some music directors -usually the ones who do it for the money, not to express creativity- don't physically get involved with the production of the music video and sit in a chair and tell other people what to do and Jessie J has specifically said that Emil gets involved with it all. On her latest video, 'Who You Are' Emil was helping with the creation of effects by holding the leaf blower in Jessie's face to create the effect of a thunder storm and eccentric winds.

'Emil is amazing, he is one of very few people who can actually make the ideas in my head a reality.' - Jessie J on Emil Nava.

Parade- Perfume (Released June 20th 2011)

This music video features members of the British five-piece girl band Parade; Emily, Lauren, Bianca, Jessica and Sian singing and dancing around famous sites in London such as Big Ben and the London Eye.

Emil Nava has also worked with many other fantastic artists including;

- Tinchy Stryder. Where he has directed videos such as; Stryderman, Take Me Back, Number 1, Never Leave You, You're Not Alone, In My System and Second Chance.

- Aggro Santos. Directed his music video for his most famous song; 'Candy' which features Kimberly Wyatt.

Chris Cunningham;

Chris Cunningham is also an influential music director, but he has directed older and more technologically influenced videos such as those that can be seen below like Madonna- Frozen and Björk- All Is Full of Love. He is still well-known in today's media industry but music videos soon go out of date because of the influence of fashion, era, genre, artist influence and much more.

Madonna- Frozen (1998)

Björk- All Is Full of Love (1999)

Music Genre Research

There are hundreds of types of music genres, some of which are less known, and these include several types which wouldn't necessarily be known to everyone.


To start with, there is the less-known and less commercially marketed genres such as;

- Classical music, operatic, video game music, show music; ballroom; tango, pasodoble, cha cha cha etc, religious music; Gospel, gregorian chant, hymns etc, military music; marches, national anthems etc, regional music; traditional, folk, nursery rhymes, sea shanties and flamenco etc

African popular music;

Jujitsu, apala, benga, bikutsi, cape jazz, highlife, hiplife, kwela, makossa, morna, mbube and salegy.

Avent-Garde;
Experimental music and minimalistic.

Easy Listening;

Background music, lounge music and elevator music.

- The more recognisable music genres can be found below, which also include sub-genres which define the genres into more detail. Not all of the genres can be found below as there are too many to name. Click on the link at the bottom of the page to see the whole list of genres.

Blues;

Country blues, delta blues, electric blues and piano blues.

Country;

Alternative country, americana, bluegrass, country pop, country rock, honky tonk, nashville sound, rockabilly and western.

Electronica;

Breakdance, dance, ambient, dubstep, electroclash, eurodance, trance and uplifting

Modern Folk;

Indie folk, neofolk and progressive folk.


Hip-hop & Rap;

Alternative hip-hop, crunk, dirty rap/ Pornocore, G-Funk, grime, horrorcore, latin rap, rap metal, rap rock, rapcore and turntablism


Jazz;

Acid jazz, big band, calypso jazz, cool jazz, gypsy jazz, hard- bop, jazz-funk, scat, latin jazz, mainstream jazz, soul jazz, swing jazz, west coast jazz

Pop;

Arab pop, austropop, bubblegum pop, country pop, dance-pop, eurobeat, operatic pop, psychedelic pop, pop rap,teen pop, traditional pop music and vispop

Rhythem & Blues;

Contemporary R&B, funk, disco, boogie, soul, doowap, hip hop soul

Rock;

Alternative Rock, blues rock, wonky pop, grunge, indie-rock, electronic rock, folk rock, glam rock, hard rock, heavy metal, death metal, doom metal, grindcore, metalcore, nu metal, sludge metal, acid rock, screamo, rap rock

To find the genre of music I want to do , I am going to do some research into which is the favorite and most popular genre. I will do this by creating an online questionairre in which I will send to people to fill in and I will then collect the data and hopefully find a suitable song in which I can use for my music video that the audience will like and also a song I can get copyright acceptance.

-Music Genre Information-

Influence Of Style

Each music artist has their own style, this mainly includes the style of music and fashion. The first style they choose to portray themselves when coming into the music industry is usually the style they stick to throughout their music career. Some artists are known for their style in fashion which they stick to throughout their career and are known for their extravagant outfits and original creativity of style.

Music is also a key aspect when thinking about influence of style. Each artist has their own individual influence when it comes to writing their own music. Most artists have the influence of music styles that have 'gone out of fashion' or 'forgotten about' such as artists from the late 60's and early 70's which is also the influence of many fashions that can be seen on many celebrities these days.

Artists that fit into this category include; Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Cher, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Jessie J.

It is known to the whole world that Lady Gaga has her own style, some people might not understand it but there is no way this stops her from expressing her creativity in her outfits. Gaga works closely with designers explaining her creations to them so that they can become reality. Her very famous and influential 'meat dress' from the 2010 MTV Awards Video Music Awards was made by Franc Fernandez however it evoked fury from animal rights organisations PETA. However, Gaga denied intention of causing disrespect and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender) community.

-Lady Gaga Information-

Katy Perry is known for her unconventional style of dress. It includes brightly coloured, humorous and unusual shaped accessories such as fruits and cakes etc. Some also call it 'very colourful and vintage'. Quoting Katy herself ' Inspired by American actress Dominique Swain's portrayal in the 1977 film adaptation of Lolita.'

-Katy Perry Information-

Elvis Presley specialised in bringing fashion back to men of the 1950's. He wore loud trends such as yellow suits pink sports coats, and white shoes. He also loved high collars as he liked to feel like his childhood hero, Captain Marvel.

-Elvis Presley Information-

I could use the idea of using a certain influence of fashion when creating the image of the artist I will use in my music video. When doing this, I really need to think about who the target audience is for both the artist, the song and the video. When thinking about the influence of style when it comes to music, I need to research existing artists who are presently in the music industry, making music in the top 10, selling lots of albums, fully selling out tours and also artists who are starting to sell albums and tours multi-nationally.