Location photos

To test out the lighting of our shots we took a couple of pictures of the different locations we were planning for our music video. Unfortunately it was raining on the day we took the pictures ,so the overall lighting may be darker .The actors are not the ones we will use in the video but are just used as an indication so we know whether to add or take away more light from each location.
To view my annotations on slide show below click here

Created with Admarket's

Ideas for shots

Some draft ideas of shots and order , basic idea of video and shots so far :
Shot 1 : Shot of guitar on first notes of intro with artist name and title
Shot 2: Shot of Drums as they come into the music
Shot 3: Shot of main guy's face changing reaction , cut to beats in music
Shot 4: Idea of point of view watching girl as she walks to location
Shot 5: His view of her and walk towards car- words 'something good can work' place behind
Shot 6: Shot of girls at meeting place
Shot 7 : Idea of 2 guys driving in in cars of different expense
Shot 8: Her view of the guy
Shot 9: He thinks she's looking at him - reaction shot
Shot 10: She gets in car with another guy, fitting to lyrics 'gotta little competition now'
Shot 11: Sad reaction of guy as he sees girl not going with him
Shot 12: His car reversing shown out of the back of the girl and other guys car.
this is roughly up to 40 secs of the intro as it goes into the verse
Shot 13:Shot of girl talking to guy from back of their car.
Shot 14 : Shot of guy talking in mirror,checking armpits
cuts between and maybe split screen of these shots as fits with lyrics 'you're going to find it hard to cope on your own now'
Shot 15:Shot of flowers zooms out to see guy holding them
Shot 16: Girl comes up and receives flowers and walks away with smile
Shot 17: Guy looks happy walking then sees flowers in bin round corner of his path
Shot 18: looks sad, panning shot to left to show clown with the same reaction, followed by a baloon motif of the band going into the sky.
Shot 19 :Shot of screen with guy on webcam saying lyrics
Shot 20: Split screen of her rejecting him on computer and his reaction
ideas of more shots of performance here but need to develop
Shot 21: Stop motion of him in four different shots with different outfits , then fast cut montage of all four
Shot 22: She sees him in outfit and likes
Shot 23:He has a cake in his hands,follow cake to see bottom of other person, the girls, with lyrics on cake.
Shot 24 :Shot of her accepting and throwing in his face edit of throw being cut up in stop motion, and his reaction changing as he gets more cake in his face.
Shot 25:Him sad and clown again
ideas of more performance shots and cut shots between the girl and guy here but no definite ideas yet
Shot 26: he sees space hopper sign
Shot 27: He brings space hopper and she's happy from this
Shot 28:He winks
Shot 29: Girl being spun on trolley, camera placed on it while moving.
General sense of movie happiness here- using intertextuality and editing in black and white shots
Shot 30: tree with pretty props dangling
more general shots of girl and guy being happy together
Shot 31: Overhead high angle shot of girl and guy hugging, a heart gets drawn around them.
Shot 32:They look at each other and zoom out to see guys on space hoppers.
Shot 33: Shot from back of the couple as they bounce off into the sunset as it fades into black and white.

Ideas for camerawork and editing

In music videos they use alot of quick cuts, to keep the audience interested, also by using images impossible to grasp allows multiple viewing. This is the most common form of editing and is called a fast cut montage. We are planning to use this in our music video at 2 points , when he changes clothes to try and impress the girl in different outfits , and changing expressions on his face.
We were thinking of using many close ups which is used alot in music videos because of the size of the screen they are usually shown on ,it creates a sense of intimacy with the audience and emphasises key features to a video. We were planning to use a variety of high angle shots and low angles shots to express dominance and the opposite.
Our music is quite catchy upbeat and alot of the time we are thinking of matching the editing with the music rhythm and by incorportating some visual forms of the lyrics in the video.
We are going to use some parts of the artist for performance techniques but are going to focus mainly on their instruments rather than the artist itself, using non- representational tecniques.
We also have the idea of placing the camera on a moving object, we were planning the end of a trolley while the camera and actor both circulate. We were also thinking of using an extreme close up to express eyes and mouth ,expressing importance to lyrics and connection with the audience. We were also going to use the notion of looking by filming a webcam aswell as shots within a shot filming out of the back of a car into another car whilst filming in the original car and two cameras for different shots of the same scene.

Analysis of lyrics and ideas for music video

Two Door Cinema Club- Something Good Can Work
Our interpretation of this song is that it is being sung in a motivational way towards a girl as she wants to make something of herself. We have decided to create a twist on this interpretation so that a guy is trying to motivate the girl to make something of herself with him.
We have annotated beneath some ideas towards the meaning and what we can do with the song .
Lyrics are in bold
For the intro-Shots of performance, and narrative introduction
There's a spanner in the works you know,
you gotta step up your game to make to the top.
So go!
Gotta little competition now, - idea of 2 guys in 2 cars competing for the girl
you're going to find it hard to cope with living on your own now.
Uh oh! - idea of split screen of 2 scenes then fade into chorus
Uh oh!

Let's make this happen, girl you gonna show the world that something good can work and it can work for you.- General idea of something happening between a girl and a guy to make her happy.
And you know that it will.- flowers to present the girls to get what she wants
Let's get this started girl, we're moving up we're moving up and It's been alot to change but you will always get what you want.
Took a little time to make it a little better,
it's only going out, just one thing and another,
you know! – webcam shots in the notion of looking of main actor mouth synching lyrics
You know!

Took a little time to make it a little better,
it's only going out, just one thing and another,- going out could be interpreted as dating in our case, contributing to the idea of our narrative
You know !
You know! – Boy says to girl

Let's make this happen, girl you gonna show the world that something good can work and it can work for you.- Clothes changing idea like in move along all American rejects
And you know that it will.
Let's get this started girl, we're moving up we're moving up and It's been alot to change but you will always get what you want. – into instrumental stop motion of cake being thrown in the face, Idea of space hoppers as she gets what she wants

Let's make this happen, girl you gonna show the world that something good can work and it can work for you.
And you know that it will. – guy and girl work it out guy winks
Let's get this started girl, we're moving up we're moving up and It's been alot to change but you will always get what you want. – The guy manages to show that a lot of changes and attempt and gives the girl what she wants using inter-textuality movie happiness with black and white shots.


Let's make this happen, girl you gonna show the world that something good can work and it can work for you.
And you know that it will.
Let's get this started girl, we're moving up we're moving up and Its been alot to change but you will always get what you want. – high angle of shot of couple with heart as it has worked out for the girl and they space hop into the sunset.

The music

For our music we have decided to pick The artist Two Door Cinema Club and have chose their song' something good can work'.

Two Door Cinema Club are quite a famous band, we liked this song because it has many different tempos and sections to it , which would add interest to the film. We have many ideas for this and are thinking of basing it on a narrative/performance video.
We Contacted Two Door Cinema Clubs' record label Kitsune' in france and they gave us permission of copyright to use their song in our coursework.
I had problems with uploading the e-mail as a work document so i have copy and pasted the context and print screened.
Dear Eleanor,

It's is approved form the management and Kitsuné's sides !

Please make sure to send us a copy when it's done.

All the best,

Constance de Bosredon



Objet : two door cinema club



From: eleanordawson33@hotmail.com
To: holly.appleton@radarmaker.co.uk; colin@prolifica.co.uk; stefano@prolifica.co.uk
Subject: Something good can work
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:34:33 +0000



From: eleanordawson33@hotmail.com
To: colin@prolifica.co.uk; stefano@prolifica.co.uk
Subject: a2 media studies
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:57:28 +0000

Hello ,
i am an a2 student from Hitchin Girls' School in England and i am studying media . For our coursework we have to direct, design and create a music video.
The music i would really like to use is Two Door Cinemas' song 'Something good can work' but in order to be able to use it in our coursework we must gain copyright approval/the artists permission from the artist and management. The music would be featured on our blog in our music video, but would be purely be for viewing purposes so the examiner can mark it. The video would not be sold on in any way and would be used just for the aid of our coursework . Obviously we understand if you do not wish us to use the song but we would greatly appreciate if we could have permission to use it.
yours sincerely
Eleanor Dawson and Amy Edmonds


Two door Cinema club are a alternative indie rock group and we hope to create a music video to fit the genre and style of the band.

Textual analysis of music videos

Music videos tend to stick to three types narrative,concept and Performance. A narrative music video is when the video is based on a story, perhaps explaining the lyrics of the song, showing almost a movie clip rather than the band itself and may not involve showing the artist but use actors to act it. A concept video is when the video is based on a idea which may not be related to the song or artist at all. A Performance video is when the video is based on the artist, either in a dance or playing their instruments at a concert or location , basically showing the artist perform the song.
'Steve Archer' says "Often a music video will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band ". When two concepts combine together like this , this is called a hybrid. He also says" a carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artists performance or an extra aid". This contributes to the 'repeatability factor' where a recurring image or motif is shown to keep the audience in recognition and understanding.
Goodwin has The theory of voyeurism , where mainly women are dressed in a way to attract men either part of their own video or to accompany the male to make him more popular. Another idea of Goodwin is the notion of looking when part of the artist is shown within a shot either his eyes in a reflection or a shot of the artist on the tv to make the audience connect with the artist.
Intertextuality is also sometimes used from , film, video games,newspapers and magazine and even fashion, that gives the audience soemthing to recognise and relate the band and music into category.
Although not all artists keep to these conventions and often try to reverse and step out of them challenging the conventions.But usually keep to them in one way or another or mimick another idea by changing these.
Underneath i have annotated 8 music videos each with different conventions to get ideas for my own music video.

The video fits well with the characteristics of this genre. Indie Rock tend to have more concept videos and show the band playing rather than a story or film of events.
This video is basically formed on a concept or idea of the band . Everything shown is in time with the music the relationship between music and visuals is very present for every beat their is a different action, especially at the beginning when then instruments are being played.
Their is not much relationship between the lyrics and visuals just the lip syncing when he says oh.
The whole band is shown and thier is close up of the lead singer as he sings certain parts of the song this could establish his star quality and lead but is not a particular motif for this band.
Their isnt really any reference of looking and thier is no intertextual references this video is purely quite random but effective and typical of the genre


This video is based on the movie twilight mainly as its feature some of the footage because it was wrote for the movie. It fits some of the conventions of the genre because alot of rock videos are filmed in places away from their home with relation to the perfomance. Which is exactly what Paramor are creating by playing in the forest.As the song was wrote for the movie the lyrics to have a relationship with the visuals. e.g How did we get here , forest shots.If you listen to the whole song it fits with the idea of a girl who likes a guy but doesnt want to fight with him anymore . Which show in the footage and the emptiness of the forest, which is on the twilight set.
The music relates with the visual in that every new frame is set after a phrase in the music and on the longer notes a interesting long shot of around the woods or zooming out on hayley is used . In general most of the shots fit with the timing of the music.
Their are close ups of the lead singer hayley williams and her star motif holding and flicking her bright red hair , she is focused on most of the time while singing . The video also attracts star quality by showing the main stars of the film alot aswell.
Intertextual references of twilight
The music video is mainly based on performance but could be narrative aswell as the FANCy word between the clips of film and video help tell the story and add to the lyrics even if not in the right order FANCY word/


Cee lo Green's music video is quite effective the video is very narrative and is an entertaining to watch even if just for the story. The scene is set in a typical american diner whih cna be typical fo that genre bit like kelis- milkshake. The music video is quite funny and acts out the lyrics we can see this in 'i'm sorry i can't afford a farrari' :).The realtionship between the music and visuals is strong aswell as the backups dance and lipsync the line aswell as the main guy also on the held notes the shots tend to be longer and panning and when they stop a quick frame change.
The main star and artist is the main guy and features well as it helps the audience to relate and feels more as if the song is about him and his music.



Ok go's here it goes again gives off the same effect as Vampire weekend and is interesting because they are both of the same genre.
Their is no relationship between the lyrics and visuals but there is lots of relationshp between music and visuals .The whole video is like one well choreographed dance but it is so unusual that the audience wants to watch it all, so much so that it keeps their attention with only one frame throughout. Their are no close ups of any of the band members althought all our present. There is no reference to the notion of looking or intertextuality , the whole video is base mainly or concept but i guess you could say performance as it is the band who are doing the running :)



Lostprophetsn video contains intertextual references and is built on our idea of what is a childerns televsion programme.It is based mainly on concept but reflects the song name as town called hypocrisy as this would be that town.
the relationship between the lyrics and visuals isn't that strongg except frot he town called hypocrisy but. BUt the relationship between music and visuals is very strong as it goes with the timing mroe people are added the finger pupeets to the lalalas.


Open your eyes is quite a simple film and based on the travel through a city all filmed within one frame on the journey so you travel with the car.You dont see any of the band and their is not much between the relationship of lyrics and visuals or music and visuals. Except the whole video is of reference to open your eyes as in look at the world and see what it in front of you, also ont he more powerful faster and lowder past of the songs espcially the solo at the end the camera seems to be going faster as is apparent to uphill view as if climbring/ driving to a climax.
Defitnetly concept based and typical of the genre like ok go coldplay and vampire weekend as it is the video to fit the music rather than the performance or stoert behind song.


The video is very typical fot he genre alot of male rnb/dance artist feature women and themselves singing. Their is a small relationship between him and the visuals
me and my crowd hands in the air/ Thier is astorng relationship between the music and visuals for every beat pf the music and some point thier is a differnet frame .Their is an artist close up and most of the video is focused on Taio cruz. it is a mix of all three .

Websites

Many bands have promotional websites to help their band, i have picked three different bands with different genres and target audiences to explore and research the difference in how they promote themselves.To look at the websites online just click on the artist title.

Vampire weekend


This is the home page for vampire weekend , it features the single cover for their latest single ,if you click on the arrows at the side it features three other pages with adverts and videos for other singles on their new album. At the top it has a link bar to other pages some of which are featured below.

Most of the website has quite a basic design on a white background with different color pastel titles on each page. The band name and links stick with the same pastel blue color against the white as an effective house color and a recognition to find on the page again.

On some of the pages there is a light square background on the videos and music page this is in keeping with the web desingn layout as the title on the page are outlined with the box of that pages color.

Overall the web design is fairly simple , but effective , the simple bold typography across the website keeps to the simplicity of the music. Vampire weekend are an indie rock band , their music is quite upbeat but the band always keeps a mellow persona to them, which shows in their website. Some of their promotional material is quite unusual but some of the songs they sing and videos they produce are unusual .The band defitnetly stick to concept rather than narrative or performance and this shows in the website especially on the homepage as effectively it shows an idea and then as you get further into the website, it displays their information and entertainment in a back to reality format .

Rihanna
Vampire weekends and rihanna's home page are quite similar in the fact that they both have their latest single as their home page background, showing that this is a popular convention for all modern websites.
On Rihanna's site their is also a link bar to her pages on social networking sites and her song plays showing that compared to vampire weekend she is trying to get the audiences attention more as she is trying to promote them in more ways than one and you can experience more from the website.
The home page is mainly pink which is alot more bright and bold and typical for Rihanna, a female RnB/pop singer to have feminine colors.
Rihanna also has a link bar at the top in a house color like vampire weekend demonstrating another convention. Except when you click on Rihanna's links they go to what looks like a completely different website unlike vampire weekends links that follow the style from the homepage.

As you enter the website the background changes and keeps the same for the rest of the links.The background is now quite urban and derelict compared to the homepage. Which fits the convention of this Rnb artist as it uses voyeurism to attract male audiences with her and feminine style .

Rihanna's target audience appears to be of a younger age than Vampire Weekends using many pictures and bright colors that typically attracts a younger audienc more. Rihanna also has a charity link on her website for The believe foundation trying to show another side to her .

Compared to vampire weekend Rihanna's website has alot more information about Rihanna her self as well as her as an artist and her promotional material which is a more typical convention of solo singers.
The typography used across the website adresses suits the audiences style and genre as some of it is in a graffiti font typical of rnb and some rock acts as where the artist music originates from (rnb streets , rock garage).Some of the typography looks like signs and army writing attracting the audience with intertextuality making it look brave and strong representing rihanna as an artist and some of the younger audience , confident rnb/pop listenetrs aswell.

Lostprophets
Compared to Rihanna and Vampire Weekend , Lostprophets have alot less material on their website , like Rihanna they have links to their pages on social networking sites but unlike rihanna have it as part of their link bar showing that they have alot less content than the other two websites.

This is the homepage and the same as the others has a picture of their new album and then you enter the website and background design across the website it is all the same like vampire weekend.

The background color is basic like vampire weekend but alot more dark which is typical of lostprophets genre alternative rock. Everything looks like it is in the dark and allows for a more rocky feel.Applying to the stereotype of some audiences for lostprophets as youth stereotypes emos and goths.

Lostprophets website is very focused on their title and link bar and the presentation of the website .The typography stands out and suits the band well in a paint/ scratch as if is has been there a while like the duration of lostprophets fame .

Overall Vampire Weekends' website has alot of content but not as much as rihannas and doesn't have links to social networking sites, suggesting that the simplicity and this genre is for a slightly older audience than rihanna and lostprophets and are not as much about the promotion. Which is a convention of the indie rock genre as it is generally more relaxed .Lostprophets website is very bold and dramatic in black and fits to the genre and to those who listen, but doesnt provide as much information as Rihanna or Vampire Weekend and is more about the music rock. Rihanna is trying to attract a younger audience so has lots of information and access points to different media appealing to a younger audience and more people as music for everyone.

Cd Cover Design

To research the convention of a cd cover design and how its presentation helps to promote the artist i have researched 5 different artists and cd covers .
Air Traffic - Fractured life


Fractured life Air traffic's first debut album was released in 2007. It reached number 42 on the UK albums chart and was named 'album of the week' of BBC's radio 1.The band is currently signed with EMI.
On the cover none of the bands faces are shown and there is just a picture of what looks like a messy office and the bands logo and album name at the top. The messy office scene on the cover looks out of control with the upturned chair , wires and objects that appear to be in mid air suggesting chaos and messiness and relates with the album 'fractured life'. This chaotic scene could be referred to as the bands impression of what a fractured life could look like .
The typography of the bands logo and band names looks like it is wrote by a sticker machine which adds to the cover art as it could be from this messy office.It is at the top which would usually suggest its the most important thing but is not as abstract as the picture and althought sticks out on white on black , i feel each image is of equal importance and recognition.
I think the album cover is successful because it is very abstract and although not a common image, most people can relate to parts or aspects of the scene. It also keeps to the conventions of other bands of the rock/indie genre who don't tend to put their faces on the cover as its more about the music and represents this well.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - By The Way

' By the way is Red Hot Chilli peppers eigth studio album ,released in 2002 by warner bros record.
The image on the album is rather obscure and is supposed to be a painting based on the artists daughter and one of the band members girlfriends, Julian Schnabel. In the cover art she is painted as almost naked, but in different colors and their is a paint strip over her eyes, in the Same way in which the band name is wrote.She looks to be in front of a background of a road and a fence , overall this is quite a strange image and allows for the audiences own interpretation of by the way.
The typography is not their usual logo for Red hot chilli peppers but is in keeping with the scratchy house colors for their album design . While some letters of the band name are more visible than others in red it makes the audience look at the cover a little longer to figure what it says and contributes to the cover art as a whole .
I think it is succesfull as it is unusual and doesnt give to much away but is rather bizarre and eye catching and makes the audience take another look of what it is about.

David Guetta - One love
David guetta released his album 'one love' in 2009 .
The name of the artist appears at the top so is therefore one of the first things to be seen.The artist name is wrote in big bold lettering and stands out in a bigger font compared to the scratcy painted lettering of the album title suggesting the artist name is of more importance.But the album name stands out in another way as it is in bright pink on a black and white background. The artist is featured on the left of the album cover and he is positioned to be looking at the audience but has sunglasses to cover his eyes. This is very typical of Djs in dance music and shows that he is with us but hidden as the dj would be as he is not the performer ,although in his case at concerts he is .
I think it it successful as it get to the point of which artist it is although it doesnt really give alot of information or ideas away about what the album is about unlike Air Traffic.
Fleet foxes-Fleet foxes#

The album fleet foxes was released in 2006. The band are a folk/rock band based in America, signed by Sub pop.
The cover does not have the band face on it sticking to the conventions of the genre. The cover art is of a small ancient town and makes audiences take a second look. It almost as if the cover art tells a story of this little town and that the music will be a narrative to that, which some folk music is.
The Artist name and title is in right middle of the cover making the audience search for it as it would not be the first thing you see , making them look even more at the cover.
I think it is successful because it makes the audience want to read into the story of the cover art and therefore the album.

Robbie Williams - The greatest hits

Robbie williams album cover the greatest hits was released in 2004.
The cover art features him on the left and then his name and album title on the right.The picture is based in black and white and is mainly taken up by Robbie's body facing away towards the camera but his face looking away. This is unusual because usually the artist tries to get contact with the audience by looking at the camera expecially women in this genre. Robbie williams body is facing the audience which suggests that his cover art could be contributing to voyeurism ,leading people in for sex appeal and that he would be more successful in attracting a female audience.
The black and white image of it all adds sophistication and would appeal to an older audience with a more calmer cover comes calmer music.
The typography in a Basic arial font stands out among some parts of the black background but it looks to me thats his body stands out more promoting his looks and him more that the music.But this is more acceptable for a greatest hits as the album is more likely to not only have one focused area as it is a combination of album but does have one thing in common and that it the artist robbie williams .

I think the most successful artist album cover used to signify the artist's identity and style and express the album is the Red Hot Chilli Peppers- By the way as it guarantees the audience to take a double take at album even if not for the right reasons. It is in keeping with the red hot chilli peppers style and doesnt give to much away meaning that more people are likely to buy it just to find out more about it.

Branding

Many bands use all sorts of branding to promote their band through stickers,badges,posters and clothing . Here are a couple of examples using green day .








Greenday have lots of merchandise to sell . The merchandise is available from any concerts or events they play and their website. But you can also get some of this greenday merchandise, such as the bag and badges from music stores such as HMV and online clothes shops like ebay,blue banana and loud clothing.
They have so much merchandise as a band to create a brand. This means that when the merchandise is bought and seen being worn on peoples clothing they can see that people like the band and they can associate or show they like the band.The band logos and promotional material, the brand helps to associate the band with the audience easily and it helps to promote because the more the label/brand identity is shown the more popular it becomes and so does the band. The same as a fashion label when you buy designer clothing.
Green day especially is a good example as they have many examples they have lots of merchandise with their logo which is green effectively. Most bands tend to have a house color in which they stick to throughout all merchandise albums websites and promos.Green day is green, which you can see in the photos above. But as each new album comes out the design of the merchandise changes to promote the bands new music , but still keep the house color and logo for brand and band recognition.

Having a 'niche'?

Every band needs to be able to stand out and do something differnet and original in a style that no-one else has before . This is called a niche.
One band who i think have an effective niche is Coldplay, especially with their new album viva la vida.
Coldplay always have their own unique twist on thing from videos to style.Coldplay are quite well known for their outstanding different videos and have a variety of diffent ideas such as walking backwards, walking along the beach as night turns to day focused on Chris martin,cartoons, puppets and paintings here is a few of them shown below.
The Scientist

Strawberry Swing

Yellow

Viva la vida

Life in technicolor ii

Their album Viva la Vida is backed on a fanmous painting of the french revolution.

In their new album they follow this style throughout the album they have and wear the colors of the french revolution in their videos, merchandise website and even thier clothing. For all their recent tours coldplay are style almost as soldiers of the french revolution and Chris Martin (the lead singer wears a jacket in all his concerts and videos that contributes to this.This built up style is coldplay's niche and works very well for them.



Another band who have done something a little more completely different is the Gorillaz. The niche of Gorillaz is that they never appear as themselves and always as cartoon gorilla charactors of each band member. The follow this through on album covers,videos and even some concerts. So you never know who the band are.


In Concert
Music video

The Online Revolution

The online revolution has highly affected the music industry in the way of promotion,signing,purchase and audience. Many bands now use the internet to become recognised rather than playing at concerts and gigs ,waiting to be signed. Due to social networking sites such as myspace and facebook part of the online revolution, audiences can interact and discover bands much more easier than ever before.
Too show the difference and effect the online revolution has had ,i have researched two bands one of which used the internet to promote their music and one that relied on traditional forms of promotion.
The Artic Monkeys are a band who became famous via viral marketing , using the internet to promote thier music .The Artic Monkeys handed out free copies of their music at their gigs and their fans uploaded it onto their myspace page . Users of myspace visited the band as a 'friend' and watched these videos. As more people liked their videos more and more people visited the page and listened to their music the band got signed by domino records .They released their first single 'i bet that you look good on the dance floor 'which went straight to no1.


Snow patrol formed in 1994 they played concerts and wrote several albums and even released three singles via independant labels electric honey and jeepstar but were not successful untill 2002 when they were signed to the major record label Polydor. In 2003 they released their first national album 'final straw' and gained national success and have since released another two albums.
Artic Monkeys via the internet were able to be signed much more quickly than Snow patrol and managed to save alot more time and money than Snow Patrol. The online revolution means that almost anyone can listen to your band no matter how famous. Which allows alot more bands to self promote via the internet, making alot of the bigger record labels have to think alot more on strategy of promotion as they lose out on alot of new artists.
As more music is available via the internet for free , music is losing out on value and bands with copyright are having their music illegally downloaded and files become available due to peer to peer file sharing. This means that buying hard copies of music cd sales have decreased dramatically .
Record labels have tried to put the digital economy bill in order to prevent copyright but no-signs of improvement have shown since the law passed in may.
Record labels are now promoting their music over the internet aswell as this is much more up to date and a faster more accessible to access music as the younger generation changes.




nizlopi are another band who used viral marketing on the online revolution to make thier band famous . They posted a video of thier music video in an e-mail to 20 people who then forwarded it to thier friends .

Target audience

To show how bands of different genres promote their bands for their target audience .I have researched three different artists and their promotional material to see how their approaches in promoting are different due to their target audiences.

Katy perry
Katy perry is a pop/rock solo singer , her target audience is aimed at young people aging from 10- 30 of a feminine audience .Katy perry is known for her unconventional style of dress and uses this idea across all of her promotional material. She has tried to attract her audience using young looking fonts and pictures, even her name is in a balloon type font.In the picture above, which is her new album cover ,her hair is purple and she is situated on a mixed color background ,suggesting out of the ordinary and almost make believe, appealing to her audience as something different. But then sticks with her original idea and brings back feminism in the typography titles in pink.
Katy perry uses alot more of the internet and tv than Blink 182 and Paul Mc Cartney .This is partly due to the genre and the fact that she is more recent and trying to make more sales.She uses internet banners, has her own pages on myspace and facebook , has her own website and features regulary on tv with interviews,videos and a few adverts.
Katy Perry has only been famous since 2007 with her single 'I kissed a girl' which was her first single to bring her to fame.However Katy Perry actually started as an artist in 2000 . Katy Perry had barely any promotional material and was more focused on a classical/choir genre. This shows how different genres and how new artists have more promotional material especially on the internet ,to keep them more recognised and up to date with the younger generation which is Katy Perry's target audience> This has been shown as very effective for Katy Perry ,as since 2007 she has had 5 no 1s.





Blink 182

Blink 182 are a punk rock band , the band broke up in 2005 and have recently joined back together in 2009 ,as a band they need to try and re-attract their old audience and a new one .
At the moment they havent released any new material and are just making themselves known again .Their target audience is aimed at those who knew them from when they were last famous. The audience are aged 16-30 ,but this could broaden as they release their new album and bring in younger audiences.Especially as when there old albums were released they would of been targeted at the audience now but when they were younger, they have just grown up as the band were on their break.
They have a band logo of a smiley face which is used in all of their promotional material ,its young modern design of a face helps to add recognition and attraction to the target audience.
In the past blink 182 have used posters to try and populate their band which is a bit different to katy perry who uses internet banners. This could be due to the difference in genre but is more likely that blink 182 arent appearing to attract another new audience just yet ,whereas Katy Perry keeps her music ongoing and her audience also. Blink 182 has been re-releasing their band by playing at events again in certain countries.In England they recently played at reading festival where they talked of a new album .Playing at these concerts has been promotional to let the audience know they are back. But as for properly re-releasing with their new album there has not been and promotional material toward this yet. Which could be a bad thing as you would expect a band re-releasing themselves again would have more promotional material and try and keep with the younger audience ,up to date on the internet like Katy Perry.However it may not be long untill they do and untill then they could be relying on word of mouth to not seem to commercial like some rock bands do. Which doesnt appear to be a problem for them as most of their new concerts have sold out.


Paul Mc Cartney

Paul Mc Cartney is a rock and roll singer formely part of the very famous Beatles. He continues to sing their songs and other songs he has wrote. As he has been famous since 1960 he has quite a big range of audience ,but is most popular with audiences 30+.
Paul Mc Cartney's promotional material is alot more simpler than Katy perry or Blink 182 .
Paul Mc Cartney doesnt really need as much promotional material as Katy Perry or Blink 182 as he is already very well known. His promotional material consists of posters and ads in magazines which is more suitable for his target audience.As an older generation they dont use the internet and media as much and a simpler approach seems alot more suited for them and is the way Paul Mc Cartney has always been promoted.


Katy perry is an upcoming new artist, she has the most promotional material which is very bold and eyecatching still trying to attract her audience with new material , very fresh and bright as a younger audience depends on this more. Blink 182 as a punk rock genre tend to have less promotional material as they dont want to seem as commercial, as some rock bands do and are also in the process of releasing new material. However there logo ,well know image and concerts helps to promote and reunite them with their audience. Paul Mc Cartney like blink 182 has not used much promo material as they are building on an existing audience before the online revolution using word of mouth ,posters and other older types of media .All these three examples show how different genres and different target audiences are promoted differently and how i need to think about how my target audience adressed effectively.

Coursework Brief

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

1. a website homepage for the band;
2. a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
3. a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

I have decide to do a website and a cd cover.