Meetings (week beginning 22nd Sept)

This week our meetings were primarily discussion-based. They took place on Tuesday lunch and after school, as well as Thursday lunch. The topics we covered were:

1. Our record label: What it would stand for and what kind of music it would be associated with.
2. Our band: We discussed how we could create a band that would have familiar aspects for the audience whilst being fresh and new, creating for itself a gap in the market. We didn't fully agree on the costumes and name of the band, but had ideas such as 'Pilgrim'.
3. Our audience: Who would want to listen to and buy the band's music, and why? What gratifications would they gain from the band?
4. Our track: Being the most direct factor to affect our music video, this took the longest discussion until we decided on a track from a long list we had decided on.

Below is a summary sheet which we wrote up the next week after lots of discussion to lay out our thoughts of the previous week. This week was very evenly spread in terms of work put in as it was primarily discussion.

Between meetings, we were in semi-constant contact on Facebook discussing basic ideas for above for points, as well as some of the more creative aspects of the task, such as what we wanted in the music video and why. Below is a segment of a conversation about what props we would want to use:

I think we made good progress this week in terms of decision making, although there were compromises we had to make in relation to little creative idea that we all had, but that would not work all together in the same music video. As we didn't all have drastically different ideas as to what we wanted the video to look like, however, this was not too much of an issue.

Our Target Audience

As our song is of the indie genre, our target audience will be indie fans, as they will be able to relate to the genre, whilst appreciating the unconventionality of the band (see post: Our Artist). Our secondary audience is 16-24 year olds.

We found that many indie music videos have studio settings, which is very useful for us as we can control our conditions e.g. lighting in the studio much more effectively than anywhere else. Also, many indie music videos are very simple and don't require anything too extravagant, which means we could really focus on the message we want to get across in our video.

Our Artist

Our band is a 3 piece band named Pilgrim, featuring myself on lead vocals and electric guitar, Alice on bass guitar and Gavin on a drum kit and possibly backing vocals. The name was inspired by the Scott Pilgrim franchise as we knew this would be a popular film amongst our target audience. We were initially going to have our friend Josh as the bassist, but realised this would make us a very stereotypical male indie-rock band, and the audience for this is already pretty much saturated. Having a female bassist give our band a more fresh and original feel, for which we can find an existing audience and 'package' the product differently to appeal to them.

The fact that me and Gavin both play the instruments we will be playing in the video also means that we can make the performance look genuine and natural. Alice plays classical guitar and so will be able to transfer her skills onto a bass guitar, giving her performance also a more genuine feel.

Some of the influences for our bands style and personality are below:

Bombay Bicycle Club

Dog is Dead

Daughter

Dan Croll

Vampire Weekend

Our Chosen Track

Below is the final decision on our track choice for our music video:

We chose this song out of a shortlist of 7 for different reasons:

1. It is a typical indie-rock song, featuring typical instruments such as electric guitars, bass guitar and drum kit.
2. The song has lyrics, which is an obvious requirement.
3. The lyrics have a clear meaning of growing up, with themes of friendship, which is something that fits in nicely with the ideas we have for our music video of the band bonding and messing around (lyrics are in the description on the video above on YouTube).
4. This song has a driving rhythm whilst also being surprisingly easy to listen to; i.e. it isn't a heavy song, which perhaps would need a more serious and edgy video: We want our video to be fun and easy to watch.
5. There are varying musical textures in the piece which we can use to connote different moods and styles in our video, such as the breakdown (2:12-2:36).

Another perk to using this song was that the song has a Creative Commons License, meaning we can use the song without seeking permission as long as we give credit to the band. Below is the summary of the license on the Dog is Dead soundcloud page:

Our Record Label

Our record label is called 'Alma Gavon Records'. It is an independent record label, part of Beggars Group. It specialises in new up and coming indie rock and alternative bands and artists, looking especially at young talent, as it believes strongly in bring new music into the fray. It treats itself as a stepping stone for artists to gain popularity and establish a fan base before (if they wish) moving onto more mainstream audiences. Below is an idea of what the logo of our record label will be, except the character may have a mixing deck instead of a sword and shield.

Semiotic Analysis of a Music Video

• The lyrics of this song are very clear indicators that this video is about striving for the perfect hedonistic life, and realising what it has become.
• The first verse in the tower is very darkly lit, connoting the sadness of 2D but also the sinfulness of the acts being carried out in the tower. This is also clear by the very disjointed movements being made my all of the characters seen in the tower parts of the video.
• The chorus featuring a windmill and is much smoother animation, suggesting that the life outside of the supposedly very enjoyable tower (titled 'Feel Good Inc.') is really much better than inside.
• Very stereotypically peaceful lyrics such as 'love forever, love is free', again connoting the peace outside the tower and the pain inside the tower, shown by 2D enviously looking out of a tower window.
• The tower itself is also clearly very dark and sinful, as shown in the first shot. The clouds around it are dark and red, which emphasise this point. This is then juxtaposed with the clouds around the windmill.

Suitable Tracks for the Single

Arctic Monkeys - D is for Dangerous

This track is very fast paced and rhythmic, meaning it can allow for very fast paced editing as well as some long takes during the verses of this song.

Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights

This track has a very driving rhythm, with some breakdowns for slower-paced editing. There are a lot of lyrics in it too which will make it easier to interpret different lyrics in different ways.

Dog is Dead - Talk Through the Night

This song has quite a laid back rhythm, which I think could make for a good indie-rock music video. The lyrics are also very clear and the connotations of coming-of-age in the lyrics are clear, giving way for lots of inventive visual representations of this. The breakdown in the middle is a nice change in musical texture which could be a nice part for a change in the video, for example the pace of editing or perhaps setting.

Drenge - Bloodsports

This song has so much energy which I think would suit a performance or performance-hybrid video very well, with lots of fast paced editing and energetic acting.

Kings of Leon - Charmer

Again, the energy in this song is clear, and the tempo of the song is good for some fast pace editing in the chorus and some slower, perhaps more inventive shots during the verses. The lyrics are also very easy to visually represent, perhaps with a women trying to seduce a male, although this isn't really one of the themes I had planned on exploring when considering what kind of video I want to make.

Vampire Weekend - Diane Young

The lyrics are probably too abstract to create anything meaningful out of this video, but again, I love the energy and rhythm in this song.

Audiences

I carried out a survey to try and find out how peoples' overall opinions on music is - below are a few of the results.

From this information I can make a number of conclusions. Firstly, the younger people who carried out the survey were people who regularly illegally downloaded music, whereas the older people used legal methods to buy their music, and some were even still buying physical music such as CDs. I've also noticed that people have a very wide range of genres which they enjoy listening to, suggesting that a hybrid genre may be effective in attracting a wide range of people.

Influential/Inspirational Music Videos, Albums and Websites

Music Videos

Darwin Deez - Radar Detector

I like the simplicity of this music video - the lack of camera movement gives it a very calm feeling, as well as the soft, single-colour backgrounds used through some of the video. The 'ideas' director Ace Norton has used are very quirky and cute, such as the circle of cameras around his head - a very strong indicator of the indie genre, which is a genre I am interested in for my own music video.

George Ezra - Budapest (Alternative Video)

I like this video for the same reason as above - the very simple studio setting and the use of performance in the video - whilst it is far too simple for me to get any conceptual inspiration from, the styling is something I would consider trying to take bits of for my own music video.

Dog is Dead - Do the Right Thing

This is one of my favourite music videos - I love the use of long takes (something I would like to attempt) and the clever cuts between shots which gives it a seamless feel. I also find the camerawork tracking very interesting and ambitious.

Drenge - Fuckabout

I like the very simplistic style of this video with limited camera movement, making a very effective sense of dreariness and sadness. I also like how the lyrics feed in to this impression, with lines such as 'all you want to do is choke on the lies that you've been fed'.

Album Covers

Laura Marling - Once I was an Eagle

I like the clear focal image in this album cover and the overall simplicity of it. The pose of her stretching upwards is also possibly a literal reflection of the album title.

Darwin Deez - Songs for Imaginative People

Like the Laura Marling album cover, this one has a clear focal image, and has a quirky way of creating a literal reflection of the album title with him holding the musical notes in his hand.

George Ezra - Wanted on Voyage

I like the warm colours used in this album cover and the simple typography.

Belle & Sebastian - (All Albums)

I really like how Belle & Sebastian's albums are consistent in style, especially the use of colour - of course I only have to make one album cover, but this style is something I would consider trying to take inspiration from.

The Beatles - Help!

I love the quirky idea of using semaphore on this album cover, and I like the very simple background and uncluttered image.

Websites

The 1975

I love how visual this website is. It is also clever the way they have embedded music videos into the main page, with a little reflection on the song written by Matt Healy, and the personal choices he and the other band members made when writing the song and creating the music video.

David Bowie

Again, I like how visual this website is. There is a large amount of content by scrolling down, and each picture is a link to a video, album, audio or article. It is also very clear how to navigate through the page with the toolbar at the top of the page. The variety of colours also really shows how diverse Bowie's style and music has been over the years.

Record Labels

I researched UK independent record labels to find out from an institutional point of view how they are funded, how they discover new artists and how these artists are then promoted. The role of a record label ultimately is to discover new, up-and-coming artists and bands. They then have a process which every record label will follow to get their artist and their music to the audience in as many ways and as effectively as possible.


Rough Trade

Rough Trade is a subsidiary record label stemming from a British record company called Beggars Group. They have 4 shops - 3 in London and one recently opened in New York. Rough Trade has been responsible at some point for many big names such as The Smiths, The Strokes, Arcade Fire and The Libertines. Rough Trade have live music events almost every day in different stores in order to promote their new artists - the price of admission is often very low or none at the cost of buying the artist's album or single.

Rough Trade is very keen to promote and encourage new music, even if not directly through their label - Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis described his inspiration for the label as a 'community-based environment', and it still shows, with a wall in the Rough Trade East store where people will leave notes asking for musicians to join different bands or projects.

XL Recordings

XL Recordings is also an offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records, and is one of the Beggars Group. It operates across an unusually large range of genres, and has worked with bands and artists such as Radiohead, Beck, Vampire Weekend, Dizzee Rascal, and Adele.



Pink Mist

Pink Mist describes itself as an independent music collective, as it is 'powered' by other record labels such as Big Scary Monsters, Holy Roar, Blood & Biscuits, and Tangled Talk. Pink Mist release records and manage bands, as well as doing things which identify them as a very music-passionate record label, such as hosting many live music events.




What is the process carried out by record labels?

Current Trends in Popular Music/Gaps in the Market

Below is the top 5 albums and singles right now listed in the Radio 1 UK Top 40 charts.

It is evident that the top end of the albums and singles charts are male-dominated, with the only female artists being Lilly Wood, Taylor Swift and Iggy Azalea. This suggests that male artists may be currently more popular amongst mainstream music consumers, and that there may be a gap for female artists and, more likely, female bands. The majority of the artists and bands above are of the rock genre or of the pop (loose term) genre. This suggests there could be a gap for indie rock or indie folk band. 

As you can see in the singles and album sales by genre in 2013, the top 3 genres for both categories are rock, pop and dance. This suggests that there is a big gap as well as a wide audience for possible hybrid genres or sub-genres of these 3 genres, such as indie-rock or pop-punk. 

Another thing I have noticed from the album charts is how stationary some of the albums are, such as Kate Bush's 'The Whole Story' (174 weeks) and Bob Marley & the Wailers' 'Legend' (873 weeks). Whilst the top of the album charts may be new music, there is plenty of very old music further down that will stay there for several years possibly. On the contrary, the singles charts features entirely new music, with the longest stayer in the charts is Pharrell Williams' 'Happy' (43 weeks). This suggests that singles are more representative of the current trends in the modern music scene, whereas albums are perhaps a representation of previous trends also and gives a wider picture of the music scene in the UK over the years.

Personal Music Comsumption

I consume music in many different scenarios and at many different times during a typical day including getting ready for school, on the bus, in the car etc.. This is usually through my iPod. I rarely take the time out of a day to do nothing but listen to music, unless listening to a vinyl record, which I find a very personal experience, although often I will be consciously listening to new music whilst doing things that don't require a lot of thought, such as while on-the-go and while cooking. The large majority of my music listening I do alone, although a large amount of the music I listen to I will recommend to a suitable friend or will have been recommended to me. In this sense, music consumption is a very inclusive part of my life socially, including occasionally going to gigs or concerts with friends or family.

The music I listen to is something I cherish as a firm part of my identity, and so I listen to a lot of different genres (such as jazz, indie rock, funk, soul, 60's pop etc.) to get as good an idea as I can as to what this part of my identity is.  Another reason that I listen to a range of genres is that I feel that different genres can help evoke a incredibly large range of moods and emotions which sometimes I may feel need gratifying. I often feel semi-personal relationships with certain songs and the specific emotions the song may bring out in me, often due to the lyrics. In other words, I take music consumption very seriously in really listening to the music instead of it being a social catalyst or anything else, as it often is in places such as clubs.

The majority of my music consumption is through my iPod - I will download the music from my laptop and put it onto my iPod for consumption in the ways I've described above.

Often I will consume music in a quasi-professional role, in that it gives me ideas and inspiration for my own music, as well as getting inspiration from the artists, who are often very eccentric and exceptional people.

Influential Tracks

This was one of the first songs I listened to, in the car with my family, and I remember not knowing who the artist was. It is still one of my favourite songs, as I can remember listening to it a lot with people I don't see a lot now as well as during important parts of my life.

This was the first song I listened to on my record player when I was 13, and was a start to me (consciously) listening to much older music. I found I could connect personally to the some of the themes from older music by artists such as Bob Dylan much more than I could do with the popular music that was around at the time.

I saw Peace at Reading Festival 2014, and specifically remembered this song as I felt I could relate very strongly to the lyrics of the song - it reminded me a lot of my brother who had just left to live in California. The whole live experience of the performance really made the listen a very emotive experience, especially as I was sharing it with close friends.