Magazine Advert Research

Below are some magazine adverts for albums with the original album directly beneath. They will differ to those of adverts for singles, but only in the amount of information given, e.g. it would not say "including the singles..." New bands like Shrouded Violet are likely to want to advertise their first single as much as possible, so an advert like the ones below would likely be produced.

This is the magazine advert and album artwork for Friendly Fire's self titled debut album. Being their debut album they have chosen to name the album after the name of their band, which means that the album may not have a specific theme running through it. Their artwork, in this case, is just something that is representative of the genre. This album is considered alternative/disco/funk and so they have chosen to use a picture of a mirror being shattered, which can be thought to represent the intended effect on people who listen to it - they are a brand new band who will shatter people's expectations of them. Being considered alternative choosing an unconventional picture, which has no obvious meaning, for their artwork will conform to the conventions of the alternative spectrum of music.

The magazine advert is the artwork of the album with the name of the band above the picture in a much bigger, more visible font. This is likely to be because they are a new band and want people to remember their name. They have chosen to tell the audience what singles will be in the album so that they know there will be something familiar to them in the full album. For people who have heard one of the songs on the radio once or twice they may come across this advert and notice that the song is part of a debut album and if they liked the single they heard, then they may be tempted to get the album. They have also chosen to put quotes from various newspapers and music magazines to give the audience an idea of what they sound like and that the album is well worth getting. This is also an advert that has been made after the release of the album, so they have put dates of their tour at the bottom, which potential customers can see and also find out that they might be playing live near where they live.

This advert has taken the album artwork and rotated it to catch the attention of the reader. It could also be said that this has been done to reflect the genre of the music - electronic pop. A genre which is known for unconventional artwork to reflect the music that is on the album - edgy, funky etc. They have also taken the name of the band and bent it around the bottom left hand corner of the artwork, which is also eye-catching as it is at an unusual angle and is more noticeable than just having a horizontal header.

Like the Friendly Fires advert, they have added quotes from magazines about the album, to give a more authentic feel and encouragement from an authority that knows a lot about music. They have also chosen to include the logo of HMV (a high street retailer that sells CDs, movies and games) and the the logo of the record label to show that they are not independent from a record label and to give them credit for signing them up as well as for copyright and licensing reasons.

This is the artwork and album cover for the Kings of Leon's fourth album. Like the all the adverts, they have chosen to make the album artwork the main feature of the advert so people will be able to recognise the album from seeing the advert. They have kept the font used in the album artwork and made it considerably larger to anchor the name of the band to the picture an ensure potential customers associate the name of the band with the album image.

They have decided to not add quotes from any magazines, newspapers or websites. This may be because they have not allowed anyone to listen to it yet or it could be because they are already a well known band. From listening to the radio and the news when this was released, it was evident that there was a lot of hype about this album and everyone was talking about it. This probably meant that quotes were an unnecessary use of space on the advert and they were mainly informing readers about the release date.

This has a technique employed by the other adverts - that is to take the artwork and rearrange it so that the name of the band took the main focus of the advert. Like the others, they have kept the same font and formatting and just scaled up the size to fit the advert. Also included is a quote from a magazine complimenting the band, which readers will see and possibly want to buy the album if they think that the source is trustworthy.

The way they have approached their album front cover is slightly unusual as they have chosen to put the track listings on the front as well as the back, which is the place that the track listing usually is. They probably did this to stand out and for people to see if they were just browsing in a record shop. Most designers choose to have the track listing only on the back because it has become a convention and in many cases it is more aesthetically pleasing to have just a picture, the name of the band and the album. It could also be considered a reference to old style records, which had the track listing on the front.

Here are some common similarities between the four adverts/album covers.

• One thing most of these adverts have in common is that they all have the artist's name in large letters (larger than all the other words) in an eye catching place in the picture.

• They also have the date of release in a large font so that the audience can know when they can get their hand s on the album.

• Another similarity is having quotes from magazines, newspapers or radio stations praising the album for being good.

• All the adverts contain the album artwork in some form, although The Vaccines advert does it slightly more subtly. In a lot of cases the advert is just the original artwork expanded and the words enlarged and moved to a more noticeable place.

Album Artwork Research

As well as the music video, I must also produce a digipak and a magazine advert. To make the digipak, it is useful to look at past examples of real digipaks in the same genre as my music video as well as a selection from different and similar genres. From looking at other digipaks I will get a sense of what is generally included in all digipaks as well as if there are any particular characteristics from the genre that applies to me.

This is the front two panels from the debut album from Fleet Foxes, an indie/rock folk band from Seattle. The artwork is reminiscent of the renaissance period, as is the font of the songs on the back cover. This is a theme that the band have adopted as a similar image is used for their first EP and their second album, Helplessness Blues. They have kept the same font from the band name on the cover and used it for the track listing to provide a link between the two and to keep a form of continuity. They have included copyright information on the back cover as well as their record label logo for legal reasons. In terms of the positioning of this information, it is below the lyrics on the back cover to keep it out of the way and not interfere with the main artwork and track listing.

On the inside panels they have done for a simple pattern covering both of the panels. The pattern itself is made to look like it is from the same era as the album artwork to create a link between the inside and the outside panels. The CD itself has the name of the artist and the same pattern as on the adjacent panel but in a different colour to make it stand out from the panel. 

This is the front two panels of the album Visions by Grimes. This artist contains elements of the same genre as my music video so will help to display some genre characteristics (if there are any). Like the Fleet Foxes album, the designer has chosen to have the front cover to display the artist name and album and the back cover to show the track listing as well as show copyright information. The font used is very simple and just in white, which is done so as to not retract from the album artwork and other images on the digipak. It could be connoted that the artist doesn't really care that much about getting her name known, rather she just wants people to listen to her music. The artist name and album has also been written down the middle spine so that it can be read if put on a shelf or the equivalent storage place. The artist has chosen to have some poetry written in Russian to the side of the main artwork on the front cover, not being able to read Russian I am not quite sure of the significance of this but it does seem fairly alternative, possibly to fit with the artist's personality/musical style. The same can be said about the main artwork, a psychedelic picture of a skull with lots of patterns. shapes and swirls all in black and white. The artist's name is drawn on this picture in a style fitting with the rest of the picture and is done to subvert expectations as this picture may make some people think that is heavy metal rather than electronic/dream pop. The subversion originates from the name of the artist - Grimes, which is close to the being genre grime, which is in turn very different to the kind of music she makes.

There are the inside panels for the album and continue the style introduced by the artwork on the front cover. The name of the artist as well as the album name this time are both drawn in the same style as the artwork they are in, although the album name is not as prominent as the artist's name. The style of artwork is likely to be because of the name of the album - Visions, as the images within the artwork seem unconnected and random - the sort of things you would see in a vision especially a drug enhanced one. Like the fleet foxes album they have kept a theme running throughout the digipak and repeated the name of the artist to provide links between the panels. 

This is the front and back panels from the album Plastic Beach by Gorillaz. This contains very similar characteristics that are included from the previous two digipaks. These are that the artist and album name are written on the front cover in the same font, the track listing is on the back cover, there is copyright information underneath the track listing as well as a record label and the artist and album name on the spine. These two panels link to each other through the use of the island on the front cover, which is blurred and put behind the characters on the back panel. This is has very much to do with the name of the album and the message they are trying to get across about the environment. This is reflected somewhat on the inside panels.

These are the inside panels, which show a submarine, presumably underneath the island shown on the front cover, near lots of junk metal that has been dumped into the sea. This is the theme contained with the songs on the album as well as the the front cover. 

This is the album front cover and back cover from Arcade Fire's album, The Suburbs. This is slightly different to the other digipaks as they have decided to not include the album name on the front cover or a track listing on the back cover. This is to do with the nature of the music on the album. They are quite a theatrical band in terms of the themes that links their songs. The songs on this album are all related to people living in the suburbs as the name of the album would suggest, and so they have put on the back cover - Arcade Fire presents "The Suburbs". The front cover of the digipak reinforces the name of the album with a picture of a car parked in front of some bungalows, a typical type of housing found in suburbs particularly in North America where the band is from. The sepia filter added to the front cover connotes that they are harking back to their childhood as it gives a 70s look as well as looking more theatrical. They have also chosen to not put a record label or any copyright information on the back cover. This was done to not break any continuity in terms of the suburban theme by having unrelated information written on it.

This is the inside of the digipak and both panels are part of the same image, which is a similar technique used in the Gorillaz album. This is probably because these albums are different to the first two in that they do not have the CD attached directly to the inside, rather in a sleeve between the front and inside panels. This allows for the designer to have one complete image on the inside as there is not a CD blocking one of the panels. This image fits with the name of the album as it is another picture of housing found in the suburbs and also has a sepia filter like the front cover.

From these digipaks I can gather a few key elements that I will include in my digipak.

1. Copyright information on the back panel underneath the track listing
2. Record label logo near copyright information on back
3. Artist name written above album name
4. Font used for artist name re-used throughout digipak
5. Artwork relating to the name of the album/content of album
6. Themes carried through each panel and linked to album
7. Name of artist and album on spine

Music Ownership

Major record companies started appearing in around 1929 with the introduction of Music Publishers Holding Company (MPHC), Decca Records and Hollandsche Decca Distributie (HDD). HDD has changed name and ownership several times since its formation and merged with Universal Music Group in 1998 when it was known as Polygram. MPHC has changed name once, in 2003 and is now known as Warner Music Group. Decca Records is now known as Universal Music Group, and EMI (introduced in 1931) has remained the same since its creation. Sony Music was introduced in 1987 and joined with BMG music (Bertelsmann Music Group) in 2004 to create Sony BMG. This then became Sony Music Entertainment in 2008. Universal Music Group, EMI and Sony Music Entertainment are the four biggest music companies (although EMI is likely to be merged into Universal Music group soon) and between them own a large number of smaller record labels and thousands of artists.

It is interesting to note that two of the music companies are also film companies and owned by large multinational conglomerates – Sony Corporation and Vivendi. Warner Music Group was split off from Time Warner in 2004 and made completely independent.

Universal music group is one of the largest music content companies in the world and owns 10s of record labels including:

•                Interscope Geffen A&M

•                The Island Def Jam Music Group

•                Universal Republic Music Records

•                Universal Music Group Nashville

•                Decca Label Group

•                The Verve Music Group

•                Show Dog - Universal Music

•                Universal Music Enterprises

•                Universal Latin Entertainment 

•                A&M/Octone

These are only the US Labels it owns. Outside of the US it has holdings in various countries including China, Brazil, Denmark, Italy, the UK and 31 other countries.

Fever Ray is signed to Rabid Records, which is an independent Swedish Record Label, founded by the band Honey Is Cool. I explain this in greater detail in an earlier post.

Rabid Records Logo

Audience

The genre of music that my chosen song belongs to does not lie within what it considered "mainstream", in that it is not played on most, if any, radio stations. The only stations that would play it are ones like Xfm that play generally alternative music, and even then it would only be played by certain DJs, for example John Kennedy on Xfm who has an evening/late show that plays music from artists a lot of people wouldn't have heard of. The kinds of people who listen to this kind of radio station/DJ are likely to be in their late teens to mid twenties. This is the same kind of age group that is my target audience for this music video. This is because music taste is something that develops and changes with age and those in their late teens often go through a period where they are exposed to lots of different kinds of music by friends, the radio, the internet and from live events like festivals. As they share their tastes and finds with each other they will discover that they like certain genres and go on to find artists who make that kind of music.

They may come across this artist by chance from their exploration into trip hop, electronic or ambient music (all of which are part of the song). It is perfectly possible that someone younger than their late teens, for example a 13 year old will hear the song and take a liking to it. I do not think, however, that this will happen at this age as much as it happens in older teenagers. Another reason for younger people not taking a liking to it is the dark and unusual nature of the song coupled with the singer being Swedish and not having many discernible lyrics to sing along with. Not being in the mainstream also makes the song more of an acquired taste rather than something that anyone could listen to and instantly like. Having said that I have chosen the most upbeat song from this artist, which is likely to increase the accessibility of the song as it has a fast pace and more positive sounding effects from the synthesiser. This will mean that it is easier to listen to some other songs from the genre and is less likely to put some audience members off the video because of the songs.

In terms of gender, I don't think that it appeals to one more than the other. It could be said that the female singer attracts a male audience, but the type of male that is attracted to listen to a certain artist just because they are female would not find this song appealing as it is in no way sexual like a lot of pop and R&B singers and the song does not provide any kind of instant gratification that listening to a song by a female pop artist may bring to them. The song may appeal to women, however, due to the themes hidden within the song and the empowerment that it appears to bring to the artist. I do not think that gender plays a large role in the target audience of this song as the target audience is more likely to be invested in the music itself, which is far more dependent on age, as I have previously explained.

To comply with my target audience, the visuals in the music video must have a strong relationship with the song and reinforce the genre. It must also not depend too much on a narrative as the audience must find their own narrative in the lyrics of the song rather than have one dictated to them.

Song Lyrics

So, I lost my head a while ago

But you've seem to done no better

We set fire in the snow

It ain't over, I'm not done


Some do magic and some do harm

I'm holding on, holding on

I'm holding on to a straw


Who is the Alpha and What is made of cloth?

How do you say you're sorry?

And there's nothing to be afraid of


Is it dark already? How light is a light?

Do you laugh while screaming?

Is it cold outside?


One thing I know for certain

Ohhhhh I'm pretty sure,

It ain't over I'm not done.

Song for music video

I have been listening to several different artists including TV On The Radio, Radiohead, Beirut and Battles. I have decided upon a song by Fever Ray called I'm Not Done.

Here is some information about the song,  I'm Not Done, which i have chosen to create a music video for:

Writer: Karin Dreijer Andersson
Producer: Fever Ray, Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid
Distributor: Rabid
Performers:
Vocals - Karin Dreijer Andersson


The song does not already have a video for it, which means that I will be able to have more freedom in the making of without having to worry about it being too much like the existing video. I have linked two videos below, one of which is one of her songs which does have a video (the other is the actual song). The music video for the song which is not the one I will be doing is called When I Grow Up and I will take inspiration from her movement and appearance in my video.

When I Grow Up:




I'm Not Done (This is the song I will be making a music video for):

Below is also the artwork of the album, which the song is on (Fever Ray)

Fever Ray is the solo work of Karin Dreijer Andersson, who is part of the swedish brother-sister duo, The Knife. Her self titled solo début, Fever Ray, was released in 2009 under the Rabid label. Rabid was formed by the members of Honey Is Cool in 1998 of which Karin was a member. After the success of The Knife's most recent album, Silent Shout, Karin took time out to have her third child and it was during this post natal period where she wrote the album Fever Ray. She composed the songs in a state that is common among new parents - "awake, but exhausted, where reality blurs into imagination and ideas flutter in and out." Taken from a biography about Fever Ray by Steve Yates.  Much of the album is stark, moody and occasionally sombre and I'm Not Done is one of the more upbeat songs on the album and the title is "a gesture of defiance against Karin's own thoughts of retirement." This is what she had to say about this song:


“That was the last song I wrote and in contrast to many tracks that are more about anxiety and depression, that one is very full of life,” she says. “Sometimes, when you’re as old as I am now, you think you’re going to quit, and people around you think you’re going to quit. But then you have days when you realise how good music can be, there’s so much left to explore and so much left to do. That’s why I sometimes feel I’ll never quit.”

To reflect the more upbeat nature of the song (in comparison with the others on the album), I will add more colour to the video and include a feeling of freedom to reflect the meaning behind the title of the song.

Photoshop practice

Here is a mock album cover, which I created to practice some photoshop techniques.
I first found a picture of a melon which had been carved to look like a mouth. Then I took the melon out of the picture. After that I found a picture of a woman with her mouth open and removed her mouth from the picture. Next I put the melon picture behind the woman and aligned the melon mouth to look like it was hers. There was then a gap between the lips of the melon mouth and the removed mouth from the woman. I used the clone stamp tool to make the woman's face and the melon mouth more integrated. After that I put the name of a band into the tongue to look like it had been carved in.

Analysis of a music video with reference to Todorov and Propp's theories

This video has a very clear narrative, which is not directly related to the lyrics, but there is still quite a strong link between the two.

Narrative

According to Todorov's narrative theory, there are 5 stages of the narrative:

1. A state of equilibrium

The group of friends are happily riding around on their bikes in their neighbourhood and not getting worried about anything.

2. A disruption of that order by an event

One of their homes is raided by armed forces and two of the boys are pulled out by soldiers. One boy seemingly blames another. (Boy 1 blames boy 2)

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred

Harsh looks are exchanged between two of the boys in the group of friends, suggesting that one of them caused them to be in their current situation. Boy 1 is suggested to have broken boy 2's bike. At a party, boy 2 is seen walking through looking for someone. Boy 1 sees him and leaves.

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption

The other three members of the group - the girl and other two boys run to where boy 2 works and try to warn him, but boy 1 appears inside and starts beating boy 2 up.

5. A return or restoration of the new equilibirum

Boy 1 stops attacking boy 2 and collapses on the floor crying. This doesn't seem to be the equilibrium of before, but boy 1 seems to have vented all his anger.

Analysis through propp:

Hero: Boy 2

Villain: Boy 1

Heroine: Girl, although she isn't a prize/reward for the hero

Father: -

Helper: -

Donor: -

Mentor: -

Genre Analysis

Here are 3 videos of a similar genre and how they display similar characteristics








These 3 videos all share certain characteristics, the most obvious of which is the choice each director has made to the video look like it could have been filmed in the 60s. The third video is actual footage from The Jonestown Institute in California documenting the People's Temple movement in the 1960s. They have edited in the lead singer of the band to give a more authentic feel, which conforms to Goodwin's theory of music video characteristics. The first video, 'Lust For Life' by Girls, has the effect of looking like a string of home movie clips cut together which acts as a throwback to the 1970s when people use to film in this style. The song itself also makes reference to wishing things were different when they were younger -
"I Wish I Had A Father
 And Maybe Then I Woulda Turned Out Right"
The Arcade Fire video has the themes of redemption and realisation, the former of which is shared with the Cults video.
All three videos feature the artist although very briefly in the first video.
They also all have people (not necessarily the artist) singing the lyrics of the song.
Each song's video also has strong ties with the lyrics and music of the song.
Similar themes also run through the video such as the idea of things that have happened in the past - wondering about if having a father when they were younger would have made them "right"; being shut out from the world when loved ones have died and then forgetting and moving on; the Jonestown Massacre and how each person's experience is different.

Analysis of a music video in reference to Andrew Goodwin's six conventions of music videos

This is the music video which is analysed in the presentation below the video,
Artist: Battles
Song: Ice Cream

Music video characteristics