Research into major and independent record labels

Major Record Labels

Major Record Labels are Large companies within the music industry that may also own smaller record labels. The major labels in the UK currently are Universal music group,  Sony music entertainment, The EMI group and Warner music group.

Universal music group manage Lady Gaga, Gwen Stephani, Kerry Hilson, Young Jeezy and Mariah Carey.
Sony Music manage The Ting Tings, The Clash, MGMT and ke$ha.
EMI manage Whitesnake, Iron Maiden, Spice Girls, Kate Bush and The Beatles.
Warner Music manage Death Cab For Cutie, Gnarls Barkley, Basshunter, Fleetwood Mac and Enter shikari.

Warner Music Group also has a music publishing arm called Warner/Chappell music which is currently one of the worlds largest music publishing companies. EMI's record labels included EMI Records, Parlophone and Capitol Records. EMI Group also had a major publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing – also based in London with offices globally. EMI is now owned by Universal in a takeover for £1.2billion. Universal  also owns Universal Music Publishing Group, which is the second largest music publishing company in the world.

Independents

Independents are Music labels that operate one or a few music labels.

Independent labels can be just as successful but operate from a smaller company base. They are traditionally known as offering more ‘organic’ music rather than manufactured mainstream.

Dreamboat Records is a British independent music label based in Bristol, England. The label was founded in 2005, and released records on a small scale for a group of local artists. In 2009 it expanded to include releases of independent film soundtracks. Artists signed to this label are The Rollercoaster project, Robin Allender, This is Kit, Bear in Heaven and Whalebone Polly.

FM Records and Revolver Records were two labels in common ownership that came together to form FM Revolver in the 1980s. The FM label presented itself as FM Records, FM Coast to Coast, FM Dance and FM Revolver. The label was distributed by BMG Ariola Munich and in the UK by BMG  until 1991. FM artists included Adam Bomb, Asia, Atom Seed, Babe Ruth, Cloven Hoof, Dark Star, Jack Green, James Young, King Kobra, Lisa Dominique, The Macc Lads, Marino, Multi-story, Pet Hate, Rough Trade, Sofia Rotaru, Steve Gaines, Tobruk, Torino, Tradia, UFO, White Sister and Wrathchild

Native Records is a small British independent record label formed in Sheffield, England. The label was founded by Kevin Donoghue in 1985, after he left RCA Records. In 2006, Native formed its own distribution company Indie distribution. Native Records artists are Undercurrent, OneUnder, PLMB, Waiting For June, ReVerbed, The Talk, Girl Spit, Lee Foster, Pimp Sneekerz, B Troop and Various Production.

History of Music videos

Ways in which people can consume music videos;

• Websites
• Youtube
• TV
• Online
• Curated and Automated playlists
• iTunes' downloads

Music videos can be consumed in a much quicker way now than before. Whereas, in the past you would have had a long time to wait for the music video to come up due to internet speed or there not being internet at all. Before the internet was available you would have only been able to see music videos on the television. Youtube is the biggest video sharing website in the world but has only been available since 2005 therefore, is still fairly new, which further reiterates the point that it is much quicker and easier to consume a music video now than it was before.

A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around whats popular.
In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched and begun an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. With this new material, the music video would by the mid-1980s, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing. Many important acts of this period owed a great deal of their success to the skilful construction and accuracy of their videos.

YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, view and share videos. Youtube uses Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 technology to display a wide range of user-generated video content, including video clips, TV clips, and music videos, and amateur content such as video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos. This allows the general public to easily access a music video they would like to watch however, Youtube has only been around since 2005 and there was nothing like this before for older generations of people therefore, the music video industry has developed over the years because where you could only watch music videos on the Tv before you can now watch music videos anywhere anytime as long as you have internet.

The amount of money spent on music videos has increased significantly. Since 1980 the top 45 most expensive music videos have all happened after that date which means budgets have gone up and up  significantly since then. The most expensive music video ever was Michael and Janet Jacksons song Scream which had cost 7 million dollars to make, that video was aired in 1995. Madonna has the 2nd, 3rd and 4th most expensive videos with "Die Another Day", "Express Yourself", and "Bedtime Story". Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson and Ayumi Hamasaki have appeared most times on the list with five times each.

Technology and special effects have changed significantly over the years with the use of bigger budgets, more money is being spent on the creativity of a music video. Whereas before when making a music video you would rent out  room somewhere and sing and play your music by yourself or with your brand however, this has all changed. Much more technology is available now for example Green screen is used a lot now where it wasn't before, green screen allows the artist to have a specific destination behind them without actually being there. Also the use of backing sounds is available now to make the artist sound better which also allows them to edit there music as well.

Music videos receive a lot more views now than they did before due to the fact that you can watch them online and on websites now. Before the internet was around there was no way you could watch a music video unless you watched it live or someone filmed and showed it to you. Youtube was introduced in 2005, most people watch music videos on there because it is easy access and free of charge this leads to an increased target audience for the artist because by watching the videos on youtube or the internet allows you to watch them at anytime.


Music genres have developed over the years because there is so many more genres than before. The genres that were common in the past were Hip hop, rock and R&B whereas now there is many more that have been introduced due to the different nature of artists and different preferences that the audience have. Newer genres that are around now are Dance, House and jazz. Audiences would never have heard of genres like this before because they are fairly new, due to the increase in people listening and watching music videos this has lead to the different genres because the audience want to see something new.

Magazine advert reflection

How diid you use your research into magazine adverts to start planning your own?


As our music video is from within the dance genre i looked at all the famous artists that are well known for having dance music videos e.g. David Guetta, Rhianna, Flo Rida and Calvin Harris. Therefore, i typed in each off the artists most well known dance song and typed in there magazine advert for each ones particular song. I was able to see how they promoted there video and what colour schemes and photos that they had used in order to promote their video. This inspired me and helped me paint a picture in my head of how i wanted my magazine advert to look.




What are your ideas and inspirations behind your paper design?

This was my paper design however, i decided to change it when creating my real one.




















I got my idea and inspirations from looking at a magazine advert that i see on the internet. I thought because our music video was based as a couple that it would be a good idea to use the face of the main characters in our video and put them together as they did because it worked well. However, when i thought about it more by using the image of our two main characters it doesn't really represent dance genre that much therefore, changed it to a Dj playing in front of a crowd going wild. I believed that idea offered more to the audience than the image because by having the Dj within the advert at least it gives the idea of music whereas, just having an image of two people could mean anything. I got the idea of using a DJ on the magazine advert when i was analysing them and came across one from David Guetta and instantly i thought that it looked good and that it reminded me of the dance genre.




How will this help you with creating it on photoshop?

The paper design didn't help me as i decided to change my idea after i created it on paper therefore, when i was creating it on photoshop i was going from one screen to another to create the advert to the best of my ability comparing it to the one i was analysing.

PhotoShoot

·       Why is it important to carry out a photoshoot, especially when creating a digipak and magazine advert?

·       
v           It is important to carry out a photo shoot, especially when creating a digipak and magazine advert  because you can take a number of shots and pick which one you think the best is that gives you a lot of  options and you will be able to get inspirations from each one. You could even use part of one and join  it in with another one. The digipaks and magazine adverts are an important part of our coursework so it  is vital that we get the correct shots in the photo shoot otherwise it would be a waste of time.

        What images did you take and why? (Include a variety of shots that can be used)

       While our group was at a party we took various videos of myself dancing to try and get the best image possible. I then went through the videos and analysed what i thought the best shots would be. It came down to 2 or 3 shots that i could have used and had to choose which one i thought would represent the connotations of the Dance genre the best. At the start i was going to choose an image of myself at a graveyard with a bunch of flowers for my dead girlfriend however, if i put that as the front cover of my music advert it would look sad and probably wouldn't get many peoples attention or attract sales. Also the image didn't give off the effect that it was a dance song. This is when i realised the music advert should be a exciting and catch the audiences attention therefore, this is why i choose the image of me dancing with people around me.



        Where will you images be used and why? (Digipak or advert?)

·       
           My image will be used on the music advert because as our song comes under the genre of dance and as  i have a photo of me dancing i therefore, thought it would be best to use it as the music advert. The music advert is where your going to get the audiences attention it needs to be lively and stand out from the rest if it is going to succeed. By it standing out creates attention and leads to the audience wanting to listening to the song, audiences don't want to look at bland and blunt music adverts because it wont entise them to have a look or listen to it. By the audience listening to the song generates sales for the company.

     How are your images conventional to your genre?

      
y    My images are conventional to the genre because the genre of my music video is dance therefore, the images of me dancing relates to my target audience because they will be able to identify with the artist.

     How do the images portray the artist and how does it appeal to your target audience?

·       Include one example of how you photoshop to create a conventional product (Include before and after images)

      The images portray the artist as being
      happy and having a good time dancing the night away which relates to the dance
     genre.

Magazine advert analysis

Starter:

1)    What is the purpose of a magazine advert?

      The purpose of a magazine article is to promote the specific artists song and the way the artist is represented.

Task 1:
Analyse the following magazine advert. Ensure that your analysis is detailed and that you have included excellent examples to support the points that you have made. Also relate back to the music conventions and the target audience.

·               Representation of music artist

·               Connotations of the advert

·               Colours

·               Design/layout

·               Choice of images

·               Typography

·               Style of language

·               How does the advert promote the music genre?

·               How does the advert promote the artist?

·               How does the advert attract an audience?

Task 2:
Analyse 2 magazine adverts, one for your chosen artist and one for a similar artist, using the same bullet points above.
Include a summary at the end of your blog to show how you will use your research to inform your planning and creating your own advert for your own artist.

Planning lighting and colours

Why are lighting and colours important within a music video?

Lighting and colours are important within a music video because it relates to the generic conventions of the music video, it will show the emotions going on in the video that the artist is going through. It also tells the audience how the artist is feeling and how their being portrayed. Lighting is very important because if the artist is trying to put a point across you need to have the correct lighting otherwise the audience will be confused and not understand what is going on. The artist will connect the lighting to the certain emotions given off, the lighting will need to change throughout otherwise the video will come across as  boring to the audience.


What styles of lighting will you include and why. What effect does it create?

We are going to use low key lighting when the couple are enjoying a romantic time looking over the sights of London after they had been to the pub together to have a few drinks. The use of low key lighting enables the audience to see the wonderful sights of London with the lights on the buildings in the background this use of lighting gives off the conotations of togetherness and love. The use of  high key lighting is used when the man is visiting the graveyard of his girlfriend the high key lighting brings out the true facial expressions that the boyfriend is going through and brings out the colour of red in the flowers he is bringing to her yard the conotations of the colour red show death, love and sadness which has all happened and is clear for the audience to see.


What colours will you include and why? Effect?







How is it conventional?

Lighting and colour is conventional to our music genre because the genre of dance allways has different pace and different styles. Low key lighting would be used in a club scene with all different colours reflecting and booming off eachother this creates a chilled out club vibe where people are either raving or just having a laugh and dance with there friends. The use of high key lighting would be used when people are performing on stage to an audience which allows them to be seen clearly. This is why we have used both high and low key lighting to show the differences in the genre of dance.


How does it help to build a relationship with your target audience?

The lighting and colours build a relationship with the target audience because the lighting in each scene will predict what kind of mood and atmosphere that is going on this gives an idea to the audience of what is about to happen next. Low key lighting gives off an effect that something could happen suddenly and leaves the audience on the edge off there seat wanting to know more. High key lighting is very much different it shows the audience that the scene is generally of a happier place but sometimes sadness is brought out when high key lighting is used.