(R) Existing Magazine Advertisements

Below are existing magazine adverts that I can use as inspiration for my magazine advert that I'm going to create as part of my ancillary task. 

Indie, rock

Pop rock, indie pop, new wave

Pop, R&B, dance

Pop, alternative rock

Pop, indie rock

Indie rock, electronic rock

(R) Marketing and Advertising

Without innovative and well thought out marketing and advertising ideas and campaigns, it would be hard for any musician or band to gain popularity - marketing and advertising could be seen as the most vital part of the whole process. 

There are many different ways that artists and bands can advertise their music, many are listed below:

YouTube

On popular music videos, YouTube feature an advert for another song or album before the user can view the video they initially wanted to watch. In order to draw the audience in, the advertisements aren't able to be skipped - although some can be skipped after five seconds. The thought behind this? That the five seconds that the user has seen of the advert will draw them in enough to carry on watching and then potentially go on to listen to the song advertised or even purchase it. Sometimes, there are even banners underneath the video that users can click on in order to take them to another video or webpage.

Television

Usually when an artist/band has a new album, they will frequently advertise it on television. This form of advertisement is very expensive, however, and is therefore why more popular stars use it compared to less-known artists. The advertisements are usually shown on relevant channels and at relevant times in order to attract the right audience.

iTunes
There are adverts for new albums, upcoming albums and also upcoming tours all over the iTunes homepage, where hundreds of people will see them as in order to download music for their iPhone, iPod or iPad they have to access the iTunes store.

Magazines
Another method of advertising is through magazines. There are many different genres of music magazines just in the UK, so there is plenty of variety and the opportunity to target the right sort of person. Many music magazines feature tour dates, new and upcoming albums, interviews with the artist/band and sometimes offer free items revolving around the artist. Below is an example of an advertisement inside a magazine, advertising Green Day's new single and their album.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways for artists and bands to advertise their music as it's the most cost-effective - it's generally free of charge! Viral marketing is a technique that encourages consumers to pass on a 'marketing message' to other websites or users, which gives the potential of a huge increase in the message's visibility and effect. An example of viral marketing is using social networks (such as Facebook) to post a music video and then people 'like', 'comment' on and 'share' the video so that millions of users soon see the video in a short space of time.

(R) 360 Video Advertising

An example of Professor Green's 360 advertising

Artists are always trying to think of new, unique ideas in order to keep their target audience interested. 

One new, unique idea was 360' videos. Professor Green entered into an advertising partnership with Doritos. In this partnership, Doritos agreed to release special edition packs with a code on the back which could be inputted into a smartphone would display a special, interactive 360' music video from Professor Green. This would have benefits for both Professor Green and his target audience. These were the first ever 360' interactive music videos created, with the aim of the audience being able to control what part of the music video they saw. Each time they would watch the music video they could watch a different aspect of it, which would thus attract them to revisit the music video and frequently rewatch it, which means the audience would be consuming more of the artist, therefore boosting their consumer loyalty to his 'brand' and maybe turning them into bigger fans. Even people who maybe aren't a fan of Professor Green could potentially want to see the video as it is innovative and different, thus attracting a new audience to the artist.

Since Professor Green launched this new idea, other stars such as Rihanna have made similar deals with Doritos. Artists will often try different ways to keep their audience interested or attract new ones, such as free downloads of a song for a set amount of time. This is also common with new artists in order to get themselves noticed.

Furthermore, consumers are often able to download a song for free from an artist's MySpace or website as this often attracts new audiences as they are able to 'try before they buy' before they actually commit to buying an artist's song. 

More than just music is needed to be successful in the music industry today. Artists need to continuously reinvent themselves or do innovative advertising stunts or release merchandise such as perfume and clothing.

(R) The History of Music Advertising

(R) Mixed Genres, Collaborations & Mash Ups

Mixed Genres

Many of the music of today cannot fit into just one, traditional genre. Most songs are either a mix of genres or influenced by other genres. This allows the artist(s) to appeal to a wider audience and become more successful.

A band known for mixing music genres is The Roots. Predominantly, they are a band specialising in the rap genre, however, they mix this with light rock. This unique spin on their music allows them to stand out against other rap artists as they're appealing to fans of more than one genre.

Plan B, who orginially was a rap and grime artist, didn't have very much success with his orginial music, therefore he changed his style in order to appeal to a wider audience and become more successful and now he is one of the most successful male artists of today. Nowadays, he still stays true to his rap and grime roots, but he mixes them with a blues sound which works because of his ability to sing. Plan B has stated that he wishes to explore each genre of music possible, and then release an album for each genre explored so that he can reach out to as many people as possible.

Collaborations
A music collaboration is when different, sepeate musicians work on the same album or song.

Nelly and Tim McGraw - Over and Over (song)
Hip hop/rap star Nelly collaborated with country superstar Tim McGraw in 2004 in an attempt to blend hip hop with country music, which happen to be two completely different music genres. Nelly was quoted by Entertainment Weekly saying: "(Both musical genres) come out of poverty-stricken communities, so putting those together, it's gonna work - it just has to be done right". However, this song has since been listed as one of the worst music collaborations ever.

Jay Z and Linkin' Park - Collision Course (album)
In 2004, Jay Z (rap) and Linkin' Park (rock) came together at first to just perform one track together on MTV. However, they decided that they wanted to re-record parts of the songs to make them fit better and the band even re-recorded instrumental and vocal tracks. In the end, both Jay Z and Linkin' Park decided they wanted to release the studio tracks and the album was put together within 4 days. The album became a massive success in both the USA and the UK, attracting Linkin' Park's audience to Jay Z and vice versa. Both parties are now generating more money than they were originally and the album allowed the to reinvent themselves in order to stay current in the industry.

Florence and the Machine and Dizzee Rascal - You Got the Dirtee Love (song)
Florence and the Machine (indie pop) and Dizzee Rascal (former grime artist, but more recently mainstream rap) came together to remake and release the song You Got the Love. Originally, Florence and the Machine covered the classic song, but gave it a fresh twist and thus made it one of the biggest selling singles of 2009. During the Brits, Florence and Dizzee came together to perform the song, causing a massive storm within the music industry. With the popularity of the song buzzing, both artists decided to record and release the song as a single. In the end, it manage to sell more records than the original cover by Florence herself.

David Guetta
David Guetta is well known for this collaborations with some of the biggest artists in the music industry, such as Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida and Rihanna. He first began by remixing songs by other artists, but then he moved onto working on collaborations with other artists and then releasing the singles.

Mash Ups
Mixing two songs together is very popular too - this is known as a mash up. Mash ups are popular in bars and nightclubs, and any style of song is usually mixed with another to form a new 'dance' track. It's common to have an adapted version of one song, with an increased tempo, or adapted into a dance track in some other way, or just a mix of two completely different songs to have the same effect. Mash ups can help improve the sales of singles, as consumers will hear the remix/mash up in a nightclub, a bar or even on the radio and it will attract people to either download the original song, or even sometimes the mash up itself. In both cases, it's advertising and popularity for the original artist. Mash ups could also attract a diverse audience because fans of dance music will be introduced to different artists they don't usually listen to.

Illegal Mash Ups
As ever, there are ways for audiences to access illegal mash ups and download them for free. This can be done via www.soundcloud.com which is a website that allows the user to search for a particular song. The search results will then display all of the remixes/mash ups of that song and allows the user to even upload a version they've created. This can arise lots of copyright issues though.

There are many issues/problems like this on the internet that are causing problems for the music industry. One popular example is illegal downloading, via websites like Limewire. Illegal downloading causes a loss of revenue for the artist in question and also the music industry. Although YouTube convertors are controversial, technically they are not illegal as the user is simply converting a video file into an MP3 file, however because access to 'free' music is so easy and simple it means that less people are actually buying music.

(R) Music Video Conventions

Camera Angles and Shot Types

The majority of time the genre of music can influence the type of camera angle or shot type used. For example, long shots are often used to show a band playing their instruments, cutting to close ups of each individual band member for time to time. However, if the genre was pop or blues, there might be a lot of close ups in order to focus on the main star's face and emotions in order to further emphasise the storyline and make it clear to the audience what emotion they should be feeling, i.e. if the main star was crying or looking distressed then the audience would know to feel this way too.

Mise-en-Scene

Mise-en-scene is everything included in a scene - the setting itself, props, costume and make-up. The mise-en-scene for each genre of music is different and is always intricately thought about and planned out. For example, if the music video was of the pop genre it will usually be more upbeat, bright and colourful and would be set in a conventionally cheesy place. However, if the genre was rock the music video might be very dark and include a lot of black and red, heavy eye make-up, piercings and tattoos. Furthermore, if the genre was rap or hip hop conventional props such as guns, expensive jewellery and scantily clad females would be included.

Sound

Sound is obviously a crucial part of a music video because it is what makes up half of it - without sound it would only be a video! Although the actual song would be non-diegetic sound, some music videos also include diegetic sound as a part of the storyline, some videos even include a minute long script before the music actually begins, and some even have a break in the middle of the song to cut to a piece of diegetic sound.

Editing

Editing is another crucial aspect of the production of a music video - this is where the scene for the music video are picked out and fine-tuned. One of the most vital parts of editing is lip syncing: if the artist doesn't appear as though they're actually singing the song the overall music video can appear unprofessional and messy. CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) effects can sometimes be used as well, for example to create the effect of a person flying or doing something else which is deemed impossible in reality. Jump cutting (jumping from one scene to another) is another technique which is used a lot in music videos.

(R) Audience Concepts - The Basics

(R) Uses & Gratifications Theory

The first generation to grow up with a television in lives became grown ups in the 1960s. During this time, it became more and more apparent to media theorists that audiences made choices about what they did when consuming texts. Audiences weren't a passive mass, they were made up of individuals who actively consumed texts for various different reasons and in numerous different ways.

 

In 1948 Lasswell suggested that media texts had the following functions for individuals and society:

• surveillance
• correlation
• entertainment 
• cultural transmission 

Researchers Blulmer and Katz expanded this theory and published their own in 1974, stating that individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes:

• diversion: escape from everyday problems and routine
• personal relationships: using the media for emotional and other interaction (e.g. substituting soap operas for family life)
• personal identity: finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts
• surveillance: information which could be useful for living (e.g. weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains)

Since then, the list of uses and gratifications has been extended, particularly as new media forms have come along (e.g. video games, the internet).

(R) Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin's music video theory is made up of five key aspects:

• Thought beats (where the audience 'sees' the sound)
• Narrative and performance
• The star image
• Relation of visuals to song
• Technical aspects of a music video

Step 1 - Thought Beats

• The audience 'looks into' the music and interprets it by looking at the chorus and verses
• A particular artist's voice can often be unique and recognisable, therefore they can easily be identified by the audience
• The artist can be known as a storyteller as they're almost telling a story within their song. The music video can be seen to aid the story that the artist is telling the audience through the vocals

The story that I want to portray in my music video is that Becky (the main character) will be suffering from heartbreak from losing a loved one. It won't be clear how she has lost a loved one, or who that loved one was, be that male or female, friend, family or lover; it will be up to the audience to interpret it however they want. The vocals repeat the idea of 'summertime sadness' and the visuals will show Becky looking sad and desolate, although there will be cuts to Becky looking happier and as though she's interacting with the person behind the camera which will give the audience the impression that this person behind the camera is obviously no longer with her when she's acting out the sad parts: this person behind the camera can be anyone the audience wants them to be.

Step 2 - Narrative and Performance

• Goodwin says that audiences tend to make up their own idea about the messages being sent by a song via a basic understanding of what it is actually about.
• Narrative and perfomance work together to make it easier for the audience to watch the video over and over without losing interest
• When the artist acts as the singer and an actor in the video it makes it more authentic
• Goodwin believed that miming is the most popular thing done in music videos, however it is in the artist's best interest to make it look as real as possible

Although not all of the shots in my music video will include miming, I will include parts that will include it in order to fully appeal to my target audience and make the whole experience as authentic as possible. I will have to practice miming though in order to make it look as real as possible, because if it doesn't look real the whole effect will be ruined and on the whole, the video will look less professional and be less pleasing to watch.

Step 3 - The Star Image

• Star image is a vital aspect of music videos as it is how the artist appears to the audience
• This could include their costume, their represented personality and their overall iconography - these elements might not sell the artist but they do help represent the artist to their target audience
• The star image develops over time and plays a big role in the production process of music videos

Lana Del Rey's star image can be seen as being highly manufactured or very unique and 'pure'. Throughout her music, Del Rey is portrayed as being the victim (many of her videos feature abusive relationships or some form of heartbreak), thus wearing a lot of white in order to emphasise her purity and innocence. Furthermore, she is consistently constructed as very vulnerable and naive person, although her appearance is very sexualised. Her costume, hair and makeup can be classed as being very 'retro', as she seems to draw inspiration from other past decades - i.e. the 30s, 50s and 60s - and in many of her videos there's a very retro feel to them via the use of old 'classic cars', sepia tones and other filters that help add to the retro feel. Del Rey describes herself as being a "self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra".

I will transfer some of this star image into my own music video, drawing inspiration from the Instagram-esque filters and the 'retro' styled costumes, hair and makeup. 

Step 4 - Relation of Visuals to a Song

• There are three ways used to promote a song - illustrate, amplify and disjuncture
• Illustrate: using images and videos to set the storyline and illustrate the meaning of the lyrics and the genre
• Amplify: constantly repeating certain parts of the video so that it is drummed into the audience's vision and makes them remember what happened
• Disjuncture: this is where the meaning of the song is completely ignored

For my music video, I will use a mixture of all three of these aspects. I will use the amplifying technique mostly for any abstract images that I include, I will use the illustrating technique when showing Becky as her darker self - the one currently suffering from heartbreak - and I will use the disjuncture technique when showing Becky as her 'lighter', purer self - when she is shown during happier times.

Step 5 - Technical Aspects

• Technical aspects hold the whole music video together (camerawork, movement, angle, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and special effects)
• Speed, camera movement, editing, cutting and post production are all forms of 'use of camera'
• Lighting and colour help set the mood and add emphasis on key moments
• The mise-en-scene is vital, it needs to look realistic in order to look professional, therefore appealing to a wider target audience
• The beats are cut in order to match the rhythm of the music thus making the video more entertaining

The editing for my music video will be very Instagram-esque, just like Lana Del Rey's videos actually are. Throughout the video there are two sides to Becky, during the 'darker' shots the lighting will probably be quite dull and the editing and pace quite slow to match the music, although during the 'lighter' shots, the lighting will be brighter, the editing more colourful and the pace faster, perhaps with a time lapse being featured. The setting throughout the video will be a Nature Trust park, although I will need to film away from crowds of people in order to make the video look more realistic and professional.

(R) What is a Digipak?

A digipak is packaging which is usually used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and usuallly contains more special features than just a regular CD. A digipak usually consists of a 'gatefold' paperboard and one or more plastic trays to hold a CD. Digipaks were first created by MeadWestvaco and their product, called Digi-Pak, is trademarked.

The front of the digipak usually showcases some aspect of who the artist is or what they represent, and/or what their genre of music is. It also more than likely embodies a theme or a message to do with the artist's image. All aspects of the digipak, brand image and music video are all interwoven together, for example, if there's some futuristic idealism conveyed in the lyrics or the music video then the front cover would probably be more abstract and ambiguous. 

The aim of a digipak is to promote the sales of an artist, in the same way that the music video does. However, the features of a digipak give fans multiple reasons to buy the CD rather than downloading the content online. It could be argued that purchasing an artist's digipak establishes a consumer's loyalty to them, rather than simply purchasing the music via iTunes, or even illegally downloading it. 

A digipak is usually created as a 4 or 6 plate folded piece of card with a CD case in the middle and usually includes:

• a DVD
• a lyric book
• artist photos or imagery
• a list of songs

A digipak is basically a creative tool designed to appeal to and intrigue the audience, e.g. fans and people who take an interest in the genre of music.

(R) Media Convergence and Consumption

Media convergence is the idea that different types of media gradually come together because of advances in technology. For example, media can be consumed on various different platforms, i.e. it is now possible to watch a music video on a mobile phone, as opposed to watching MTV via a television.

The internet also allows audiences to possibly access music videos or films before they are officially released, or audiences can access reviews of music videos or films. Due to media convergence, forms of media which were once popular - CDs, for example - are now dying out as they're less able to compete with newer, less expensive forms of technology.

Media convergence has a great impact on the media industry due to its rapid growth - something that is popular today could be outdated in a few months' time.

To begin with, music videos were primarily streamed on MTV and viewed by audiences via a television. However, media convergence now allows audiences to watch music videos via the internet, through websites such as YouTube, where music videos can be streamed and shared with numerous other people, and other users can share their opinions via the comments. This can be very beneficial to an artist/band as it is a free method of distribution and they can gain valuable feedback and popularity because of the possibility of a mass audience viewing and sharing their video.

Media convergence also allows audiences to view an artist/band's song or video via many different platforms, such as mobile phones, iPods and iPads, meaning music videos can be viewed from anywhere in the world, not just where there is a television. Social networking websites also allows videos to be posted, which can allow them to quickly become viral and have a mass audience viewing them.

(R) History of Music Videos

(R) Purpose of Music Videos

There are various different purposes of a music video:

• To entertain the audience - these music videos are usually more linked to a narrative or performance based video
• To help the artist/band's tracks to be heard and appreciated globally, on a mass scale
• To help promote more sales and the shelf life of the artist/band
• To ensure that the artist/band's song becomes remembered
• To give the audience a better understanding of the lyrics - some song lyrics can be unclear and difficult to understand the meaning behind them, so a music video would help the audience understand the song more
• To provide the audience with the incentive to see the artist/band in concert
• To help keep the artist/band in the public eye after the album release, thus promoting more sales for their album
• To make money for the artist/band - most artist/bands will release their song without a music video first in order to create a buzz about the song, then when that buzz has died down they will release the music video for that song in order to recreate the buzz.
• To link a song to a film or television series
• To sell an artist/band's image and ideologies - this is usually linked with videos that feature story lines as the content or the style of the video usually helps to portray the style of the artist/band, and also allows the audience to relate and identify with the content of the video.

(R) The Music Industry