Marketing in Music

Most record labels will have a specific target audience. They want to reach out to their existing audience as well as new audiences. For example, for niche audiences, music magazines like Kerrang! can be used for promotion. Kerrang! is for rock and punk etc.

Mojo is another example of a music magazine. It has a classic rock aesthetic normally and covers both popular and cult acts including The Beatles and Bob Dylan.

A lot of bands also advertise new music and videos through websites. They can do this by putting behind the scenes stuff and also sneak peeks. Another popular thing they do is promotional photo shoots which can then be turned into posters and adverts.

Some artists also promote their music by giving out free things so people then go on to buy additional things. For example, Adele threw a free concert in New York two days before her 25 album was released.

Another way of marketing is by creating buzz or doing something that will go viral. For example, Adele went undercover in an Adele impersonator contest which really helped her gain buzz especially after her break from music. 

Some artists collaborate to create buzz for example in Taylor Swift's Bad Blood music video, she got a lot of other famous musicians to join her so she could reach her own fans as well as the other artists' fans.

Lots of music videos are creating buzz by using new technologies to draw people in. The Weeknd used virtual reality for one of his videos in a collaboration with GoPro. Lots of people watched the video because they were interested in this new technology.

Drake's Hotline Bling video is another one that went viral. This was because the colourful backgrounds in the video and the rest of the content was cut into gifs and eventually made into memes by fans and new audiences. For example, the meme has even gone onto Christmas jumpers.

Marketing is also down now by getting YouTubers to mention certain artists or songs or to do covers of them. For example, some YouTubers get paid to do advertisements or to mention certain products or songs. Also, fans are sometimes encouraged to make covers to create buzz. This is a good example of how a lot of audiences are now produsers.

Marketing in music videos is really important because it brings in new audiences and makes current audiences aware of new stuff.

Preliminary Music Video Task

This was like a practice for our music video. We used techniques like green screens and key framing to practice these skills for the real thing and to see what techniques we liked using, which were aesthetically pleasing etc.

Jonathan Glazer - Director Study

Rise of Spotify Over CDs

I have decided to incorporate Spotify into my promotional campaign over promoting just physical CD sale. Spotify is an online (and offline for a fee) music streaming service. It is popular especially with younger people (my target audience) as it is a way to access the majority of music available instantly without having to go and buy each individual CD. I have been doing some research and less than 40% of music revenue is down to physical CDs and vinyl etc. Streaming services have been overtaking physical CDs so I think it is important to play to that in my media texts. Whilst some artists (Taylor Swift) refuse streaming of their music, most artists (including My Chemical Romance) do allow it.

Say Something - Student Video Analysis

Say Something Student Video

I feel like the video started well with good shots that cut on the beat which follows Goodwin's concept of fitting music and visuals. Also, there was a shot with the homeless guy sitting by himself with the world sped up and everyone was ignoring him. I thought that was quite effective. The video seemed to be quite steady camera wise and was framed relatively well. I liked the shot variety as there was extreme close ups of the homeless man crying, wide shots of him sitting and then over the shoulder shots of the other guy looking at him. I also quite liked the idea of the shadow bit but I don't think it was executed well. The mise en scene was good though as the homeless guy was dressed well and had facial hair and winter clothes and the card box box prop was quite a good idea.

However, I think the narrative was unclear and lacking. I didn't understand why the homeless guy was rejecting help and what the relevance of the other man is and couldn't tell if the shots were in chronological order. The shadow part also kept shifting between focus of the two shadows rather than being consistent which I felt took away from the effect of the scene. Also, I felt like the lip syncing was off in places because the actor was obviously saying the words and not singing them. The transitions I didn't particularly like because they were inconsistent. The switches between shots was fine but occasionally it would be a white flash which I felt wasn't needed.

I would've said this would've got around a low B maybe?

Music Video Analysis - Emperor's New Clothes

Our Meeting

Our Meeting

We had a meeting to get everyone together to discuss our music video. This is because our video requires loads of actors, and Facebook group chats just weren't working. Jess and I came up with an agenda which we slowly went through, addressing each point.

1. With this point we constructed a chart on the big white board and got everyone to write down their names, this is available to view on my blog.

2. With this point we did the same as point one.

3. Remi and James know how to work the lights.

4. Everyone is happy with this point.

5. Grace said she knows a drummer and bassist and will ask them, Maria volunteered as a last resort bassist. George said he is happy to be the disruptive guy and Chiara said we can borrow her siblings from year 7.

6. Everyone was given highlighted lyrics.

7. Maria, Steven, Laura, Kassidy and I volunteered for the corridor bit.

8. People will bring in red and black lipstick, quite a few people have it.

9. All is fine there.

10. All is fine there.

11. All is fine there.

This was everyone writing on the board when they were free to film. It was a bit chaotic, but we got everyone's names down.

This was the table full of notes and lyrics in which people took with them so they knew what lyrics to learn.

This is a group selfie of our meeting. From left to right, going up the table we have Abi Smart (extra), Remi Nicholas (extra), Lillie Phipps (extra), Josh Harvey (teacher), Holly Mckenzie (possible extra), Matt Gibson (extra), Ryan Gooderham (extra), George Hallewell (disruptive guy), Laura Collins (extra), Chiara Jenkins (extra), Emily Forsdyke (extra), Steven Rose (extra), Maria Cusworth (extra), and going left to right of the people not at the table we have Ben Land (guitarist), Kassidy (extra), Grace Trett (extra) and Dani King (extra).

Photoshoot for Photowall

Today we organised the taking of the photos for the photo wall in the popular girl's scene. We got Becky Mitchell, Emily Mitchell and Ben Land together and we went round picking interesting locations to do some action and posed shots. We managed to get some nice ones which slowly show the progression of Ben's character dumping the popular girl (played by Becky) for her friend (played by Emily). We also got some shots to show their friendship and how big a part of her life it is. 

Location Ideas and Photos

Location Ideas and Photos

Costume Ideas

Costume Ideas

Timetable of Availability

We had a meeting with all of our actors, and we made a chart, encouraging them to write down the times in which they would be free to film scenes etc.

October 2nd Onwards Schedule

Colour Scheme - Red and Black

Red and Black

Our video is going to have a red and black colour theme to match the rest of My Chemical Romance's videos and general colour scheme. It would also fit with the tone of the video as they aren't particularly happy colours, plus red has connotations of danger and blood, rage etc whereas black normally has negative connotations such as of death which we back up with the graveyard scene and we have rage when the student and teacher argue with each other.

We will be showing this through lights with the band performing and also in costuming. We will probably have some black and red nail varnish at some point along with red and black lipstick for the lip syncing scene. We might have the hands with painted nails holding hands to symbolise that it's okay that the characters aren't okay which would reinforce the video's meaning that everyone is going through stuff but that it is okay. We also might be spraying some of the band members' hair red to make them look more edgy and stick to the theme. We might also use red tints when editing on some of the footage to reinforce it.

We will also be using this colour scheme in our auxiliary texts to show continuity and recurring themes. 

Prop List

Props by Katie Colyer