According to emimusic.com “The EMI Group is the third biggest major record label in music sales. They accounted for 13.4% of the market in 2005”

EMI Music is known to be one of the world's leading music companies  The EMI record label include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Latin, Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Records Nashville, Manhattan, Parlophone, Virgin Classics and Virgin Records. Some Artists on EMI record label includes Lily Allen, Bat For Lashes, The Beatles, Beastie Boys, Luke Bryan, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Gorillaz, David Guetta, Iron Maiden, Norah Jones, Lady Antebellum, Massive Attack, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry, Pink Floyd, Corinne Bailey Rae, Sir Simon Rattle, Snoop Dogg, Tinie Tempah, Thirty Seconds To Mars, KT Tunstall and Keith Urban as well as international artists such as Amaral (Spain), Air and Camille (France), Empire of the Sun (Australia), Tiziano Ferro and Vasco Rossi (Italy), Flex (Mexico), LaFee (Germany) and Hikaru Utada (Japan).
The original company of EMI was founded by the inventor of the gramophone Emile Berliner.  EMI was well engaged to the new genre of music which was digital music when it began in the 1990’s
Some examples of the main artists that is connected with EMI music are listed below,

- Tinie Tempah
- Katy Perry  
- Kylie Minogue
- Robbie Williams
- Snoop Dog
- The Beatles

EMI is not doing as well as it expects to do.  Recently the label has lost $2.4 billion which was added to its previous debt making it a total of $4.5 billion in debt to CitiGroup.  I think the downturn could be linked to people not paying for music. It is also obvious that people are making high purchases compared to before; but the problem is that they are often buying some tracks and not the whole album.


Independent label: RAP-A-LOT
Rap-a-lot was first founded by James Smith in 1986 and soon became an independent hip-hop label in the region. In 1991 the label calibrated up with Priority Records to manufacture & distribute releases. This deal continued until 1994, when Rap-A-Lot switched over to Noo Trybe Records which was under Virgin Records America, Inc. for distribution. 1995. Around 1997/98 Virgin Records became the main parent label for Rap-A-Lot until around 2003/04. Currently Asylum Records is the parent label of Rap-A-Lot Records.
Some main artists that signed up with Rap-a-lot records are listed below:
- 5th Ward Boyz
- Belo Zero
- Big Lurch
- Big Mello
- Big Mike

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were asked to purchase a music magazine catering for a music genre. our task was to select a current and interesting article within the magazine and to explain what the articles expresses.

I chose to purchase the source magazine; The Source magazine is an American music magazine that caters for the Hip-Hop music genre.

The source magazine’s main article is about Jay-z and his blueprint album, the magazine is celebrating the albums 10^th anniversary. Shawn Corey Carter also known as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer and entrepreneur.  Jay-z The Blueprint album was released in September 11, 2001 which was also where the 9/11 attacks took place. According to Wikipedia “Nearly 3,000 died in the attacks.” The Blueprint album by Jay z went straight to the top of the charts despite the tragic moment. It is described by www.vancouversun.com that “The Blueprint redefined an entire genre in the midst of one of the darkest moments in U.S. history, albums becoming the soundtrack to the months following the attacks on the World Trade Centre. But thankfully the albums did not touch upon politics, war or religion”

The American artists wanted to change the tragedy into triumph by releasing significant albums to help them achieve that. The blueprint by Jay-z was not the only album released on 9/11.  The source magazine covers the different types of albums that were released around the 9/11 attacks. Some examples are listed below:

-          “Pain is love” by JA RULE (Released date: 2^nd Feb)

-          “Iron flag” by WU-TANG CLAN (Released date: 18^th Dec)

-          “Infamy” by MOBB DEEP (Released Date: 11^th Dec)

-          “Genesis” by BUSTA RHYMES (Released Date: 27^th Nov)

-          “Stillmatic” by NAS (Released Date: 18^th Dec)

-          “Dirty Money” by UGK (Released Date: 13^th Nov)

As well as celebrating the birth of the album “the blueprint” by jay Z. The Source magazine is also celebrating other artist achievement of albums that helped some people to overcome the disastrous day.

Do you think this was an effective way to take the attention away from 9/11 attacks?

The Final Piece

Preliminary Task

Task: Our task was to produce a school/college magazine which should have encompassed a front cover of the magazine and the contents page of the magazine.

While studying magazines for our preliminary task; it has helped me to increase my knowledge about the sort of shots that are used for magazines and the angles of the shots. It has also helped me with the themes and colours of the magazine and how they relate to the main headline of the magazine.

Previously I have taken a lot of pictures and shots, but I have not used an SLR camera before. While I was thinking of images and photo shots for my preliminary task I chose to take the pictures with an SLR camera as I think that the pictures taken by an SLR camera is at better standards than an ordinary digital camera. I personally believe that I still need to work on using the SLR camera to progress further in media.

My strengths throughout this task must be organisation; throughout the task, I consider that I used my time rapidly and organised myself well for the task that was set. For example, I researched some contents page topics form college magazines to give me an idea about the kinds of topics and headlines they had. I also had a look at Yuri Arcurs who “is the world’s most successful microstock photographer” I researched him to see the style of pictures he had which gave me an idea about recreating a picture that he created from students. Alternatively, I think one of my biggest weaknesses that I came across while undertaking this task was Photoshop as I was struggling to use Photoshop since I did not know much about Photoshop and how it worked, I did not have any knowledge about it. I believe I have improved a lot while completing this task as I have increased my knowledge about Photoshop and have definitely got use to using it. I feel as if I have really come around it and have definitely progressed well through the few weeks of implementing our preliminary task.   

When I finally got my resources together for the magazine; it was time for me to start editing and putting the magazine together to form a front cover of magazine and a contents page of a magazine.  I originally wanted the model to lean to right side of the edge of the magazine but changed my mind and decided that I wanted the model leaning towards the left; in this way the magazine cover looked a lot clearer and spacious. While choosing the colour theme for the magazine I realised that I chose many different colours for the different type of headings that were going to be placed on the front cover of the magazine.  When changing my mind I wanted the colours and fonts to be kept simple and tidy as then it may help the reader to be able to read it. I tried to link the colours to the actual picture that was used for example;

-          the red heading was the same colour as one of the folders/ books:

-          the mid headline colour was taken from the models nail polish:

-          I chose to use one particular font mostly for every heading. The reason why I chose to do this was because I wanted to make the magazine cohesive between the contents page and the front cover of the magazine.

I also chose to change the layout of my contents page as I felt that it looked a lot better when the pictures were scattered around on the righ hand side rather than the left hands side. 

Overall, it has truly been amazing to be a part of the media class for this term. Our prelim task that was set was a great insight of Photoshop and the tasks that we might be receiving this year. The only think that I would improve on my next task is “blogger”. Using blogger for the first was a great experience. It has definitely given me the chance to have an insight about blogging and how important it is to keep it updated at all times.  

                                                                                                                                                                                               

In process of finishing the front cover and contents page of the prelim magazine.

Recreation of Yuri Arcus's photo

I really liked in which Yuri Arcus had arranged out his picture. I personally believe the picture tied in with my preliminary magazine “succeed” I chose to recreate the picture and use it for my contents page. I was lucky enough to find an individual who volunteered to be a model for the picture. The organisation of the picture was quick as I used the library as a place to shoot the picture but also used some of the equipment for example the books to create the same atmosphere as Yuri Arcurs’s picture. On the left is a plan of the picture that I recreated. The plan was done to remind me of the design on how I wanted the image to be.

Pictures for prelim magazine task:

Below is a set of pictures I have taken by a SLR camera for my preliminary magazine.

FLAT PLAN of Contents Page

FLAT PLAN of Magazine Front Cover

Shot List For Prelim Task

-          Use a mid long shot for the front cover of the magazine. The individual should lean on the right hand side of a wall with a few books and folders.

-          Use a mid shot for the contents page of the magazine. The individual’s elbow should be leaning on a stack of books. 

SLR Camera Shots

We were asked to take some pictures with a SLR camera. This gave me a chance to explore with the camera and take shots from a different way. I also used Photoshop for the first time to edit the pictures that I took. This gave me a chance to see how Photoshop works.

Preliminary task:  School/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close up. Additionally candidates must produce a layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.

Name of magazine: Succeed
The web definitions of Succeed are “To obtain the goal desired; to accomplish what is attempted or intended; to be successful” Succeed has been a key word in my life since I was born; as I have always been told by my father to succeed in life. The reason why I chose “Succeed” as my magazine title was because I think it fits well with my target audience (age 16-18). This is the age where the students start to plan their life ahead for them to succeed in life. I personally believe that if an individual believes in themselves and believes that they have the ability then they can achieve and succeed anything in life.


Audience: College students (aged 16-18)

A ‘typical reader’ profile:
Louise is 16 years old who has just joined a mixed 6^th form.  Louise is studying four A-levels and feels that she is overwhelmed by the work load, she is looking for advice on how to keep organised and on top of work. She also works at a retail store on the weekend which she enjoys.  Her favourite TV show at the moment is ‘keeping up with the Kardashians’ as she is a big fan of Kim Kardashian and loves her dress sense. She loves going shopping with her friends and family. Louise’s favourite accessory is her Ted Baker handbag which her parents bought for her 16^th birthday.  

Preliminary Task – (College magazine)

• Brainstorming ideas for a name for the magazine.  

Booked a session with Mr Vargese to give me an in depth idea on how to use ‘Photoshop’