How an artist establishes themselves?

On the 6^th of February, we looked at how an artist establishes themselves. We read an article about which was based on how musicians brand themselves. As we read this article, I was surprised as I did not take into consideration the amount of things they would need to do in order to ‘brand’ and ‘establish’ themselves. Within the article there was a list of different things an artists may consider to look out, I have also added some of my points to the list which are listed below: (I have organised them to what I think is most important)

1) Their voice: Artists should first have the voice to be able to be successful; I personally do not think money is everything I think the speciality that divides an artist from other artists is the uniqueness of their voice

2) Good role modal: a lot of people especially teenagers look at artists as a role modal. I think artists should be a GOOD role model to children and teenagers today and be themselves. They should teach the public that the most important thing in life is to be truthful and themselves.  

3) A good name: An artists name should be distinctive, unique and descriptive. It should be the number one point which portrays the artist.

4) A Logo: many artists may need a logo in order to represent and promote them as an artist. This could be placed on their website, social media sites, and merchandises (if they have any) and even on their stage if they are during gigs or concerts.

5) Music Videos: An artist’s music video should fully represent them the video will be shown on all channels so the artists would need to make sure that the video is done to the best possible way to represent them.        

6) Fashion statement: Lady Gaga is one of the most talked about celebrities today because of her fashion sense for example, the meat dress- this theme got the whole world talking; her uniqueness shines her out there, we don’t see a lot of celebrities coming down in meat dresses, so this was unique, special to her, and very surprising. I think this did definitely bring a big story for the paparazzi to talk about but it also brought a lot of criticism down to her too. My personally point of view to a fashion statement is to be an artists own style which will also represent them, for example Michael Jacksons glove!

7) Creative CD packaging: I think this is really important as the CD should represent the artists with the music theme and also the theme used externally for the packaging because “everyone judges a book by its cover”.

8) Social media (blogs, face book, twitter): social media is one of the most powerful resources that we have in society today. Users can instantly advertise themselves in just a click of a button. Artists should definitely use social media as it is one of the resources that will advertise them and definitely increase their fan base.

9) Website layout: personally I think the website should portray the artist’s personality and music because as a fan I would personally like to see that and feel special and close to that artists.

10) Freebies: Everyone loves freebies so artists should give freebies like signed cards, the artists will also benefit from this as they will be increasing their fan base and advertising themselves.

THE DIFFERENT RESEARCH METHODS

What are the different approaches to research?

Different types of research methods:

Structured interview:

Advantages:                                                                

-          Easy to quantify and analyse results.             

-          Reliable.                                                                     

-          Can be replicated.                                          

-          Fast to complete.                                            

-          Large amounts of detail generated.

Disadvantages:

-          Less valid due to distortion of restricted answers and closed questions

-          Can’t guarantee honesty of participants.

-          Cause and effect cannot be inferred.

Questionnaire:

Advantages:

-          Produces large amounts of standardised data

-          Data can be collected quickly
and conveniently.

-          Replicable and usually easy to analyse.

-          Wide-ranging sample possible.

-          New ideas for research can be suggested.

-          Good for research on socially-sensitive matters as

People tend to disclose more.

Disadvantages:

-          Produces large amounts of standardised data.

-          Data can be collected quickly.
and conveniently.

-          Replicable and usually easy to analyse.

-          Wide-ranging sample possible.

-          New ideas for research can be suggested.

-          Good for research on socially-sensitive matters as people tend to disclose more.



AS MEDIA G321 MAIN TASK

Worth 50% of final AS grade

Create the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.

All images and text used must be original, produced by candidate(s), minimum of FOUR images per candidate.

Assessment Objectives:

AO2 - 10%
- Apply knowledge and understanding to show how meanings are created when analysing media products and evaluating their own practical work.

AO3 - 30%
- Demonstrate the ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills.

AO4 - 10%
- Demonstrate the ability to undertake and apply appropriate research.



Research on RollingStone magazine

As a group we researched and analysed the rolling stone magazine in order to find out codes and conventions of the magazine. (below is a printscreen of out research)

The rolling stone magazine is one of the most well known magazines that portray music. The magazine was found in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner. The covers often portray a successful artist or group posing and majority of the time, their face or body covers the actual title itself.

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

.

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?