Dyers Star Theory Research...

More in depth information is on this webpage.
http://www.mediaknowall.com/Popular%20Music/popstartheory.html

To be a star in media terms is to have brand awareness and to have had a significant cultural impact on society.

Institution Research...

Kerrang! TV is a digital television station owned by Box Television, which is loosely connected to the magazine, Kerrang!. As of 2005, all of its programme content is music videos, the majority of which is open scheduled, for text requests from their playlist.

The TV station's playlist is mainly nu metal and pop-punk/skate punk, although with some unusual exceptions. Certain bands, such as Tenacious D and Limp Bizkit get higher than average play rates, due to higher rates of text requests. Themed 30 minute segments often cover artists who are on the playlist, with large numbers of videos, most noticeably Fall Out Boy, Green Day and The Offspring. There are also some unusual plays, such as Beastie Boys, and The Bloodhound Gang. Rap artist Eminem has many of his videos played on Kerrang, which has caused controversy among long-time fans. This has also lead to criticism of racism on the part of Kerrang; because black musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, despite being considered an historically vital rock musician, does not receive airplay, while white rappers such as Beastie Boys and Eminem do.

The station unusually guarantees to play a requested video, unlike others where a voting system is in place. However, it may take some time for the video to be played.

It shares much of the ethos of its namesake magazine, although it will not go as far as to play unsigned acts or veer too far off music which is accepted by the mainstream, as its 0.1% share of the overall viewership actually amounts to a very high share of the music television market. Heavy metal is least played, as Death metal and black metal are very rarely played, although extreme metal act Cradle of Filth have appeared on late night Kerrang! and even day-time Kerrang!TV from time to time. Indeed more mainstream rock acts are favoured. British and American music is most featured, however European music is rarely. Gothic metal and Power metal are rarely played.

Many of the videos shown are heavily censored to remove profanity, violence, and references to God and religion. The censorship usually takes the form of dubbing out the offending phrase or by blurring the picture.

Often, they will show video countdowns. Ones that have been shown are 'moshing anthems, 'A-Z of Punk', 'Today's 10 Most Rockin' and 'Metal: 87-07'and 'overdrive'.

The station has an annual video countdown called the Rock 100, which covers the 100 most requested videos on the station (Rock or otherwise) in the previous year, and with links between blocks of tracks given by one of the featured bands. In 2005, Good Charlotte presented the Rock 100 from a strip club in Manchester. In 2009, Charlie Simpson voice-overd the show with clips from people's vote in the Download festival.

It is part of subscription packages on all platforms, which include Sky Digital, and Virgin Media. It is part of a boquet of channels owned by Box Television, which include 4Music, Smash Hits!, KISS, Q, The Box, FHM and Magic.

Debut

The first broadcast of Kerrang! TV had a countdown of voter's most desired videos. The most popular choice and the first video ever shown on Kerrang! TV was Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. Limp Bizkit's Break Stuff and Everlast's Black Jesus were also in the first 3 videos ever played.

This information is from wikipedia and will be added to if additional information is found.

Print Products Analysis...

I have come to the conclusion that this form of advertising is no longer effective as I have found it extremely difficult to find any print ads for recent albums or artists of the dance genre. Where I have found print ads they are not relevant to my genre of choice; they are relevant to the rock and metal genres more than any other. This could be because it tends to be people who are interested in those genres that regularly buy magazines purely about music. People who are into rock/pop music often prefer to listen to the radio or watch music channels to find out about new music.

When I come to this part of my advertising campaign I will need to find a way to make sure that this form of advertising is somehow successful with the target audience. The problem is that there are very few magazines specific to my genre, and few people who are interested in this genre buy or read magazines on a regular basis. It is preferable for the target audience to just go online or hear about new music through friends and other media forms.

I have however looked at some myspace pages for bands which are relevant to the genre I am researching.

ASHLEE SIMPSON MYSPACE PAGE

The copy on this artists MySpace page is particularly interesting in so much as how it relates to the actual album more than the artist. The first letter of each word may be in bold to show that it can be abbreviated. It is in capitals so that it is clear and easy to read. It is all on different levels to show that it isn’t balanced; this is to link back to the title of ‘Bittersweet World’ and put across the point that nothing is ever fair or equal.

The artist in the image is looking at the audience through her hair in order to mask her identity. The sultry pose is intended to engage a male audience through sexualizing the artist. This is common of female artists as males are much more self-conscious when it comes to listening to female artists’ music as it threatens their masculinity.

The fact that the artist has blonde hair and is wearing a hoodie challenges gender ideology. This is because ‘hoodies’ are often depicted as being males who carry knives, the artist however is female, blonde and looks quite innocent in this image. This links back to the album title.

A direct mode of address allows the artist to connect with her audience through the uses and gratifications theoretical concept.

PARAMORE MYSPACE PAGE

The band uses a simple, clear copy for their name to ensure that everyone can read it with ease. The font is very rounded, possibly to suggest that their music is not overly edgy and that they have a lot of life experience.

The image is of the band in its entirety as opposed to just the lead singer who is looked to as the face of the band by a huge number of fans. The fact hat the whole band is shown connoted that they are all equality important and that hey are more than just members of a band, they are friends also. The long path behind them could possibly connote their path and how they have changed since they first came together as a group and how their ideologies have progressed and how their audience has changed. They have picked up and left fans along the way into heir musical career due to publicity and they have possibly become more commercial in order to attract a wider audience.

The image challenges the conventions of a stereotypical alternative band as it is set in an outdoor location in the countryside as opposed to an urban setting or indoors.

A direct mode of address has been used in order to connect the band and the audience to build a relationship. This idea can be applied through the uses and gratifications audience theory. The lead singer is central to the frame as she is considered to be the face of the band.

Videos and images are overlapping on the top banner, this could show that the product is more important than the actual band and their music as by having adverts obscuring part of the image of the band the impression that the product is what drives them is given out to the audience.

CD covers...

Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend

The artist attempts to hide her identity from the audience by obscuring her eye with her hair. Despite this the artist uses a direct mode of address, although she is not central in the frame, in order to connect with her audience through use of the uses and gratifications audience theory.

The colours red, blue and white are on the back of the artists’ costume. This is possibly another way in which the artist tries to appeal to her audience because they are the colours of both the British and the American flags. This is not unusual for an artist however it isn’t expected from this artist as she is Canadian not American or British however by having these colours on the CD cover she will instantly appeal to a patriotic audience. Another reason for the use of these colours could be an attempt on the artists’ part to try and bridge the gap between the different, yet extremely similar cultures.

The artists’ blonde hair fits the genre stereotype. This ensures her target audience is reached and consider her fashionable and a role model.

The albums title is suited to the genre as it is cartoon style and very girly looking whilst using ‘rock’ images such as cross bones, it is playing off the traditional skull and crossbones image. This creates a unique look which is easy to read due to the clear copy which is all capital.

The artist challenges character stereotypes by not sexualising herself. Absolutely nothing about her could be considered sexual besides her facial expression. Her expression is neutral to the point of acting ‘hard to get’ which completely contradicts the song ‘girlfriend’ where the artist is trying to draw a guy away from another girl.

Unfortunately I was unable to find the back cover for this CD.

P!NK - So what

Everything about this CD cover connotes power, particularly the leather jacket and the way her hands are positioned. This communicates a strong female role model to the audience, with an edge of masculinity. It could be seen as a post feminist representation of a woman.

The colour of the copy draws attention to the artists’ name purely because it is green rather than pink as one would expect. The ‘!’ in the artists’ name also does this in addition to making her name a little quirky and interesting.

Despite this only being a mid shot the artists’ entire body is within the frame due to her pose. By posing as she is she is empowering herself as nothing about her is sexual in any way and it makes her look as though she is ready to take on anything. By using a direct mode of address this idea is reinforced and the gender stereotype is challenged. She appears to be very masculine though her costume and position within the frame however her name has a huge number of female connotations.

The black background ensures the audiences’ attention is focused solely on the artist as she is he most important thing within the frame and the only way to pass any message to the audience.

Ashlee Simpson - Boyfriend

For this CD cover Ashlee Simpson uses direct mode of address in order to connect with her target audience through uses of the uses and gratifications audience theory. Everything on his CD cover is in some way drawing in the artists’ audience.

Her costume particularly aids her in doing this. By wearing the gel bracelets she is engaging in common trends amongst teenagers which have numerous sexual connotations which links into the actual outfit the artist is wearing. By wearing a shirt and tie she is drawing attention to her youth in addition to drawing in the audience and imitating Britney Spears famous naughty schoolgirl look which goes through periods of being really popular with teenagers. Overall her outfit makes her look quite childish but her facial expression gives the opposite impression. Her moody facial expression and overtly sexual pose show she is mature and not quite as innocent as she is trying to appear to a younger audience. To an older audience she gives a naughty schoolgirl impression and appears to be trying to appeal to male fantasies. The fact that her facial expression is moody also makes it quite sultry so her differing audiences can both identify with her.

The colour scheme on this CD cover also has quite ‘naughty’ connotations as red is a colour with romantic connotations whilst black is quite a rebellious colour.

The copy is positioned at slants to show she’s not on the ‘straight and narrow’. This combined with the schoolgirl appearance shows the artist does not conform to rules. This is, to a point, challenging the gender stereotype as she is not depicted as a stereotypically well behaved girl.

Back cover

The background from the front cover of this CD continues to the back. There is a warm feel to this background as it looks as though it is textured, this links into the pop element of the music.

All the necessary information is on the back cover for sales and copyrighting purposes. Despite having al this information the back image is not obscured and is still as provocative as originally intended as it shows the artists cleavage.

Although the copy on the back cover is different to that on the front cover is still fits into the rebel scene.

CD cover questionnaire...

Questionnaire

1) What colours appeal to you on the front cover of a CD?
_________________________________________

2) What images do you expect to see on the front cover?
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3) What images do you expect to see on the back cover?
_________________________________________

4) Do you expect to see the artist on the front cover?

Yes

No

5) Do you prefer capital lettering or lower case styles? Which stands our to you more?

Preference:

Capital

Lower

Stands out more:

Capital

Lower

6) Do you prefer a plain cover or a busy cover?

Plain

Busy

7) What copy do you expect on the front cover? Eg. artist name…
_________________________________________

EMI

EMI is one of the world's leading music companies, home to some of the most successful and best known recording artists, songwriters and music catalogues.Through our own companies and network of licensees, we are able to serve our artists, writers and consumers all over the world.EMI has two operational divisions - EMI Music and EMI Music Publishing.EMI MusicEMI Music brings artists and fans together by driving action and creating value wherever music is experienced. To do this most effectively it is divided into three business units: New Music, Catalogue and Music Services.New Music finds and develops new, exciting and successful music. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Televisa Music, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin. Artists on EMI labels include Lily Allen, The Beatles, Beastie Boys, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Doves, Gorillaz, Iron Maiden, Norah Jones, Massive Attack, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry, Pink Floyd, Queen, Sir Simon Rattle, 30 Seconds To Mars, KT Tunstall, Keith Urban and Robbie Williams, as well as international artists such as Amaral (Spain), Camille (France), Empire of the Sun (Australia), Tiziano Ferro (Italy), Flex (Mexico), LaFee (Germany) and Utada Hikaru (Japan).
Catalogue maximises the value of EMI's historic and extensive music assets. Seminal albums in EMI Music's catalogue include Hunky Dory and Aladdin Sane (David Bowie), Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band (The Beatles), Pet Sounds (Beach Boys), A Rush Of Blood To The Head (Coldplay), Birth Of The Cool (Miles Davis), Come Away With Me (Norah Jones), Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall (Pink Floyd), A Night At The Opera (Queen), OK Computer (Radiohead) and Songs For Swingin' Lovers (Frank Sinatra). EMI Music's Catalogue division also owns and runs the world-renowned recording studios Abbey Road in London and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.Music Services' mission is to provide EMI's roster of artists - as well as independent labels and artists - with a global menu of commercial services and seamless access to an expanding range of revenue streams and business models. It is focused on delivering revenues to EMI's artists, as well as to the independent label and artist community, and is the industry's only one-stop shop for accessing a global marketplace of traditional and non-traditional commercial partners. Music Services poves focus and solid execution can provide unique value to EMI's roster and associated artists in key functions like licensing, synch and distribution. EMI Music PublishingMusic publishing is the business of acquiring, protecting, administering and exploiting the rights in musical compositions. It is a business based on the songs themselves, as distinct from the recordings in which those songs are performed. Every commercial use of a musical composition requires a license and compensation to the songwriter and his or her publisher. The music publisher's role is to assure that the works it represents are used commercially, and to then ensure that proper remuneration is received in consideration for that use.EMI Music Publishing is the world's most creative music publisher, with one of the best collections of musical compositions and songwriters ever assembled. Active songwriters include James Blunt, the Arctic Monkeys, Alicia Keys, Duffy, Amy Winehouse, Hinder, Kanye West, Beyonce, Pharrell Williams, Jay-Z, Nelly Furtado, Norah Jones and Natasha Bedingfield. Among the iconic songs in the EMI Music Publishing catalogue are Bohemian Rhapsody, New York New York, You've Got A Friend, The James Bond Theme, Lady Marmalade, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Always On My Mind, Over The Rainbow, I Heard It Through The Grapevine and Singin' In the Rain. Our publishing catalogues include SBK (CBS Songs, MGM and United Artists), Filmtrax (Columbia Pictures & Television), Screen Gems, Virgin, Jobete (Motown) and Windswept PacificFor more information on EMI Music Publishing, their writers and catalogue, please visitwww.emimusicpub.comInnovationEMI traces its history back to the very beginnings of recorded sound and music as one of our original companies was founded by the inventor of the gramophone, Emile Berliner.Since then EMI has always been at the forefront of technology and change. EMI scientists invented stereo recording and were closely involved in the development of magnetic tape. They were also behind the birth of electrical television and radar. Given our heritage of innovation, when digital music began to take off in the 1990s, EMI was well placed to respond to the new trends. EMI Music's first websites went live in 1993 and 1994 and in 1998 EMI streamed the first complete album over the internet, Mezzanine by Massive Attack. The following year EMI was the first company to release a digital album download, David Bowie's …Hours. EMI also launched the first internet video single in 2001. In 2007 EMI became the first major music company to make its music available without digital rights management (DRM) software.Today EMI Music has agreements with hundreds of digital partners to distribute our music across the globe, covering a huge variety of digital music business models and ideas.OwnershipIn 2007 EMI was acquired by leading private equity partnership Terra Firma, making EMI the only privately-owned major music company.

Questionnaire

Music Questionnaire

How old are you?

Under 11                                                        26-30

12-15                                                            31-40

16-18                                                            41-50

19-25                                                            Over 50

What genre of music do you like the most?

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What do you like about this genre audibly?

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What do you like about this genre visually? (Music videos)

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Which bands of this genre do you like?

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Why do you like this band?

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Is there anything you don’t like about this genre?

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What genres do you dislike?

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Why do you dislike these genres?

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What are your top 3 music genres?

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Do you watch music videos?

Yes
No
Sometimes

Which music channels do you watch?

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Why do you watch these music channels?

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What do you expect to see in a music video?

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