Interview with Emma industry discussion

 19/3/21

Emma is a musical manager who went from working in creative to publisher who manages musicians and owns a musical publishing company. She started out doing musical in broadway and wanted to be a singer but didn’t get the stardom she wanted and started making more money from writing lyrics than singing them. Eventually she started to getting her name out there and started social media and nobody in her craft was moving with the times as quick as her so she started to get picked up more and most notably by psycho which is Simon Cow's label.  

Later the she found an artist who wanted to make a remix of an 15 year old song. long story short the remix was played on a influencer's tic tok and it blew up and the song has over 200 million streams on spotify and the artist is getting almost 9 million listeners a month on spotify. 

Getting into the music industry when being scouted is all through there Image, how a crowd reacts to them their talent level and their social media numbers. On a rare occasion a record label will want to get someone with no numbers to build the "was a nobody" image. But campaigning through the industry the biggest impact was by far social media. A song now has a new make it or break it change being tik tok. 

Physical copies of music are kind of becoming irrelevant but they still have a market being collectables as well as people might buy them at concerts and exhibitions. As well as in different countries such as Korea or Japan have a huge CD market going for them. Now days a physical release might come after the online copy of it as most of the listens and money come from spotify and apple music, instead of buying them from Itunes. 

Music videos are still relevant as they're still able to gain millions and maybe hundreds of millions of views of youtube which can pull huge amounts of money for the company. It's not the same as being excited to come home and watch the music videos in the Evening but as we can watch them whenever we wish through our phones. Music videos can still have huge impact for example this is America.

This is America analysis

 17/3/21

This is America Childish Gambino

This is a blog post dedicated to the music video of this is America. The song in the video was written and performed by Childish Gambino ,aka Donald Glover, back in the summer 2018. This song won a grammy for music videos in trap music and pop. when it first realised i didn't fully get it, but i understood the basic political message behind the song and i remember being completely blown away and my whole school was talking about the song for weeks. 

For Camera, editing, lights and mise en scène the first thing i want to discuss is the camera work. For the beginning duration of the video the camera tracks and follows Gambino as he dances round as he dances and performs around. Throughout the video as the mise en scène rages in the background the camera starts to shake to through off the views in order to distract them from the symbolistic meanings in the background. This is also done by the camera focusing primarily on Gambino and his dancers as a distraction of what's really going on in the background of the video. the exception to this is when Gambino is slightly out of the centre to move to a points of attention as to allow the audience to focus on the back drop. As well as the camera making whip pan which was also used as a cut to the next shot in the video.

Because of the fact the the video is mostly done in one take the video doesn’t lean heavily on editing at all. there are a few cuts now and again but they're mainly performed using camera trick, for example the whip pan that is performed is used as a flashy way to cut and change scene whilst still making it look like one take if you're not looking for it. 

The setting of the video is in what looks to be an abandoned factory which has big industrial lighting in on it that lights the whole room through the piece. There are times when the scene is lit by fire as the lights are out except for the back ones and the raging fire of the backdrop is the main source of light. At the end of the video Gambino is running away in out of pitch black and slowly into a the light showing that he's running to freedom. 

Mise en scène, this video is so full of it it's unreal. First of the we see Gambino he is wearing old confederate trousers, the confederates were on the side in favour of keeping slavery in the American civil war. When Gambino dances his movements are exaggerated and almost cartoon like, this is referring to the Jim Crow movements and the black face period in 1830s to early 1900s in America.

The Music in the beginning is all happy and Caribbean esk, i think the meaning for this is to remind people that that’s s were a lot of slaves were taken from and that's what they were doing when they were taken and that music shows the life that the natives there still lead. The point is to show that people of colour can live without constantly shooting each other. The man playing this music on the guitar at first is just sitting there but when he comes back into frame we can see the bag over his head right before he is shot.

throughout the video there are cars scattered all over the place which i think is a reference to gang crimes and grand theft auto. As most of the cars windows are smashed or the doors are just left open, there’s even a shot of two guys breaking into a car in the backdrop of a scene, this is showing how since the end of slavery in america and minorities  were starting to be treated like people they were just thrown into poor neighbourhoods and still years and years after nothing has changed and these people have tos steal cars. Later we are shown a shot of Gambino standing on top of a 80-90s looking car whilst surrounded by cars. This is a message saying how America is at a point of lack of progression and forward movement. 

As a whole i think that Gambino is playing the role of America itself. Thats why hes constantly dancing and the camera never leaves him, the fact that he's dancing in front of the camera all the time is to distract you from what's really happening to make sure that they stick with there "American dream" image. even though what’s happening in the background is closer to the reality. there is even a white horse with a black cloaked rider in the background that is a possible symbol for the apocalypse.  

  

The role of music videos

 11/3/21

MTv and top of the pops drove the music video scene forward on tv until youtube in 2005.

On youtube in 2005 everyone had an even playing field so it was anyone's game so everyone was trying to make music videos of of youtube now

This video of straight outta Compton from 1988. This song wouldn't have been allowed to air on Top of the pops because of its use of language and nature of the video as it showed gangs and showed the police racism in the videos and was claimed to "glorify gang lifestyle" which was deemed inappropriate for child viewers. 

   

This album cover really defines the NWA group as it projects the same image as their songs of gang life and having being looked down on, the album cover shows them looking down on you with a gun pointed out at the camera which adds that element of danger.  

This was also the first album to have the parental advisory sticker stamped on it. This was probably very privital to success as they one day in 1988 an album was released which couldn’t be bought by curtain age group which most likely increased their sales. They were also named with the most dangerous group in the music industry. 

A2 conventions of a music video Theory

 Andrew Goodwin's theory on conventions of a music video.

things that music videos have to follow.

- A link between the lyrics and the visuals.

The video will reflect the lyrics, could be from a obvious stand point, talking about money then showing money, or from a for metaphorical stand point.

- A link between the music and the visuals

The visuals will match the tone or flow of the song through the editing, this is to allow the video have a more smooth feel as everything matches in time. 

- Reflects the genre of music

The video shows the genre through the visuals or through pase and editing. A great example of a genre type music video is Michael Jackson's thriller, as this is a Halloween holiday song reflected on spooky themes and the music video show zombies and werewolves showing this type of genre.  

- Use of intertextual references

References to other forms of pop culture media to relate to the audience and draw in fans and to create talk to gain views on the music video to gain money. It also makes a viewer feel good that they spotted the reference which makes their audiences feel a stronger connection to the artist. For example teeway's breaking bad music video starts of with the artist in a trailer wearing a biohazard suit nodding towards the show breaking bad.

- Notions of looking and voyeurism

Having an artist wearing vulgar outfits to exaggerate a point and making a statement as well as appealing to a male audience. This is used to target the "male gaze" as female artist objectify themselves in their music videos in order to over exaggerate the point they making.

- Reflect of the record label 

Showing the status of their label and their connections global locations and very much reflected of their financial situation. This can be used as a brag for a artists wealth or to show off their brand. In Kendrick Lamar's music video Humble a shot shows him lying on a stack on money, although this shot is in direct contrast to what the song is actually about.

- Star image 

The star image is what sells the video this is done through many close ups to make the star recognisable on a global view. As well as having their album cover be just a photo of them as they are the brand they are what sells the music a lot of fans will just buy the album because of the artist. An example being save your tears by the weekend.

- Performance/ narrative base of the video.

: Performance 

A performanced based video typically depicts a band or an artist playing their instruments and singing along in a cool looking setting showing that they are talented and that they are the ones playing them. 

: Narrative 

These types of music videos tell more of a story that could be a story of something crazy that happened to the artist or a meaningful story that they wanted to tell. The best example for a narrative music video in my opinion is 1-800 by logic which is a song with a meaningful story try to spread awareness about suicide and mental health.                         

: Concept based - focus is on the abstract form, done well they will go very viral which makes their brand recognisable, they become more of a music video focused artist as they grow and gain popularity through the insane music videos.

 

  

the importance of social media engagement

 4/3/21

Social media is a critical way of creating a career through a dedicated fan base. It allows you to keep your audience engaged with "your" life style and what's happening in your career. This done through three separate means, engagement which takes up 50%, story of how you got your start which has to resonate with your fans which takes up 30%, then promotion which is what you're selling and covers the final 20%. 

Everyone thinks they're ready for this heat. Well let me tell the people that you aint! If this single doesn’t hit #1 then im done!!!!🔥🔥🔥 Stay tuned for a preview on my story. #themostsmoke #thisfire2hot #oneanddone

This is were it all started, from recording music in my room to being in a professional studio, damn we really come far. I cannot thank you guys enough and i owe it all to ya'll this just shows how far anyone can come and how if you guys push yourselves nothing is impossible. The sky’s s the limit, no it aint there is no limit to creativity. 🙏 🙏

Guys i'm so so so exited to finally release my first studio album to the public. I've worked so hard on this and i know everyone of you will love it. I'm already working on the next album and i will not stop grinding. This fire will be dropping next week on all platforms!!! The future awaits. 

Star Theory