Music Video - Artist Search

Today i have been searching through http://www.unsigned.com/ to find an artist with copyright free music to create a music video for.

Through my research i have found several artists and bands which i believe i could potentially create a music video for.

Solo - A soul/R&B artist in his late 20's. I believe he can appeal to many males and females of the teenage to young adult age range (13- 30).

He has several tracks on his page of www.unsigned.com/1solosoulrbartist

These songs can be created to follow a narrative video because the lyrics are so powerful in telling a story.

Comparing the bands - HADOUKEN! and Gallows.

How does the band's typography and visual appearance differ?

Both the bands have very distinctive appearances and typography.

As you can see, both logos have very different typography. Gallows has a lot more of a dark, rock and horror look about it where as HADOUKEN! has a more bold, powerful and comic-style look to it. This is because they both convey their band's and target audience's through the style o

f typography. The Gallows one is giving us an insight into the dark culture of their band and audience while the HADOUKEN! logo is conveying a indie, bold and uniquely in-your-face style about the band and audience.

According to the music videos i have watched of both Gallows and HADOUKEN!, i saw that both the band's have a lot of differences in their visual appearances during their performance music videos. Gallows follows an aggressive, tattoo-ed and powerful look whilst HADOUKEN! follows the more subtle, stylish pretty-boy look.

How doe's the band's merchandising differ?

Gallows and HADOUKEN! both have an online store where they sell merchandise. HADOUKEN! sell a lot of apparel including t-shirts, badges, cds and bags. Along with this, they sell bundles for 'Guys' and 'Girls', meaning they have a segment of their audience being female, aswell as just males, therefore reaching out to a wider audience range than Gallows.

In the Gallows UK Store they have different items such as T-shirts, DVD's and Skinnies. But the main way the two band's differ in merchandising is that Gallows have an appeal to the US aswell, therefore they have a seperate store for the US which includes merchandise which would appeal to their target audience in the US, whereas HADOUKEN! only has one store which is based for the UK, but sells more of a range of merchandise than the Gallows UK store.

How do these differences increase their appeal to their differing niche audiences?

The differences between Gallows and HADOUKEN! are significant and that is why it has such a massive effect on the niche audiences. This appeal comes from the audience feeling like they are uniquely different from any other audience because they like their band, and because their band is so original to any others of the mainstream sort, they believe they have their own appeal, making them want to get even closer to their band to become even more unique. The audiences allow themselves to believe they feel a sense of escapism from listening to and following these bands, and it is only with this band, not with any others such as mainstream ones.

The merchandise of both bands increase the appeal of being different by giving them a physical item such as a T-shirt to wear, to advertise their uniqueness in comparison to other niche audiences.

Considering the range of ancillary products available for both brands identify three other products you would develop to help each bands brand.

I have seen both the band's brands and ancillary products they have to offer. I have a few ideas of some products which could further develop the brands they have already created a success with to make it even bigger and more appealing to their target audience as one of both the band's ethos would be to surpass the satisfaction levels of the target audience keeping them happy at all times.

Gallows should develop a signature tattoo design for their main extreme fans to follow, this design would be seen as a template of image aiding the design, so that the fans can then themselves edit the design by changing the name within the logo to their own, making them feel more appeal to the band. This would obviously come from the bands lead singer, Frank Carter as he is the designer for all the brand. This design should be put up on the internet and advertised by word of mouth so that they can allow people to view it on the internet, free of charge, making the audience feel appreciated and grateful, along with being closer to the band as they would be wearing the tattoo also.

Another ancillary product which could be developed should be a custom designed skateboard for fans of HADOUKEN!, this would have a design on the back of the skateboard for their fans of the HADOUKEN! logo, making the fans feel like they are enjoying themselves at the skate park thanks to the band's design, and allowing them to show-off their appeal to the band to anyone that see's it.

The last product i would develop for HADOUKEN! would have to be a MP3 Player which could be custom designed from the website to have an default colour scheme and typography of the HADOUKEN! logo style, whilst allowing the fans to edit on their name by putting it into the website design and then it is manufactured and delivered. This again would make the fans feel appreciated thanks to what the band have developed for them, and allow them to show off their massive appeal for the band, making them more unique as a target audience as they're the niche audience for HADOUKEN!

Audience Profile for HADOUKEN! and Gallows

HADOUKEN!

Age - 13 to 21 - Due to young band members and colloquial lyrics.

Gender - Mostly Male - Predominantly male in the band apart from the keyboard player.

Social Class - Working Class, slightly swaying towards middle class - Due to the fashion style which you wouldn't generally see a conventional working class person wearing, this is the fashion sense of a slightly higher earning person.

Ethnicity - White - Due to the white characters in the video ('That Boy That Girl'). Also the style which this audience follow, the 'skinny jeans look', is usually linked with white people in britain.

Fashion - The Skinny Jeans Look

Lifestyle/Hobbies - Skating, Partying and partially the 'Skins' lifestyle.

Other Media Consumption - Tv dramas such as 'Skins', 'Misfits' etc. Music consumptions of genres like indie and soft rock.

Location - Mainly London and other major city areas.

Gallows

Age - 16 to 25 - The aggression and power emphasised by Gallows is not suitable for any ages under 16.

Gender - Male

Social Class - Definitely just Working class - Middle class people are stereotyped to be more sophisticated and more polite, less aggressive etc, therefore i don't believe this would appeal to any other class other than working class.

Ethnicity - White - due to the all-white members in the band.

Fashion - Rock outfits such as leather and metal, along with a massive appeal for tattoo's from these audiences.

Hobbies/Interests - Partying/Raving, attending Gallows concerts, going to the pub etc.

Other Media Consumption - A lot of punk rock genre music which emphasises the aggression in the audiences.

Location - Northern areas around britain, cities such as manchester, scotland areas due to it being predominantly white.

Reflection Grid

Reflection Grid

Task 2

Why are music videos increasingly important when promoting an artist?

When promoting an artist a music video is one of the most important aspects. This is because you are quite simply selling the artist, therefore their style, face, influential identity can all be used to promote the artist. It can be used to show off the artists performance etc. Along with this, the most important thing about this is when you see a music video on the television or internet, you don't have to pay for it. This means its the best way for an audience to view it because it's easy to access. Also on Youtube, when this video is uploaded and hundreds of thousands of viewers and viewing it and ratings are increasing tremendously, it is also promoted via word-of-mouth onto social networking sites such as facebook to audiences friends of similar music interests, therefore increasing the views and the likeliness of sales per person.

The style is important when using a music video to promote an artist because it creates an emphasis around it which could influence the target audience. For example, Lady Gaga's style is very different than other, but has created an emphasis on the artists individuality, therefore creating a lot more purpose to following her music.

What are the three types of music video?

The three types of music videos are:

-Performance: A performance music video is based around an artists performance in the video. This is sometimes a montage of live events where the artist has performed in front of an audience or a completely different performance at the studio primarily for the music video.

Here is an example of a Performance music video -

-Narrative: A narrative music video tries to convey the lyrics of the song. This can be done by constructing scenes of the moments which the artists are singing about. This can also be the created by having emotional representations by music artist or actors/actresses to convey only the emotion, for example if the lyrics were depressing and sad, the video would have low-key lighting and a person crying.

Here is and example of a Narrative music video:

-Conceptual: A conceptual music video focuses on conveying the appropriate themes according to lyrics of the song and following the tempo of the song through visual elements. This is focused around dance music videos as the tempo of the beat always follows the visual aspects of the video, therefore creating a synchronization between tempo and visuals.

Here is an example of a Conceptual music video:

From this video we can see that the visual elements such as the cuts between each effect are constantly in sync with the song, but also conveys concepts of the lyrics such as relationships in a RnB/Rap style.

Why is branding a band or artist especially important when marketing niche subcultures?

Branding a band or artist is especially important when marketing a niche audience because it has to focus around them more therefore allowing the audience to feel more in touch with the band through the branding. The brand is anything which associates with the band/artist, therefore this has to convey both the artists interests and style along with the audience, which would make them feel more in touch with the band, allowing the to be more satisfied by their interaction, according do the Uses and Gratifications theory. As they are a niche subculture, grabbing the interests and attention of these people is a lot more crucial towards sales than a mainstream audience as a niche audience would have fewer of them, making each of them much more important.

How does branding 'from within the band' increase appeal to a niche, subculture based audience?

Branding from within the band increases appeal to a niche audience because it can make the audience feel more in contact with their bands, by knowing that the branding came directly from the mind of one of the band, therefore allowing them to feel as if they're associated with a brand which that band member has made. This is more effective than just a marketeer from the band creating the brand identity because the band member would know their audience better, therefore understand what they want a lot more. An example of the would be from the brand 'Gallows'. This is because the lead vocalist 'Frank Carter', an ex-tattoo artist, is the man who creates the branding for the band. This includes the logo, textual elements and artwork. An example of this would be from the Gallows webstore, a t-shirt designed by Frank Carter himself.

In the above video, from 4.00 in the video, you can see Frank Carter's body, and the tattoo's covering his body, including a lot of artwork which he has used for CD merchandise etc.

Uses & Gratifications with Gallows - Task 1

Gallows - Target Audience

Gallows target audience focuses on a niche group of people which are mainly based within the UK. They focus on an age group of 16-25. I believe this because their actions and lifestyle are similar to those who live active and partying background. The members of the band also are based around this age so it is ideal for them to target those who relate to the same age group and style.

The gender which the Gallows target would ideally be more towards males for a number of reasons, one being because there are all male members in the group therefore males would find it easier to relate to their music and characteristics. Another reason being because stereotypically the hardcore, rough and aggressive characteristics which are associated with Gallows is also more likely to be associated to males.

The ethnicity that Gallows target would simply be white/caucasian because all the members are white, but also because stereotypically the people that are associated with the genre of 'Hardcore Punk/ Punk Rock' are usually white males.

The hobbies and interests of a person who follows Gallows and the hardcore genres would be typically partying and drinking, along with other wild activities. It's unfair to say that this target audience cause chaos and violence while following their favourite bands of the genre therefore can only be called a negative stereotype.

Current media comsumptions for this audience would be programmes and music on channels such as Kerrang because its a channel dedicated to rock bands etc. The social class for a audience of Gallows would typically be working class people of the UK because punk rock is not highly associated with middle class people and cultures whereas it is associated with working class people.

Uses & Gratifications

This theory of media audiences can be related to Gallows fans.

Gallows fans want to achieve a sense of personal identity from their favourite band. This means gaining personal values, feeling similar to people of the media (in these terms; Gallows members) and gaining an insight into themselves. Gallows fans feel as if their personal interests in the band is valued thanks to the actions the bands do, such as having many concerts in local places, getting close to fans when they do have concerts, and selling merchandise etc. Fans also want to find a model for themselves to follow and behave like etc, even though Gallows are not the best people to do this with, considering the controversial actions they do, they have some positive effects on people such as good dress sense etc.

Information and surveillance relates to satisfying interests in the band, following them across their tours and gaining a sense of security through knowledge. This means that people will theoretically feel better and more pleased with themselves because they know a lot about the band, therefore showing off their interests in the band, making them feel closer to Gallows and what they're up to.

Entertainment focuses on escapism and relaxation from the consumption of Gallows music, it can also mean filling time and having an emotional release. This is a big part of Gallows fans reactions to their music because it focuses on escapism from problems along with interests such as partying and drinking, whilst allowing the fans to enjoy the music and lyrics, videos etc. Gallows lyrics focus on things such as emotion therefore diversion from real life problems is a big aspect of their uses & gratifications by the audience.