Mumford & Sons

In Mumford & Sons' "Little Lion Man" music video they perform on a stage, with their (generic Ska/Folk) instruments, including a double bass, guitar, keyboard, banjo and bass drum. Close ups and mid shots are used to establish what the band are playing to go with the instrumental beginning. They stand together in a theatre setting which is shown through long shots. The lighting is low apart from the hanging fairy-lights which hang across the theatre and cross above the band adding focus to them. The lights are similar to the wedding decoration used as part of the mise-en-scene in Paolo Nutini's "Candy" video, becoming a common decorative feature for folk/indie music videos. The lights flicker as the music builds up towards the end causing a more unsettled atmosphere and creating movement. There seems to be back lights behind them too giving them more importance and attention. Finally, the lights switch off when the singer strikes his guitar and then start when the music does again. This shows how the visuals may have a link to the music.
The editing is quickly cut to increase the audiences attention as the songs tempo quickens. The camera pans around them slowly, gently zooming in as well, having close ups of the band's faces and instruments, typical music video camera work being used.

Another video I found on the MTV website (http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/mumford-and-sons/video/the-cave) shows what the band wears and how they are presented in their music videos: performing. We were worried that our music video will not be great in the real life part as we haven't got the real band cast as themselves, so we are limited to having the actors not performing. A way around this was to have the actors pretend to play instruments as this is a common theme/feature in indie/folk music videos, shown by our influential and similar artists. This is also a marketing method of showing that an artist or band is capable of playing an instrument, how it is their talent and passion. We are pleased with how the actors have the typical and similar indie/folk dress code.

On their MySpace blog page, there is a post about illegal downloading:
"Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Mumford & Sons vs. Why Music Matters
The onset of the digital age has had a profound and lasting impact on the music industry, and in spite of what may be written, the impact hasn't all been bad - far from it.
Obviously, the thorny issue of illegal downloading persists, and though it's impact on sales - and in turn, the artists themselves - cannot be down played, the idea of music being shared amongst fans for the love of it, is sound... So long as the value of the music is never diminished, and that we never lose sight of the importance and the significance that music plays in all ours lives.
With this in mind, a collection of artists (including Sigur Ros, Nick Cave and Kate Bush), labels, managers and retailers have gathered together and initiated a campaign to raise awareness of the value of music and highlight legitimate online music sources.
The Why Music Matters campaign has commissioned several of the participating bands to each produce a short film about why music matters to them; the part it has played in their lives, and why, to them, music really is all that matters...
Please take a few minutes to check out the official site and show your support:
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LndoeW11c2ljbWF0dGVycy5vcmcv
All the videos can be seen at the Why Music Matters YouTube page via the link below:
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL3doeW11c2ljbWF0dGVycw==
You can get involved with the initiative by signing up to the Facebook group:
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmZhY2Vib29rLmNvbS9wYWdlcy9XaHktTXVzaWMtTWF0dGVycy8zMTc1NzYwODIxNjY=
And follow it's progress over the coming months on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/..whymusicmatters
Thank you! You are the best! (Naturally)
M&S HQ
x"
[http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=92073537&blogId=531545900] The post suggests how the band find illegal downloading acceptable if only the music is being taken (for free) for personal enjoyment- a pure love for music. This is unlikely for some users, as they can call it their own music, creating issues with copyright. "So long as the value of the music is never diminished" shows how they have counterbalanced arguments with the issue. They ['M&S HQ'] consider how the value of music should be acknowledged by the downloaders, which I agree with and by having continuous campaigns, hopefully it will spread the message.

Advert inspiration AND REVISION OF REAL LIFE PART

Whilst watching part of Doc Martin (an ITV programme) I noticed the sponsor's Simply Health advert, below, is very similar to a scene/shot Roxxy and I use in our animation part. Specifically the birds carrying the banner by their beaks is the image we have used. In addition, the animals are in blocks, similarly to our cut-outs. We thought the birds carrying the banner was a creative image whilst purposefully having the songs name on it.

__________________

We have decided to revise our ideas for the real life part. This is because our initial idea didn't turn out as well as we had planned. Looking back at the storyboards, we planned to have a group of people representing the band coming into the wolf. We filmed some footage but it was awful. We hadn't planned the filming process as fully as we should have, so the actors did not have much guidance and became impatient.
The next idea which we went with for the final outcome was to have one actor representing the main vocal singer from The Wild Wolves. This was much easier and simpler to film as we could direct the actor more clearly because it was one actor.
Our next initial idea was to have Tamas (the actor) encounter the wolf but this looked unprofessional. The basic idea of the real life was for the singer to be the wolf, shown through wearing the mask. This was a final desperate idea as we had run out of ways to make him look like a wolf (other than a gruesome looking Halloween mask).
We wanted to portray the wolf in the animation as the singer in the band. Cross fades of the shots of Tamas wearing the mask and then without it signifies how he was just dreaming. This was an idea I had which seemed to make the narrative make sense. It was finished with Tamas being woken up by a band member (played by Roxxy), picking up his guitar and shutting the door - we synchronized the last beat with the door being shut, which we thought was a nice touch.
We shot the video on the outskirts of a local golf club as the mise-en-scene for folk/indie music videos contains commonly rural, shot outside and pleasant locations. Working around when we were able to film, we shot in afternoons and dusk, which had its advantages and disadvantages. An advantage was how we managed to get shots of the moon- part of the imagery we used in the animation and linking the lyrics also (relates to Goodwin's theory). A distadvantage was how at this time of the year, the afternoons quickly become dark so the quality of the footage became low.

For the animation parts, we received some advice and criticism which we took on board. Consequently, we quickened the pace to shorten shots and added close ups to vary the animation shots more. Some examples which can be seen in the video are: shortened and quickened pace of the start (opening showing bands name and tracks name), the close ups in the forest scenes and on the hill and the extreme close ups of the wolf's legs and head whilst going up the hill. Therefore, helping the audience engage with the music video more.

Digipak ideas

The first three are existing CD album covers which I have found from music websites and Google.

Paolo Nutini is a folk/indie music artist who was a large influence on the character's costume in our music video. For instance, both have trilby hats, shirts and jeans, which is typical folk/indie costume. The album looks as though it was done by an artist or possibly even the artist himself.

The bright coloured colour scheme includes: yellow, red and green, the main image being a cartoon portrait of Paolo (the artist himself) at his diner table, a guitar to his left with a pleasant-looking landscape outside. A visual link between the album's title and visual imagery is made through the eggs on the plate (a cross reference to Paolo being Scottish too, as the phrase it, I believe).

For my own digipak, I am thinking of doing an artistic cover and came across some of Glas Vegas's covers which I personally really like. This looks like a linoprint, and suggests how bands can commission an artist to create their digipak.

Glas Vegas has many awards for their self-titled album, from Best Awards of 2008 in The Observer Music Monthly, NME to The Independent and The Sun. Also reaching the Number Two position in the UK album chart. This album, their second or third studio album, with its artistic cover could symbolize how the band are not worried about promoting themselves FOR their music; they let the music promote itself.
The album covers are simplistic and creative, with both a subtle and aesthetically attractive colour scheme. Both CD covers have atmospheric imagery, both with locations being villages. Both CD covers also have the man and woman, shown as equals, either in the sky or on the ground.

My next step will be to look at other several folk/indie music artists with inspirational CD covers. There are different possibilities which may contribute to the successfulness of the music artist, it may be due to their music appealing to their audience or, it may be due to their CD album covers attracting them to listen to them. As our band is unsigned, it'll be important to attract our target audience, using certain colour schemes, imagery, lighting, text font, price, extra features of the digipak.

Snow Patrol and Keane music videos

Snow Patrol
-Record labels: FICTION, POLYDOR, A&M (major)
-Formed 1994 so they have been together for 15 years
-Fall into alternative rock, indie rock
-5 members (present)


Open Your Eyes Video

Link to video if embedded video doesn't work...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1XUbJEPShE or
http://www.last.fm/music/Snow+Patrol/+videos/5488634

The main importance of this post is to point out how a narrative device in a music video helps engage the audience. For instance, by the car moving whilst the camera shoots in a POV shot, the audience will feel as thought they are in the car, travelling around what looks like a French city centre. The narrative device is therefore the movement of the car. In our music video, we use a mask (worn by the main character) which appears after the animation. We thought it increased the surreal and dream-like narrative, harmonizing with the dreamy and 'light' animation.
____

I'll breifly mention Keane's "Bedshaped" music video as it is created through use of two different types of animation, drawn graphics and modelling. The music video follows the main character, which appears very strange and alien-like. We almost empathize for the creature as he is shown as isolated and alone. The creature fixes easily as an image, as it is strange so this is a successful way for remembering the video/song/band. The band has many different videos, with narratives and more performance based videos, so this particular one suggests how they wanted to explore diversity of narrative structures.
As an intertextual reference to our own production, the video has a character: the creature (our wolf) and the band performing in parts (vocal singer of our band).
"Somewhere Only We Know" shows how we could start/finish our production with a attention-seeking shot and opening. In this case, the music video opens with the band quickly opening a door on the opening beat of the song. Our "Moon Song" track has an abrupt end which we could easily use this idea.

Intertextual reference for real life part

Having watched Paolo Nutini's "New Shoes" music video I noticed how he walks down a street/s. It reminded me a lot of how we plan to have the band and Wolf walking together. Mid shots are used a lot in the video, at eye level and below showing his legs. In the storyboard, I illustrated our idea to use similar levelled- shots, as shown below...



Furthermore, many indie/folk artists appear as themselves, promoting their music so it is important to have many shots including the artist. This is advised by one of Andrew Goodwin's points- having plenty of close ups of the artist. Newton Faulkner is also presented in his videos, singing with his guitar. This suggests how his musical talent simply consists of himself and his instrument (guitar). Whilst looking for videos of Faulkner's music, I came across his latest single and its video: "Over and Out". Unsurprisingly, the video opened with a shot of Faulkner's legs carrying his guitar case. When he had set up his clever and quirky invention (projecting himself performing) close ups of his face and guitar are used amongst mid and long shots showing where he is and his audience. The close ups and shots following his legs and guitar case emphasize what he's all about, his simple appearance and costume and his love and talent of playing the guitar. As it opens with not showing his upper part of his body, it is hiding part of his identity (specifically his face). This may be to keep the audience interested and intrigued to find out who the artist is. The purpose of quick editing of different subjects and mise-en-scene increases the tempo and interest of the audience.

Just recently, Paolo Nutini has released his track Pencil Full of Lead which is in fact partly animation and real-life. Therefore it is an excellent example of Folk artists being more adventurous and creative in their music video productions. Whilst some of the women in their ravishing yellow and black costumes dance, several play instruments on a small stage- rather unconvincingly. This emphasizes how much Roxxy and I should have the band (or impersonators) performing, whether they can play the instrument or not. Here is Nutini's video:



______________

Below is the video for Blitzen Trapper's Furr song, which has the artist performing in some parts of the animation. The video is completely animated (and directed by Jade Harris) which I admire and empathize for the time and patience the animator/s have.
Goodwin's theory has much relevance for this music video in particular one of his points is used a lot throughout the video. This is the (advised) use of connecting the visuals to the lyrics of the track. This helps engage the audience and keep their attention. A similarity to our production and this existing media product could be the cut out imagery, which we are using for our silhouette animation- a particular similarity could be the way the wolves move. We avoided making our wolf's legs and head move as it would have slowed us down and been painfully fiddly.


__________________________

Having done a lot of research into existing music artists and bands, it is apparent how if an artist or band can play an instrument, they will. Sometimes, it seems in the early stages of their career, they need to show their musical abilities and talent. Rock and indie bands often use this approach to portray how they can play "live" and are passionate about their music. A relatively new band, The Temper Trap have begun their videos (Sweet Disposition and Fader) with performing but amongst graphics. The Kooks are often performing in their videos (She Moves In Her Own Way and Ooh La).
An alternative to performing live is for an artist or band to mime, which is an extremely common and approach to use for those who sing rather than play an instrument. This allows them to have different narratives whether linear, flashback, looped or interwoven. Paolo Nutini's "Coming Up Easy" video involves a comical narrative focusing on his friendship with a human-sized white rabbit. Thus being a device in the narrative which engages the audience with the context.
Locations in folk/indie music videos can be varied but many are outside in urban or rural locations. We opted for different locations in rural locations as we liked the naturalistic imagery and it linked well with the animation imagery.

[M.I.I] Implications for music industry/ Conclusion with mark sheet

My investigation involved exploring whether the online age has affected the pop music genre. I looked at different social networking sites and internet websites which help distribute and promote their music. Having done this research it is easier for me to understand what kind of sites are affecting the way listeners consume music and why.
When considering the amount of pop music artists online, one internet site is easiest to find this. As Myspace keeps a record of their artists in genres, users can see that Pop artists have in total: 723,426 (11/10/09). The genre with the most artists is Hip hop with 2,539,664. My findings tell me that the online age has both improved and damaged the music industry. It is very difficult to pin-point whether Pop music has been directly affected amongst all the other genres. As technologies have advanced, genres and music have become accessible; it has become easier to find music that consumers will enjoy.
One of my earlier posts was focused on looking at two pop artists: Lily Allen's and (La Roux's) Elly Jackson's views on file sharing, which contributes to illegal downloading. This either shows how Pop music is actually being affected (the artists have been affected) or as they are artists themselves and are out-spoken, they can put their point across. The latter possibility is probably more accurate. As they have had to go through the process of becoming an artist and noticed by listeners, they will have had problems with illegal downloading so they know the exact problem and how it is unfair.
"The reasons for wanting CDs include a desire to have sleeve notes, the sound quality and the desire to own a physical object. But 44% of respondents said that one reason for wanting a CD was that it "cannot be deleted", an indication that young people have taken note of the problems that have occurred in the past when access to rights-managed music files has been withdrawn because services have been shut down. Overall, the survey offers no coherent picture of the state of young people's consumption of and attitude to music, perhaps because things are changing so fast and young people are so quick to adapt to new technological realities that there simply is no single coherent model that will explain it all." Bill Thompson, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8197574.stm).
As music formats have changed to not needing it in physical form, this doesn’t mean that we do not buy or want to buy physical forms. Research carried out to find the way consumers obtain music the most is extremely hard to complete and is an ever-changing process.
The advance in technology has helped bands and artists promote their music, through downloading and other means of using the online age. To obtain music, users can go to downloading sites (illegal and legal) whilst also being able to listen to music using sites such as Spotify and Last.fm. By promoting and marketing their music for free, artists can be listened to by listeners who would not usually listen to them. Last.fm has a great way of recommending other artists which are in similar genres to what a user looks at and listens to. Not only technology has improved bands and artists chances of being heard however. Festivals such as Latitude and Glastonbury are great for unsigned bands to advertise their work. Every artist/band would have done some kind of gig too.
Amazon has a new feature on their website the “Bestsellers MP3 Downloads: Pop”, which is impressively updated hourly. Today being the 21st October has Cheryl Cole’s “Fight For This Love” as the most downloaded song, at 69p. Amazon’s downloads are very cheap when comparing them to iTunes, making it another legal downloading competitor.
Advertisements and TV programmes are another interesting way of letting bands and artists promote their music. Some examples are, The Noisettes with "Don't Stop the Rhythm" for a car advert, and many artists were used in the Skins series, such as The Gossip. Mainstream pop artists have more chances of having successful careers than an unsigned artist, which is obvious. Once an unsigned artist becomes noticed by a record label and they have the potential of becoming more a mainstream artist, they will most likely have a better music career. Record labels offer deals, expensive but overall they help an artist "live their dream". To have the opportunity to perform to audiences, from 500 people to 100,000 people, it is a chance for the artist to distribute their music. Audiences will then spread the artists name and music which is a method of promoting their music. Many bands and artists have and still do achieve great things from word-of-mouth.
Having researched different ways of consuming music, I have gained knowledge of how listeners have adjusted and become accustomed to other ways, some legal but unfortunately illegally methods too. The questionnaire samples responses were quite shocking at how ninety percent of my young sample had/do download illegally. On the other hand, with the amount of online users, it is not so surprising, as music is extremely accessible and available. The consequences of downloading illegally are not made aware to young users, maybe this should be improved to try to deter them. Downloading sites and softwares draw users in by using the word, "FREE" and who would not consider looking at what they are about. I remember asking a family friend who is a computer expert about Limewire, he responded that it is a big risk unless you delete the tracks, (or something). I did not bother to look into it further as I did not want the responsibility of damaging the (important word:) family computer.
The investigation I chose to carry out shows how more in-depth research is needed to fully comprehend it. The online age has definitely affected the way we listen to music (like other technologies), but whether or not Pop music has been directly affected is a very difficult topic to explore.

[M.I.I] Pop music artists

I researched three music artists/bands to get an idea of what record label they belonged to.
By gaining knowledge of the record labels and other artists I will be able to see what kind of music and artists the record label find. For example, Polydor has a mixture of artists in genres, from Pop to Soul which could imply how they want to vary music to have better profits/business.

Britney Spears:
American
626473 members on her Myspace page (recorded 8th Oct)Label: Jive records (since 1998). Zomba Label Group is a record label group and division of Sony Music Entertainment which distributes different labels including Jive Records (Wiki)
Other artists on label: Jordin Sparks, Usher, Cage The Elephant, Bullet For My Valentine...
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zomba_Label_Group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Records#List_of_Sony_Music_Entertainment_labels


Lily Allen:
British
422706 Myspace members (recorded 8th Oct)
Parlophone/ Regal records
“Parlophone Records is Britain’s most famous record label and part of the EMI group, one of the biggest and most prestigious music companies in the world. Home to many of the most influential artists of all time – from The Beatles to Blur, Radiohead to Kylie – Parlophone has established itself over the years as a cutting-edge yet hugely successful label. That tradition continues today with a dynamic and vibrant roster of artists that represent the best of every genre, bringing a broad range of artistic and commercial variety to the EMI family.
Current talent includes Coldplay, Gorillaz, Lily Allen, Sigur Ros, Bat For Lashes, Babyshambles, Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem, and we’re always on the look out for the next exciting, life-changing, creative artists to work with. Embracing the past yet firmly focussed on the future, Parlophone Records continues to push boundaries and develop talent, bringing you the best music in the world.”*
Other artists on label: Like above, Bat For Lashes, Babyshambles, Coldplay and some others, Chemical Brothers and Kylie Minogue.

Lily Allen simply had some songs and a Myspace profile. Tens of thousands of people listened to them, she signed a record deal and her first album, released when she was 21, sold more than a million copies in the UK alone. (MSN website)
*http://www.parlophone.co.uk/2008/07/about/

Take That:
British
60498 Myspace members
Labels: (Years active) 1990–1996 = Sony Music 2005–present = Polydor
Polydor was founded in Germany in 1946 but established the UK division ten years after. “Few labels can boast as long, prestigious and varied a musical history as Polydor Records. From the 60s 'beat boom' onwards, through the eras of progressive rock, disco and punk, the label has been in the vanguard of every significant new musical development, while today the likes of the Scissor Sisters, Snow Patrol and The Hives maintain Polydor's enviable cutting-edge reputation.”
Other artists: ABBA, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Girls Aloud, Lady Gaga, Daniel Beddingfield, Duffy, Snow Patrol. Mostly pop and rock music artists and bands. Developed an American connection which generated some r’n’b and soul talent (Aretha Franklin, James Brown...)
Source: http://www.polydor.co.uk/history.php

[M.I.I] File sharing- Lily Allen's and Elly Jackson's views

I was looking at La Roux's Myspace page when I noticed that the singer, Elly had posted something about file sharing. Elly wrote about Lily Allen's reaction (on 14th Sept) to an article whilst also giving her opinion. The article from The Times website is focused on how file sharing has affected the music industry. This is extremely interesting and relevant to my project as two pop artists have spoken about the problems with the advancing online technology.
Both Lily and Elly seemed offended by the similar comments made by members of the bands in Radiohead, Blur and Pink Floyd. Basically the band members think that file sharing actually helps the music industry, as it almost markets their music and also promotional things, including tours and music products. I do agree with Lily and Elly with how richer artists and bands can afford to have their fans downloading illegally. Newcomers have to rely on their record label to generate their fame first to become noticed and liked by their audience. It is an extremely expensive process and the artists/bands easily have a heavy debt to pay afterwards. On the other hand, many popular and well known, rich artists/bands would have been in the same position when first becoming noticed by listeners. It seems a continuous cycle that music artists are going to face unless they have lots of money to start their careers.
Radiohead's guitarist Ed O’Brien said: “My generation grew up with the point of view that you pay for your music. Every generation has a different method. File sharing is like a sampler, like taping your mate’s music. You go, ‘I like that, I’ll go and buy the album’. Or, ‘you know what, I’ll go and see them live’. This is a fair point but then some artists can't let their music be given away like this, it costs them greatly. However by listening consuming their music they will probably consume more of their music and buy their merchandise.
I wanted to see what some of the public wanted to say in response to Lily's Myspace blog post. Avner Peled thought, "fighting against file sharing is next to impossible. There are just too many people and the internet is too big, accessible and free (which is ultimately a good thing)." This is very true as the amount of websites the internet allows us to access is crazy. He then goes on to say how the music industry "should adapt, like it has already started doing, making payed downloading cheaper and easier". I think the process of eliminating these problems is going to take a very long time as illegal downloading sites and softwares are accessible and available to lots of people. Even more, some don't understand the damage they cause to the artists and also in a way to themselves. Some users receive viruses and some may have had or will have their internet connections cut. This topic is one with many pro's and con's and it is difficult to weigh them out as there are so many! Some artists benefit and some don't because they can either afford to lose profits or not.
Users who download illegally often are not aware of their actions or rather don't fully understand what they are doing. Others live off the fact that they can create music of their own, creating mash-ups and remixes, ignoring the copy-right issues. Further more, what is the point in having Spotify and other websites which allow you to listen to music when many users just listen to tracks then delete them? Another commenter on Lily's page (Michelle Granelli) mentioned how they "couldn't afford to spend huge amounts on albums, taking the risk that they were any good. So I'd download a few tracks and if I liked what I heard I bought the album. If not I deleted the files." This suggests how users like Michelle Granelli just listened to the music but through illegal methods. I am aware that Spotify is relatively new but Myspace has been around for years. Spotify is a really encouraging method for music listeners to consume music. It does the job like illegal downloading but it isn't illegal.
The same commenter also said:
"I think file sharing should just be used for things like concert recordings where the artist/band encourages fans to record shows and share them out....it's advertising for them without having to do it themselves!". An interesting and good point.
The main dilemma with this issue is how there are so many underlying levels that it seems impossible to stop. Creators of illegal downloading sites and softwares will continue to find new ways of getting around the bans. What worries me the most is how well-known artists and people are saying that downloading illegally is all dandy, but it's illegal and they are not setting a very good example to the public.
"People respected and loved music, they valued it far more back then." KaH, Myspace commenter.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6828262.ece

[M.I.I] YouTube and Limewire research

Having evaluated my research, I found that the sample used YouTube to listen to music (with twenty percent) so I wanted to explore it further. Limewire, with sixty percent is used the most by my sample to download music which I thought would be interesting to look into, as I haven't used it before.

YouTube



YouTube is "the world's most popular online video site" (1) allowing users to watch any video uploaded by users. It is owned by Google inc; was founded and launched in 2005. It has a logan of "Broadcast Yourself" which means users can upload their own videos onto the website as long as they have registered.
Like social networking sites, users can comment on pages, can join certain channels and subscribers. Similarly to Myspace, YouTube has helped some users get noticed for their home-made videos. For instance, American Chris Crocker, is very passionate in broadcasting his thoughts- about Britney Spears (Leave Britney Alone!) and homosexuality. Leave Britney Alone! was nominated in the Commentary category in 2007s YouTube Awards. Tay Zonday is another example, with his first song "Chocolate Rain" (released in 2007). He was nominated for People's Voice Award, won a YouTube Award and a Webby-Award, with 60 million video views on YouTube.
Robson's article mentioned how "Many teenagers use YouTube to watch videos (usually anime which cannot be watched anywhere else) and some use it as a music player by having a video with the music they want to listen to playing in the background." I think this is accurate in what users use YouTube as I asked four participants what they used YouTube for the most. Their responses were:
"Mostly music and for comedy videos",
"Music, although some of the videos are rubbish quality",
"Allsorts, I often find myself clicking on random ones that look good and funny",
"I like listening to the music videos, it has so many to choose".
Personally my uses are the same to these responses as I find the music videos are easy to find. It is perhaps unfortunate how there are copyright issues as people upload videos which they think our their own. Copyright issues have been dealt with over the years and last month there was a report on the news.
On 3rd September, the BBC reported how YouTube had lifted the music video block as an agreement over fees has been arranged. In March when the ban begun, many music artists were not receiving fair payment for their songs. PRS for Music (Performing Right Society*) and YouTube agreed that music song-writers would have a fair payment for each time their video was viewed. According to the BBC report, "services such as Pandora.com, MySpace UK and Imeem have also had issues securing licensing deals in the UK in the past 12 months".
It is difficult to say how much pop music is listened to on YouTube but looking at the Top Video pages there are approximately eighteen of Pop music artists, over the five pages and mostly Lady Gaga and JLS.



Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube
http://www.prsformusic.com/aboutus/pages/default.aspx
(1) YouTube- BBC- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8234125.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7942045.stm
Added note: *PRS- "We exist to collect and pay royalties to our members when their music is exploited in one of a number of ways – when it is recorded onto any format and distributed to the public, performed or played in public, broadcast or made publicly available online."



_____________________



Limewire

"Young people's attitudes to music may be too complicated and fast-changing to measure, says Bill Thompson
Peer-to-peer (p2p) download services are still popular with music-loving kids, it seems. The second annual survey of young people's music consumption by pressure group UK Music found among 1,808 respondents aged 18 to 24 that three-fifths of them used p2p services, and four-fifths of those did so at least once a week.
This is almost the same as last year's result, and would seem to indicate that the efforts by the music industry to offer a range of licensed alternatives to Limewire and other p2p services have failed to have any real impact."

LimeWire was initially launched in 2000 and is an example of a free peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P). It is a method for users to illegally download music for free. There are two versions of the program which Lime Wire LLC has developed: the basic version which is free and an enhanced version called LimeWire PRO for $21.95 or $34.95. LimeWire claims "the paid version provides faster download and sixty-six percent better search results". Even more, it uses the Gnutella network –a file sharing network to locate files as well as share files.
"Kids, it seems, like unlicensed services because they are free. But the report also acknowledges their usefulness in finding more obscure music and letting them listen to a band before they buy, so closing them down may actually make it harder for new artists to break through." Thompson makes a good point here, if users do not listen to different and unusual artists, it will be more difficult for them to be found by possible listeners and fans.
LimeWire seems very complicated and I don’t think I will either use it. The technology behind it is hard to understand and I would not be surprised if many young users were not aware of the illegal networks and processes it uses. I asked one participant aged 15, why they used LimeWire and their responses were: “It’s easy to get any song you want. I love it!”.

Source: wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LimeWire

[M.I.I] Robson's article on media consumption

One of The Guardian's articles written by Matthew Robson in July (this year) explains different technologies used by teenagers to consume media (link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/13/teenage-media-habits-morgan-stanley). I want to focus on music. Radio is one which generates many opinions as I think it isn't as unpopular as Robson says. He says how teenagers don't seem to be "regular listeners to radio" because there are other alternatives to listening to music, which he thought was one of the main reasons that they actually listen to it. I asked four participants how often they listened to music, all said "everyday". Alex 17, mentioned how she listens to Radio 4 before going to sleep.
Last.fm is another way to listen to music, with live streams of music that they can choose. This opposes to how some DJs choose the music themselves based on the week's music charts. I know for a fact that this is true in some cases but most stations such as Radio 1, Heart and Kiss allow their listeners to call up or send for a request through texts or e-mails. This allows them to choose a song whereas Last.fm allows them to choose far many more songs. Therefore, I agree with Robson on how some listeners may prefer to choose their music but then a DJ can be like the "shuffle" button choosing the music for them.
Music is now more available than ever, with portable music technology such as Apple's iPod, mobile phones music players, MP3 players and so on. Young adults listen to music a considerably amount whether they are walking, sitting at a computer or with friends. Where the music comes from is the dilemma that is concerning the government. According to Robson's calculations, eight out of ten teenagers are downloading illegally. I think these are reliable results as my own were very close with ninety percent having illegally downloaded. What concerns me is how Robson's research, focusing on teenagers suggests that young audiences are downloading illegally, through file sharing sites. I asked a participant about how they started downloading illegally and he said that he was "encouraged by my mates", suggesting how recommendations lead to more people downloading.
Despite the music being consumed for free, most (illegal) downloads are bad quality. Another participant from my questionnaire sample mentioned how he would download a song and if it was not a good quality then he would buy the song through iTunes. iTunes are good quality but young users are put off my the prices, 79p per track. By using a combination of methods to consume music, young adults are then able to balance their illegal and legal downloading.
There is multiple ways of listening and buying music but as some young adults cannot afford to buy music, illegally downloading seems to be their solution to obtaining music. Most teenager don't realise what they are doing to get music is in fact illegal and they don't know the consequences. Most participants in my sample were aware that it was illegal and are cautious and have been discouraged from using them because of the viruses you receive. Only but two participants mentioned how it was illegal so this led them to not using it anymore so the fact that it is illegal does not seem to be their main concern.

Illustration

I found this print: "My, what a big heart you have", by "home-maker" Hidden Eloise (http://hiddeneloise.com/). For the music video project we need to make a digipak which I am really excited to start. I was exploring some idea-provoking websites when I found this illustration. It is based on Little Red Riding Hood so the inspiration to keep a fairy-tale like theme is helping me think of ideas.

The illustration is quite child-like which will need to be lost if I need to target our audience more widely. Our music video is creative at the beginning and as I do A level Art I would like to make my digipak unique and creative.
Concerns I have about creating my digipak are that I may need to make connections to the video, making sure there are similarities or it may look silly to have different products. Also, the digipak should be marketed to different music listeners so they are likely to consume The Wild Wolves music. When we have been officially told to start this part of the project, I will have to decide on whether to include the band on the front cover or somewhere else...
Once we have identified and analysed our target audience, it will be easier to create a product to promote the unsigned band to their listeners. The digipak will give me a chance to complete a product individually using my own creative ideas and getting experience for marketing a band.

Fairytale influences and Lotte Reiniger

One of our Media Studies teacher gave us a booklet out of The Guardian/The Observer on "Great Fairytales". It contains illustrations for some fairy tales, which are very similar to how our imagery looks in the animation, with the similar black image against a white background. Here are some pages from the booklet to show what I mean. A particular shot in our animation included the wolf walking through a hole (in a tree) and the border of trees or opening of a bush (in the booklet) inspired us to use a similar image.













Our animation consists of scenes which have animals, such as birds which can be seen carrying the banner with the tracks name: "Moon Song" and when the wolf walks over the hill with the house. We also formed generic conventions by creating a small saxophone and trilby hat as they are used and worn by folk indie artists and bands such as, Paolo Nutini, Mumford and Sons and so on.



Little Red Riding Hood is a very traditional and well-known fairy tale based on a young girl who comes under the attention of a Wolf. The tale has had many alterations and different adaptations by writers over years. I can remember being told the story when I was younger so I know one adaptation.
The Wolf character is often used in fairy tales and is represented in different ways. The Wolf can be interpreted as being a phallic symbol as the Wolf tries to lure the girl by being friendly and helpful, in Red Riding Hood's case.
Our Wolf won't be represented as a dangerous character, just one who minds his own business and enjoys being on his own. When he comes across the other world however, he enjoys the band's company and follows them down the street... So in a way, we are challenging the usual representation of a Wolf character.
Below is an animation by the amazing Lotte Reiniger and the second clip shows her creating one using the silhouette animation technique too.