Research into music magazines and inspirational advertisments

NME is a british music magazine which has been published weekly since March 1952. NME lives up to its name (the nme standing for 'New Musical Express') for providing the most current and upcoming artists. Not only a magazine, NME has a radio station and a website.





As a fan and consumer, I find NME great for finding new artists that I wouldn't have had access to otherwise. My opinion is that the majority of music media is too commercial. This is down to the fact that if a company is to cater for a range of demographics, it has to stick to the most popular music. However NME caters for the people who like to explore different genres and be the first to know of any upcoming act. These attititudes of wanting to be 'in the know' are sterotypical of the teenage age bracket. Other indicators that the magazine is aimed at this audience is the use of colloquil language that they publish. For example recently i read a review of Salem - 'Asia (OoOoOO Remix)' with a comment...'We’ve all done it. Said to ourselves, “I’ll just have a quick bong before doing the housework.”' These references to drugs and youth culture would never be used in magazines for older audiences as it would shock and offend.

This is a recent advertisement I found In NME magazine. There is no photo of the artist Laura Marling, instead an abstract Worn Floral pattern drawing, depicting a man. The image holds ambiguity and makes you stop and question the meaning behind it. This image may contain hidden messages that relate to the lyrics of her single advertised. I think this can be more effective than conventional photography of the musicians.

Laura Marling

(complex magazine)

Complex is a hipster men's style/lifestyle magazine. In complete contrast to NME this magazine was founded in 2002, so it is a relatively new publication. It's a magazine that focuses on the hip hop culture, rather than one particular genre of music. The readers are given an insight into the latest trends in Hipster niche cultures, such as streetwear, sneaker culture, hip hop, and graphic art. Therefore the target audience is made extremely clear from the offset. I thought it would be then interesting to look at the music they promote.





These are a few covers I have found in my research. They feature artists such as Kid CuDi, N.E.R.D but unusually groups such as gorillaz, who aren't so much stereotypical of the Hip Hop scene. Which gives me the indication that readers of complex magazine are open to more experimental genres of music, which therefore means strong followers of Hip Hop are also aware of other genres of music that's 'out there'.

Kid CuDi

This image was published in complex magazine. Although a complete contrast to the look we are going for, I love how the image has been photoshopped and they have added the animation over the top. Alot of thought has gone into the way it has been produced. They haven't thought just about the photography but have used creative ways to transform the photograph into something that fits the unique and creative Hip Hop style that Cudi potrays in his music.

Kerrang is the worlds biggest selling rock magazine. The publication of the magazine commenced on 7th June 1981. Here is an example of artists kerrang include in their publishing, to get a better idea of who would read it.

Ideas for the Album Cover

• We like the idea of having the cover in a black and white effect, we like this because it relates to our genre of singer,song writer and acoustic artists.
• Were going to try and buy some fairy lights or some sort of lighting to create that feeling of being in a dream or fantasy world.
• Michelle has said that college will hopefully be able to fund it for us. Were going to get ones that are battery powered. Were going to place them around the outside of the bandstand.
• We like the idea of having a photo of the bandstand, with the fairy lights around it, with Joannes guitar leaning on the steps as the cover in black and white.

The type of ideas we have are similar to artist covers like:

Ideas for Digipak

DigiPak

Front cover - Black and white effects, a picture of the bandstand & the guitar leaning on the steps. We may try and use fairy lights or candles to create a dreamy/enchanted setting.

Inlay Panel 1 - We want just a picture of her playing her guitar. Very subtle & in a studio. We're going to use a SLR photography camera. We

re going to experiment with soft boxes & li

ghting.

Inlay Panel 2- This panel may consists of pictures of the development of production, joanne performing & shots from the final video.

Back Cover - This panel will include Joannes tracks, record logo, + myspace pages, ways to contact her and become a fan.

Treatment - 30th October

Today we spoke to Michelle about ideas for our treatment & she gave us some really good ideas and feedback about our blog.

• We like the idea of Joanne stood in the bandstand at Grove park, showing shots of her practicing on her own and then performing to a certain 'someone' in the crowd of people.
• Then we thought to create the illusion that no-one is actually there, and that she is dreaming about it. We're thinking about doing this by, for example; the crowd leaves/parts and the boy isn't there in the crowd and she's confused and looks around.
• We are considering having Joanne starting in the bandstand playing on her own, and then have a close up of her closing her eyes, and she dreams of being in a recording studio.
• We then cut to a shot of her performing in a recording studio (using a college one) playing to a crowd of people.
• For use of effects, were going to use a black and white filter effect, but only for when she's in the performing studio. This will make it look professional, and will fit the typical look, genre and style of acoustic artists/videos.

Music Video in the News

Matthew McConaughey has already directed two short films; now he’s moved on to music videos.
After meeting country artist Jamey Johnson backstage at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2009, the two became fast friends. So naturally, when Johnson asked McConaughey to cameo on the music video for “Playing the Part,” the lead single off Johnson’s 25-track double album “The Guitar Song,” the actor did his musicians friend one better: he decided to direct the video himself.

Rihanna's new video 'Rude Boy 'was the talk of the town around Feb. It's very reminiscent of MIA's Galang and Neneh Cherrys efforts from the 80's - Buffalo Stance comes to mind. Either way she looks great and it's a good watch. They both use animation really well, to bring their own style and creativity to the video.

• The pop-art-inspired video that appears to include every color in the Crayola box was directed by Melina Matsoukas, who also helmed the clip for "Hard." It features Rihanna in a selection of Caribbean dance-hall-inspired costumes ranging from a zebra print bodysuit to a multi-colored miniskirt and black halterneck.
• Rihanna told Q magazine in January 2010 this song is "about the kind of street, bad boy that girls sometimes like. There's a danger and a swagger there."- On this smutty, Caribbean flavoured track Rihanna drops some f-bombs as she sings about having a sexual rendezvous with her love interest.
  
  
  
  

After the Haiti tragedy, Shane MacGowan and his partner Victoria Clarke made calls to their friends begining the process of recording a track from which ALL proceeds go to Concern (a charity who have provided assistance to some of the poorest countries in the world.) This made the headlines, due its contraversial narrative. The fact that the song isnt relative to the cause at all.

Some of the stars on the record include - Nick Cave, Bobby Gillespie, Glen Matlock, Chrissie Hynde, Paloma Faith, Eliza Doolittle and Johnny Depp plays the guitar.

Romain Gavras directed two of the most violent and polarizing music videos of recent years: M.I.A.'s "Born Free" and Justice's "Stress". M.I.A. has been having a rough year, with newspaper controversies, a questionable album, and flubbed gigs, it seemed like the luck she had with "Paper Planes" surprisingly rising to cultural omnipotence somehow backfired. But the singer/rapper/firebrand will try to end things on an uptick with a tour of North America and Europe in the coming months.


Here, in summary, is the year's controversial super-violent short film/promo for the new single 'born free':

• A set of grim looking policemen are conducting raids on a grim - looking block of flats and targeting only young men with ginger hair. These men are rounded up, put in armoured buses, and taken away.


• There is a suggestion that there is some kind of movement to resist this state-controlled ginger-genocide, but whatever it is, we only see a glimpse of it in this film. Anyway, when the red-headed young men arrive at their destination – a desert – they're told to run for their lives, into the sunset. And when they pause, one of them (the youngest) is shot point blank in the head.


• Unsurprisingly, this is one of the moments that YouTube users have complained about. As visceral and thought-provoking as it may be, it also contravenes terms and conditions about levels of violence in user-uploaded content.


• And that's not the only reason it's controversial. MIA says that it's not a direct comment on a particular political situation – and since much of her lyrics touch on real situations of conflict and ethnic cleansing, that's completely plausible.
  

Evidence of permission to use Joanna's Material

• 

  Joanna MinternKatrina Rose: Helloo :) I have all my new recordings on myspace now, let me know which song you like best :)

  

  Joanna on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

  myspace.com

  MySpace profile for Joanna. Find friends, share photos, keep in touch with classmates, and meet new people on MySpace.

  about a week ago
• 

  Joanna MinternKatrina Rose: Haha yeahh! Well i'll let you know when the songs are up on myspace and you can choose which song you like, and we'll talk about it when i send it to you :) Thankyou for thinking of me though! It'll be really cool, all my songs are copyrighted so it's fine, but if you could put some sort of credit in there that would be perfect :) speak soon! xxxxx

• 

  Katrina RoseJoanna Mintern: oh that's so brilliant thankyou! I've been searching all over myspace and then it suddenly dawned on me Joannaaaaaa! yeh next week is fine, no rush really just needed to know if it was fine to use, with all the copyright malarky! if you wanted to have some input you can tell us how you vision the video to look like and stuff/apear in it if that's what you would prefer, but obviously you dont have to :) thankyou so much for this! xxxxxx

• 

  Joanna MinternKatrina Rose: No that would be reealllly lovely! that's really cool, thankyou so much for offering :) I'm doing some professional recording this sunday so i'm going to have some really good recordings and more songs to choose from next week if you could wait until then? Then you can choose which one you like and i'll send it to you :) xxxxx

• 

  Katrina RoseJoanna Mintern: Heya, this may appear out there/randam! but....for our new media brief we've got to produce a music video, soooo I was wondering if you'd be able to let us use one of your songs at all as they are quite beautiful! no worries if not though as we have alternatives :) xxxx
  

Potential Locations

1: We like the idea of filming in the bandstand in Grove park. This gives a illusion of Joanna performing or just practicing.

2: There are also facilities at college we may use: performance space, reception area & the recording studio. They are easy for all of us to get to, and they are simple locations to use, but we just have to ask permission and book them out.

(PICTURES OF COLLEGE LOCATIONS)

3: We also may consider filming on the beach. ,but this all depends on weather. We like this because its a naturalistic setting.

Digipak analysis

I have been looking in more depth into digipaks and have decided to quickly analyse this one.




Colours: In this digipak theres only one colour used for all of the background. This could work sucessfully because its bright and bold but can also work against itself as its not very appealing and quite plain.
Texts: In this digipak theres hardly any text and very little extra infromation. All of the text is written in bright yellow so it will stand out and the only brand recognition is the 'o' in the title. This also doesnt make the cover very exciting either as most CD's use brand recognition for distribution.
Overal Image: The overal image of this digipak is quite boring and not very interesting. As its not very exciting, its probly made to appeal to a higher age group. As this digipak isnt very vibrant i think that someone would have to know what they were looking for when buying this as i dont think it would attract someone to buy it casually when brousing.

Digipak Research

A digipak is a style of CD packaging which is registered trademark AGI media, a MeadWestvaco inc.

A digipak normally consists of roughly 4 to 8 panels. Typically, digipaks have a various amount of images and very little extra information whereas alternativilly, regular CD cases have alot of text and few images. Ocassionally digipaks have an extra section with a pocket inside for a leaflet or instead of a CD holder, but this is becoming more rare and itsbecoming more popular for a brand to keep their digipak more simple.
Here are some examples of digipaks:

The digipak for Virtual Band The Gorillaz - 'Demon Days' album has a front cover and 3 inside flaps that fold out, including the front cover, create the shape of

a vertical cross showing the 4 band members images around the cd tray, which is in the centre.

A.G.I

This is a website that produces and promote digipaks.

More music videos

I liked all these videos, because they all have scenes of the artist, but it also cuts to scenes of a narrative being told. This is the idea of type of video we would like to make. Once we find out the lyrics for Joanne's song 'In the Bones' we can decide if a narrative is right for the music video.

Artists Portfolio

Joanna Mintern is a young solo artist who plays the guitar and writes her own music and lyrics. We found herthrough Myspace and youtube and were impressed with her style and creativity within music. We contacted herand she was happy to let

us use her music and she is willing to be in the video.

Katie Melua is also a young solo artist that has hit the cha

rts with singles such as 'closest thing to crazy' and '9 million bicycles'

She always appears in her videos usually playing her instrument which is also the guitar.

We believe that Katie Melua and Joanna Mintern are very similar so we are using Katie as a ba

sis for information and ideas.

Katie Melua's website is abstract yet obvious that it has been professionallydesigned and made. We think she has had some input into the design of thewebsite as it is her style being portrayed. Even-though it has been professionally made we think its a bit to dark and gothic for her genre of music and style.

On the other hand we have Joanna's website that is a myspace page, even though you can alter the page to your personal preferences its clear that there was no money involved in the making of it and that Joanna did it herself. The bright colours draws the eye into the page and reflects her music type and personality.

The picture Joanna uses to promote her music is a very subtle picture of herself in black and white sitting on a bench, its a very elegant photo which shows her true nature.

Where as Katie Melua uses light in a clever way by diffusing the light and creating a high contrast. With her sat across seats gives her an edge to her usual 'good girl' appearance and by allowing shadows at the front in creates a metaphor for good and bad. A guitar is usually always pictured in her artwork even in small circumstances such as it being on the floor like it is in this picture

Audience feedback

We went out in partners to video students around college on their favourite music genre and favourite music videos we got mixed results but this helps us to understand what the audience want and how to achieve this.
These are a few videos of our results:
This is a interview with a teacher meaning that they might not be out target audience however there feedback is still essential.

This is students from college being interviewedwith the same questions, we found here that they were interested in the Pop/Punk genre of music evern though this isn't our genre it helps us to discover who are target audience is.

Beyonce, single ladies seems to be a huge favourite in terms of music videos even though we cant use the same concepts it allows us to see what the audience want.

Audience feedback:

This is a pie chart of the audiences favorite genre of music. We found that Indie was the most popular genre of music around the college at this time. Luckily this is the genre we went for so we should hit the target audience.

This is another pie chart of the audiences most popular artist of the time. We found that Beyonce was the most popular solo artist with Paramore as the most popular band. Katie Melua who is the same kind of genre we are doing got a good rating as well with the audience.

Inspirational Album Covers

Here are some album covers that reflect the type of genre we have chosen and that we like. We like how they all feature the artist and have used photography well in the cover. They all used dark and suttle colours to create a mellow and acosutic feel to their artwork.

Album Covers

We talked in our groups about the kind of design we wanted for our album cover. We like the idea of using black and white, or a blue filter effect for the cover. We want the cover to represent the type of music Joanna writes, the genre we have chosen and to show the type of personality she has. As our genre is acoustic, so we want our album artwork to be mellow.

Above are some album covers we liked, but they dont reflect the genre of music were looking for, or the inspiration and ideas we have for the cover. All these covers are very colourful, and are full of creativity. They all show the personality of the artist and how their music is crazy and very unique.