Interesting blogger in music industry worth following. Her major contention here is that the labels are quietly subverting notions of the fan/audience empowering potential of converged social media, angrily noting a Sony example of claiming a hashtag use as a binding legal contract handing over all rights in perpetuity with zero compensation (other than glory!).
The former audience as audience 3.0, working for The Man?
This is a nice example of the post-feminist stance
Ariana Grande criticises Piers Morgan over nudity comments https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/nov/22/ariana-grande-criticises-piers-morgan-over-nudity-twitter-comments-little-mix?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
A solo artist speaking about his experience of dodgy Indie labels who sell themselves on doing the online work like getting tracks onto Spotify etc ... And how easy he realised this was when he tried for himself after discovering how the label were letting him down.
You'll note how he plugs his own website, and holds up physical copies of his CDs, in trying to monetise his music ... He even signs off with a plea for viewers to add his songs to their Spotify playlists to boost their plays!
More news on Indie distribution: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/glassnote-signs-global-distribution-deal-with-kobalts-awal-leaves-behind-major-label-system/
Great article + big news, as this impacts YouTube's distribution of music videos - it could lead to a mass deletion of music videos from the site, pending clear + specific agreements being signed with labels/rights holders.
NB: there is no change in law YET; this initial requires a further vote in the European Parliament in July before it takes on legal status, and it seems likely several states will object to it.
The quotes below contain some killer stats, the type I've often cited before:
YouTube pays out about 67¢ per its 1.3bn music video-watching users ($856m/£650m annual)
that's less than half the total royalties payout for 25 BILLION streams than is generated by just 4.1m vinyl record sales!!!
Spotify pays out about $20 per user (272m users, annual total $5.6bn royalties)
For years the music industry has argued that YouTube exploits the lack of legal protection around music videos being viewed on its service to pay minimal amounts to artists and labels when they are viewed. The music industry has lobbied that this “value gap” between the true worth of the music videos and what YouTube decides to pay needs to be addressed with legislation. On Wednesday, a crucial vote by the European parliament’s legal
affairs committee went the way of the music industry with an agreement
to adopt copyright laws that will force platforms such as YouTube to
seek licences for music videos. YouTube has an estimated 1.3 billion users who regularly watch music
videos and it paid $856m (£650m) in royalties to music companies last
year – an estimated 67 cents per user annually. In the UK, record labels
and artists earn more than double the royalties from the sale of 4.1m vinyl records than they did from the 25bn music videos watched on YouTube last year.
By contrast, income from the 272 million music fans who paid for
ad-supported services such as Spotify, generated $5.6bn in royalties, or
about $20 per user annually.
Interesting, contradictory week - Metal Hammer TV launched to rival fellow metal magazine Kerrang! which has a thriving station. The convergence is furthered by some radio offerings by the likes of Q too.
However, MTV Rocks has gone (replaced by VH1 Christmas, just what the world needed), and so too has the Sony brand Scuzz TV, a 15-year show on Sky credited with many video premieres and breaking several bands.
Mixed picture then - there are still TV stations and shows out there based around the music video, 20 years on from MTV's shift towards moronic reality TV such as Pimp My Ride, an epically non-woke title if ever there was one.
But they are getting more niche, small channels rather than shows on major channels. The likes of Blabbermouth and other ezines with their social media presence are at least as important for music videos and promo campaigns generally.
YouTube looms above the rest, with Spotify and Apple also moving into music video - like radio, a resilient format that remains central to music marketing.
Lot of great detail here, the bottom line being not just the accelerating decline of physical media sales, but the death of the album - with examples given such as Drake's 25-track album where 3 songs account for over 60% of all streams from the album, 19 others a combined 18%!
These guys are becoming the Man Utd of music, squeezing every angle for money. It's not that long ago they launched their own whiskey line, now it's expensive ($125-500) watches, with 8 themes to pick from.
As they (almost) growled on Enter Sandman:
If I buy before I wake
I pray the lord my brain to take
Reclining album sales? Why pop stars are making sofas not songs
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/nov/02/reclining-album-sales-why-pop-stars-are-making-sofas-not-songs?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
Some of the archetypes you might want to look into...
serious, sombre, dark themes
that serious tone extends to performance
B+W not uncommon
auteurs like A. Corbijn (Joy Div etc)
quirkiness though
some use of longer takes
colour correction (Joy Div eg), can be colourful (The Cure) or more likely bleak, nihilistic (JoyDiv). D Mode's early vids often featured the red Mute logo against B+W footage
Bleak, rundown settings
Performance for credibility as musicians
- BUT look at johnmoule.com - the trend is moving away from this...because of falling budgets; its simply more expensive to gather a band as well as do a narrative (narrative can be done anywhere)
- John McMuria's research highlights that the big 3 conglomerates still dominate the new media outlets like YouTube
- Anita Elberse found the same, making mincemeat of the long tail theory
Shoegaze is a specific mode of Indie performance; bands like Jesus + Mary Chain played with heads down ... gazing at their shoes, not the audience. 6min doc; other shoegaze docs. Key bands My Bloody Valentine,
This Cure vid shows layering, low key and overexposure (naturalistic), quirkiness...
Again, while goth as much as Indie, the dark clothing, dark tone, gritty (even post-apocalyptic) mise-en-scene...
More goths - Siouxsie and the Banshees with layering, darkness, some griminess (and the glamour of the purple curtain, like her painted face, deconstructed)...
Indie self-acclaimed itself as right-on, its image being of liberal social attitudes - though actually its been very dominated by skinny white males. Morrissey evokes this with his effeminate body language, swinging a bunch of flowers while his open shirt could be female gaze or gay male gaze!
Indie avoids being glamorous; this duo certainly use their looks, but while brighter than many Indie vids we still have naturalistic lighting, frequent downwards looking, hair/fringes that go over the eyes etc
Often credited as the 1st Indie single release, a real favourite of legendary DJ John Peel (doc), whose radio play broke many bands through to mainstream success...
Arctic Monkeys are clearly in the tradition: low key lighting, emphasis on musicianship (John Moule recalls their unusual determination to control their promos), dark clothing, hair's a biut shorter than older bands but still recognizably Indie...
Their narrative videos can have a social realist feel (mise-en-scene, handheld, underprivileged protagonist, social issues...), fitting the right-on, liberal ethos associated with Indie...
Primal Scream went dance for a while, but they were and are and Indie archetype. Singer Bobby Gillespie played drums in the Mary Chain for a while. His look even now is pure Indie.
A miserable skinny white male - pure Indie look. The Verve made NOTHING from this huge hit, as the Stones sued them for the rights for plagiarism.
Britpop godfathers Oasis now - most of the Britpop bands are considered Indie.
B+W
grim mise-en-scene
hair, clothing
shoe gaze downwards looking
rule of thirds for emphasis on musicianship
quirkiness before this
low key lighting
...
KEY TERMS: postmodern(ism) meta-narrative Baudrillard: simulacra deconstructionism intertextuality Barthes: action codes auteur theory camp queer/ed/ing Mulvey: male gaze feminist v post-feminist countertype stereotype normative hetero-normative Hebdige: subculture Bourdieu: cultural capital Thornley: subcultural capital McQuail: uses and gratifications
EG's REFERENCED:Weezer Buddy Holly Depeche Mode It's No Good Outkast Hey La Beastie Boys Sabotage Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball Nirvana In Bloom Charli XCX + Troye Sivan 1999 (+ auteurdirectorsMichel Gondry + Spike Jonze)
Here we have a 2018 video heavily intertextualised with 90s/noughties references. The full preferred reading is unlikely to be accessible to XCX's primary audience
And here we have 1 of the key influences on Rose McGowan's outfits - so, a signifier of a signifier of a signifer ... Baudrillard's simulacra
Bourdieu's CULTURAL CAPITAL: We could argue that the XCX are knowingly suggesting those who can recognise or figure out the refs have higher cultural capital, though as pop culture references that only holds true within social groupings that value popular culture (Bourdieu analyses how the cultural preferences of economic elites is deemed high culture and more worthy, linking culture and social class) Thornley - Hebdige's SUB-CULTURE: Thornley adopted Bourdieu to refer specifically to subcultural (Hebdige's term for distinctive social groups, especially youth) capital. Amongst young teen pop fans (not to mention the band's fanbase more specifically) recognition of this set of intertextualities would be seen as impressive (so: offering increased cultural capital) McQuail's USES + GRATIFICATIONS: Discussing this also offers education, entertainment and personal interaction. Reynolds' RETROMANIA: It further taps into what Simon Reynolds dubs Retromania in his book of the same name: our web 2.0, converged age offers up easy, cheap access to past popular culture that once required dedication and considerable expense (record collecting). Altman's SET OF PLEASURES: The video offers an 'intellectual puzzle', one of 3 categories of audience pleasure Altman identifies as common strategies.
OVERVIEW:
A short post, just reflecting a discussion today on the postmodern philosopher Baudrillard's contentious (but ingenious?) concept of the simulacra, which argues that as we now exist in an endless sea of signifiers, or chains of signifiers with no concrete starting/reference point, we cannot claim to know of any actual 'reality'. So, Disneyland is the real America; the Gulf War, supposedly fought on our TV screens in 1991, never really happened, to take two of his most infamous proclamations.
Its a concept which often and readily applies itself to music video, with many videos influenced by other videos which may have been influenced by other media (especially TV/film) in turn. Weezer's Buddy Holly, directed by Michel Gondry, is an exemplar - it is a representation of a 90s band as part of a 70's TV show about 50's America, which heavily influenced perceptions of that decade (so, the long chain of signification in which any perceivable reality has been utterly lost, and is rendered unknowable)
Below the video I've uploaded a photo of p. 175 from the excellent Money For Nothing, Austerlitz's history of the music video; he describes the video, for example, as 'a pastiche of a pastiche'. We would later see Nirvana and other acts (see Outkast's Hey Ya at the end of the post) copy this idea of inserting the act into an old TV show (and the Beastie Boys, of course, created their own affectionate pastiche of the 70/80s cop show with Sabotage).
ANALYSIS: Music video is both widely influential on other media and borrows heavily from other media in a 2-way dynamic flow. In anything from Top Gear's car reviews through Guinness ads and Michael Bay films we can see the short takes, selective slo-mo, shot variety etc that are basic conventions of music video. Likewise, we can see many of what Barthes termed action codes are common in music video, such as whip pans (especially common in performance footage). The Weezer video illustrates the auteur theory: this is as much known as a Spike Jonze (the director) video as a Weezer video! Jonze's distinctive style is on display here. Its a great example of the postmodernism that is also a basic, common feature of music video. That 'wide borrowing' from other media is intertextuality - and this example takes this to such extremes that it also neatly encapsulates Baudrillard's simulacrum theory. The degree of irony, the camp representation, is also a common aspect of music video. The band are portraying themselves ironically as stiff, goofy - look at Depeche Mode's It's No Good for another great example of this postmodernist quality: deconstructionism. (Using conventions or cliches in a knowing, self-aware way to effectively critique them - they employ blatant male gaze with POV shots which cut to cleavage close-ups for example - just as Wes Craven did with Scream, whose characters discuss the conventions of horror films ... "I'll be right back...") The postmodernist attack on meta-narratives (ideologies or systems that represent unifying ideas of how things do or should work) can also be seen with the rise of post-feminist critiques of feminist thinking. We can see a classic example of what Laura Mulvey termed the male gaze in GnR's W2TJ; Mulvey would be just as righteously angry at Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball video. Sinead O'Connor publicly warned Cyrus about male record bosses' exploitation. Cyrus' response was a post-feminist position: I have chosen to express my sexuality this way, I have agency (control), not the male director, manager or record label boss. her queering of gender identity furthers this point, and is seen as a useful feature for attracting a 'woke' millennial (youth) audience, less accepting of normative representations than older generations.
Postmodernist French social theoristJean Baudrillard argues that a simulacrum is not a copy of the real, but becomes truth in its own right: the hyperreal.
Where Plato saw two steps of reproduction—faithful and intentionally
distorted (simulacrum)—Baudrillard sees four: (1) basic reflection of
reality; (2) perversion of reality; (3) pretence of reality (where there
is no model); and (4) simulacrum, which "bears no relation to any
reality whatsoever".[7]
In Baudrillard's concept, like Nietzsche's, simulacra are perceived as
negative, but another modern philosopher who addressed the topic, Gilles Deleuze, takes a different view, seeing simulacra as the avenue by which an accepted ideal or "privileged position" could be "challenged and overturned".[8] Deleuze defines simulacra as "those systems in which different relates to different by means of difference itself. What is essential is that we find in these systems no prior identity, no internal resemblance".[9]
I've used the convergence theme heading as drones are an example.of how professional-level technology has entered consumer-level in affordability and general accessibility.
It's increasingly replacing still expensive helicopter shots in music video and TV.
This example is notable as it's also a neat, creative means of lighting effects - the drones Metallica use with their live song Moth into Flame.
A range of interesting stats and details in this article reflecting on Spotify hitting it's ten year anniversary, but 1 is especially interesting, and maybe reveals one key means by which male dominance of the music industry is maintained.
Men dominate Spotify's own playlists, seen as key to modern success, leading to more user playlists which are male.dominated and so on.
Also intriguing because when I think of the biggest names in current pop and music generally its mostly female artists that spring to mind.
Spotify at 10: men dominate streaming service's most-played artists https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/10/spotify-at-10-drake-ed-sheeran-and-eminem-lead-streaming-stats?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
Thanks to Simon for this one, which demonstrates another alternative to the traditional narrative/performance video but also the ongoing process of convergence. Its also a further demonstration of how artists are increasingly taking on formats popularised by fans as UGC and releasing their own official versions to better control the monetising of their recorded material.
Simon linked this eg by the world's biggest-selling artist of recent times, the ubiquitous Taylor Swift. She makes for an interesting digitisation/convergence case study already - she initially refused to allow her albums to appear on Spotify and Apple Music, forcing Apple to abandon plans for a free version of Apple Music with lower artist payments.
and here's the original
Think about why artists do this:
primarily more control over monetising their work
but also accessibility: creating the sense/brand image that they are to some degree at the level of their audience still (in this case shooting simple vids through their smartphone)
standing out: multi-versions like this generate articles/news stories, thus more hits and more revenue
for ultra-mainstream artists like Swift maintaining wide audience appeal through single narrative videos can be difficult, so these help to target specific demographics
IN THIS POST:Multiple examples of alternative videos; using animation; UGC/fan-made videos; the role of dance moves in vids; examples from UNKLE, Billy Eilish, Sepultura, Arctic Monkeys. See alt videos tag etc for more
Spotted this thanks to a Yr8 student - yet another type of alternative (not the main promo) video, to go with visualizer, lyric, unwrapping, teaser, single shot, performance, acoustic (not to mention fan-made, covers, reaction videos and UGC generally)...
Billie Eilish has released a 'dance performance' video for Ocean Eyes.
Smart move which achieves a key aim of pop vids especially - to generate a replicable dance sequence, which might then be taken up by (especially) young fans for playground simulacra or, the holy grail, posted UGC vids which are directly monetised anyway through YouTube but also generate further free publicity by appearing on Twitter, FB (etc) feeds of friends/followers.
You should think about replicating at least one of these - or even just short teaser clips (or gifs) for the website + social media feeds that push traffic to the YT channel (even if the full vid isn't actually there), a great, easy way to show (if you provide detailed research/explanation) insight into audiences and industry.
(TBC) I've previously provided an extensive list of themes to consider, with notes on each of these. Having reviewed these, I've come up with a more streamlined list of 10, combining these and some additional aspects. These will help you evidence research/analysis/applied understanding of all 3 CIA (Conventions, Industry, Audience) and go a long way to preparing for your 4 evaluation Qs.
You can gather and build your research through any combination of posts so long as this eventually includes posts titled:
GENERAL CONVENTIONS1: Lyrics/visuals; Narrative GENERAL CONVENTIONS2: Genre characteristics GENERAL CONVENTIONS3: Intertextuality + postmodernism GENERAL CONVENTIONS4: Representations GENERAL CONVENTIONS5: Cinematography + Editing GENERAL CONVENTIONS6: UGC GENERAL CONVENTIONS7: Alt vids GENERAL CONVENTIONS8: Distribution, social GENERAL CONVENTIONS9: Branding/promo package GENERAL CONVENTIONS10: Possible influences SUMMARY
That's 10 research themes. For each one you need to indicate ideas/aspects you've seen that might influence your work (and then sum this up).
1-5 are conventions focused (+ incorporate Goodwin's 6 conventions), 6-9 go further into industry and audience, and 10 is simply an overall summary of which points are more likely to be reflected in your idea.
You will have some posts, including from class and homework, on individual videos, titling like this:
GENERAL EG1: Artist 'Track Title' (year)
This phase of pre-production is to help inform your initial pitch development. You will repeat the process with a similar list for GENRE conventions research.
This Wired feature on how the audience has become more active through the convergence of the online world is a great one to get into multiple concepts linked to audience. A few excerpts below (initially about UK prog rock Marillion, who ended up touring the US only because fans funded it!!!)
A post I'll add to over time if I remember. I have scattered a few archetypal vids across the blog, not sure if I used any tag though.
Read Austerlitz' superb history of music video for a fuller sense of how the form was established long before the 80s MTV boom that made it a routine part of promo and marketing efforts - or just watch the movie A Hard Day's Night to see The Beatles establishing the core of the media language still used over half a century later!
Evie brought this format to my attention, another to consider alongside the lyric video, unpacking video, live video, and additional narrative or concept videos (eg Pixies' 2 Bagboy bids, U2's 3 for One!)
Here's another format that could be great fun to adapt for evaluation Q's or earlier audience/genre conventions research: http://www.metalsucks.net/2018/07/02/reaction-video-alice-in-chains-so-far-under/
With Facebook recently tieing up rights deals with multiple labels their subsidiary Instagram has announced an add music option for their Daily Story feature ... and a Lip Sync Live feature is rumoured for a Facebook launch soon
An artist-led alternative to the giants like Spotify
What that means is that People – the platform – will not be a home for big exclusives, for must-listen Mondays, for tomorrow’s hits today. It’s a place where artists can place their unfinished work, their ephemera, the stuff that doesn’t fit into their main body of work, but which they feel has worth. They don’t need to do complicated licensing deals – as long as they have a login, they can upload their own music – and if they want to take it down and rework it for something else, they can. People is a place for artists to do what they want, entirely free of commercial expectation.“Take a band that releases 10 songs on a record,” Bryce says. What about the other 30 songs they didn’t release? What about the way those songs changed? What about the out-takes? All that stuff is fascinating, but it doesn’t have a place where it can live. Hopefully this will be an environment where new types of music, new types of collaboration can pop up that don’t fit in with a standard release. If it’s just National B-sides, it won’t be a success.”Sign up for the Sleeve Notes email: music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras“It feels like one of the major reasons ‘pro’ musicians get caught up and lose focus, consistency and confidence is because they sometimes have to wait to put albums out months after they are done,” Justin Vernon says, “and that really screws with your rhythm. So for me, People is a necessity for publishing certain music without cause for PR alarm, or any other reason than just to publish it.”“It feels like one of the major reasons ‘pro’ musicians get caught up and lose focus, consistency and confidence is because they sometimes have to wait to put albums out months after they are done,” Justin Vernon says, “and that really screws with your rhythm. So for me, People is a necessity for publishing certain music without cause for PR alarm, or any other reason than just to publish it.”
Rita Ora apologises after LGBT criticism of her song Girls
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/15/rita-ora-lgbt-criticism-of-song-girls?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
Not exactly a revelation, blogging on the basis of a simple, sharp quote from Lily Allen (who in the same article says it's the 360 deals for branding, endorsements that make money now, not the music):
Lily Allen: ‘We need to fight back against these forces’
Allen responds to a question asking how she can face going on her social media daily when she gets so much abuse through it:
Well... a) Social media, what it’s for, is to partake in conversations. Just because my conversations are amplified or misconstrued, doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t be able to express myself, and that’s what we’re talking about, really, freedom of expression. b) Every marketing budget now takes social media engagement into account. So if I didn’t tweet and I didn’t do Instagram I wouldn’t be here right now – we literally wouldn’t be having this conversation.
The disruption from digitisation is now a long established phenomenon in the music industry - the outdated chart below fails to distinguish the collapse of the digital download market, and its near-complete replacement by streaming.
You can see the enormous impact of digital disruption here:
Here's a calculator.
I tried the Astrid S example of the 47m streams of Such a Boy:
In this post I blogged on multi examples, including One Direction, a big mainstream pop band's estimated $50m from a hit album ($36m sales, $14m from streams) ... just a sixth of their $300m touring income over the same time period (2015), not counting merch! Revenue directly from music sales/streams is falling overall, though labels are finding new ways to keep their overall revenues up.
Here you can see the staggering difference in how many sales/streams it takes for an artist to earn $1,260, ie the US legal minimum (employers cannot pay any lower!) monthly wage, which of course they want more than!!! You need 1m Spotify streams, or 4m YouTube streams to earn this!!!
I've blogged on this before, predicting the digital download would all but disappear in as little as 2-3 years ... and here we go.
The market-dominating iTunes will cease to offer downloads to 'own' (the legal status is controversial, but ownership is clearly restricted compared to physical media) from 2019, as streaming surfs to the top of Apple's, and the wider music industry's, strategy.
The dominant mode of distribution not so long ago is rapidly disappearing, though I'm sure some smaller sites will continue to offer DL options. How many major artists will bother offering this? Could still be quite a few - many digipak and vinyl sets come with DL codes for MP3 or even FLAC files.
I've mentioned her frequently, great case study of gender representation and the post-feminist position ... but also beyond that of queer representation, an intentional blurring of the gender binary.
On my summer list to return to and develop a new case study...
10 years of Lady Gaga: how she queered mainstream pop forever https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/10/10-years-of-lady-gaga-how-she-queered-mainstream-pop-forever?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
From Madonna to Janelle Monáe: how female sexuality progressed in pop
I mention beer as a great example of merch below - you can buy both Slayer and Iron Maiden beer in Luxembourg (Auchan), and Motorhead, plus some other branded wine/spirits if I recall correctly. That this is now a common strategy, especially in heavy metal, can be seen from a simple google ('heavy metal beer'). See this Pinterest for a gallery (pic, right comes from it):
A salutary lesson - I'd tapped out a lengthy post on a smartphone using the Android app ... only to see every word blink and disappear (possibly because the broadband connection flicked off). If using this very useful tool, its worth saving a few times to avoid the risk of this...
NB: As the article link contains a filter-unfriendly term, its below the read more line; the videos featured in the article contain uncensored strong language.
Multi-editionalising has become the norm, certainly for rock/Indie acts
Here's a new example of a converged, web 2.0 promo package featuring a digipak, vinyl and download options, a range of videos/vodcasts, and even an expensive, limited edition figurine (which clearly anchors the core target audience as being male, and a significant chunk of this being older males, more likely to be able to afford such items!).
The Metal Eagle Edition of Repentless is also available. Made of aluminum alloy, measuring 15” X 17” X 3” and weighing in at a hefty 7.8 pounds, the Metal Eagle Edition will house a deluxe digipak of the new Repentless CD plus bonus material detailed below. The limited (only 3,000 copies worldwide) and numbered Metal Eagle Edition will be a direct-to-consumer item and available exclusively via the Nuclear Blast mailorder online stores.
You really should take note of this - regardless of how simple your brief might be, your ads should reflect not just a digipak but the wider range of options we expect to see today, and you could usefully (and very simply) spin off digipak designs into vinyl editions - after all, the digipak is in large part mimicking vinyl sleeves.
Thrash metal icons Slayer are signed to an Indie label, Nuclear Blast, who astutely exploit the potential of online tools to engage with the existing fanbase and target a new audience for their acts.
