Deadlines/Brief

Music videos are so 80s/90s, right? They belong with the era when MTV screened wall-to-wall vids instead of 'reality' TV? Try telling that to the millions who bought Gangnam Style; were they really simply loving the music? 1.6bn (and still climbing) have viewed the video on YT, not to mention the many re-makes (school eg, eg2), viral ads + celeb link-ups (even political protest in Seoul) - and it doesn't matter how legit it is, this nightmare for daydream Beliebers is making a lot of money, even from the parodies + dislikes. All this for a simple dance track that wouldn't have sounded out of place in 1990 ... but had a fun vid. This meme itself was soon displaced by the Harlem Shake. Music vids even cause diseases it seems!
This blog explores every aspect of this most postmodern of media formats, including other print-based promo tools used by the industry, its fast-changing nature, + how fans/audiences create/interact. Posts are primarily written with Media students/educators in mind. Please acknowledge the blog author if using any resources from this blog - Mr Dave Burrowes

Wednesday, 28 August 2019

DISTRIBUTION ads used to game YouTube views numbers

https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/08/new-way-to-game-youtube-views-being-utilized-by-artists-labels.html

Monday, 26 August 2019

MERCHANDISE an overview

TBC - I'll pull together a comp from the many, many posts on this when I've time...

ARTIST RESEARCH

A big part of this looking for any media appearances, which I've covered before. This is just a quick guide to the topics/themes you should explore - ideally before your main shoots commence. For eval Q1 (and potentially aspects of exam Q1A/1B) it is important to be crystal clear on which 'conventions' (think branding too) you followed, and which you challenged (and why, of course!).

KEY AREAS OF RESEARCH

BRIEF HISTORY incl. DISCOGRAPHY  + CHART STATUS + (SUB-)GENRE/S 
RECORD LABEL/S (eg UK, US)
SOCIAL MEDIA, STREAMING (+ AUDIENCE)
MEDIA APPEARANCES (+ AUDIENCE)
EXISTING TEXTS: VIDS, DIGIPAK, WEBSITE, MERCH
BRAND/IMAGE SUMMARY + POSSIBLE INFLUENCES

BRIEF HISTORY incl. DISCOGRAPHY  + CHART STATUS + (SUB-)GENRE/S
Don't fall into the common trap of a pointlessly lengthy bio, a too common website 'feature' in the Wiki era. Keep it pithy! Do include their discography (Wiki screenshot/s are fine) + not just facts on their charts record but commentary/assessment on this. Is your promo package likely to be hitting a mainstream audience? Is there a pattern of appeal in any particular market/s (ie country/ies)? Any key line-up changes?
Remember you'll likely want to feature some or all of their album discography in your website (linked to DL/streaming).
It should be obvious that correctly stating their genre(s) is key, but its not always easy - and certainly DON'T rely on Wiki for that!!! They might have mixed multiple genres over time, or be defined as hybrid act. Whichever genre(s) you identify as pertinent you'll need some (not necessarily huge detail on every one!) research into notable conventions, especially visual/image. You could use genre chart; Spotify tagging, article quotes etc as evidence.

Tuesday, 20 August 2019

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY How BLOCKCHAIN links unsigned songwriters, artists to stars

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ilkerkoksal/2019/08/19/how-blockchain-is-about-to-change-the-music-industry/

Friday, 9 August 2019

INSTAGRAM why it's important for music industry

https://www.complex.com/music/2019/08/instagram-hidden-likes-update-music-industry

Thursday, 1 August 2019

SOCIAL MEDIA WEB 2.0 Slipknot Guns mask Facebook filters

https://www.metalsucks.net/2019/07/31/breaking-facebook-introduces-slipknot-guns-n-roses-filters/