PLAY ALONG VID No Obituary for vid variety yet

A useful reminder of the versatility of the music video format:

Death metal godfathers Obituary won a synergistic cross-promotion through Guitar World magazine (also a website of course), creating a split-screen video to enable fans to play along with the guitar on their new release. 

They are also booked on a branded tour which will benefit from a major push through the magazine, and offer the chance to attract new fans as the publication has a multi-genre readership. Moreover, it's a neat way for a 1980s band to attract younger fans, kids and teens starting out on developing guitar skills.

So, add this to the lyric video, unwrapping video, album preview/promo video, tour announcement or localised tour shout out, single shot, live performance, fan footage, interactive, 3D, virtual reality (VR), teaser, tie-ins with console games like Guitar Hero ...

It also gets Obituary further publicity through stories on popular e-zines such as MetalSucks.

Good tune to boot, even if not up to the standard of their early classics, Slowly We Rot and Cause of Death!

http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/03/01/sentence-day-obituary-release-new-song-via-guitar-playthrough-video/

MERCHANDISING Soot 4 loot NIN style

Another example of the infinite possibilities that exist for merchandising, and a novel way of making the audience feel a connection to the artist

http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/03/02/nine-inch-nails-make-dirt-now/

WEB 2.0 YouTube channel as label alternative SBTV

SBTV is a useful example of how new digital platforms are disrupting the established business practices of media industries:

When it came to underground artists, SBTV could play a crucial part in an artist’s trajectory. Instead of waiting to get signed by a label or for radio to create the hype, artists could put their freestyle on SBTV, get a manager and a million views on YouTube, then leverage that to get a record deal. In 2017 – with cases such as Stormzy or Boy Better Know – major label backing is no longer essential.

So, at first it gave a platform to underground artists who got zero airplay on mainstream radio, without which it has long been the case that commercial success is difficult to achieve.

Now, however, the revenue from YouTube views exceeds the likely income from record sales for such Indie artists as those featured on SBTV.

The channel itself, now with over 10,000 uploads (just take a moment to think about that - imagine doing 10,000 videos, vodcasts!!!), was also a pioneer of appointment viewing, a spin on linear TV's scheduling. Each week at 5pm subscribers would know a new episode in a series would be uploaded (regular podcasting applies the same strategy...).

10 years of SBTV: the YouTube channel that undercut the music industry https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/feb/28/grime-10-years-sbtv-youtube-channel-music-industry?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Banned Band? CENSORSHIP OF MUSIC VIDS

UPDATE, FEB 2017:

Please take heed of the warning below - this post is about videos/music subjected to censorship, so view/read with caution and not with younger children in sight of your screen.

As I recently returned to this topic, I've added a few more examples below, and I'll develop this further when time permits, perhaps into an exam case study on the mediareg blog (where there are further resources on this). Use the censorship tag to find more on this blog.

Here's a fairly recent example that I've blogged on in detail over on the mediareg blog.

There are many interesting, highly readable books on the topic - I'll add details of some I've read as + when time permits, but you can find examples with a simple 'banned music' search (eg AmazonUK). I'll be reading Southall's book shortly - available on Kindle Unlimited if you're a subscriber.

Brian Southall’s history of the songs, performers, record covers BANNED by ‘the authorities’ includes the incredible facts behind stories such as…
Roger Daltrey trying to perfect Sonny Boy Williamson’s stuttering, Cliff Richard banning himself, the airbrushing out of Alice Cooper’s ‘penis’ on a record cover, and attempts by USA citizens to get Justin Bieber deported to his native Canada.

Did you know that Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus’ was the first single banned from UK’s Top of the Pops and that before that No.1 hit with Jane Birkin he’d completed an earlier version with Brigitte Bardot?
What was the real reason the Sex Pistols were prevented from topping the singles chart with ‘God Save The Queen’ in Silver Jubilee week 1977?
Why did a falling out between Terence Stamp and The Smiths create a collectors’ item in 1984?
Boycotted, banned and the subject of death threats – what exactly was The Dixie Chicks’ crime in 2003?

NB: we also discussed the economic context of the music industry: the concentration of ownership (one of Chomsky's five filters in his propaganda model; filters remove radical counter-hegemonic content before it can shape public discourse or opinion), or consolidation as free market apologists would prefer.

With such scale, the pressure from threats of boycott, often exerted through campaigners targeting advertisers who put ads on some other wing of a conglomerate, can be immense - advertiser power being another of Chomsky (and Herrmann's) propaganda model. Madonna lost a multi-million Pepsi sponsorship when she dared to depict a black Jesus in her Like a Prayer; Time-Warner famously pulled Ice-T's Cop Killer after facing high level political and police pressure, and threats from shareholders. Ice-T now claims the decision was his; he left the record label after the row over this - the Wiki is a short, informative read, but you can find further accounts easily.

When I started out, [Warner] never censored us. Everything we did, we had full control over. But what happened was when the cops moved on Body Count they issued pressure on the corporate division of Warner Bros., and that made the music division, they couldn't out-fight 'em in the battle, so even when you're in a business with somebody who might not wanna censor you, economically people can put restraints on 'em and cause 'em to be afraid. I learned that lesson in there, that you're never really safe as long as you're connected to any big corporation's money. [Wiki]

Big Three Sony Universal Warners

In film its the big six (7 if you count Lionsgate); in the music industry, following a controversial 2012 $2bn takeover of EMI by Universal, its just the big three: Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group. Sony and Universal also combine on the VEVO platform.

See: thebalance.com feature on the big 3; musicbusinessworldwide.com (the spin on this one is a bit odd - that the ENTIRE Indie industry beats any one of the big three individually); digitalmusicnews.com; this pdf.

Table from digitalmusicnews.

You can see how the industry has gone through dramatic 'disruption' from digitisation - but with little impact on the market share of the dominant conglomerates:

Source: p.11 of this report (pdf).

UGC Depeche Mode fan takeover Facebook for a year

Another new twist in the web 2.0/UGC/convergence mode, this one reflecting the pattern that's seen lyric videos go from fan-made to official releases. The "former audience" indeed!

Headline story on Pitchfork - many more sites/e-zines followed suit

Depeche Mode, a huge selling act that comes high up concert revenue charts when they tour, have announced that fans can apply to be one of 365 who get to control their Facebook page for a day - a page with 7m followers.

This announcement has helped gain a lot of free, high-profile publicity.

Spotify chief most powerful figure in music industry

The big three are all represented alongside major management agencies and touring agents, but it's Spotify, seen as responsible for an unexpected rise in music industry revenues, with its 51% share of the US streaming market (a challenge here for Apple, who also feature in the top 10), that tops the pile according to industry magazine Billboard.

Spotify's Daniel Ek named most powerful person in the music business. 

MALE GAZE in video

I've blogged on this many times; just added a fresh look, using Guns n' Roses, Miley Cyrus and Avicii videos as examples, here.

WEB 2.0 LYRIC VIDEO Bring Me The Horizon example

See also:http://loudwire.com/starset-360-degree-ricochet-lyric-video/
http://www.metrolyrics.com/lyric-videos.html
Are Coldplay and Justin Bieber's fan-made music videos just cheap marketing ploys?

The idea long predates the digital age: (I see 351studio, a specialist producer of lyric videos, also cite this!)

This is a topic I've blogged on previously, looking at Anthrax and Jane's Addiction examples. I quite likely haven't tagged additional posts that reference this phenomenon.

When creating your own simulacra of existing artists (typically but not always the case - Sunburnt in December being a fine example of a student group that professionally recorded their own band) you need to be closely examining how they, and the industry more generally, seeks to engage with audiences.

The lyric video is one such means. This emerged as and remains a popular form of UGC or fan-made video, but more recently many artists (or their record labels!) have been adding and heavily promoting their own lyric videos. The attraction is obvious - production costs are minimal; providing the lyrics can boost concert atmosphere; the official lyric video can help spark further UGC efforts, whilst pushing traffic to the official YT channel.

Here's a BMTH example, reflecting 1 of 2 common approaches: white text on a black background, though they have both animated the text (something you can do in FCPX using keyframing and/or Motion) and the band's logo (using 1 ore more still images as a backdrop - often the album cover - is the other common approach).



This simple video has been a useful revenue driver for the act/their label, with approaching 32m views as of Jan 2017:

Indeed, an interesting reflection on the nature of music video consumption in our converged age, the lyric video has x7 the views of the actual main promo vid!

The Wiki on the term focuses on music videos which put the lyrics on screen, a different concept to the overlaying of typed lyrics on (usually) still images, but notes that the lyric video often precedes the release of the main promo vid:

A lyric video is one in which the words to the song are the main element of the video. The music video for R.E.M.'s "Fall On Me" interspersed the song's lyrics with abstract film footage. In 1987, Prince released a video for his song "Sign o' the Times". The video featured the song's words pulsing to the music presented along with abstract geometric shapes; an effect created by Bill Konersman.^[55][56]
In 1990 George Michael released "Praying For Time" as a lyric video. He had refused to make a traditional music video, so his label released a simple clip that displayed the song's lyrics on a black screen.^[57]
A lyric video may be released separately by a music label prior to the more usual video featuring the artist. Cee Lo Green, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Muse, Blur, Ellie Goulding and Avenged Sevenfold among many others, have released lyric videos.^[58]

There are even companies who specialise in producing lyric videos, such as 351 Studios:

Today’s digital age changes the way we promote new releases. These days, Lyric Video Production is part of the standard package when artists and labels release a new song. Each day we can see hundreds of new lyric videos on YouTube and other streaming services. There is big competition out there! Lyric Video Production actually dates back to 1965, in Bob Dylan’s release “Subterranean Homesick Blues” as an official music video. But now it’s a different story. It’s a new industry standard. There are also categories for best Lyric Videos in awards by multiple music networks.

Are you looking for a lyric video maker? 351 Studio is the best, most professional lyric video company. We are behind many major and independent artists and labels. With the best creative minds in the team, we can offer you unique, trendy, professional and industry-standard lyric videos for your songs, incorporating your style as an artist, your vibe, any graphics you may have, some video footage, and all animated with perfect dynamics to your song.

INDUSTRY Big 3 revenues streaming surge

Music streaming hailed as industry's saviour as labels enjoy profit surge https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/29/music-streaming-industry-saviour-labels-spotify-apple-music?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Will Spotify kill the music download?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/26/spotify-music-download-apple-itunes-streaming-vinyl?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Record sales: vinyl hits 25-year high

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/03/record-sales-vinyl-hits-25-year-high-and-outstrips-streaming?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Xmas campaigns and social media engagement

Metallica fan's festive treat.

This is a key time of year for acts to engage with their audiences, and you'll see all sorts of examples of this. Social media is primarily used by acts to create the sense of enagement and interaction with fans - even though, for bigger artists at least, most of this 'personal' interaction is actually produced by hired help.

Iron Maiden's mascot Eddie is given an annual Xmas makeover

WEB 2.0 Musical.ly makes fans stars

'It's crazy, for sure': meet the stars of Musical.ly https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/dec/10/crazy-for-sure-stars-musically-max-harvey-mills?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

VINYL plays the long game overtakes digital

Tables turned as vinyl sales overtake digital sales for first time in UK https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/dec/06/tables-turned-as-vinyl-records-outsell-digital-in-uk-for-first-time?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Vinyl indignity: record sales are up, but small labels don't see the benefit

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/dec/09/vinyl-record-sales-up-but-indie-labels-dont-see-benefit?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Record sales: vinyl hits 25-year high

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/03/record-sales-vinyl-hits-25-year-high-and-outstrips-streaming?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

WEBSITE WIX tools for music sites

As seen from our sampling of websites, you can expect to find a range of online digital music outlets directly linked/embedded, as well as links to physical media (especially boxsets) resellers (sometimes self-distributed). Amazon Music, Apple Music/iTunes, Spotify ... there are lots of smaller platforms too. SoundCloud is increasingly commonly seen, for podcasts, remixes, samples, live audio, and simply for publishing tracks (for some unsigned/Indie acts). Like Vimeo and YouTube it includes purchase options, not just streaming.
Amazon includes a sample clip option - and so can you. You could avoid copyright issues by recording audio of you stating something like - don't just use my 'script'

hi, apologies as you're aware this isn't actually the track by [artist] you were hoping to hear. This website is a student coursework production and whilst we wanted to demonstrate our grasp of technology and industry conventions, we didn't want to contravene the artist's copyright. You can, however, find links to the actual artist page on various streaming and digital retail sites on this site!

Here's Amazon's Skrillex page, for example, with playable clips:

Wix provides a tool for creating a similar experience on your own website:

WEBSITE some home pages and banners compared

You have a few fundamental decisions to make early in the construction and design of your site:

• BANNER this should tie in with icons/banners for all social media, and will often change to reflect the latest album release or tour
• TOP LINKS any decent website has clear, specific top-links, accessible on every page for quick navigation through the site. 4 or 5 (sometimes 6) is the norm. Some will include dropdown menus with sub-pages. 'Contact' or 'social media' shouldn't be one of these as those icons should also be on every page AND their content featured heavily throughout
• COLOURSCHEME/OVERALL LOOK there should be a clear feel throughout the site. That doesn't necessarily mean the same background colour/image, but there should some clear feel of consistency

Here are a few homepages/banners to consider:

Sample website banners top links from DB3igs

ADAM ANT
He started out as a late 70s punk, but became one of the biggest selling 80s pop artists, and a key pioneer of the epic MTV music video, and continues to record and tour today. He has TWO official sites, one for the US and one primarily for the UK.
AdamAntNET

The US site has 6 top links, and a poorly designed banner - odd for an artist famed for tightly controlling and self-designing so much of his own artwork over the years. The forum is in heavy use - 0.5m posts, including recent additions. Note the emphasis on merchandise and live dates, a clear reflection of how artists tend to monetise their work these days. 'Features' is an odd mish-mash of many things; this could do with a dropdown sub-menu. There actually is a mouse hover submenu, but its a graphic only, and disappears when you move the mouse or click on Features. I also note that clicking through to merchandise prices appear in euros but there is a separate banner for a US store on the homepage for that separate site.

VIRAL the sick slickness of me-too memes

The idea of a “viral hit” long ago stopped being something that just happened to a song and became, through contrivance and orchestration, a core part of the marketing plot. We can see this today, the air thick with the tang of desperation, as tracks are propelled by endless Musical.ly videos and vloggers shamelessly bankrolling themselves with “promoted content”. Songs are announced as viral hits on launch, semantically bulldozing through what “viral” actually means. (Mannequin challenge, Rae Sremmurd and the meme-powered viral hit)

The quote comes from a good overview, and critique, of the viral video concept by Eamonn Forde:

INDUSTRY 360 deals rip off or service?

Since Napster and its successors ate away at the CD cash-cow, the music industry has aggressively sought to develop fresh sources of income.

An exemplar of this is the now common 360 deal, wherein an artist signs over a percentage of rights to every money-making activity to their label - in return (in theory) for support from the label. It is a controversial practice from an industry historically mired in controversy over its treatment and exploitation of artists.

Excerpt from an interview featured on ezine Blabbermouth with the Staind frontman, & (above) Indie innovator Alan McGee (Creation Records) pulls no punches!

BELOW: a definition + research tips/examples

RETROMANIA New life on Mars for 1973 Bowie promo

Student videos often tap into the possibility of promo campaigns targeting a new, younger audience. Some of the re-formed Pixies videos, such as Bagboy, are a good example of this approach in practice by established artists.

Bowie is not the first to get either a new video (there have been several posthumous videos for Elvis, Biggie, Tupac and more, not to mention the hologram live appearances by Ronnie Dio, Michael Jackson and more) or a re-edit, but the news that a 1973 promo clip is being revisited by its director and editor could inspire more such work.

This could offer buying incentives to repackaged best of albums, and at minimum is a cheap means of gaining free media publicity through media coverage. Video plays are monetised, even if the payment levels are controversially low per online view, and video collections remain a useful means of monetising through DVD sales (eg, I've pre-ordered a new Depeche Mode DVD collecting their video work, a November release that should sell well in the gap between album releases and tours).

Watch the reworked video for David Bowie's Life on Mars.

MONETISING, PROMO CAMPAIGNS, BRANDING The Pixies

a branded campaign

As good an example as any, they're highly active across multiple platforms, and even managed to persuade me to lash out on a vinyl copy of their comeback single Bagboy and EP after spotting a promo tweet. Like many who ordered this I don't currently have a record player - the package also came with download codes for high bitrate (quality) MP3s.

Old-school email is a tool they use very effectively - always integrating their other platforms when doing so. These screenshots largely speak for themselves:

• using staggered video releases to push new releases and tours alike
• they've recorded videos for every album (2) and EP track since re-forming, a growing trend (not least as YouTube plays themselves generate revenue)
• the range of videos work to both please their existing, ageing fanbase (the band date back to the late 80s and were a key influence on Nirvana) and to target a new, younger audience too (for sheer inspiration, I highly recommend viewing a batch of these and/or Depeche Mode videos)
• they offer exclusives to various online ezines; an advantage of multiple videos is that they can offer this to a variety of sites over time
• they highlight Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (plus their website), currently the big 3 of social media (surely users will tire of Twitter eventually?!)
• look carefully at the followers/likes numbers, and you'll get a good example of which platforms are most/least significant for a primarily mature adult fanbase
• the emails are not excessive, but often enough to keep prompting fans into potential purchase of recordings, merchandise or tickets, or at worst to view their video/s or visit their online platforms
• the branding is clear: the P in a circle at the bottom of the email; the banner/masthead across their online platforms pushing the latest album, and a consistent image for their user icons
• recordings are offered in multiple formats, including vinyl and boxsets
• there is also a link for streaming
• this is tied into multiple streaming platforms

Skip to 1:43 for 2nd question in this interview in which they discuss social media...(part of my extensive Pixies playlist)

a few of the emails The Pixies (... the marketing agency they've hired!) have sent me.

Details of the latest, plus screenshots from their platforms, are below the read more line

Kill 'Em All - Metallica latest to do video for every track

Videos, expensive beasts, are for singles. Simples.

But passé.

The Pixies did it, Bjork has done it, and many, many others - including, imminently, kings of thrash metal (sales wise at least...) Metallica.

Yes, the music video remains primarily a vehicle for promoting a single, but, reflecting wider industry changes through digital disruption, now the video is commonly part of a track by track album promo.

http://loudwire.com/metallica-music-video-every-song-hardwired-to-self-destruct/

SOCIAL MEDIA dying on the Vine: When the music's over

...turn out the lights...

So Vine has withered, joining MySpace in the one-time music industry giant graveyard (though relaunched MySpace struggles on)

Shawn Mendes and the Harlem Shake: what Vine did for pop http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/27/vine-videos-music-art-harlem-shake-shawn-mendes-ruth-b?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Artist Case Study

However far from the existing image (brand) of your artist your own ideas are, you do need to evidence your awareness of this, and the research steps taken to inform yourself. You need to consider and provide info on such aspects as:

1. are they signed to an Indie or major record label?
2. considered a global artist or just UK or US success?
3. what record, if any, of chart success?
4. are they associated with any particular eras (eg the 80s)?
5. what genre/s do they work in?
6. who would be their core target audience, and consider any possible secondary audience/s?
7. are there 'leitmotifs' (common themes, symbols) in their videos, and perhaps lyrics?
8. provide a synopsis of their career
9. are there particular directors they work with? do these bring their own styles?
10. research some reviews of their videos, including YT user comments
11. comment on the media language and editing used
12. do they have any social media presence (consider how significant; the branding etc)?
13. can you find UGC (fan art, fan-made videos, lyric videos etc)?

What you can find will obviously vary depending on the status and longevity of your act. You should consider the longer list above, but here are core elements you should evidence research into and consideration of - you could split this into multiple posts with a main summary post:

BRIEF HISTORY + MEDIA PROFILE
Major releases, successes, landmark dates - don't copy/paste huge reams from Wikis. Do hyperlink/credit all sources.
Overlapping with research into target audience, sum up their media profile: what sort of media do they appear in? do they get a favourable response? does this vary by media type/audience? Make sure you suitably illustrate such points.

MARKETING The Gaga blitz v Solange silence

There are lots of examples raised in this Guardian article which you can reflect on as part of audience AND industry research, as well as consider mimicking.

Your simulacra of any known form of marketing could range from Photoshopping your version of an established magazine's cover to creating your own carpool karaoke.

Such approaches will also help you with the markscheme requirement for CREATIVE presentation and use of technology in the Evaluation especially, but also as content for social media and website.

The article has a somewhat confusing conclusion, but this can be translated as the simple message that there is no clearcut smart way to market an album or musical brand anymore; the marketing blitz is no longer any guarantee of success.

I'd recommend reading the Elberse chapters on the music industry to deepen your knowledge not just on marketing but also distribution.

Silence is golden: how keeping quiet became 2016's album launch strategy http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/oct/21/album-launch-strategy-publicity-surprise?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

GENDER Tove Lo and Lady Wood

NB: the artist under discussion often swears in her lyrics and interviews, both of which address her sexual identity in a frank manner.

Lo might be a new low for some, her very in your face lyrics and gyrating in her videos leaving little room for interpretation, but she isn't doing anything new - nor is much of the censorious or dismissive critical reaction, and its grounding in gender politics, new.

Pop writing often ignores great female blues and jazz singers who addressed their sexuality lyrically, and each latest controversy somehow forgets Donna Summers, Madonna, even Alannis Morrisette (whose Jagged Little Pills brought some challenging topics to a huge mainstream audience).

Lo is right to be exasperated at the double standards over male performers, and the issue of agency is central here.

Is her sexualised image and performance a reflection of a patriarchal society and a misogynistic music industry (a traditional feminist stance), and Lo therefore an exploited victim, OR is she an assertive, self-assured woman in control of her image and art freely choosing to explore sexuality (a more typically post-feminist position)?

Perhaps there is some truth in BOTH positions? Lo is asserting female artists' freedom to discourse in a manner seen as male territory and unbecoming for women, thus challenging normative, hegemonic gender identity.

BUT ... she is doing this using visual tropes long linked to the male gaze, and which surely are appealing to a heterosexual male audience as much as generating any identification with or aspiration from (uses and gratifications theory) a female audience?

This is seemingly an endless debate. Going back a decade were the Pussycat Dolls empowering role models or a cynical male manager and record label boss' means of putting a positive spin on an exploitative, sexualised image?

Tove Lo: ‘Being open about sex is not a bad thing’ (Guardian)

Links lists

As a precaution against another blogger issue wiping my links lists again, this post is simply a backup of links lists - as I gradually try to recreate the many, many lost. Thanks blogger...