R+P Post 8: Possible tracks for the single

The mains tracks we looked at were of the electro genre with an interesting instrumental as this was the genre we agreed on from the start. The tracks also had to be a sung by a female artist because our group is made up of girls and we wanted one of us to be the lead in our music video.

The first track we discovered is called 'What If I Go' by Mura Masa.

  

 Positives:

- synthpop genre of music (a lot of Mura Masa's songs are electro-pop)
- reaches a climax in the song which allows for us to have a climax in our music video
- singer is from the UK which matches the UK image of our artist

Negatives:

- song is repetitive
- the video is what drew us towards the song rather than the music itself
- lyrics can be hard to decipher which means it would be hard for our audience to understand directs links in our video to the lyrics

The next track we were interested in is called 'Sleepless' by Flume (ft. Jezzabell Doran)

  

Positives:

- nice beat for a montage sequence
- electro beat really stands out so the genre would be obvious to our target audience
- upbeat and feel-good

Negatives:

- lack of lyrics so couldn't do a lot of studio based performance
- repetitive, possibly not a very memorable song
- doesn't have any links to UK music culture

R+P Post 7: Record labels of interest

The record label that our group are interesting in using for our artist, is a label that AlunaGeorge is already in partnership with: Island Records. It is UK based and is a division of Universal Music Group. Island Records have a particular focus on the progressive UK music scene which makes it the perfect label for our artist as Electropop is a new, upcoming music genre which gains popularity by the day.

It is important to be signed to a record label that understands your music and supports your image as they ultimately have control over the marketing and distribution of new albums and singles. Island Records UK is the perfect label for our artist and chosen track because it will have insight into what is successful in current UK music culture and will be able to push our artist in the right direction in terms of music trends and image.


Another record label that seems appealing is 'Relentless Records' which is a branch of Sony Music UK. It focuses on new artists with "distinct, creative talent" which is ideal for our artist as they are new on the UK music scene and so would work well with an "independently minded' label that could help them get their music out there.

This label has also released Artful Dodger's main track 'Re Rewind' which has done really well and is a part of the UK garage genre. This means that Relentless Records are established with the UK music scene.

R+P Post 6: Currrent trends in Popular Music

Popular music trends can be seen by looking at the charts and which songs come in the top 10 - this indicates what music is appealing to the widest audience at the moment and which genres are the most successful.

This is a section of an article written on popular music - 'International Trends in  Popular Music' by Pekka Gronow

I then went on to look at the Official Singles Chart Top 100 website to see which songs are in the top 10 and if there is any similarities between these song.

Music Chart

Although these songs don't all fall under one genre, they are all upbeat songs which shows that audiences are more into feel goof songs right now, rather than ballads or slow songs. It also shows that Major Lazer and DJ Snake are in the top 10, which are two artists that our audience said they liked when we asked them. This proves that our song choice will be popular.

R+P Post 5: The kind of music video I would like to make

The idea we have in mind for our music video is a mixture of narrative and performance, with the narrative aspect being shot on location in London and the performance aspect taking place in the studio. The narrative will have a gritty feel to it and will be shot on a hand held camera in order to maker the shots seem more real and less staged. 'BLK & BLU' by Chase and Status which is one of our reference points is shot on a hand held camera throughout and this appealed to us as we felt it was more relatable.




GIF from YouTube video 'Stay High'

Another music video we looked at is called 'Habits (Stay High)' by Tove Lo which is all narrative based and follows a girl through her life and her bad habits such as going out partying all the time. We used this as one of our reference points because it frequently shows the girls face in the middle of the shot with the background changing behind her which is an idea we wanted to use in our video.



GIF of the groups music video

Our music video will follow the lives of two people in a relationship and how the girl wants to break free from anything that is restricting her. An idea that we have is for the couple to have an argument at the beginning, leading to the girl running off into central London. In a previous year, and A2 media group made a music video with similar ideas to what we have, the main one being that it follows a relationship.



R+P Post 4: Audience groups of interest

Our target audience is a young audience, specifically people aged 16-25. We also will tailor more towards girls as when we asked people of our age what music they're into, it was mostly girls that specifically enjoyed listening to synthpop and electronic music. We held a short interview with a 17 year old female called Flora Cox about her taste in music and her music consumption. This can be seen below.

Some of the artists that our target audience seemed to like are:

• Chase and Status
• Craig David
• Artful Dodger
• Ms. Dynamite
• Disclosure
• DJ Snake
• Major Lazer

All of these artists either fall under the electronic or UK garage genre, which gives us the confirmation that our choice of song and genre is going to be popular with our target audience .

R+P Post 3: Music genres that interest me

Music genre is important in the music industry because it helps determine who the target audience will be, which leads to the decision of what sort of the image the artist should have.


I'm interested in a variety of different music genres and listen to different music depending on my environment for example, when going out with friends I would probably listen to UK garage and jungle music but when at home I enjoy hip hop.

UK garage is becoming more and more popular among the youth, with many artists on the scene such as Oxide and Neutrino and DJ Luck and MC Neat. A garage song which I particularly like is called 'A Little Bit Of Luck' by DJ Luck and MC Neat. Below is their song on SoundCloud.




I also really like Chase and Status who have produced UK garage songs as well, such as one called 'BLK & BLU' which has a music video that actually ended being one of my group's reference points. Chase and Status' music often gets played at parties and is popular among people of the same age as me so we thought it would be a suitable reference point. Below is their song on YouTube.


    

As a group, we researched Chase and Status' music a little bit more and discovered that they also have songs of the electronic genre and this led to us looking into this genre a bit more, until we came across AlunaGeorge's songs which are mostly electronic and synthpop.

AlunaGeorge's songs all have a similar electronic instrumental to them which I find very catchy and fun to listen to and so now I listen to more of this kind of music in my daily life, whether I'm on the bus or at home. A song that we all liked a lot is called 'I remember' and the music video for it also intrigued us as it shows the relationship between a girl and boy which is something that we are incorporating into our video as well and so we can take ideas from it. Below is her song 'I remember'.

    
The Uses and Gratifications Theory has a component called 'Cultural Transmission' and so the electropop genre appeals to me precisely because of this. It is an upcoming music genre in UK music culture and is becoming more widely known which is the reason I discovered it in the first place and now listen to it daily.

R+P Post 2: Myself as a music consumer

Music consumption is such an important part of my day to day life, as it is for many other people, particularly young students who like to go out a lot and are up to date with all the different methods of downloading and listening to music.


When do I consume music?

• EVERYDAY!
• On public transport, including to and from school each day
• Whilst working, eg. doing homework both in and out of school
• Whilst relaxing at home or driving places
• As I fall asleep, using a particular playlist
• At concerts/gigs/clubs/festivals

Who do I consume music with?

• By myself if alone or with friends when I have company 
• Often when I get ready to go out I listen to upbeat music with my friends to get us in the mood for the night ahead of us
• When at social gatherings, music is always being played, catering to everyone's different tastes in genres

How do I consume music?

• Majority of the time I listen to music on my phone with headphones or my laptop via SoundCloud 
• I also play the radio when in the car, with the station normally tuned into Capital Xtra

Why do I consume music?

• It helps to set the vibe or mood in different scenarios for example when getting ready to go out or when at a party, it creates an upbeat environment and allows for people to dance and have fun
• It can also help me relax, for example when going to sleep I play Loyle Carner to allow me to feel calm and eventually fall asleep
• Not only does it build a certain atmosphere, but it can also lead to friendships between people that enjoy the same kind of music and they can bond through their love of music

Childhood: 

S Club 7 - Reach

This song used to be played at all the hall parties that I would go to as a child and I have fond memories of jumping on bouncy castles with this song being played in the background! I think that perhaps the reason I loved it so much is because the group S Club 7 wrote many songs aimed for kids and so they were very poplar among my friendship group at the time.

Early Teens:

Justin Bieber - Be Alright

I was an avid Justin Bieber fan during my early teens (and still do have a great love for him). I went to both his My World concert and his Believe concert with friends, and even bought a merchandise shirt. Despite his good looks, the main reason I loved him so much is because his music is mostly pop, and this was my favourite genre at the time.

Now:

Loyle Carner - Florence

About a year ago I discovered an artist called Loyle Carner who produces music in the hip hop genre and often raps about his family life or hardships that he's been through which makes his music relatable to people of my age. I've seen him preform about 5 times in various environments and his stage presence is so great that it makes him an even more likable character.

      


In class we presented our version of this post to each other and it enabled us to see what people of our age are into at the moment in terms of music. This is important to my group as our target audience is people aged 16-25. We found that everyone has a different taste in music so its hard to choose one genre that everyone will like, however, both of the other girls in my group have the same music taste as me which is useful because it means we will all actively enjoy making our video and it also made us realise that our chosen song is possibly more catered towards girls.


The Uses and Gratifications Theory explains why I enjoy music so much, with the main concept for me, being entertainment. I listen to music for the purpose of escaping everyday life and having feelings provoked in me.

R+P Post 1: My A2 group

As a group I think we will work well together because we all enjoy the same types of music and often go out together, so have an understanding of each other's personal music consumption. We have arranged to meet frequently throughout the week to allow us to make steady progress on planning our own music video. We're all committed to making the video the best it can be and all share a enjoyment in the task.


We have created a notebook to jot down some of our ideas for the research and planning and we each take it in turns to add our thoughts and ideas. Along with this, we have set up a group chat so that we can arrange our meetings.


On the left is our notebook and on the right is a screenshot
from our group chat.