The 4 P's!!

1. Summarising in your own words what the 4Ps of music marketing are. Use the following categories:

a) What band/artist related products can audiences buy?

CD's, merchandise, Posters, T-Shirts

b) Where can audiences buy/listen to music/merchandise/hardware?

Shops (HMV etc), Online (Amazon, play.com etc), Downloads (Itunes etc). Merchandise can often be purchased from HMv and other music stores, or stands withing other shops e.g. topshop often have band t-shirts in a seperate section of the shop.

c) Give 2 or 3 examples of paid-for/subscription based and free products.

Free Products:

• free music downloads (often as a taster before the album)
• free episodes to watch online
• free tickets to a gig when you pre order a CD.

Paid for/subscription Products:

• CD'S
• Downloads
• music magazines (paid for and often subscription)
• Merchandise
• Subscriptions to band websites (updates via email)

d) List between 5 and 10 examples of creative music marketing strategies (including at least 3 internet based examples).

• Lily Allen’s single The Fear is being promoted via a viral music game. The instant gratification of this type of game makes it inherently viral. They are potentially reaching a new audience who are not listening to the radio or reading the music press.
• Adidas are using the famous artists and sports stars to promote their product to specific audience by showing adverts on television which has a large audience, getting more coverage of both the product and the stars. Yes, on TV between the correct shows to reach the correct audiences.
• Jamie Cullum launched ‘The Advent Cullumdar’ on 1st December which houses £20,000 worth of Christmas gifts behind its virtual windows, including AC/DC tickets, John Legend concert tickets, 10 CDs from Universal and a Nokia Comes With Music phone.
• Samsung: Bebo and Samsung are teaming up to promote their new Beat phone over the internet in a online series. It will be interactive and allow the audience to interact through blogs, upload track reviews, share music news and win chances to appear in episodes. They will also be trying to find a co-presenter for the show and are also offering live performances from White Lies and The Maccabees to promote the series
• Lenka's song The Show was the iTunes free download of the week in September 2008, which promoted her whole self-titled album, pushing up sales

2. Who is frukt uk and what is their mission statement/company ethos?

Frukt UK is an agency specialising in music marketin.

"We’re all about music and are really very fond of it. Music colours people’s everyday lives. It’s found in the mundane and the exalted. It moves us all. And it’s thriving. We help brands access the passion and the communities, the lifestyle and the artists. Music is a vast cultural space - it's flexible, it's multi-channel, it's live and digital, it unites gender, race and age and it defines the spirit of generations.You just need to know how to use it. "

"We bring communication ideas to life through music and aim to produce work that is creatively bold and distinct. Either we develop the central idea ourselves and bring it to life with our team of on and offline activation specialists, or work collaboratively with other agencies, using music to make their ideas shine."

Lily Allen

1. Summarise the changing image of the band/artist as it has developed over time. It might also be useful to summarise the music genre also.
When Lily Allen first came on the scene, her image was quite unique for the time. She usually wore "urban" clothes such as trainers and gold bling, mixed with long pretty (prom-like) dresses; an unusual mix. Over the years she has experimented with her style trying at times to seem more sophisticated, or more elaborate and creative, perhaps to fit in with newer artists who are extremely visual with their look such as Lady Gaga or Katie Perry. However her signature hairstyle has barely changed from long straight black hair with a straight fringe. She went blonde for a bit, even pink for a while, and cut her hair into a classy bob, but she went back to her original look for familiarity because it is part of her brand image. Part of her brand image is the fact that she is able to satirise herself, making her seem likeable. She dresses in funny costumes, showing her audience that she isn't serious. The main genre of her music is pop, however that can be broken down into "urban-pop", "ska", "electro pop" and "pop rock".

2. Who are the fans? Do you have any sense of how the music companies have segmented the audiences? To what extent has the branding of a band been linked to target audience?

With her first album, "Alright Still" her songs were happy and upbeat, with "smile" being her first hit. Her audience was mainly made up of young fans, appealing to a certain group of people by using London as part of her brand image. This not only appealed to Londoners, but also to people who want to visit London. Her most recent album, "It's Not Me, It's You", is more sex-orientated, showing that the record label want to expand their target audience to older people. She is trying to draw on her life experiences that aren't always happy, shown by the song "The Fear".

3. What marketing strategies can you identify? What kinds of strategies can you list? (above/below-the line? unexpected promo stunts? etc). List any examples of the use of synergy with other industries to promote other media/products in connection with a band/artist.

Lily Allen uses the myspace music facility to target young tech-savvy fans, and other social-networkers, as well as tweeting on Twitter, keeping her fans updated by an informal personal connection. She has got her own jewellery collection coming out later this year, which she says is based on Chanel jewellery. This links with her connection to Karl Lagerfeld and the fact that she was in a Chanel advert earlier this year. Lily Allen has been signed up as the new brand ambassador to promote the new Braun Satin Hair range of styling products. She is promoting Braun’s new satinliner, satinstyler and satinpro products. As part of her role as brand ambassador, Allen is performing a special gig to celebrate the launch. No advertising campaigns are planned as yet. Allen said: “I love playing around with different looks and hairstyles and that’s why I wanted to get involved with Braun.” She partnered with fashion retailer New Look earlier this year to launch the ‘Lily Loves’ clothing range. Lily Allen's single "The Fear" is being promoted via a viral music game.

4. Add any relevant links to your blog, especially Myspace page/music vids/official websites etc. A couple of illustrations (e.g key web design graphics/album cover photography) would also be useful to add to your blogs.

Her Website

Her MySpace

Make Up and Styling Ideas

Now that we've chosen our song, I started to think about make-up and styling ideas (as this is my area of expertise...)

Our look is quite over the top and mad and so our styling should reflect this...

SONG CHOICE

We've finally chosen our song - Voodoo Child by rogue Traders

We chose this song because of its edgy feel and good beat (which would be perfect for editing.) Also it had a strong female lead which would be believable if we were in it, and provide great styling opportunities within the video. We've already got muchos ideas, including specific shots and styling. We want it to have a slight retro feel in some shots, with us each looking similar to confuse the audience. The overall style will appear quite montagey with certain motifs that will repeat.

more to come...

Track Selection

I narrowed down my choices to Jimmy Mack by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and You keep me hangiing on by The Supremes
After careful consideration I chose 'You keep me hanging on' because although an old song, it still sounds modern (which is probably why Mark Ronson sampled it recently in his song 'Stop Me'

Diana Ross and The Supremes - You Keep Me Hanging On

The beginning of the song is fairly electro which doesn't sound too dated, which makes me believe it will work as a modern music video. The best thing about choosing an old song is that there were no music videos and so it gives you a chance to be really creative as there is nothing for you too copy. Although the tune is upbeat the lyrics are actaully wuite solomn and so means that it gives you more variety you could do with narrative or concept, but the beat will allow for fast editing.

I haven't settled on a definitive idea but I believe the video will be performance and narrative based, wit the performance giving a nod to the era through styling and the style of the performance, while the narartive will seem more modern and current. I thought that we could perhaps experiment with puttting a modern beat through it to maybe make it more current or even adding an 80s beat to create a more original track.

This song provides fabulous style oppurtunities by taking inspiration from the time and creating looks such as big 60s hair and makeup. The song also provides ideas for costumes such as updated versions of what the band might have worn back then.

I think this song would work really well and if chosen would create a really original and fresh video.

Narrowing down....

Ok so I know I need to narrow down my track selection...

so, so far here's my list (in no particular order)

1. The Supremes - You keep me Hangin' on
2. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - Jimmy Mack
3. Natalie Merchant/ The Chiffons - One Fine Day
4. Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon
5. Blondie - Picture This

We talked about if using a Motown song we would mix it with an 80s electro-esque beat to give it a bit of a twist. This means that the video can reference both 60s and 80s style and can almost merge the two, making not only our sound but our look unique.

Blondie

Her look and sound would be perfect for our group and gives us a lot to work with. The funy 80s beat means lots of interesting editing possibilities which is great.

This song in particular jumped out at me as it was modern enough to weork, but still old and interesting. Also it's not the most well known of her songs and so doesnt instantly put images in your head

Blondie - Picture This

Fleetwood Mac

These are another group I was thinking about using for our track. There songs are edgy yet smooth with good beats and lovely lyrics

'Dreams'

I love this song but I'm not sure it would work. If we were to consider it we would have to seriously sit down aand talk about how we would approach it

same with 'Rhiannon'


I love the hair though!!

Others...

Although not Motown I don't believe these groups should be excluded as they have all had hits which would work...
the Shirelles



but what would probably work better is 'Mama Said'


The Chiffons
I absolutely LOVE this song, I'm not sure if it would work but I don't care I still love it. It my highest played track on iTunes. I hope you can appreciate why.

its great isnt it...

There was a re-make of the song which I think is amazing. Ignore the video of smallville, it's the only video of the song I could find...

I know as a group we decided we didnt want to do a slow song, but if we did I would want it to be this. This version was by Natalie Merchant and was covered for a film of the same name.

The Shangri-Las

Ok so this would be a long shot...and probably wouldnt' work. But they're quite different to the other groups so I thought I would show them.

Motown: The Marvelettes/The Velvelettes

Both these groups were popular at the time and had hits including The Marvelettes with ' Please Mr Postman' and The Velvelettes with 'He was Really Saying Something'

The Marvelettes:

This was way back in 1961 and already you can see Music Video developing with the different angles of the group etc. I'm not suggesting this as a song choice but I just really love the nostalgic feel of this video.
The Marvelettes were one of the earliest group, signing to the Tamla label and earned the company their first number 1 with 'Please Mr Postman'. They lead the way for other Motown groups including The Supremes.
After careful consideration I can say I don't think the Marvelettes will work as their sound is not right and is too true to the time and not adaptable enough.

The Velvelettes:

This video is fabulous! What can I say, the costumes are fab, the song is fab just everything about it... I love it!

I'm not sure if this would work but its a possibility...

Motown: Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

They would be another choice for a girl group from Motown whose classic hit 'Dancing in the Street' is known worldwide. I don't think we should choose such a famous song as it may have connotations in peoples heads. However they have other songs which are great (and I happen to love..)



I just love this video. Although it's ridiculously stiff and forced it shows the beginnings of what was to come with fairly neat editing. It uses beauty shots and cutaways which are 2 staple things in music videos nowadays. I don't think this song however would work.

They had a few other good songs which might work such as 'Heatwave'


actually thinking about it...this is far too dated and probably wont work...

I love this song, and with an updated beat (which is what we're thinknig about...) it might sound really good...

Also there's 'Nowhere to Run' which is pretty good and fairly famous..

Motown: Supremes

Obviously if we choose a Motown song we would need to choose one by one of the many girl groups, as we are planning to be in the video ( to make things easier)

The most obvious choice would be The Supremes ( or Diana Ross and The Supremes). They have had many hits which are well known ('Baby Love' 1964, 'Stop! In the Name of Love' 1965) as well as some lesser known but still successful songs like 'The Happening' and 'Reflections'.


Choosing a song from this era would allow us to be very inventive and original as videos were either extremely boring or non-existent and (i don't think) represented the songs well enough. I want to make a video that will make Motown seem attractive for younger audiences who otherwise wouldn't listen to it. That if it was played on MTV the song and video wouldnt be out of place.


You can see in this video they are starting to experiement with editing at the beginning. This clearly is the start of music video. Also you have to take into account there was less money put into motown as there would have been for the 'rock and roll' of the time, and so they may have been behind the times.

(sorry for the bad quality...)
I really like this one because you get a great feel of the era, not only in the costumes but in the setting and music giving it that 'swinging sixties' vibe. I think this is an element we could sertainly draw in.

So clearly there is loads of choice from the Supremes for a track choice but if I was to narro it down it would be

• Reflections
• The Happening
• You keep me hanging on- This one would be good as it sounds fairly modern.
• maybe... Where did our love go

MOTOWN

Motown has had a serious influence on me and I will be seriously choosing a motown song for my track selection.

First here's a brief history:

Motown Records started of as Tamla Motown founded in 1959 as 'Tamla Records' by Berry Gordon in Detroit 'Motor City' Michigan. It played an important role in the 60s in racial intergration, getting 'black music' into 'white housholds'. Starting the careers or many famous artists including MArvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the late Michael Jackson, Motown is the epitome of popular yet contreversial music from the 60s leading the way for many other artist to follow and providing inspiration for non-Motown singers such as Dusty Springfield and The Foundations. Now owned by Universal and called 'Universal Motown' they still continue to produce stars and will remain a legacy forever.

Among some of the famous Motown artists are

• Marvin Gaye
• Jackson Five/Michael Jackson
• The supremes
• The Temptations
• Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
• Stevie Wonder

Carol Vernallis

She suggests that the jumping camera focus is like the camera in place of our eyes, doing what we do when we listen. However, this is predefined for us by the Director - we have even less choice to look away/outside of the Director's choice than we do in film - do you agree?

I do agree to some extent in that when you watch a music video it's harder for the audiences to create there own judgments of it without looking into it in further detail. The pace is so fast, with really quite cuts so its hard to look outside what you see and create your own images. With film there are different interpretations and with longer shots you have time to look not only at the action but what's around as well.

She says music video is more like listening than viewing - do you agree?

I disagree to an extent in that music video is often about the pleasure of watching, providing entertainment. It helps if you like the song too, obviously if you don't like the music your less likely to watch it. But usually i watch music videos when there's nothing else on TV or something, because I enjoy watching them, not necessarily I just want the music (I could quite easily put on my iTunes...). However sometimes I will stick on a music channel while I'm doing other things because you don't have to give them your full concentration, you can just listen to the songs.

"We compensate imaginatively for what we do not see in the frame" - Agreed?

Yes but I think thats true with most visuals whether music video or film... But if you were to see a series of images you create menaings between them. E.g. if you were to see a woman looking longily, and a man you would create romantic links.

The constant motion in a music video and the variances it shows mean that a strong CU is a stable point. The music video "brings us towards these peaks, holds us against them, and then releases us" - do you agree?

Yes I agree the 'vanity shots' is a staple point and music videos draw you into this and then release you with either narrative or more performance.

Is the viewer "sutured (stitched) into the diegesis of the film world through the editing"?

Yeah I believe this to be true and the editing is what creates the narrative, and by chanign the editing you could change the order of the story.By editing in certain ways you are submerged into the videos world and feel almost attatched to it.

Music video is freer in terms of viewer identification and perspective - agreed?

Um, I'm not sure if I agree with this. Definately there is a lot more choice for the concept and for the director but, unlike movies, it is harder to establish different interpretations and perpectives.
Carol Vernallis believes the image alone cannot tell the story - do you agree?

Yes I agree. Often it's the lyrics that tell the story and the visuals do not always link. Often its the lyrics that tell the story and the images seem unrelated and you have to really listen to the words of the song to understand the story. Also the music is there to create atmospheme, for example in a love song, and the images alone might not give the full story.

BLK feedback

Some high quality work posted so far Amelia, a good start to your background work for this project. No actual independent research yet though, which did rather suprise me . . . and you are rather behind with quite a lot of the required work from last term. You will need to catch up fast, as it will be so busy when we get back to school.

When you research music videos, we need to get you using/applying advanced theory explicitly, think Vernallis for now, although you will also need to get to grips with Goodwin in the new term.
For now, your short term targets are:
1.Link your workshop video to your blog
2. Post your workshop evaluation
3. Post the work you have done for Miss T on Vernallis (see Miss T's post on the main blog for details)
4. Post your track research/ideas – we need to see what tracks you have in mind for your own video
5. Post any independent research you have already done
5. We need a photo and some info about you please!

All instructions are on the main blog if you are not sure what you should have done. There will be a lot happening when term starts so the sooner this outstanding work is completed, the better.

Hoping to see lots of great progress very soon!