Research Task 6.

Magazine advertising -


Babyshambles is an example of advertising a new album.
NME magazine is advertising them here on the front cover of the magazine. This is a great start as they are the central focus of the magazine meaning it will easily grab peoples attention and anyone who wants to but NME whether they like Babyshambles or not, will see the advert.





 

Research Task 5.

Cover Design -



This album cover is from The Libertines album 'The Libertines'. The image shows the two front men Peter Doherty and Carl Barat looking drunk and showing their tattoos. Both of their tattoos say 'Libertine' which represents the album and makes it clear who they are and that they are members of the band and advertising that fact. The typography used is in the recognized style that 'The Libertines' is always written in. This shows their unique identity, and makes the album recognizable not just by the name.The colour red is dominant here in Pete's t-shirt and the background. This is significant and red is the most representational colour of The Libertines.

For example here they are shown wearing red uniforms which they often wore in videos, photoshoots and on stage. Therefore the red in the album cover is shown here.
The design of the album cover would attract The Libertines' target audience as it shows two young men looking like they are at a party somewhere and have taken a picture together. Therefore appealing to younger people who like The Libertines.





Eminem's album cover from his album 'Curtain Call'. The typography used is recognised as Eminem's name is always written that way with the 'E' facing backwards, creating a unique identity for him.This has also been seen on all previous album covers, for example:



The album 'Curtain Call' shows reference to the title in the image as it clearly shows Curtains on a stage. The roses at the man's (who we assume to be Eminem) feet show the end of the show, the name 'Curtain Call' implies that he is being called back for more. This reflects 'the hits' part of the album name, suggesting he is being called back to release his best hits. The trend of the curtains is a popular use in a few of Eminem's album covers, for example 'The Eminem Show' as shown above and 'Encore' as shown below.



The significance of using the curtains reflect the album titles each time.
On the album cover of 'Encore' Eminem's name is not on it but the 'E' placed in the backwards font tells us that it is Eminem as he has established this as a recognised unique identity. 
The design's of Eminem's albums attract his target audience because of the typography used. The type face almost appears graffiti like, which appeals to the type of people who would sterotypically listen to Eminem and hiphop/rap music.





The Beatles album cover ' Abbey Road'.
This cover is significant as the image represents the title ' The Beatles, Abbey Road' as it is clearly the members of The Beatles walking across what we assume to be 'Abbey Road'. The image is the main attraction to the picture with small typography telling us the band and the album name. This shows that a strong image attracts the eye well, therefore no striking title or typography is needed here. The colours in the picture are bright and happy, attracting attention and enticing the buyer.


This cover would attract the target audience as it shows young men in clothes which were fashionable at the time of release in 1969. For example the flared trousers were popular at the time.
 

Abbey Road is also a famous crossing in London, which looks appealing and is a tourist attraction as it is a large Zebra crossing, therefore attracting people who were contemporary with fashion and trends at the time of release. 





Christina Aguilera's album 'Bionic'.
The image on this album cover is particular effective of reflecting the title 'Bionic'. Bionic means to have body parts which are electromechanical or to have super human powers. The image used reflects this very well as half of Christian Aguliera's face is mechanical/robotic.  The title too reflects the mechanical elements of 'bionic' as it is broken up, as if to be said in a robotic way. The colours used in the typography of the album artist show reference to the image as the same colour red is used for the lips. The normal half of Christina Aguliera's face is important for the cover too as it shows the audience who the album is by without reading the title. 


This would appeal to Christina Aguliera's target audience as it shows a young attractive woman, instantly appealing to girls as they can relate to looks and idolize. The album also looks quite arty and abstract, appealing to her target audience here too.

Research Task 4.

Branding -


Many bands use motifs and logo's to represent and establish a unique brand identity for themselves. 
Examples include:

The Rolling Stones logo is significant and is a recognized logo. It creates a unique selling point for the band and means that the band can be recognized through a symbol rather than the name 'The Rolling Stones'. It is a strong image which can be used on a form of clothing, posters, CD covers etc.

The logo is a success for merchandise as it is attractive and looks nice on clothing. It can easily be incorporated into CD covers too:

Another famous band logo is from The Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

This is an iconic logo which is clearly recognised by fans of RHCP. It can be easily incorporated into t-shirts and other wearable merchandise. 

There logo is important as again it is a unique identity for them and means they can be widely recognised through something as simple as the star sort of cross.

Research Task 2.

The Online Revolution-


The new revolution of music downloads and social networking sites has had a massive impact on bands/artists and how they promote their material. They can now use different techniques to market and promote their music by using this, for example viral marketing. An example of a band that took this on board is Nizlopi with 'The JCB Song'.

The two members of the band  Nizlopi commissioned 'Monkeyhub' to produce a video to illustrate the song. The video was then emailed by Monkeyhub to 20 people who then sent it on to their friends who sent it to their friends and so on. They eventually sold nearly half a million copies by this simple modern revolutionary technique.


Social networking sites can also be used to market and promote music of bands/artists. For example Myspace and Facebook. The Arctic Monkey's are one well known example who have done so by using Myspace. This was done by their unreleased material being put onto a myspace site so people could listen to it for free when they pleased, this built up a big fan base and people were already familiar with their single 'I bet you look good on the dance floor' when they released it, causing it to go straight to number 1.

http://www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys #source


This is The Arctic Monkey's myspace page now, which allows you to listen to their new music for free. This acts as a promotion as the music can be shared by people to whoever they please, linking them to the page and bringing in new fans. 


An example of a band who has not used the online revolution and in fact a more traditional way is 'The Red Hot Chilli Peppers'. The band have been reported to be paying street artist ' Mr Brainwash' to cover Los Angeles in cryptic street art to promote their new single 'I'm With You'. This is more of a traditional way of promoting music, through art and visual creations. They are also being promoted through NME by them advertising the street art promotion.

These are examples of two of the posters that 'Mr Brainwash' has designed for the band.




From researching these bands and the online revolution i have found out that the online revolution is a brilliant way to promote music material, it is cheaper than more traditional ways such as art, magazine and radio. An email can be sent for free where as art, radio and magazine advertising often comes with a price. However depending on the band/artist any bold technique appears to be successful, for example The Red Hot Chilli Peppers will most probably find this way of advertising successful due to their mass fan base, where as smaller niche bands may find viral marketing and social networking more successful!

Research Task 1.

Laura Marling-


Laura Marling is an English Folk musician. 
She is well known within the London Folk scene. She appeals to a niche audience rather than a commercialized one.


Laura Marling used to be part of the indie folk band Noah and the Whale which was where she first became known. 


Both her albums ' I Speak because I Can' and 'Alas, I Cannot Swim' were nominated for the Mercury music prize in 2008 and 2010.


Promotion wise she has toured with a number of well-known indie artists in the UK and appeared on the Mystery Jets single 'Young Love' (March 2010) as well as The Rakes track 'Suspicious Eyes'. (2007)

The Mystery Jets - Young Love Ft Laura Marling (LIVE)









'Alas I cannot swim' was promoted by a tour with Jamie T. She also performed at Wireless Festival and Underage Festival in 2007. 
Her debut album was released in 2008. In this year she appeared on Russell Brands Radio 2 show alongside her sister, acting as further promotion.




Forms of media which were used to promote this album include radio and television as along with Russell Brand's radio 2 show, Laura also made appearances on 'Later with Jools Holland' and 'The Late show with Craig Ferguson' This form of promotion tells us more about the target audience as it is not a mass commercial one who would watch these type of shows. 

Research Task 1.

Ed Sheeran -


Ed Sheerans target audience is for young people from around 19 downwards. His music is acoustic and has become increasingly popular since he became signed to Alanntic records, even reaching number 3 in the charts with his single The A Team in June 2011.




Ed Sheeran - The A Team







Ed Sheeran first became known as a featured artist on grime artists singles such as Wiley.
In January 2011 Ed Sheeran released his final independant EP 'No.5 Collaborations Project' which included the appearances of grime artists such as Wiley, JME, Devlin, Sway and Ghetts.
This EP was the cause for mainstream attention, as it reached iTunes number 1 without any promotion or label.





However, Ed Sheeran was promoted before this by being a feature artist previously. Therefore this would have promoted him into the commercial music scene. You could also say that Wiley, JME, Devlin, Sway and Ghetts promoted Ed Sheeran's EP, as having well known names such as themselves would bring plently of attention and attraction to Ed Sheeran.


iTunes was the form of technology which was used to promote the album, it is a very successful form of promotion as iTunes have a page full of new things on their store.


Ed Sheeran has also promoted himself by being kind to his target audience. As a young person himself at 20 years old he has an understanding of his audience, meaning he can work closer to them and bring them what they want. In April 2011 Ed put on a free show to fans at Camden Barfly, with 1000 fans turning up he ended up playing four different shows just so everyone could see a gig. 


This shows a good relationship with his fans, which is important as it reflects his target audience. 

Research Task 1.

1. Target Audience:


Peter Doherty -


Peter Doherty's target audience is young adults from the age 16 upwards. He plays acoustic music which appeals to a lot of people. His music is relaxing and meaningful therefore appealing to a wide audience. 


Peter's first and only album is 'Grace/Wastelands' which he released in 2009.

He promoted his album by doing solo tours and playing some of the content which would be in the album. 


NME magazine also promoted it by publishing the date of the release and a bit of information about it including the track listing of the album:


http://www.nme.com/news/pete-doherty/42120#4  Source

'Pete Doherty names solo album - exclusive

Babyshambles man gets ready for March release'

Peter Doherty had to be careful with his approach to promoting his music due to his bad drugs reputation following the split from his former band The Libertines. Doherty kicked off his tour with an unsuccessful gig at The Royal Albert Hall in 2008. He was said to be out of place without a big band behind him.

However Peter Doherty overcame this by playing more and more solo songs, building up respect from his fans therefore being able to promote himself and his music in a successful way.

Media used to promote Grace/Wastelands included the promotional article in NME which proved to be successful. NME is a widely read mass market magazine, with a huge fan base.