A Guide to the Music Industry

Major Institutions:

There are four major music labels that dominate music; these are Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI. Each consists of many smaller companies and labels in different regions and work with different genres of music.

Minor Institutions:

These are independent companies; they produce and distribute the music themselves. They have less money than major institutions so it is more difficult for them to distribute successfully. If they want to get more money to help with distribution costs, they can be bought by major institutions.

History of Warner Music Group

What companies does it own? Is this significant?

WMG works with companies such as Reprise Records, Roadrunner Records and Rhino Records. Each of these have artists signed to them whose music is of the same or similar genre to our genre. For example, Green Day, Slash and Mick Jagger. This shows that WMG offers a range of labels for a range of artists.

Does it have a production and distribution element?

Warner/Chappell Music is a global music publishing company, it’s a leader in the creation of advanced strategies for the marketing and promotion of songwriters and their music.

Alternative Distribution Alliance was created in 1993 and focuses on the independent music business. It gives them access to a flexible distribution system, and the effectiveness of a major label.

What artists are signed to them?

-          Green Day

-          The White Stripes

-          Paramore

-          Bruno Mars

-          Plan B

-          Michael Bublé

What do you notice about the genre of music?

They have a variety of genres including rock, rap, pop, jazz and R&B. Their variety shows they are able to distribute to a mass audience as well as a niche audience. It also shows that they are interested in all kinds of music and don’t focus all their attention and money on one genre, which means they are more well-known and successful.

Would they be a suitable organisation to work for this project?

Warner Music Group would be suitable as they have many artists signed to them who are in the same genre of music as what we are working in, such as Green Day, Kiss and The Doors. They are Well known and have many record labels working with them which helps to make distribution easier and more successful.

video documentary Part 1

Audience Profile from Findings

Questionnaire

A Guide to: The Punk Rock genre.

A Guide to: The Punk Rock genre.

Genre -Denis McQuail ‘The genre may be considered as a practical for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers’.

Punk Rock – Punk rock derives from rock music it developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States of America, United Kingdom and Australia. The punk rock genre abstained from the typical codes and conventions of mainstream rock during the 1970’s. Instead the genre focused on creating fast, hard-edged music with often political or anti-establishment lyrics. The punk rock genre also embraces a DIY concept.

Notable Punk Artists- The Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Who, The Clash, The Ramones.

(Note: most of the above artists name begins with ‘The’)

Punk ideology- The punk subculture primarily focuses on ideas such as rebellion, individualism, free thought and rebellion. Many punks involved in the punk movement also showed their ideologies through use of hand me down/DIY clothing, and punk art.

Narrative- The punk rock genre tends to feature conflict in the narrative of music videos. The conflict often derives from this anti-societal views and their rebellious nature. It can also be interpreted those who do not share the views within the punk rock genre are classed as villains, whereas they are hero’s.

Storyline themes: serious, light-hearted, humorous and dark.

Character Representations- Women in the punk rock genre are often portrayed to be highly rebellious and sexualised, whereas men are seen as having a chip on their shoulder therefore making them rebellious and individualised. Also, from research we have found the lead vocalist in a band is portrayed similar to a hero/leader because they champion the remainder of the group in their march to individualism.

Stereotypes- The main stereotypes in the punk rock genre are those who involved in the movement are associated with drugs because they commonly mention it along with sex and politics. In addition, the common stereotype of women is that they are scantily clad and aggressive looking whilst men are shown messy and unkempt.

Countertypes- Punk rock artists/bands who are shown to be not anti-government and society and care for the environment and the world we live in.

Punk rock genre and audience- Many punk artists’ audiences listen to their music because they want to rebel or because they agree with the message the artist are trying to give. The audience for the punk genre is typically young people who use music as an escape route and have had a hard life.

Punk rock genre and producers- Producers know who to target punk artists’ music at because of the stereotypes of punks; this makes it easier to get the music to the right people to make profit. Punk music is typically shown on specific channels or programs as it isn’t targeted at as many people as other genres are.

Music videos- In order to address an audience producers post music videos of the punk rock genre on popular music sites like YouTube Greenday  ’21 Guns’ official music video is posted on the band’s official YouTube account and this enables the video to have a wide demographic. By appealing to a mass audience it brings attention to the punk rock genre.

From our research we have found dark lightning is commonly used in music videos, because darkness connotes mystery and power. By this association the audience can vividly interpret those of the punk rock genre portray themselves to be mysterious because they fall into a sub-genre between punk and rock. Therefore, this makes their identity less established and mysterious, it is suggestive ‘The Who’ focus on identity in ‘Who are you?’

Mode of address- Many punk artists write songs to give a message to their audience to help them make a change. Their music often makes the audience feel that they can relate to the band because they have the same thoughts and ideas as them.

Editing- Music videos of the punk rock genre tend to generally use straight cuts in order to aid continuity and pace.  In ‘Who are you?’ by the Who straight cuts are used effectively in creating a high energy because the transition between frames are fast. It is also suggestive straights cuts are used in this genre in order to convey a sense of unpredictability, which is common in this genre.

Iconography- Live instrumentation, leather jackets, DIY sense of fashion, cigarettes, microphone stands, recognizable landmarks, anti-authoritarian symbols, Dr.Martins, badges, safety pin costumes, inner personal conflict, metal studded jewellery, tattoos, piercings, skin heads and edgy haircuts are likely to be founded in this genre.

Analysis of Super Furry Animals 'Love Kraft' Magazine Advert

MISE EN SCENE:

The colours used in this advert are pink, purple, white, black and red. This gives the advert a lot of variety and makes it bright and attractive so will catch audience’s attention. The image is quite comical as it’s of 3 unusual monsters on cliffs above a village, this makes the audience look at it to try and work out what the image is of and so catches their attention and makes them read what the advert is for.

COPY:

The band name and the album name are in the same colour, but different font. The colour looks like lights at a concert which help make a connection between the advert and music, this helps identify what the advert is for. The use of different fonts separates them and makes the advertisement clear. The rest of the text is in white and it’s not there to grab attention, so making them a different colour means the album and band name stand out more.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

As the advert is quite comical and the text is creative, it suggests the target audience are young adults and teenagers. There is no identification of gender, however the use of pink and purple in the advert makes it appealing to girls and the image looks quite masculine. This means the target audience could be male or female.

Analysis of Led Zeppelin 'Mothership' Magazine Advert

MISE EN SCENE:

The colours used in this advert are red, black, white and cream, the red contrasts well against the black and helps grab attention. The image shows what looks like a concert hall building with the iconic Led Zeppelin image; this makes the band immediately identifiable to anyone.  It also looks like a stereo which helps identify it as a music advert, as well as it having the words ‘Rock’ and ‘Roll’ on it. Above the building is a red, black and cream blimp that has ‘Mother Ship’ on it, this identifies the album name.

COPY:

The Band name and album name are in the same font, the band name is in a cream colour and the album name is in red. The change in colour separates them and makes the advertisement clear and varied. The font is large and in capitals which makes it stand out and grab the audience’s attention. The information about the CD is beneath the image in lower case and in white text, this isn’t needed to grab attention so isn’t as big as the names of the band and album.

GENRE:

The colours help identify the genre as they are typical colours used in the rock genre, the dark colours make it clear that the genre is more dark and gritty.

The use of the words ‘Rock’ and ‘Roll’ make the genre clear to the audience.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

The advert looks very masculine because of the colours and the use of images; this suggests that the target audience are more likely to be men than women. It also looks quite sophisticated which would suggest the target audience may be young men towards middle age and older.