Record Label

I've researched Glassnote as my specific record label as I think they would be most likely to sign our artist.

Founded in 2007 by Daniel Glass, Glassnote has become the record label most suitable for our artist as it takes on indie rock and alternative rock artists which perfectly suits our music genre. Bands such as CHRVRCHES, Daughter, Two Door Cinema Club and even Phoenix are part of this label showing that either artist known or less known are taken on. The amount of people signed to this record is minimal which perfectly fits our music type which targets the niche audiences; the emphasis being on music rather than the money made from it.

The record label has a good connection with tumblr as well as twitter which would help distribute our music, especially with a fresh artist joining the music industry. The official site of ‘Glassnote’ promoted tours and shares music videos/ new tracks which would be highly beneficial specifically with the upcoming release of our video.

The reason as to why it would be the perfect label for our artist is because unlike major labels it doesn't take over the artist’s actions; there is team work rather than dominance over the shape of the career.  This label hence recognises the advanced technology and push in new media however, gives the artist a free hand in the area they want to stick in as long as they and the record grow. This record label takes on people that are passionate about music and have an understanding of the evolving industry that our artist will definitely portray through the music video. What’s most important is the fact that even though the artist is signed to an independent label, team work is widely valued and in cooperated into the expansion of your career- making it feel like a big family; something not always felt with major labels

Lauren Aquilina: Fools

Record Label Research

Independent-  ‘4AD’

Established in ‘1979’

Genre Focus: Indie Pop, Electronic, Underground American Rock

‘As one fourth of the Beggars Group, 4AD is a British independent record label that was started by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1979. It was initially created to serve as a "testing ground" for parent company Beggars Banque Records. The idea was that new acts would spend at least one year with 4AD, and if they achieved a certain level of succss during that period, they would then "graduate up" to Beggars Banquet. Only one group actually followed that program.

In the mid '80s the label focused mostly on underground Amercian rock acts. These bands would include the likes of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and The Pixies. Since that time, 4AD has evolved to represent a variety of acts from a mixed bag of genres. The current roster includes Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Blood Diamonds, Bon Iver, David Byrne & St. Vincent, Grimes, Purity Ring, SpaceGhostPurrp, The National, and Twin Shadow.’

For example an artist signed to the label is ‘Daughter’ – indie folk band

On the artist section – there is a big picture of the lead singer of the band with information on the band. There is then a section to hear some music through the label website, followed by news regarding the band and then finally their music albums and videos.

Looking at an example of the Bands Videos

Daughter – Still

Even though the video looks professional, you can tell by just the first 20 seconds that it is a low budget video which could be filmed in a day or so. Having said this, a simplistic video for a slow, low tempo song works to ‘Daughter’s advantage. If it was a high budget video it would have too much going on at once and then perhaps loose that sense of realism to it.

The cheap looking video makes it seem more relatable and real. The location as well – Inside someone’s house; relatable – real settings (convention of indie videos)

The lighting used is a cool blue – making the video seem more cold and icy linking to the icy lyrics ‘It’s spiralling down, Biting words like a wolf howling’

Major Record Label Comparison

Virgin

Virgin Records, Ltd. is a record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powelland Tom Newman in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, The Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Lenny Kravitz, dc Talk, The Smashing Pumpkins, Mike Oldfield, Spice Girls and more on their list of artists. 

‘Bastille’ an indie pop/indie rock band are signed to Virgin.  

When visiting Vrigin Record Label’s website the first thing that came up was a huge picture of Bastille and an exclusive performance they had done. 

I select the artist page and the first thing that appears is ‘Bastille’ – clearly a band Virgin are trying to gain recognition for.

The artist page has a link which does not have an artist page for Bastille however takes you directly to their website.

Their Website is very simplistic – with a huge presentation of the car seen in their album cover shown and the bands name. You are then able to visit their social sites through buttons at the top right and navigate around the website viewing photos of the band

Looking at an example of the Bands Videos – Compared to an independent record label

Bastille – Things We Lost In The Fire

The music video is located in Luthuania (looks like a desert) straight away, it seems that video is high budget and very professional. It loses its sense of realism and reality as the location is something not many of Bastille’s audience members can relate too. In the video we see all band members in a car, as well as a hound on top of a car and the same car seen drag racing. The same car is shown in the album cover of the bands album

Compared to the independent video by Daughter, the difference in budget is clearly noticeable. However it seems like having a huge budget video doesn’t always mean having a better video. Due to the realism and relatable factor of Daughter’s video, it comes across as a much better video.

How the Record Label impacts Views?

Being signed to Virgin Records, with vast amount of promotion, and a high budge video Bastille have over 24 million views on Youtube.

With daughter far behind with just over 4 million

Artist/Genre Research

Websites situated around ‘Lana Del Rey’

                                                                                                                                                                 

‘http://lanadelrey.com/’ which seems to be an official artist page for Lana Del Rey, on the website the first thing promoted is her latest album ‘UltraVoilence’ and there are hyperlinks to buy the album from various music downloading websites e.g. iTunes.

Scrolling down the page the next section is the latest Lana Del Rey news allowing fans to see the latest buzz around Lana. However clearly this ‘News’ section is also used as a promotional tool because the first post writes ‘New US shows added’ – Gaining publicity and recognition for her latest concerts and therefore more sales.

Just underneath the news is her latest concert dates and a hyperlink to buy tickets – again another promotional tool used for her website to gain national awareness of her next shows.

Next comes the music which are used as album cover hotspots, if you click the album art it takes u to another page where it has the album info and links to where you can buy them.

Social Sites

Twitter

Lana is very popular with over 4 Million followers.  Her header is promotional to her latest album ultravoilence, letting people know it is out.

Lana tweets ‘YouTube’ links to her videos, sharing with her 4million followers and everyone who has twitter – therefore allowing her to get views on a global scale

Facebook

Lana also has a facebook page with the same twitter header and picture.

She also uses her facebook page as a tool to promote as seen below- promoting an upcoming show

Spotify:

Lana is a verified artist on spotify, where all her albums and songs are avaliable for people to listen to for free of charge – gains new fans browsing the app

Promotional Photos/Album covers – 

The following are the album artworks from Lana’s latest album ‘UltraVoilence’. They belong to apporopriate singles on the album

As you can see all her single covers some how link with each other – they make her seem upset, sad, miserable.

 As an artist Lana Del Rey has built her image to be like this, most her songs are about heartbreak and love. At one point she sings the lyric ‘I wish I was Dead’ – Dark Paradise

Therefore these promotional images/album/single covers work well because they link her to the kind of artist she is – slow/sad love songs.

Her miserable image is so profound now, that when people are upset or heartbroken they say ‘Im in a Lana Del Rey mood’

Lana Del Rey's Vogue Shoot

Here Lana seems so bright and elegant almost the complete opposite to the person fans have come  to know and love. However when looking closely at the picture I still see misery and pain in Lana’s eyes and as a fan, this reminds me that even though it is a bright/sunny picture of Lana, she’s still the Lana Del Rey that we as fans know.

Lana Del Rey currently has 3 albums, and one ‘Paradise Edition Album’ (Special Edition)

If we look at all the font styles used in all the album covers it gives us a sense of the brand and type of artist Lana Del Rey is trying to portray/ come across as.

In all albums Lana’s face dominates the artwork as it is the biggest and first thing you see, however the second is her name. It is always written in block capitals, and is in a big/huge size. As if to show that her name on the album is so big just as her name in celebrity culture and the music industry is so big.

If you look at her debut album ‘Lana Del Rey AKA Lizzy Grant’ the font is not so big however it is still in capitals… Lana’s break through album which got her recognised on a global scale was the ‘Born To Die’ album which clearly shows how her name becomes much bigger and in white colour – stands out against the blue background.

All her album covers give a sense of classiness and posh – however her fist album cover makes her look weird – the sparkly silver dress under the oversized biker jacket, doesn’t work well but has possible connotations of her not showing who she truly is – the silver sparkly dress being hidden by the black jacket.

In all pictures she looks sad and miserable which links to her music being slow and sad.

All her album covers are Mid Shots of Lana however using minimilastic mise en scene – normally just scenery – makes her face stand out, almost showing that she is the important one.

Lewis Watson; Sink or Swim

LEWIS WATSON- SINK OR SWIM


Here the lyrics begin with the artist playing guitar. This makes the performance look authentic and legitimate as we believe the music played is the one created by the actual artist. This hence fits Simon Frith's theory of performance as we see Lewis signing and playing the guitar.

In the next few seconds in the video we see a mid shot of the artist; he's looking into the camera and his gaze seems really honest which connects the audience with the artist. At this point a relationship as well as an understanding is formed. The shot looks like a rough cut which adds to legitimate feeling of honesty- it's as if it a true representation of the artist. This shot is followed by a contrasting long shot which makes the artist look rather small (despite being in the centre) against the vast background.

Once again we see many shots of the artist playing however, this time there's a variety of them. This compliments the proposal made previously. Furthermore, to support this the location used is a natural one which supports the idea of the artists music being natural and self made.










These next couple of shots show the change in the Mise en Scene; the costume and the location. Which agrees with the conventions of music videos having many costume changes to compliment the story/ keep the video interesting. Here we also see a narrative which further agrees with Frith's theory of Narrative and Performance which this video switches between.

The video is in some way illustrating if not amplifying the lyrics as there's a use of water (whether the sea or the pool is used) This especially in the last scenes is put to use as the character jumps into the pool and there's a long pause. We are unaware of whether the artist will 'sink or swim'. This is also a dynamic ending as the rest of the video is rather calm and this very moment is spontaneous and surprising. Before this we see a juxtaposition where the artist is pressing through harsh wind against a mid shot/ close up of the still feather.  

Indie Music Video Analysis

Secondary Audience Research/ Music Video Analysis

This video here is a perfect example of the support indie audiences show. Many decide to show their dedication to this genre of music by creating animated clips or films; like the one above. Here we have a shout of for support to the indie genre; the self made video is a bit 'weird' and 'funky' like the genre they support. It shows the extent that the fan will go to in order to protect their music genre

History Of The Music Video

Music Video Research

Kate Nash - Foundations // Music Video Research

during the lyrics "and you humiliate me , in front of our friends " a stop motion animation is used to show an assortment of toys turning around. This part of the video shows there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals shown therefore allowing this to fit to Goodwin's theory of conventions. This amplifies the lyrics because of the facts that these are human beings but in fact toys which could show that if these toys could react the way humans could then they would od what they did above. Further amplifying the narrative of the song because of the fact that it allows us ( the audience ) to imagine how embarrassing it is to witness two friends arguing.

Another thing I particularly like about this Video is the fact that she is miming the song whilst there are events going on around her , for example , she is in a real-life scenario of playing cards with her so called partner.

"it gives me thrills to wind you up"
here is another part of the video which fits Goodwin's theory of conventions, This once again amplifies the lyrics because of the fact that she is talking about her partner in the song juxtaposed to the wind-up baby. Though it shows the toy getting winded up it could connote how she thinks her partner is being a baby or childish about their arguments or about her winding him up.
The use of toys in the video also creates a very light-hearted mood. Opposed to the songs lyrics which sounds very morbid and depressing.

" you said that i must eat so many lemons , cause i am so bitter" 

what i liked about this part is the use of the metaphor about eating lemons. This illustrates the lyrics very well because eating lemons doesn't make someone bitter but as shown here she literally eats lemons therefore making her bitter as the lyrics state. The use of a time-lapse also creates a very lovely effect and the jump cut creates the sense of the time jump to emphasise the lyrics" so many "

.

"and everytime we fight i know it's not right"
here shows Nash shadowboxing which in a way does illustrate the lyrics but because she is not literally fighting him then this would be an amplification once again ( Goodwin's theory )

the use of the low-angle shot allows the viewers to see the relationship between the two as it allows the audience to see the proximity of the two and here shows their fingers shown alongside the lyrics of  "my fingertips are holding on"

this also shows another very interesting shot from the video now from the opposing angle - a very high angle shot in a staircase. This shows Nash performing the song from the bottom of the staircase which could symbolise how the relationship is slowly falling down as she is shown at the bottom of the stairs.

To show the climax of the narrative we are then presented once again with stop motion animation of different products which were once intertwined but has no separated creating a very depressing feeling because as the audience we realise that she can no longer hold on. I personally really like this idea because it is very simple yet amplifies the lyrics of the song very well and also tells a story.