Research into chosen artist

Introduction.

I decided to choose Example for our artist, this is because of the genre of music he lies into. The type of genre Dance is my favorite music genre in which he creates songs on. I was inspired by Example, because he doesn't take himself to seriously as an artist and he is also a mainstream artist which I like. Another thing that inspired me to use example was for his music videos, he always has fun interesting videos, with party themes, which as inspired me to create a music video similar to this. We decided to use the song 'Stay awake' because the lyrics describe how messed up the current generation are, therefore this allows me to create a music video with party themed scenes which was my intentions.

Artist profile.

Example is Elliot John Gleave's stage name, he was born on 20th June 1982, he is an singer and rapper he signed to the record label Data Records. His reasoning for being called Example is because his initials E.G. means for example. He first found success when he released his second album 'Wont go quietly' it got to number 4 in the UK album charts. In his album he also had two hit singles with 'Wont go quietly' and 'Kickstarts'. His third album 'Playing in the shadows' was then released later on 4th September 2011. The album got to number 1 in the UK album charts with two number 1 hit singles 'Changed the way you kissed me' and 'Stay awake'.

The above table shows that example is clearly popular and successful in the UK as the song 'stay awake' reached number 1 in the UK throughout 3 different UK genres, singles, Indie and Dance. 

Stay awake - Example.

The video that Im looking at is the one that we have chosen to create a music video for which is Example's Stay Awake, it is the second single from his third album. This music video is mainly concept and narrative based, however it also has obvious links between the lyrics and visuals. The target audience for this particular song is teenagers who are interested in the dance genre. The target audience is teenagers because in the video there are several scenes in which there is a party going on in a forest with loads of people dressed in crazy bright colours, which then relate to the teenagers who are watching. The first shot that the audience see is a white background with an object of the letter E, this is related to Example as it is the first letter of his stage name. We then see Example standing next to the object, this then confirms to the audience that by him standing next to the object that it is him and that the E does in fact represent him. At this point the music is very low and all we can herre is 'If we dont' being repeated as a build up, and creates a sense of tension. Then once the music and lyrics are finally kicking in, a close up of Example is shown, its of him singing 'If we dont kill ourselves, we'll be the leaders of a messed up generation'. These particular lyrics are the first ones sung because it sets up the rest of the song, and are the most important lyrics of the song. After this happens a lot of other shots are shown of teenagers who are all very different people appearence and personality wise, they have no expression on their face they are just simply looking at the camera. The next shot is of a person dressed in a rabbit suit running on their own in the forest, as we see this we hear the lyrics 'Did we chase the rabbit into wonderland', this has relationship between the lyrics and the visuals which supports Goodwins theory.

As the song just gets going and the beat kicks in, there is a person in a rabbit hat again, however this time the 'rabbit' is dancing and having eye contact with the samera and running towards a party full of teenagers in the forest. There is also a link between the music and the visuals as when there is a certain noise in the music, the shot turns into a shot of the party and then the shot of Example singing. This gives the effect of the audience being impressed, that the music video flows well together.

In the next shots there are a lot of shots shown of teenagers who look rebellious, through their looks for example they have peircings tattoos, and are hardly wearing a lot of clothings. This reflects the lyrics which is Example saying that the younger generation has messed up and things are being taken too far, drinking, taking drugs and partying.

In the rest of the video there are just more shots of Example singing the lyrics to the camera, and then the shots reverse to the teenagers dancing in different locations, at this point they are dressed in fancy dress and crazy clothes, this makes the party atmosphere, which then relates to the target audience. During the middle of the song and towards when it is coming to the end, the speed of the shots slow down and is in slow motion as well, Example jumps in the air as this happens a group of teenagers dance with eachother with coloured powder in their hands. The beat then drops and the footage pace goes back to how it was before at the normal speed, the teenagers then throw the coloured powder at eachother, this creates a powerful shot which makes it loo admirable and makes you want to be there.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Analysis of a magazine advert - Similar artist

 

The similar artist whos magazine advert I have chosen to analyse is Calvin Harris. This advert gives an interesting representation of the artist, its connotes the idea of him being fun this can be shown throughout the poster. However as the audience we can tell that his genre of music is automatically dance. The colours used in the advert help shown different connotations, for example the colour scheme is yellow and black which is similar to Example's. The yellow connotes the idea of happiness and fun which reflects his music genre which is dance and then the black connotes the idea of seriousness, so here we get the idea that even though Calvin Harris music is fun and is for everyone to enjoy and dance to, he is a serious artist and has a meaning to his songs. There is a contrast in colour the page is split into two halves, half of the top background is yellow and the bottom is black, this could connote the equality; the yellow he is a fun artist and the black he is an serious artist.

The image of calvin harris is drawn as a sketch and he is wearing pink glasses, they stand out throughout the whole of the advert the audience are instantly drawn to them, the colour pink connotes gentleness and uncontional love, this could mean that he has a passion for his music, and they chose this to stand out the most so that the audience know this is the most important part to him.

 

The layout of the advert is basic and flows well, at the top of the page in bold and black is text that says 'FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 11 2009' this is put at the top of the page and stand out against the yellow due to its importance. Below is the image of calvin harris and below that is his name. Following on from that it says who will be supporting him at this gig, and below this in white is all of the details of the gig that he will be performing.

 

The choice of image is of Calvin Harris and is in black and white, it looks as if he has been sketched and contains a lot of shadowing. On this advert this is a lot of text at the bottom of the page where it explains the details of the concert, even though there seems to be a lot going on at the bottom it is simple text and all makes sense so that pretty much anyone can read it. The style of language as I have already mentioned is basic and is easy to read.

 

This magazine advert promotes the artist in a positive and professional way and as a dance artist. It also promotes the music genre postivley and in a good light and it is obvious that this magazine advert it so for a dance artist who is situated in the dance genre. It attracts the target audience with its appereance, by focusing on colour and layout. As I mentioned earlier all of the colours used reflect the dance genre, and the pink sunglasses stand out over the rest of the magazine advert therefore it promotes it well and the target audience are instantly attracted to it.

 

 

Analysis of magazine advert - Example

Our artist; Examples tour date poster advert gives a simple representation of the artist, the poster creates the image of Example being simple minded, and the simplicity helps show that he has a definite music genre. The connotations of this advert which is promoting the artists tour dates, is that example's face is half in a shadow and half in the light this could connote two sides to a person, but also his album is calling playing in the shadows, which the right hand side of the face connotes as half of his face is in the shadow. The black and white effect on Examples faces could connote the idea of day and night, and partyin all day through the night which, this reflects on his music genre which is dance. In the right top hand corner there is a banner placed horizontally across the page saying 'LEEDS DATE ADDED', this is placed in red so that it stands out as it is an important peice of information. Below the image of example there is his name written in black placed on a yellow rectangle background, the use of the colour yellow connotes ideas of happiness and long lasting. The black is used against the yellow so that his name stands across the rest of the page. Below Example's name, there is a peice of text saying 'WRETCH 32' this is the name of the artist in which will be supporting Example on his tour. Below all of this is the tour dates which are all written in yellow apart from the name of the venue's this is done on purpose so that the yellow stands out against the black background and anyone looking at it are instantly drawn to this section and then are persuaded to perhaps buy tickets. The colour red is used again in a rectangle box which at the top says 'EXTRA DATE ON SALE FRIDAY 4 NOVEMBER 9am' this is also done on purpose as I previously mentioned, red is used so that it stands out and the reader will know that this is important information.

This tour date magazine advert, connotes Example as a serious dance/R&B artist, this is shown with the colours;yellow, black and white. The yellow connotes his fun and happy side, however the black and white connote the idea that he is a serious artist about his music and that it does have meaning to it. The design and layout of the poster is simple and not confusing. It has an image at the top, followed by the artists name and then the tour dates. The choice of image is a black and white image where half of the artists face is in black and the other half back and white, as I previously mentioned this is done to represent the idea of day and night and partying through the day and night which represents and reflects the music genre he produces music for/into. When it comes down to typography there is a lot of text on this advert, this is due to it being for his tour dates so there needs to be a lot of information on there. The style of language is simple and easy to read due to the layout of the page and the colouring. This advert promotes the artist as it has his picture and name on there it promotes him as a dance act. It promotes the music genre as it has clear connotations throughout which reflect the dance music genre. This magazine advert attracts the target audience as it clearly looks like a dance music genres advert as even though there is little use of colour the things that should be seen for example his name are used in a bright yellow colour.

Summary.

Looking at two magazine adverts including the artist Im using and the similar artist, has helped me massivley to prepare me for making my own one, and has given me a lot of ideas. Both of the magazine adverts include a main image of the artist, this is so that the audience know who the advert is based around. I now know that what you see on a magazine advert is very important as if everything looks all over the place, doesnt look professional and has the wrong colour text and font then its not going to attract anyone or the target audience. To finish off the main headings are also important as they have to be big enough and clear enough for the audience to see. From the research that I have made I have many inspiratons, starting with the way the magazien advert is layed out, I like the way that half of his facein black and the rest is in white, this inspires me as behind it has a deepful meaning I would like to create something like this in my own magazine advert for my own artist.

Analysis of a digipak

I have chosen to analyse David Guetta's digipak for his album 'one more love'.  This digipak represents David Guetta well and his music genre dance, this is done by the use of colour and images used. The artist is shown on the front of the digipak wearing sunglasses in black and white, the inside cover is bright colours as well as the back which states the songs that are on the album. 

This digipak is promoting David Guetta as an artist and his music that he has created, this is done by the image being used of him on the front cover. The bright colours help represent the genre of dance and being fun. The digipak promotes David's songs that have been released by this album they are listed on the back of the digipak. The colours that are used on the digipak look as if they have been splattered on by paint, this can connote the idea of fun and freedom which promotes him and the genre of music that he produces. The idea of the front cover being made in a black and white effect connotes David Guetta as being simple and straight forward and that what you see is what you get. The use of the effect black and white can also connote the idea of day and night, which goes well with David Guettas music genre dance to show the idea of a party going on all through the day and the night. On the front there is also the use of the colour gold, this connotes the idea of luxury and money which represents David Guetta in that way too. On the front cover of the page there is gold spray paint which would connotes luxury. The idea that the background of the digipak is white connotes the idea of posotivity and innocence. All of the colours that are used on David Guettas digipak connote posotivity and happiness, which is what he is about as an artist his songs are there for people to enjoy and to have a good time with.

The design layout, is where things are placed on each page and why they have been put there. On the first page of the digipak it is just an image of David in a black and white effect, in the top right hand corner his name is written in white in a basic font. Below this the album title is partly written in white apart from the words 'one' and 'love' which both automatically stand out together as one love, which could be David Guetta as an artist trying to get across something to his audience about having one love, and thats what the songs in his album are about. The back page, has a white background with abstract stripes over this. On top of this are all of the songs included on this album they are written in the colours black and gold. The inside page is very blank and doesnt include an image of the artist it just has the abstract colours splashed over the white background, however this is effective as it connotes the idea of fun and dancing and having a good time.

On this Digipak he David only uses one image throughout, which is himself on the front in black and white, this is extremely different to the rest of the digipak, as the rest is bright, bold and colourful. As I mentioned early David Guetta is in a black and white effect on the front cover as it connotes the idea of day and night, which represents his music genre dance, it portrays the idea of partying all day and night. The choice of the image of David is a close up of his face, he is wearing sunglasses which connotes the idea of being famous and exclusive, which relates to his music well.

When it comes to typography, there isnt really a lot of text in this digipak, the main text is seen on the front and the very back cover.On the front the text is bold and easy to read and there isnt really a lot of it. His name is placed in the top right hand corner, the text is in white and gold which constrasts against the black background. Its hard to analyse the style of language chosen as there isnt a lot of text on this digipak, however what I can tell is that the language is simple and clear to understand.

It promotes the music genre well as it presents it in a fun and exciting way, with the use of colours and simplicity. The target audience are attracted to this as its what they are interested in, people who listen to dance music are outgoing people therefore the random colours on the digipak relate to them and they will be instantly attracted to it.

Summary

In my opinion I like this particular digipak, my favorite part about it is that the front cover is plain and simple and then the rest of the digipak is bright and bold, I think this is interesting because the black and white cover against the back and the inside covers stands out and makes the black and white stand out when usually black and white fades. When I create my own Digipak I will be sticking to a colour scheme throughout the digipak so that the audience have a strong indication of what genre the artist is for. I will also make sure that my digipak doesnt have a lot of text, apart from the back cover where the artists songs are placed. I will make sure that the text and the style of the language is easy to see and read. This digipak has given me many inspirations when creating my own digipak, mainly looking at the contrast in colours, the way that the front page is kept to basic black, white and gold and then the rest of the digipak is colourful, this interests me and inspires me to create soemthign liek thsif or my own artist.

Analysis of Example Lyrics - Stay Awake

'If we don't kill ourselves we'll be the leaders of a messed up generation.

If we don't kid ourselves will they believe us if we tell them the reasons why

Did we take it too far, take it too far

Did we chase the rabbit into wonderland

Lose a hundred grand, will they understand

It was all to stay awake for the longest

March on, always after us

Lost troops, half the class of us

You man ain't seen the last of us

Stick around, yeah like elastoplast

Not half mast, raise the flagkick the sand,

To let you know that we're coming and we're nasty man.

Don't need sleeping beauty,

No, it's what you do to me

Come midnight and daybreak,

yes please gotta find me a namesake,

we got faith but don't need bibles

take the micheal, hear my recital

i hold the title, quite vital

we get high on the opposite of nital

It was all to stay awake for the longest,

and, it was wrong

it was wrong, but it felt so right

See you at the finish line,

See you at the finish line

If you got the heart to join us
If we don't kill ourselves we'll be the leaders of a messed up generation.

If we don't kid ourselves will they believe us if we tell them the reasons why

Did we take it too far, take it too far

Did we chase the rabbit into wonderland

Lose a hundred grand, will they understand

It was all to stay awake for the longest

March on, always after us

Lost troops, half the class of us

You man ain't seen the last of us

Stick around, yeah like elastoplast

Not half mast, raise the flagkick the sand,

To let you know that we're coming and we're nasty man.

Don't need sleeping beauty,

No, it's what you do to me

Come midnight and daybreak,

yes please gotta find me a namesake,

we got faith but, don't need bibles

take the micheal, hear my recital

i hold the title, quite vital

we get high on the opposite of nital

We just grow, if it's late

Then we'll show, we don't wait

We just grow, if you hate

we don't show, we don't wait

We just grow, if it's late

Then we'll show, we don't wait

We just grow

If we don't kill ourselves we'll be the leaders of a messed up generation.

If we don't kid ourselves will they believe us if we tell them the reasons why

Did we take it too far, take it too far

Did we chase the rabbit into wonderland

Lose a hundred grand, will they understand

It was all to stay awake for the longest'

Above are the lyrics to Example's song Stay Awake, this is the song that we have chosen to use for our music video. I believe that Examples lyrics in this song are bout how our generation has changed compared to how it used to be and that if we dont change or end our lives now then we will be come the leaders of the next generation in which we will me even more messed up. This can be seen in lyrics 'If we dont kill ourselves we'll be the leaders of a messed up generation'. Further on in the song Example starts to explain whats caused the messed up generation, I think he says that its down to the government, drugs and alchoal abuse. He thinks that everything has been taken too far 'take it too far, did we chase the rabbit into wonderland?' the use of the world wonderland suggests the idea of us living in this crazy world where the things that should be important arent.  As a group we have decided that we want the visuals of our music video to be able to relate with Example's Stay Awake lyrics, we believe that this will help the audience understand the song better as there is clearly an important message in this song. In our music video we want to have a main artist who would sing the lyrics to the song like Example does in his, in most of our video. In other parts of the music video we want to have teenagers as this will represent the messed up generation, which we see in Examples lyrics. Our editing will be shown in the visuals as well when the beat is slow then the editing will be as well and when the beat starts to pick up, and starts getting quick then so will the editing. The style of our music video will be narrative and performance based as the lyrics need to meet the visuals therefore we need to make it as performance based as we possibly can.

 

Target Audience Research - Evaluation - Sub culture theory

What is the purpose of a target audience?

Having a target audience is very important, if you don't have a target audience then you cant guarantee that your product will be successful in this case music videos. A target audience is a specific group of people that are part of a market which a product (music video) is aimed at. The purpose of having a target audience is so that we as a group can make our music video, based on what a certain group of individuals want to see. Without this target audience we wont know what we actually need to include in order to reach out to a certain group of people.

What types of research did you carry out and why?

We carried out two different types of research, the first one that we did was a questionnaire. Our reasoning for getting people to fill in the questionnaires is so that we can see what our target audience want to see in a video, therefore we can make sure that our music video is exactly what the target audience want to see and will result in them being interested in it and watching it. The second type of research that my group completed is the vox pop interviews, we decided to interview people by recording them, is because they can say a lot more than what they can through the questionnaire and by recording we can watch it back and analyse what it is that we need to include. They are limited to what they can say through a questionnaire as, it is time consuming to write a lot on the questionnaire, to add to this there is also not enough room. Therefore resulting in vox pop interviews gives the interviewees a chance to say more.

How many people did you survey and why?

Our group interviewed 40 people but we had to split it up therefore I surveyed 13 people between my group, the other two people in my group surveyed 13 people as well, we distributed the questionnaire by recording peoples answers. We decided to split the surveys so that we could split the responsibility. We decided to interview 40 people because we wanted a collective response and we thought this was the correct amount for this.

Were the vox pops successful and how it will help you with planning your music video?

I think that the vox pop interviews were really successful, this is because now as a group we know what to include in our music video to ensure that we reach out to our target audience, who we are aiming the music video at. The vox pop interviews will certainly help us when it comes to planning our music video. This is because we have all of the opinions of what our target audience want to see, now we just have to make sure that we include everything they say. This means that we need to make a list of all of the things that they want to see, and see if we can do this. Its extremely important that we do this so that we are completely sure that we are including what our target audience want to see, because without doing this, the music video wont be successful as it wont reach what target audience we have said it will.

  Pick 3 different questions and discuss the results that you received. Explain how your results will assist you and your group with planning the music video.

One of our questions we asked in the vox pop interviews and on the questionmusic video to create so that it matches our target audience. The response that we received helped us to decide this, we decided that we are going to create a concept based music video, with some narrative towards it. Another question that we asked was 'What's your favorite music genre?', we decided that this was an important question to ask because we need to make sure that we are actually creating a music video for the target audience who like the music that the artist from the music video created, otherwise we wont have the target audience watching the video. The results helped us as the audience answered with dance or pop, Example relates to both of these music genres, so this helped us confirm that we will be creating a music video for Example - Stay awake.naire was 'Do you like example?'. First of all our reasoning for asking this question is because it was an artist who we wanted to involve our music around and choose one of his songs for our music video, however we did have to bear in mind that we may have to change it if the audience didn't like him. We received positive results and the ones that we hoped for , in order for us for it to be strongly considered to use Example for our music video. Therefore this helped our group massively in preparation for planning our music video. Another question that we asked was 'Do you prefer narrative, performance or concept based music videos?'. First of all our reasoning for asking this question is because we wanted to know what type of video our target audience liked, so that we can then decide what type of

 Were there any answers that you had to reconsider and why?

Yes, one of the questions that we asked was 'What do you expect to see in a music video', one of the answers that we received was performance, with our idea, music genre and artist we arent able to do this, so we had to weigh out the situation and see how many people wanted the performance based, and it was a very small amount that did, so we decided to carry on with the concept and narrative based music video, as only a small amount of the target audience would be affected.

Sub culture theory.

Sub culture theory is a group of people who are together through their tastes, this can be down to anything such as music, furniture or even clothes. I'm going to be talking about it in respect of music. It can be known as a group of people who are placed outside of the mainstream, these are the type of people who could be known as going against whats current and popular. I looked at a theorist called Grant McCracken, who believed that the post modern world is full of different things dynaism, diversites and creativity. He also says that as an audience we look at different values and ideologies. In this case it would be wrong for us to say that all of the sub cultures come from one initial culture.

Another theory that I looked at was CCCS. This theory goes completely against McCracken's, this is because it states that all sub cultures come from one culture, and that all of the different sub cultures are made because of the mainstream. Overall he says that without the mainstream there wouldnt be any subcultures because it would of come from itself and not the mainstream. However people argue that this theory is out of date because now the word mainstream has a different meaning to what it used to have. The mainstream is constantly changing, it has also been said that there is not even a mainstream anymore and that there are just lots of streams.

The last theory I looked at was Hebdige's theory, he believes that even though some people thing the subcultures appear to be different to the mainstream and others , but actually they are all the same. He believes that there are no subculture theorys that everything is in the mainstream, theyre are just differnent parts which make up the mainstream.

However for the genre of music that I have chosen that my music video will be is dance. The theory that I have chosen to base my music video on his Hebdige's because he sayts that all the different cultures are brought together to make up the mainstream. My main reasonings for this is because the genre that my music song is, is Dance in which is noticbily in the mainstream, and it is an important genre in which makes up the mainstream. I have chosen the artist Example, who fits into the music catagory dance, in which makes up the mainstream just like Hebdige believes.











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Copyright

Copyright is a law that was bought in by the government, this gives the person or group who created the piece of work legal rights, however this is usually only for a certain amount of time. It gives the creator the right to be credited and named for what they have made, this is done so that it can be decided who is allowed to legally perform that piece of work, who will receive the financial makings from the work. Before we could start planning our music vido to 'Stay Awake' by Example, we had to get copyright permission from his record label which is Ministry of Sound. The reasoning behind all of this is so that when we create our music video it is legal and to also let the record label know that our music video is for our education. If we was to create the music video without getting any permission for using the song, then this would be illegal and we could be fined for this. In order for this not to happen it is important that we get copyright permisison so that it is legal when we do create our music video.

In order for my group and I to get permission we had to find out which record label Example isi signed to, so that we can get in touch with them. Once we researched we found out that it was Ministry of sound. After this we had to found out Ministry of Sounds contact details, so that we could either phone them or email them asking them whether we was able to use Example's song Stay Awake for our A level media studies music group. We also had to say that if we were given the copyright permission that we would give credit to them and Example in it.

Below is the email that we sent to The Ministry Of Sound:

Dear Copyright Holder,

We are A-Level students and we are writing to request your permission to use one of the latest tracks by Example. The track we wish to use is Stay Awake.

With your permission, this task would be used in our current A-Level Media Studies project, which involves creating a music video to a popular music track, as well as producing an album and a magazine advert for the artist.

If we received your permission, this track would ONLY be used in an educational context and be viewed by our media class, our teacher and the OCR exam board moderator. It would not be realised to a large audience.

The artist and your company would of course be fully recognised throughout pre-production and the final video itself. A copyright notice with wording supplied by you can be included in the records of the project. If this is required, please send full details.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Carrie Dwyer

Nicole Nancholas

Georgia Wetherill

 

 

Censorship

Do you think music videos should be censored?

Censorship of music is when the restricting of music is put into work. It can be chosen to be censored due to moral, political, military of religious issues. Most of the time the government will decide the legal side of a piece of music and how it appears in a certain way. Censorship can be when the lyrics of a song are changed or completely taken out of the song this is also known as radio edit. The cover artwork can also be restricted to what can be shown on them. Some artists have even been banned from being on the radio, or music stations on the television, these can be for any reasons explicit language or sexual visuals. Ofcom has many responsibilities as a company, it was set up in 2003 so that they could sensor songs. This is all done to protect certain individuals from watching or listening anything thats classed as unsuitable. Radio stations, for example; Radio 1 and Kiss have a lot of respect for of com and follow the rules of censorship, these particular radio stations use it lot as they play the current songs in the chart, which usually will contain some swearing or unuitable language. In this situation the radio stations usually play a radio edited version of the song or they use a bleeper and blank out any words that they dont want played.

There are many artists that are admired and frowned upon for creating what they class as unsuitable music,  one of the most famous ones is Eminem. This is because in all of his songs he has swear words, inappropriate and violent language such as one of his songs, 'You were supposed to love me Now bleed! b**ch bleed!'. This is Eminem talking about a beating up women. Not only does it contain swear words but also violence such as his song 3am which include lyrics such as 'And make sure I got all of it, wake up naked at McDonald's with blood all over me dead bodies behind the counter, s**t guess I must've just blacked out again, not again'. As an artist Eminem has always been against censorship, not only for himself but for other artists too as he believes that artists should be able to express themselves through their lyrics without them being cut off. He particulary argues that his lyrics are about his past life and events that are important to him so that it actually has meaning to it. Eminem says that his music is offensive to certain individuals whether they be adults, or even children as he says that they will learn about the swear words and violence one day, whether they listen to his music or not. People have said that Eminems fans are so influenced by Eminem that they become violent and commit crimes, however Eminem argues that if any individual is that wrong in the head or unstable then they are going to do it any way regardless or whether they listen to his songs.

A large amount of parents believe that Eminems songs should be censored due to their children hearing these lyrics and even being influenced by what he does in his music videos and what is heard and described in his songs. Many of his lyrics are seen to be violent and influential on children, with lyrics such as 'It's 3 A.M in the morning, put my key in the dorr and bodies laying all over the floor and I dont remember how they got there but I guess I must've killed 'em (Killed 'em)', Here the parents argue that this will influence their children to go and be violent as they look up to Eminem.

Looking at Eminem's music videos, certain music channels, for example MTV will hardly play his music videos during the day time. This is because MTV is such a huge and well known music channel that his has a wide audience and a lot of viewers, therefore they cant play inappropriate music videos for an audience that would be watching during the day which in cases will be younger people and wouldnt be suitable for people of all ages. Due to this they wont play any of Eminem's music video which contain violence, one of these is 3 A.M. shows an image of Eminem unwrapping his hand out of a bandage with a huge deep cut on it, and then followed by an image of a man standing with a knife and blood over all of his hands and the knife. This is why some of his videos arent shown in the day as this can be seen to be influential towards his fans, MTV decided to not show the video at all as they didnt want to lose any viewers as they felt that it was too inappropriate.

A music channel is extremely similar to a Radio station with the idea of censorship. Both of them use censorship when it comes down to lyrics. However the only difference is with music videos on a music channel is that they may contain inappropraite images for children or younger children to watch. A perfect example is Rihanna's S&M as her music video was banned by music channels including one of the most known ones MTV, this is because of the sexual explicit viewing that was in the music video, however to avoid her video not being played at all Rihanna relesase a edited version of the music video so that it is suitable to watch by all viewers.

On the other hand, there are other music channels that support Eminem and do play his music videos and have different views on censorship. One of the music channels that have a different view is Channel AKA. The reason for them for having a different view is because they are a niche channel nd have a niche audience who all like the same artists. Channel AKA is an R&B/rap music channel therefore Eminem fits into the catagory of what the viewers want to see which is Eminems music. Therefore Channel AKA wont want to censor any of his lyrics.



Its hard for radio stations and music channels to choose what parts to censor or whats ok to not censor, this is because they have to protect themselves and make sure what they do is right for their channel or radio station, they have to consider their target audience and what they want to see/hear. If they make the wrong decision for their target audience then it could cost the brand a lot, which could start off with losing viewers and building a negative and bad reputation. In our class we had a debate about censorship with Eminem, and whether we thought it was right or not right. We looked at different peoples opinions including parents. All parents will have a different opinion on censorship of Eminem's songs. Therefore parents that are against censorship of music videos and lyrics would argue that they dont mind whether its censored or not, as they believe that they are in charge of their children and can control what they watch, if the child is watching something that the parent finds inappropriate then they can just turn it off. There are also some opinions that say there shouldnt be so much censorship used on songs, as they are only lyrics and wont affect a child as they wont have any understanding for it.

However there are some parents that are for censorship, this is because they believe that their children are going to find out about swear words and violence regardless of whether they listen to a song on the radio or watch a music video on a music channel. Therefore if the songs already censored then as parents they dont have to worry nearly as much as they would do. Some parents wont want their children watching music videos that contain violence and swear words or inappropriate images as it could influence them to start doing these things, this can become a problem when the child looks up to the artist as a role model.

There are many other artists who are contreversial in the music industry, another example is Miley Cyrus. Miley first became famous through Disney Channel in which she acted in the programme Hannah Montana and sung songs under that persona. At this point in Mileys life she had a y

young audience of girls from the ages from 8 upwards who looked up to Miley/Hannah Montana and want to be like her. On the programme Hannah Montana, Miley acted as her and sung pop songs that were about being a young teenager, and fluffy girly songs, which didnt have any meaning towards them. Therefore parents would if anything encourage their children to watch this programme and didnt mine them being influenced by Miley Cyrus.

As Miley Cyrus started to get older, she decided to stop Hannah Montana as she was growing out of it and wasnt a young girl anymore. The programme ended in 2011, Miley then started to create her own music that as an artist she wanted to create and perform. The music that she started to create was more for her age group as a 19 year old. The problem for parents was that with the change in her choice of music she wanted to perform, her image changed with that. A particular music video which changed peoples views on Miley and saw a very Different Miley to what was seen in the past when she acted in Hannah Montana, this is 'Cant be Tamed'. This music video shows Miley cyrus as a sexual object as she isnt wearng a lot of clothing, she has leather shoes and dances provactivley. This is the reasoning that some of her most recent videos have been censored to only be shown after the watershed time. It is understandable that the change in Miley Cyrus's image has angered parents as their children are her fans still, and want to be like her and as her image changed, they still want to be like her. Parents dont want their children to look up to her and start dressing like her.

Overall I believe and understand that censorship is very important to certain individuals, therefore personally I think that all radio and music station that have a wide audience and have their reputation to think about, they should censor any inappropriate language used by using a bleeper over the lyric. I also believe that if a music video has inappropriate images and has been censored then it should be shown after the watershed. Following this on, in my music video that I'm going to be creating I will follow the censorship law, I wont be using any violence or any inappropriate images in the music video and I wont be including any inappropriate language or swear words. For my music video I will make sure that I respect censorship and make the music video suitable for my target audience.

Major record labels/Parent companies

 Major record labels.

Major record labels are big companies that are situated within the music industry, some of them even own their own record labels that are smaller. The current major labels in the UK are EMI, group, Sony music entertainment, Warner music group and Universal music group. Most major record labels have sub labels which means that the major label own the smaller record companies, they are managed and controlled by the major label but they just have their own name.

EMI group.

EMI group have managed and looked after plenty of different artists such as; Lily Allen, The beatles, Coldplay, David Guetta, Katy Perry and Pink Floyd. The label was created in 1930. EMI manage other small record labels such as; Angel, Astralwerks, Blue note, Capitol, Capitol Latin, Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI records, EMI Records Nashville, Manhattan, Parlophone, Virgin Classics and Virgin Records. Virgin records manage artists such as Janet Jackson, Lenny Kravitz and Keith Richards.

Warner Music Group.

Warner Music Group have managed and manage artists such as; Led Zeppelin, Estelle, Cody Simpson and Michael Buble. Warner music group has a wide audience as it has a variety of different artists and bands. Warner Music   Group own subsidiary record labels such as; Roadrunner records, Asylum and Reprise Records. Roadrunner Records manage artists such as; Slash, Lenny Kravitz and Slipknot.

Sony Music Entertainment.

Sony music entertainment look after plenty of different bands and artists such as; Labrinth, Usher, Rita Ora and Michael Jackson. Sony Music Entertainment have there own subsidiary record labels such as Epic records who manage artists such as; The script, Paloma Faith and Ciara. Another sub label of theirs is Columbia records, who manage artists The vaccines and Calvin Harris.

Universal Music Group.

Universal Music Group is extremely popular and has managed bands such as Rod Stewart, Akon and Alex Clare. Universal Music Group have sub labels that they own, they all have different names some of them are; The island def jam music group who manage artists such as; Justin Bieber, The killers, Ne-Yo and Kanye West. Another sub label that Universal Music Group own is Republic Records they manage artists such as; Owl city, Florence and the machine and Enrique Iglesias.

Independent record labels.

Independent record labels are labels that are much smaller than the major record labels that are around. However it is still possible that they can be successful and make a lot of money. These types of record labels (Independant) usually have artists signed to them who are more unique, rather than the mainstream artists who are usually signed to major record labels.

XL Recordings

XL Recordings are an extremely successful independant music record label, they first started in 1989. They have the likes of Adele, The XX and Vampire weekend signed to their label. It is a record label that signs artists from a variety of different music genres. 

Rough Trade.

Rough Trade is probably one of the most successful independant record labels around, it first came about in 1978. the label became bankrupt in 1991, but then re opened in 2000 and ever since have manages bands and artists such as; Arcade Fire, The Libertines and The Mystery Jets. 

Factory Records.

Factory Records started in 1978 and has managed a lot of artists, and has been successful throughout. The first song released from the label was from the band Joy Divisions - Unknown Pleasures, the record label also managed bands such as Happy Mondays, Joy Divisions and Northside.

Domino Records.

Dominos Records was created in 1993 and has been successful worldwide. They manage artists and bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand and Alex Turner. 

1. Is it right from a music point of view as an industry point of view that 4 companies dominate the music industry?

I think that there are both advantages and disadvantages to 4 companies dominating the music industry, an advantage could be that those 4 companies are extremely well experienced in finding what the music industry is looking for e.g. talent, and also looking for where there is a gap in the music industry market and being able to go out and sign artists that fit that well. Some people could argue that, the 4 main music record label companies all sign artists that produce mainstream songs, however each music label that dominates the industry have sub sidary labels catering for different music genres. Overall I think that is right that the 4 companies dominate the music industry because, then the music industry is safe and reduces the risk of it going bust.

2. What affect do you think this has on the industry?

I think it has a negative affect on the independent record labels that exist, and record labels that are trying to compete with the 4 dominating music record labels, as it makes it extremely difficult to become one due to the artists that are signed to the companies.