Research into an aspect of the music industry

The aspect of the music industry I have chosen to research into is music festivals. Music festivals have become a huge part of the industry, each summer music festivals seem to grow in both size and popularity. Today you can judge an artist or bands success by how large their name is written in a festival line up, and festivals are a big deal for the music industry as a whole. Just within the UK there are hundreds of music festivals including names such as Glastonburry, Reading & Leeds, V festival, Boomtown, Latitude, NASS, Hop Farm, Secret Garden, Wilderness etc etc As a regular festival goer from a young age I have been lucky enough to experience this vast if somewhat mad industry and have visited a range of music festivals. I have chosen two contrasting music orientated festivals to study in depth: Glastonburry festival and Latitude festival. These two festivals differ greatly in both size, audience and content- I have also been attending both for many years so I am able to talk first hand of figures and my own experiences.

 Audience
Latitude offers a weekend ticket, a weekend family ticket, an accompanied teen ticket, a child ticket and various campervan/caravan combination tickets. This shows that the audiance for Latitude is family orientated as the festival caters well to a familys needs with a specific area for children to avoid disturbances. The audiance for latitude are also on average of a good yearly income as ticket prices for a family weekend ticket are quite pricey at £182.50- keeping in mind that Latitude is a very small festival. The festival however as stated on the website is "more than just a music festival". Latitude attracts a wider audiance and possibly older audiance of intellectuals with its literary tent and comedy arena which are a large feature of the festival. The childrens area for Latitude is also a big feature and attraction for families.


Performance

The ratio of british bands to foreign is mixed within the latitude playlist. The headliners for 2013 were Bloc party who are British, Kraftwerk who are German and Foals who are English. English or British artists who also featured at the Latitude festival include Local Natives, The Maccabees, Hot Chip, James Blake, Alt J, Disclosure and Rudimental. This shows that Latitude has focused on showing mainly British bands as it is a British festival. However artists such as Grizzly Bear, Cat Power, yeah yeah yeahs and Beach House are all from the USA which proves to be the second most popular region of source.

The representation of gender in the line up is heavily leniant to the male gender, with seven out of eleven artists in the headliners being entirely consisted of males. I doubt this was done intentionally but it does reflect the ratio of male to female artists in this aspect of the music industry as a whole.

Audience

 The tickets avaliable for Glastonbury only come in one format. Everyone must pay the same amount, under 13s go free but all others are charged. This shows that Glastonbury's audience is not aimed at families as their is no offer of a secluded quieter area for children and there are no discounted tickets. However Glastonbury festival is as a whole allot larger than the tiny Latitude, so I must take into account the scale on which these tickets are being sold. Glastonbury's audience are mainly young people in their twenties, however there are many people of all ages attending this giant festival. This shows that Glastonbury offers a wide range of attractions that appeal to all ages. Glastonbury is a "festival of contemporary performing arts" and allthough it is most famed for it's music which it bases around, there are also many, many other attractions such as theatre, circus, comedy etc.
 Peformance
There is such a large line up for Glastonbury festival it is hard to analyse the perfomance and ratio of one artist type to another. However I will analyse the headliners instead and try to conduct some idea of the perfomances. The ratio of British artists to foreign is also mixed within the Glastonbury playlist. The main headliners of the nights were The Arctic Monkeys who are English, The Rolling Stones who are English and Mumford and Sons who are also English.This shows that Glastonbury is prodominintley a Brtish festival and stays true to it's English roots. English or Birtish artists who also featured in the Glastobury line up include; Portishead, Chase & Status, Dizee Rascal, Primal Scream, The Vaccines, Two Door Cinema Club, Foals, Enter Shikari, Alt-J, Jake Bugg and Ben Howard. However bands such as Public Enemy, Vampire Weekend, Seasick Steve and Major Lazer also featured on the main stages and are all descending from the USA. Despite this it is clear that the majority of artists featured at Glastonbury festival are from Britain, making it a truly British festival. The representation of gender is mostly equally distributed between artists performing here but there is such a wide variety and great number it is hard to tell. No gender sticks out as being a majority within the festival.

Contrast
Whilst contrasting and comparing these two festivals I have been able to get an indepth knowledge of this very influencial and popular aspect of the music industry. Whether the festival be small and family orientated or vast and youth targeted it still proves a hit with a wide variety of audiances. This makes it a powerful tool and aspect within the industry.


 

Music Video Analysis- Wood Location

Music Video Analysis- Beach Location

One of my ideas for location has been the beach. I like the idea of setting a video on a vast open space with the stripes of colour a beach provides. To research music videos that have used this location effectively I have completed a detailed analysis of the video "Yellow" by Coldplay.

Coldplay analysis from AmazonRose

Digipak Analysis 1

What is a digipak?
A digipak is a CD packaging style often used for singles or special editions of CD albums. Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book style) paperboard or card stock binding with one or more trays inside capable of holding a CD.
Digipaks are commonly used throughout the modern music industry.

Here is an analysis of a Crystal Fighters Digipak

This is the Digipak for the album "Star of Love" by the acoustic/indie band Crystal Fighters. The front cover pictured here shows the album artwork for the band. They have used either illustration or digital illustration to create a fantasy scene consisting of three scare crow like figures amongst a rural setting. This creates a mysterious fantasy theme to the album, the viewer is already intrigued by the strangeness of the artwork, attracting them to the CD.  The font of the band name is in a curling, authentic looking style with a multitude of colours. This suggests age and also again fantasy. This mystical world image is enforced by the multi coloured sky.

The inside cover depicts another illustrated image of sunlight streaming through an overgrown window. This image again represents a fantasy world that is taking over thee norm. I feel these images suit the sound of Crystal Fighters which is somewhat unconventional. The right fold over shows a scarecrow character up close as well as a thank you message again in the authentic font that looks aged and mystical.

The CD itself continues with the colour theme and fantasy artwork. The colour scheme throughout this digipak is mainly of pink, yellow, brown and green, with hints of blue and red. This colourful combination and the use of the sun presents a very happy image that is associated with nature and the outdoors.

 The back cover is left plainer than the rest of the digipak. It includes the track listing running down the middle against a soft coloured pink, yellow and blue background that echoes a setting/rising sun in the sky.  There are no photographic images of the band on any of the digipak artwork. This shows that the band are successful/well known enough to be able to only provide the name and be recognised. However it also shows the slightly alternate nature of the band and their music which helps them to stand out from the crowd within their genre. The themes of fantasy, dreams, nature, sunlight and the rural countryside are prominent here.

Textual Analysis of Music Video- Falling by HAIM

I have chosen to analyse section 0.00- 0.44 of the music video for HAIM's song "Falling"

 The music video starts off with a fade from black image of a forest scene. This sets the scene for the music video and provides a somewhat eerie atmosphere. The forest is illuminated by a low sun in the distance, it is unclear whether the sun is rising or setting but the lighting is warm toned and lowly set. There is also a hue or tint to the screen which makes the settings look lighter and mistier.
 

The camera then cuts to several close up shots of different pieces of scenery including leaves, patterns of light and sparkling water. These shots depict a calm and still place. The musical accompaniment is of a steady softened drum beat that could interpreted as either a heart beat or footsteps. This builds tension within the quiet atmosphere.
 

The music reaches a change in pace and with a clicking sound the artists are introduced, wandering onscreen and looking around. Their actions and the jungle like setting depict a tale of discovery and adventure. As the lyrics begin "
I hurl into the moment like I'm standing at the edge (I know)

That no one's gonna turn me 'round
Just one more step, I could let go" the camera focuses on quick shots of the artists lips, hands and hair all of which are lit by the low sun. The focus on the lips draws attention to the lyrics which link to the shots that follow. The shot that says "one more step" is featured whilst this image below of a tracking shot as the artist moves.

The shots in this music video tend to show only sections of the performers and rarely their entire form. I personally love this use of shots as it is different to others I've seen and provides a unique style to the video. The music continues to build up again and continues with the lyrics "




Oh and in the middle, I hear the voices and they're calling for me now (I know) And nothing's gonna wake me now Cause I'm a slave to the sound." The following shots depict the artists moving through the leaves, there are often branches obscuring parts of the cameras view, which adds to the only-seeing-sections style of the video and the mysterious atmosphere. 

The music is still building in volume and pace with the lyrics "

And they're calling, Don't stop, no, I'll never give up And I'll never look back, just hold your head up And if it gets rough, it's time to get rough
They keep saying" These lyrics relate well to the visuals as the performers are traveling through the woods, they are trying to get somewhere- linking to the lines "don't stop" and "never look back". 

The shots quicken as the music instensifys, and there are two shots of firstly close ups on clothing, or unpacking, another link to the "journey" theme of the video. The second, a very quick shot is of one of the artists turning to look at the camera, however this artist is still obscured partly by her hair, still keeping with the "not showing all" theme. 
As the song hits the chorus  the obscured shots are broken by a full shot of the three artists from further away. This creates an impact on the viewer who has until this point not seen the full band together. This change is also a good accompaniment to the chorus "

Don't stop, no one's ever enough
I'll never look back, never give up
And if it gets rough, it's time to get rough
But now I'm falling, falling, falling
Falling, falling, falling,
Falling, falling, falling, falling, oh"