RESEARCH- MUSIC TRENDS

Young stars such Carly Rae Jepson and One Direction have been at large in the recents couple of years, and are now play a key role in the music industry.

- The music they produce is aimed towards the youn teenagers. The lyrics and subject matter of their songs often are about love and relationships and tend to be simplistic. Pop music is popular today since the beats of the music often encourage dancing which is reflected in the upbeat and choreographed music videos.
 
- The music videos in relation to the song consist of extremly high priced camera work with the combination of high quality editing. There is faced paced editing, which is in time with the 'beat' and a easy to follow narrative for their younger audience.

RESEARCH- STARDOM

 

The star image is a figure seen by the public through the use of music videos, but notably their music on their own. In the music industry, only one in ten people who are signed to a record and making music actually make any money from it, this is partly due to the star image not being big enough for the rest of people. However with the small amount of people who become popular with their music and star image, it is important to present them well and follow a meta-narrative of the path they wish to be portrayed as. With music videos, it is possible to alter a star’s image from being something crude, to being a public figure people inspire to be like. Through a star’s music videos, the stories that they tell can develop the person they are and change their meta-narrative – One example of an artist who uses music videos to change his public perception over the years is Eminem, who started off as what was seen as a gang member rapper, but then later was shown to be a caring father who sings for a passion and believes in what he sings for.

RESEARCH- MUSIC TV CHANNELS

Music television is a type of television programming which focuses predominantly on playing music videos from bands, usually on dedicated television channels broadcasting on satellite or cable. Music TVs may host their own shows charts, award prizes.

 Examples are VIVA, Scuzz, MTV, JBTV, MuchMusic, Kerrang TV, erm, VH1, Fuse TV, and Palladia Wigan Pier.

Case study: VIVA

VIVA a free-to-air German language based music television channel went first on the air on 1. December 1993. A consortium of broadcasters and record companies led by Time Warner, Sony Television, Polygram Records and EMI Music, but notably excluding the German based Bertelsmann Music Group, saw their investment in VIVA as an antidote to the "vain posturing power of MTV Networks executives" according to Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung. Executives at US media giant Time Warner, keen on increasing their market share of its music repertoire and business in Germany, planned the new TV station in 1992. Eventually they recruited DoRo Productions, producers of music videos for notable acts such as Queen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, in the design of the music channel. VIVA became an immediate success with the audience, while ultimately providing German artists with a music channel that could help expose their music to the German audience. After many years of fierce competition for audience share, MTV Networks Europe eventually acquired VIVA on 14. January 2005 after it had outran its own efforts for better ratings. MTV today operates VIVA channels across Europe, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.

RESEARCH- HOW TO STUDY MUSIC VIDEOS

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RESEARCH- NARRATIVE IN MUSIC VIDEO

The star is the one that lends the video world its splendour, that give the audiovisual elements their atraction. While the shots may seem discontinous the shots in the music video are highly connected and revolve around the image of the star.
The star promotes the phenomenon of identification, which is a process by which the viewers become attached to the star. The form of identification goes as far as the fans trying to become their idols through imitating their speech, movements and consumer patterns.

RESEARCH- ANALYSIS OF MANIC STREET PREACHERS'S "A DESIGN FOR LIFE"

"A design for life" by the Manic street preachers is a video packed full of the basic and essential conventions of a music video. Journalist Paula Shutkever explains that "The Manics are often associated with the emotional pain of youth".

Tight, restricted and dangerous looking factory. Symbolises

their emotions.

In the music video they have conveyed the message that society is changing, and that the world is falling apart. The band are playing their song in a tight, restricted and dangerous looking factory, which ultimately symbolises the feeling they are going through. While the band are lip syniching to the song expressing the "emotional
pain" they are going through their thoughts and flash backs are being projected on the walls of the factory setting. The projections themselves look damaged, which shows that the past is fading away and the present day is    overwhelming the world with miserary.

The conventions of this music video are typical, due to the fact is has the band performing their song and at the same time their is clear narrative in which they are expressing their feelings about the world and society of today.

'Vintage' projections are damaged, showing the fading away 

of the 'good times' and how the present day is

over whelming the past.

The camera work in the music video is also key in symbolising thier emotions. For example the main camera shot through the video is a 'hand held shot'. From this it makes the audience feel apart of thier pain and almost puts themselves into the video. In my opinion this is vital. It shows us that their is no need for expensive camera shots and equipment. Instead it seems that the Manics wanted us to feel the same emotions they are feeling and from this a hand held shot best fit this.

RESEARCH- THEODOR ADORNO

Theodor Adorno was a German sociologist, philosopher and musicologist known for his critical theory of society.He belived that capitalism fed people with the products of culture industry  the opposite of true art, to keep them passively satisfied and politically apathetic.
Adorno saw that capitalism had not become more precarious or close to collapse, as Marx had predicted. Instead, it had seemingly become more entrenched. Where Marx had focussed on economics, Adorno placed emphasis on the role of culture in securing the status quo.

Popular culture was identified as the reason for people's passive satisfaction and lack of interest in overthrowing the capitalist system.
Adorno suggested that culture industries churn out a debased mass of unsophisticated, sentimental products which have replaced the more 'difficult' and critical art forms which might lead people to actually question social life.
False needs are cultivated in people by the culture industries. These are needs which can be both created and satisfied by the capitalist system, and which replace people's 'true' needs - freedom, full expression of human potential and creativity, genuine creative happiness.
Commodity fetishism (promoted by the marketing, advertising and media industries) means that social relations and cultural experiences are objectified in terms of money. We are delighted by something because of how much it cost.
 
Popular media and music products are characterised by standardisation (they are basically formulaic and similar) and pseudo-individualisation (incidental differences make them seem distinctive, but they're not)
Products of the culture industry may be emotional or apparently moving, but Adorno sees this as cathartic - we might seek some comfort in a sad film or song, have a bit of a cry, and then feel restored again.

Boiled down to its most obvious modern-day application, the argument would be that television leads people away from talking to each other or questioning the oppression in their lives. Instead they get up and go to work (if they are employed), come home and switch on TV, absorb TV's nonsense until bedtime, and then the daily cycle

Click below to find out how Theodor Adorno is relevant to the 21st century