Last lesson before Easter Revision

Independent - PAWS: labels are not tied to a major. Gives artist creative freedom, and they interact closer with fans and audience. This community is niche, which the label obides by. They indie labels are less about money, more about the art form. The music awards that celebrates independent artists.

Majors - Taylor Swift: invigorate the traditional act of an indie label,  but are purely for the money. BRITS is a prime example of this, strictly major artists promoted by this medium through distribution and marketing. We are told that this type of music is cool and in.

Music videos are how turbans gives its image through sex, rebellion etc. HOwever, there is an argument that this is more important than the music, devaluing it.

Since 2000s, majors aren't as prominent in the industry anymore. Online platforms such as iTunes aren't as contemporary as soundcloud, which allows anyone to put their music up. Spotify is a subscription service that allows you to stream music. Apps have also allowed progression in music, not only for promotion (The XX) but for creation (iDaft) which give a sense of interaction.

DIY - Beck: Since released songreader as a proper album, incorporating artists as a form of promotion.

Prosumer - Madeon: Prosumers are being signed to labels (e.g. Madeon - Sony) as recording artists.

Focus on the artist, not on label

Animation can be used to give a music video to an artist that doesn't have an image, as it were a score to a short film. As indie films are cheap to make, they often syngerise and has a soundtrack made by an indie artist.

WARP - indie, dance music specialist: Signed Aphex Twin, syngerising their music into the making of a short film. Also own a film production company.

Aphex Twin: Without image, they have limited commercial appeal, no lyrics, no singer, no image. Given image through, soundtrack for dead man's shoes.

It's easier for indie artists to get into film, games etc through horizontal intergration due to cheaper technology advancing.

Fan apps give free promo for artist, quizes etc. Ringtones accept that the majority of music is played on portable devices. As do apps. More and more artists are having apps made to promote their music.

X-Factor is owned by SONY, who like it because it recycles their old songs and gets them back up the charts. Utilities image on top of an 'alright' singer. Family show put on at prime time. X-Factor is 10 weeks of market research and image shaping. Original songs gets bought by nostalgia fuelled people, making it sell again.

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-Evaluate
-Digital technologies (apps: relationship with artist app, distribution apps, creation apps)
-Distribution (Spotify streaming -Tay swift), (iTunes, SoundCloud, YouTube [converters] etc)
-Filmmaking (WARP)
-Videogames

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Revise:

Group chat to aid eachother

Terminology
-Wheel (test yourself and others)
-Past questions and answers (how to use terminology), mock exam

Case Studies
-2x Beck & Madeon (DIY and prosumers - artist, digital tech, participatory audience)
-2 labels prezi (test yourself using Prezi)
-Past questions and answers (how to link case studies to questions)

Arguments
-music is more about image
-digital technology is devaluing music (streaming and piracy - no investment emotionally or monetary)
-purity (instruments, live, mumford and sons VS Autotune, sampling, electronic)
-participatory audience (collaboration - Madeon)

Evaluate and argue these points

Exam is more focused on apps and tech - what recent tech advances have we found used in our case studies.
Talk about how anyone can do what Madeon did.

Do not agree with the question, recognise both sides of the argument. Eg: piracy and streaming means they get no CD sales, HOWEVER, they sell concert tickets, merch etc.

Questions are asked to lean toward one or two case studies, but we must apply as many as we can through linking

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How the development of digital technology has affected both a  Major record label (Sony) and an Independent (FatCat)
Sony music are a conglomerate who dominate the music industry as well as other areas (insurance, gaming, electronics etc.) Sony ME have utilised technology through both their production of music and its distribution.
Sony ME owns stages of the development of music , from production to distribution, and exa!please of horizontal integration. Because of this, the profits are kept in house and Sony ME are able to be one of the major record labels. 
Sony ME then buy smaller independent record labels and run them under their company. They own hundreds of labels, buying them once they're successful and a threat to Sony. This is an example of vertical integration.
Sony are able to use their horizontal integration to increase their profits for example. Sony ME own AC/DC and PlayStation and so produced a PlayStation game using AC/DC music. This example of synergy that allows for more advertising for the band as well as extra profits coming into the conglomerate

Write answer in introduction. This is:
Majors act more like traditional independent labels, Indies use technology to outreach their music from their artists. How they do it similarly and differently.

Write argument at end and throughout the essay.

"Previous students label case studies" has stats to use in exams

Music case studies (12th April)

PAWS are features in rocksmith. This is very rare as they are under an indie label. Indie labels are not one to often have synergy across platforms. This is a deep interaction as its as if PAWS are teaching you guitar themselves and can be like them. People then make covers and upload them to YouTube, not only promoting the game and the band.

The XX's app allows people to not only get updates/contact the band, but gets them to sing along to their songs in a karaoke-esque manor. This is very unique.

People in the indie music scene, are museos who will actively search for artists and thus will be found on Soundcloud. They share and spread the songs, meaning that it's a social network.

Major labels are beginning to mirror the traditional indie roles of fan interaction (through Social Media) so that they will get fans who will buy and support their artist through buying music and tour tickets.

Ed Sheeran vs Taylor Swift (9th March)

What's the point of contrast between Ed Sheeran & Taylor Swift? What's so important about these artists?

Tay swift removed all music of hers off spotify and Ed Sheeran kept all of his on there. This is because Tay wants more money for her music (paying full price) rather than allow them to pay a Lower price for a subscription service where she gets little royalties. They both rose in the charts after their awards, meaning they gain more publicity, fans and income.

Streaming gives little to the artists for their music, meaning they get little incentive to carry on. The popularity of streaming services is mainly due to their affordability and the fact that you can pay little each month and get  multiple full albums for this price, which would usually equate to <£10 each. Ed Sheerans popularity was aided by the fact that he could be streamed as streaming is a trend (new technology)

DIY Artists and Prosumers

#DIY Artists - Promote, produce, distribute their music themselves
Producers - People who actively buy and produce music by mashing up and remixing pre-existing songs

Beck = DIY artist
Madeon / Us, the people = Preexisting

Beck - Loser: Alternative rock, country?
Beck - Devils Haircut: Rock
Does not conform to one genre. Audiences of these genres of music will therefore be attracted to listening to Beck. All Time Low only fit to one genre and cannot do this, if they deviate from this sound, they may lose fans.

The instantaneous-ness of music made for several genres affects the purity of the industry. The same applies for mashup style music (having the littlest purity), which after getting so recycled for so long, becomes style

In purity order:
DIY
Indie
Majors
Prosumers

Music industry is far more based about image than the music. The dance video is an image that sticks in your head more than the launchpad video. Even the LCD screens and pyrotechnics at live shows are an image. These videos are created by fans, meaning they are participating and collaborating.

Madeon then went on to get signed by Sony after he generated a lot of hits. He then uses people on his subsidiary label (deadmau5) which also aids both sides.

Sound cloud is the audio version of YouTube.

A&R search on YouTube for new artists on YouTube and on the internet.

This was all made possible through digital technology.

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Purity of music? Is digital technology damaging or aiding purity?

"Reluctant to pay something for something we want?" Piracy will diminish if industry embraces  technology, open to wider audience.

Purity is also affected by the image they put on the internet via videos, e.g: sexuality. Also by autotune and lip syncing the vocals removes the purity.

Editing Terminology fill the gaps

EDITING TERMS 

Shot/Reverse-Shot is a film technique wherein one character is shown looking (often off-screen) at another character, and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. 

An eyeline match is a popular editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that the audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing. The eyeline match-begins with a character looking at something off-screen, there will then be a cut to the object or person at which he is looking. For example, a man is looking off-screen to his left, and then the film cuts to a television that he is watching. 

Graphic Match - Two successive shots joined so as to create a strong similarity of compositional elements (e.g., color, shape). Used in trasparent continuity styles to smooth the transition between two shots. 

A cutaway is a cut in film editing where the middle section of a continuous shot is removed, and the beginning and end of the shot are then joined together. The technique breaks continuity in time and produces a startling effect. Any moving objects in the shot will appear to jump to a new position. 

Match on Action is an editing technique used in films to establish continuity. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action. Because the shots occur one after another, Match on Action is used to suggest simultaneity of action. However, it can also be used to link significant actions that do not occur simultaneously. Suspense is built by using crosscutting. It is built through the expectations that it creates and in the hopes that it will be explained with time. Crosscutting also forms parallels; it illustrates a narrative action that happens in several places at approximately the same time. 

In film, a cross cut is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually, although not always, followed by a cutback to the first shot. Cutaways usually do not contribute any dramatic content of their own, but help theeditor assemble a longer sequence. For this reason, editors choose cutaways related to the main action, such as another action or object in the same location.[1] For example, if the main shot is of a man walking down an alley, possible cutaways may include a shot of a cat on a nearby dumpster or a shot of a woman watching from a window overhead. 

In film, an insert is a shot of part of a scene as filmed from a different angle and/or focal length from the master shot. Inserts cover action already covered in the master shot, but emphasize a different aspect of that action due to the different framing. An insert is different from a cutaway in that the cutaway is of action not covered in the master shot. 

Paranoia Title Sequence

Paranoia

Dexter remake - Individual edit

The purpose of this edit was to demonstrate that we could produce a video as a group, without supervision of a teacher, which involved us following a set of shot lists (that we had to interpret from the video) and recreate it to the best of our abilities. We also had to go out and buy props from shops that are used or are similar to those used in the original morning routine sequence. I then individually edited the clips, sequencing them, timing them with the music and trimming out the unnecessary and unneeded handles. I believe that the final product was great and served it's purpose well to show that we can work as part of a team and under our own initiative. Apart from a few missing shots (1 or 2, I believe) which I replaced in post production with the shots from the original, the project went great. The shots were composed well, I believe my editing was similar to the original and that the project was a true demonstration of our current ability, despite being filmed with a camera phone